Cardinal Mahony: Prop. 8 ruling based on feelings, not God’s plan for mankind

Los Angeles, Calif., Aug 5, 2010 / 22:47 pm

A federal judge’s decision overturning Proposition 8 relied solely on feelings and not God’s plan for human society, Cardinal Roger Mahony said on Wednesday. He added that the judge wrongly assumed that marriage is of human origin and can mean “anything any person wishes.”

Writing in a Wednesday statement, the Archbishop of Los Angeles responded to U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s ruling that Prop. 8, which restored California’s legal definition of marriage to be a union of a man and a woman, was unconstitutional.

The cardinal characterized the prime question as whether marriage is of divine or human origin.

“Judge Walker pays no attention to this fundamental issue, and relies solely upon how Prop 8 made certain members of society ‘feel’ about themselves,” Cardinal Mahony wrote.

He said that those who supported Prop. 8 did so because they “truly believe that Marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society. Period.”

The belief in marriage has been unanimous across cultures and histories and is “embedded deeply” into the spirit of human beings, he noted.

The cardinal further stated that Judge Walker was wrong to assume that marriage is of human and civil origin and “can mean anything any person wishes to ascribe to the institution.”

“The union of a man and of a woman in a life-long loving and caring relationship is of divine origin. No human nor civil power can decree or declare otherwise,” Cardinal Mahony wrote. “For many of us, we will continue to believe that God is the origin of marriage, and we will follow God's constant revelation to that effect.”