In July, the House of Representatives passed a bill misnamed the Respect for Marriage Act. The legislation repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which had asserted the traditional definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Of course, the 5 to 4 Supreme Court decision in 2015, Obergefell V. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage already effectively repealed DOMA. So, why are Senate Democrats pushing a vote to repeal something no longer in force? The advocates say they are doing so because they fear the Supreme Court will invalidate same-sex marriage based on the same reasoning it used to overturn Roe v. Wade. This is disingenuous. The Court majority specifically said the Roe decision was not linked to any other precedent.
What is clear is that the deceptively-named Respect for Marriage Act will provide a new avenue for attacks on people of faith and religious liberty. To pass the Senate, the legislation needs 60 senators to vote to advance it. All 50 Democrats appear certain to support it. Most Republican senators oppose it, but some are wavering. It is important to urge Republican senators to oppose the bill and to safeguard religious liberty.
A significant exchange of words occurred a few days ago between First Lady Jill Biden and a young American child. Children were at the White House on the occasion of the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots campaign. Mrs. Biden greeted the children with a shout of “Happy Holidays!” One courageous child loudly responded, “Happy Christmas!”
JDFI made a substantial commitment this year to help ensure Christians had the information they needed on each of these issues so they could be discerning, educated voters. We also wanted to increase the number of Christ-followers who voted. We have been deeply troubled that Christian involvement in elections has lagged behind the participation rates of other demographic groups.
We are about halfway through the transition period between the outgoing Biden-Harris administration and the incoming Trump-Vance team. Every day, President-elect Trump has been announcing appointments to key positions in his second administration. Those “personnel” will often determine policy.