Wildmon: Prop. 8 vote crucial in culture battle (OneNewsNow.com)

Wildmon: Prop. 8 vote crucial in culture battle

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 7/10/2008 3:15:00 PM

church steeple A coalition of pro-family leaders will encourage U.S. pastors to set aside one Sunday in September to focus on the battle over marriage taking place in California.

The Arlington Group, a coalition of about 60 pro-family groups and ministries, will stress the importance of the November 4 vote in California on Proposition 8, a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect traditional marriage. To do that, pastors will be encouraged to use one Sunday in September to focus on the sanctity of marriage. Churches also will be encouraged to take up a special offering which will go toward the fight for marriage in California.

Dr. Donald Wildmon is founder of the American Family Association and an organizer of the Arlington Group. He says passage of the California marriage amendment is critical.

"If we lose California, if they defeat the marriage amendment, I'm afraid that the culture war is over and Christians have lost," says Wildmon, a 30-year veteran of the culture war. "I've never said that publicly until now -- but that's just the reality of the fact.

"If the homosexuals are able to defeat the marriage amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, then the culture war is over and we've lost -- and gradually, secularism will replace Christianity as the foundation of our society," he adds.

The vote in California, Wildmon explains, will affect the entire nation. "California is a big dam, holding back the flood -- and if you take down the dam in California, it's going to flood 49 other states," he illustrates. "It will destroy marriage as it has been known for thousands of years, and with that the cultural decline that normally would follow."

According to Wildmon, pro-homosexual forces are expected to spend at least $20 million to defeat Proposition 8. A specific date for September's one-day marriage focus has not been set.

In March 2000, almost 62 percent of voters in the Golden State approved a Defense of Marriage Act -- a statute that was ruled unconstitutional in May by the California Supreme Court. In a OneNewsNow poll conducted earlier this week, almost 70 percent of those voting said Prop. 8 will pass -- but another 15 percent predicted the initiative will be thrown out by the courts before voters have a chance to register their preference.