USCCB joins other faith groups defending traditional marriage

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SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition of faith groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has joined a variety of individuals, states and other organizations in urging the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to resist redefining marriage.

The amicus curiae brief, filed Feb. 10, asks the court to uphold bans on same-sex marriages in Utah and Oklahoma, and rejects the assertion that this opposition is based on bigotry or hostility to homosexuals.

"The accusation is false and offensive," the brief reads. "In truth, we support the husband-wife definition of marriage because we believe it is right and good for children, families, and society. … [O]ur religious understandings of marriage are rooted in beliefs about God’s will concerning men, women, children, and society, rather than in the narrower issue of homosexuality."

The brief was filed after U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled on Dec. 20 that the State of Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional; that case was brought to court last March, when three same-sex couples challenged the state’s law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

The issue also is before the courts in Oklahoma.

The USCCB has long upheld the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and continues to do so. For example, in January, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Randy Weber supporting the Texas Republican’s introduction of the bipartisan State Marriage Defense Act of 2014 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The amicus brief states that husband-wife marriages and two-parent families "are critical for the well-being of society and its children. … The inescapable truth is that only male-female relationships can create children, children need their mothers and fathers, and society needs mothers and fathers to co-parent their children."

Redefining marriage as a union between any two adults, the brief argues, will shift the current law’s emphasis on procreation and welfare to "affirming and facilitating adult relationship choice," the brief argues.

Both the Utah Oklahoma cases are scheduled to be heard by the court in April.