Single Gender Marriage: A Religious Perspective

Authors

Raymond C. O'Brien, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1998

Abstract

This Article will offer a religious perspective which is a response to the legal arguments in favor of single-gender marriage. Three arguments will be made: first, that the religious perspective identified and associated with the Roman Catholic tradition offers a fundamental basis for family life that has been proven to be beneficial to society as a whole, and to the message of revelation consigned to Christians by Jesus Christ; second, inasmuch as the religious perspective is being contradicted by judicial interpretation rather than through legislative process, a tyranny of judicial activism has and is subverting a public policy consensus; and third, an analysis of the Hawaiian decision Baehr v. Lewin, which presently prompts the debate over single-gender marriage, offers a compelling state interest to restrict the definition of marriage to those persons of the opposite gender.

Recommended Citation

Raymond C. O'Brien, Single Gender Marriage: A Religious Perspective, 7 TEMP. POL. & CIV. RTS. L. REV. 429 (1998).