Chinese Church leaders in New York held a press conference in Flushing yesterday, expressing their views on the protection of traditional marriage values, and announcing the upcoming 400-Chinese-Christian-led procession in Washington to protect the one-man-one-woman marriage structure.

Although this press conference was called by the Chinese Church, many pastors in attendance pointed out that the meaning of marriage not only touched on theological issues, but also on ethics, morality, societal stability, population growth, and national foundation. Thus, protecting the one-man-one-woman marriage structure is everyone’s responsibility.

They also pointed out that the push on same-sex marriage in the US was becoming more and more prominent, creating major chaos in the ethics of marriage. The discussion around same-sex marriage far exceeded the so-called personal choice issue, but included the major topic of societal ethics.

Attending pastors unanimously emphasized that marriage and family were the cornerstone of society. The one-man-one-woman marriage gives society stability and population growth, thus the inheritance of the roles of the sexes carries significant meaning. The unity of opposite sexes is a well recognized biological norm, and is also the law created and ordained by God.

They also warned, saying, “If the one-man-one-woman marriage structure is destroyed, the coming generations will definitely be affected, and societal ethics will be thrown out of order, causing unimaginable consequences.” As Church leaders, they are responsible for safeguarding the values of marriage and family.

Besides, to the pastoral organization, the Supreme Court hearing of the Perry Case on March 26 to debate the safeguarding of traditional marriage was a significant event. This not only determined whether the Proposition 8 (passed in 2008) was unconstitutional among Californian residents and whether same-sex marriage was legal, but also influenced the rights of the residents to protect traditional marriage.

To this, the US National Organization for Marriage, in unity with various organizations that safeguard traditional marriage, initiated the March for Marriage, which was held on March 26 at 8:30 am, starting at the Washington National Park and ending at the Supreme Court. This “walking for marriage” activity aimed to express to society the idea of safeguarding marriage.

The Chinese Church, in order to express its views against same-sex marriage through actions, participated in the “walking for marriage” activity since the beginning of March, led by the Chinese Christian Church of New York and the Maintenance of One-Man-One-Woman Marital Association, which received the resounding support of many Churches and organizations.

The US Chinese Coordination Center of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) Northeast Borough Council, the Chinese Christian Church Federation of Greater New York, the New York Theological Education Center, and other organizations actively joined in to become co-organizers. The trade union chairman, Pastor Xiao, expressed that there were over 400 New York Chinese who registered to participate, and the number was still increasing.

The organizing party invited Pastor Timothy Chiu (the Director of the New York Theological Education Center) to be the chairman (contact telephone number: 718-490-1376), to fully unite various Churches and organizations to participate in this activity.

At the press conference, the attending pastoral group expressed that the number of registrants and the intense response to the Washington procession had exceeded expectations, which also reflected the unity of the various Chinese Churches in New York, and their prominent voices for the safeguarding of traditional marriage. They hoped that all those who supported traditional marriage within the Chinese community could participate.

The current participating Churches and organizations include: the Chinese Christian Church of New York, the Maintenance of One-Man-One-Woman Marital Association, the US CCCOWE Northeast Borough Council, the Chinese Christian Church Federation of Greater New York, the New York Theological Education Center, the Harvest Church of New York, the ECGC, the Living Water Church, the Newborn Methodist Church, the Staten Island Chinese Christian Church, the New York Chinese Baptist Church, the Corona Faith Bible Church, the Promise Chinese Baptist Church, the Chinese Christian Church of Queens New York, the Chinese Christian Herald Crusades, the New York Christian Holy Church, the Zion Christian Church, the Church of Grace NY, the Community Church of Great Neck, the Christian Missions Overseas Inc., the Oversea Chinese Mission Boon Church, and so on.

[Editor's note: Carol Lee translated the article.]