Empowering Ordinary People To Defend
Our Family & Social Values

Nehemiah 2:17  "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.  Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace."

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NC Marriage Amendment Needs Your Help!

Friends,

North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast that has refused to protect marriage to the fullest extent of the law! 

The leaders of the NC Senate, Marc Basnight & Tony Rand, have sent the Marriage Amendment bill (S13) to die in committee once again.  The bill now sits in the Ways and Means Committee...a committee which last met on June 21st, 2001!  By placing this critical legislation in a "dead" committee, Senators Basnight & Rand appear to be sending two messages to all North Carolina voters:

• We are not interested in protecting marriage to the maximum extent possible.
• We are not interested in the rights of North Carolina voters to even consider this issue, let alone vote on it.

Senator Fred Smith, co-sponsor of S13, has written a great overview of this issue for Called2Action entitled Defending the Family.   

 Throughout thousands of years of human history and every year of American history, people have recognized that marriage is a sacred bond between one man and one woman. This view is now under attack across the country. Liberal judges in Massachusetts, New York, and California are legislating from the bench to rewrite their states’ marriage laws, instead of upholding them. The New Jersey legislature, following the lead of Vermont and Connecticut, just passed legislation establishing civil unions between homosexual couples. 

An overwhelming majority of North Carolinians support marriage as a sacred bond between one man and one woman, but our current laws are not enough to protect society’s most important institution. While NC General Statutes 51-1 and 51-1.2 already define marriage as “between a man and a woman,” a single Superior Court judge could overturn these North Carolina statutes protecting marriage. Also, these statutes can be overturned by any future General Assembly that wants to repeal our state’s statutes protecting marriage. 

That’s why Senator Jim Forrester and I have introduced Senate Bill 13, which gives North Carolina voters the right to put marriage in a place where even an extremist judiciary can’t touch it – the North Carolina Constitution. The passage of a Marriage Protection Amendment would place traditional marriage in the strongest possible position. Voters who believe marriage is too important to become a political football tossed about by future legislatures deserve the opportunity to vote for a Constitutional Amendment that puts marriage in a “lockbox,” protected from activist judges and the General Assembly by a vote of the people.

Unfortunately the Senate’s Democratic leadership will not allow an up or down vote on the measure. They have sent our amendment to die in committee. That’s not how democracy should work. I understand that there is a debate within society about this issue, but there should be no debate about giving North Carolina voters the right to consider this issue. Every other southern state has had the chance to vote on a Marriage Protection Amendment. Why should the people of North Carolina be denied this opportunity?

People of all faiths, from all successful civilizations, have recognized the uniqueness of the union between husband and wife. But apart from its religious nature, marriage is good for society. It is the bedrock upon which family has been built for 5,000 years. Through marriage, the human race is propagated and our values are passed down through the generations. 

I was raised at the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh, where my mother was a house mom and my father was a teacher and coach. They taught me that America is great because America is good, and if you strip away our society’s traditional values, we will become just like every other country. We can’t let this happen. We have a duty to pass down to our children and grandchildren the values we’ve been given. The stakes are too high to let traditional marriage become a chapter in our history books. 

That’s more than our duty – it’s our calling.  

We couldn't agree more.  This is our calling and the time is now.  With help from our friends at the American Family Association as well as the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, this "Call to Action" will go out all across North Carolina.  Here is what we are asking you to do:

 1.   Pray for our Senate leaders, Marc Basnight & Tony Rand.    If we don't pray, all of our efforts will fail.

2.   Attend the Marriage Rally at the Legislature on Tuesday, March 6th and visit the office of your State Senator as well as those of Mr. Basnight and Mr. Rand.  "Return America", a new Christian organization in NC, is hosting this rally.  More details can be found at their website, www.returnamerica.org

3.   Sign our online petition!  Go to www.protectmarriagenc.com and add your name to the petition.  Use the link there to pass it along to all of your NC email contacts!  The more names we collect, the more influence we will have!

4.   Contact Senators Basnight & Rand as well as you own State Senator.  Basnight and Rand hold all the cards, so most of our efforts need to be directed at them.  Here are the main points to convey:

• Our DOMA law is not the strongest protection available for marriage.  Please allow the Marriage Amendment to the floor for discussion and a vote!
• We have a right to consider this issue as voters!  Please allow us to do so this November in a special election.
• Marriage is under attack!  Please don't wait until it's too late!
• We will be praying for you.

Contact Information:

Find Your State Senator's Contact Information here.

5.   Pass this email on to your friends!

Much like the Pledge of Allegiance battle last year, this will require us to be tenacious...we must not give up.  However, please remember that we are Ambassadors of Christ, and as such me must never act out of malice.  Please keep your communications polite and to the point, and PRAY PRAY PRAY!  We will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.

In His Service,

Steve Noble, Chairman

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