Detroit Black Pastors are speaking out against Judge Bernard Friedman's overruling of the 2004 voter approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution that defines marriages as between one man and one woman.
Despite the votes of 2.7 million voters who voted in favor of marriage protection, Friedman called the amendment "unconstitutional" and "irrational."
100 Detroit Pastors say that the ruling was performed under the pretense that the majority Michigan residents are discriminating against the civil rights of homosexuals due to their sexual orientation. In response, the Pastors will hold a press conference tomorrow to voice their opposition to this decision.
One of these Pastors is Reverend Stacy Swimp, the founder of Revival Alive Missional Ministry.
"The bottom line is that the people of Michigan decided to take a stand for marriage being between a man and a woman in voting in favor of the 2004 amendment. Unfortunately, Judge Friedman decided to arbitrarily overturn the will of the people in Michigan," Rev. Swimp stated. "Two thirds of black voters in Michigan supported the marriage protection amendment; without a shadow of a doubt, black people disproportionally support traditional marriage protection in this state. We are stepping up to the plate, refusing to let our voting rights be ignored."
Michigan attorney Bill Schuette has appealed Friedman's ruling to the United States in the Court Appeals in the Sixth Circuit. He has also successfully received a stay which keeps the Marriage Protection Act in place, pending the ruling of the appeals court.
Pastor James Crowder of St. Galilee Baptist church and president of the Westside Minister's Alliance in Detroit says Friedman's ruling is "sanctioning the staging of a false story," and comparing the LGBT agenda to the Civil Rights movement is offensive.
"On stage are many actors who pretend that redefining traditional marriage is as valid as Blacks fighting against the carnage of chattel slavery and the humiliation of Jim Crow. Never have I been so insulted. The curtain must be pulled down on this play of disinformation."
Rreverend Swimp says that Friedman's attempt to legalize same-sex marriage is a violation on several levels.
"We believe that [homosexuality is a] violation of natural law, we believe it's a violation of constitutional law, and we also believe it's a violation of Biblical principles. So on all three levels, we're seeing a violation," he said. "At the end of the day, it's very much like a play: you can put actors on a stage and you can recreate family to be whatever you want it to be on a stage. But as much as much as you try to recreate it, the reality of it is, to be real you have to procreate. And there's no way in the world the LGBT community can do that."
According to Christian News Service, the Black Detroit Pastors and other Christian leaders are calling on traditional marriage advocates from all over the United States, urging them to make sure their voices are represented and to take advantage of the Court's rule which allows them to file an Amicus brief.
"Anyone from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, or Tennessee, who wants to make sure your voice is represented, we are asking you to take to take this opportunity to stand up for your right of religious freedom and for God's truth," said Apostle Lennell Caldwell, pastor of First Baptist World Changers International Church in Detroit.
To help the Pastors stand up for religious freedom, contact Catherine McMillan at cmcmillan@thomasmore.org - representative of the Thomas More Law Center, with your full name, the name of your church or Christian organization, the address of the organization, and phone number.
