Os Guinness: America Has Lost Its Moral Compass

A Christian author and speaker is sounding a rather fatalistic tone when it comes to homosexual "marriage" in America. Os Guinness says the nation apparently doesn't have the moral strength to reverse the legalization of same-sex unions, precipitated by last week's events in Massachusetts.

Dr. Guinness has authored such books as Dining With the Devil: The Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity and Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What To Do About It. Guinness, who sits on the board of trustees for Trinity Forum, recently told Associated Press that it does not look like homosexual marriage in the U.S. is something that can be reversed.

"There are moments in peoples' decline when [they] finally draw the line, but the signs are with same-sex marriage in the nation that won't happen," he says. "And what we're seeing politically and in the polls is that the American center is very soft and is not going to make a stand."

Americans, he says, seem resigned to just living with the concept of same-sex marriages. "Any pretense of a moral majority has long since gone," he says, adding that he is disappointed at the lack of moral leadership coming from Capitol Hill.

"[W]hat's alarming on this issue is you see the inability of political leaders – supremely, the president – to raise people across the board to stand against this," he says.  "In other words, what's called the 'soft center' of America really is caving in – that includes Christians, it includes conservatives, and there's no end to where this may go."

According to Guinness, the American culture is waiting for a leader "who understands the issues, who can rise above the culture wars to state them, and can do so persuasively to those he opposes as well as those who he supports."

"I had hoped that George W. Bush might be the person, but clearly he's become so preoccupied and now bogged down with his war on terrorism and in Iraq that he's incapable of this – and he may not even have a second term," the author says.

Guinness describes the legalization of homosexual marriage as a milestone on the road to cultural collapse, and he predicts that "within a generation or two, the harvest of chaos in this country will be enormous."  In addition, he sees Bible-believing Christians becoming an increasingly besieged counterculture.

"It will take people who really take their faith seriously to say, 'Look, the culture may be eroding, collapsing all around me – but not through me.  I can responsible for my world.'"

He contends that the nation's main challenge is not terrorism or rogue states who might possess weapons of mass destruction.  "Our main dangers are actually within this country," he says.

Growing Acceptance?
Guinness' predictions may be on the mark.  A growing number of states appear to be leaning towards accepting same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts.  Joining the attorney general of New York, the attorneys general of Rhode Island and Connecticut have issued non-binding opinions indicating they would recognize homosexuals married in Massachusetts.

Peter Sprigg with the Family Research Council tells Family News In Focus that it essentially means a bypassing of the will of the people. "We are seeing the real agenda of the homosexual activists, which does not involve respect for federalism or respect for each state's right to make up its own mind about marriage," he laments.

Sprigg says those activists are going to use Massachusetts as a wedge to achieve the goal of imposing same-sex marriage on every state.

The Heat of Summer
Now that Massachusetts officials have begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the supporters of traditional marriage are bracing for an explosive summer.

Homosexual couples from other states have flocked to the Bay State to get married, but many say they will return to their own states with an agenda.  U.S. Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment legislation current working its way through the House of Representatives, says this summer of upheaval is courtesy of the pro-homosexual judiciary in Massachusetts.

"Armed with such an unprecedented ruling by the four Supreme Court justices in Massachusetts, and the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Lawrence v. Texas case, homosexual couples will fiercely attack well-founded state laws," the Colorado Republican says.

Thirty-eight states have Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) which define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.  Musgrave says those DOMAs will be attacked in the courts this summer by homosexual activists.

© Agape Press, 2004. Associated Press contributed to this story.

Trinity Forum (www.ttf.org)
Family Research Council (www.frc.org)