“To say categorically that religion is bad is an amazingly arrogant statement,” the Becket Fund head commented, charging that Judge Walker was “an activist judge.”
Hasson particularly criticized the ruling’s “sweeping statements,” such as its contention that male-female marriage is a “leftover” and that gender roles are “an artifact of time gone by.” He predicted that the ruling’s “breathtaking grandiosity” will lead it to its being overruled.
He repeated that the decision was a “breathtaking development” because it advocated that all religious believers and their moral convictions “should be out of the public square.”
“On homosexuality, when life begins, when life ends, whether euthanasia is permissible, questions of sexual propriety, right across the board. Anything that believers hold is categorically excluded,” he continued.
“This is very dangerous precedent,” Hasson commented, pledging that the Becket Fund is prepared to oppose “anybody who attempts to expand Judge Walker’s erroneous opinion into other areas.”
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told CNA in a Monday e-mail that the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality are shared by many world religions and have been the view of most people throughout history.
“But in the mind of Judge Walker, all of this is now suspect. Such arrogance would be hard to top,” Donohue continued.
“In the eyes of the Catholic Church, all sexual unions outside marriage, traditionally understood, are harmful to the best interests of society. And for good reason: they compete, if not undermine, the institutional basis that allows for the establishment of a family.”
CNA asked the Catholic League about the judge’s citation of the CDF document signed by Pope Benedict.
“Listing the Pope's remarks in a judicial ruling designed to prove the harmfulness of Church teachings on homosexuality is invidious,” Donohue responded.
He charged that the action seeks to “stigmatize the defense of marriage” and tries to make homosexual relations more acceptable.
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“In doing so, it opens the door to the demonization of Christianity in the schools,” Donohue continued.
The Catholic League president claimed that the Prop. 8 ruling would “invite greater pressure” on the Catholic Church and other religions to accept “the radical homosexual agenda.”
If this effort is successful, Donohue warned, “not only will the family suffer, the prospects for religious liberty will be endangered as well.”