Religious bodies issue legal challenge to California's Proposition 8

http://www.ucc.org/news/religious-bodies-issue-legal.html

Three settings of the United Church of Christ have filed a legal petition before the Supreme Court of California to challenge the validity of the voter-approved Proposition 8 which ended same-gender marriage in the state.

The General Synod of the United Church of Christ, as well as the UCC's Southern California – Nevada Conference and Northern California – Nevada Conference, joined other religious bodies in filing litigation on Nov. 17 that argues that Proposition 8 amounted to a constitutional "revision" because it took away a fundamental civil right. In California, a constitutional revision, unlike an amendment, requires legislative authorization in addition to voter approval.

"California's constitutional right of equal protection is sacrosanct," the legal challenge reads in its introduction. "Not even the electorate can take it away selectively – at least not without a two-thirds vote of the legislature or a constitutional convention. This writ petition seeks to enforce that basic principle."

The executive committee of the UCC's Executive Council met by conference call on Nov. 16 to give its approval for the UCC General Synod to become a petitioner in the case, as recommended by the denomination's five-person Collegium of Officers and supported by UCC Nationwide Special Counsel Donald C. Clark.

It doesn't impose religion. You can still be irreligious. You just can't call your union "marriage". You have to make an argument the courts will hear. You don't just get to go to court and vent your anger. Not if you want to win, at least.

in their petitions. Allowing the will of the people to be imposed through a simple majority initiative in taking away Fundamental Rights erodes the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. Religious minorities also deserve equal protection from religious majorities. Many people are taking a stand against all religion over Prop 8, but they are missing the point that there is also an important "freedom of religion" issue at stake.

it becomes the imposition of a sectarian belief on a civil process.

but this they're getting right. Makes me proud to be UCC.

:patriot:

I notice that the petition mentions "equal protection for religious minorities". This is an extremely important aspect to Prop. 8 that should appeal to those interested in the founding principles of our nation, where people desired at that time to escape the persecution of the Anglican church. Why should we define marriage as being between a man and a woman when there are even churches that don't want this restriction? Status Quo you say? Wasn't it the status quo for thousands of years that women be treated as second-class citizens?

So far we have the backing of civil rights groups representing the interests of racial minorities (including NAACP, Mexican-American and Pacific Asian), the Anti-Defamation Leaque, a women's lawyer group, and now certain churches who are opposed to Proposition 8 because it sets a dangerous precedent with respect to protected minorities and suspect classifications in general.

It can also mean just "highly valued." As in, "doctor-patient confidentiality is sacred." That doesn't mean it's a religious principle, just that we value it very very highly as a society.

This is the problem. Marriage is "sacred," but only in the sense that it is an important institution in society. That doesn't make it necessarily a religious matter.

And, in fact, it's hard to argue that determining tax status, property rights, inheritance rights, etc. is something that the churches should be involved in. They should not.

during the fight against H8? Nice to see that they are trying to do the right thing, but more help earlier would have been far better.

:loveya: