Would Same-Sex Marriage Increase Regard for Marriage?

You May Hear Proponents Argue . . ."Same-sex marriage should be allowed to increase regard for marriage. Expanding possibilities for couples wanting to marry raises the value of marriage in society as a whole by increasing the number of people who favor marriage over non-marriage. Allowing same-sex marriage will increase regard for marriage the same way that allowing racially mixed marriage increased social regard for marriage as a whole. Resisting same-sex marriage resists greater regard for marriage, and allowing same-sex marriage is a great way to raise respect for marriage among more people throughout society. But this argument is wrong."

You Can Graciously Refute This By Saying . . .

The problem with this claim is that approving same-sex marriage redefines the societal value of marriage from serving the welfare of future generations to satisfying individual sexual desires, and that will lessen, not increase, regard for the societal value of marriage. It does that, first, by shifting the public significance of marriage from social necessity to individual preference, from assuming responsibility to indulging desires, from what is fixed to what is transitory, and from serving others to satisfying self. Second, it opens the door to marriages based on satisfying every sexual desire imaginable. But the more that marriage includes, the less difference there is between marriage and non-marriage; and the less difference there is between marriage and non-marriage, the less people will value getting married at all. Marriage that includes everything will be worth nothing. Third, mixed-race marriages increased regard for the societal value of marriage by reenforcing the constructive values of procreation, bridging the male-female divide, and fathers cooperating with mothers to raise children. But same-sex marriage will lower regard for the societal value of marriage by deconstructing those very same constructive values and redesigning marriage in a manner that frustrates the welfare of future generations.

The Truth Is . . .

Same-sex marriage is wrong because it reduces marriage to nothing
special by confusing marriage with non-marriage.

Excerpts from Why Not Same-Sex Marriage? a forthcoming book by Daniel R. Heimbach, Professor of Christian Ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.