Editor’s note: the following letter was sent by Rev. Ed Wheeler, pastor of Valley Bible Church in East Middlebury, to Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy in response to the U.S. House on July 19 passing the ‘Respect for Marriage Act,’ which would supercede the Defense of Marriage Act and every state law restricting gay marriage. For more information see today’s news report, “Welch backs U.S. gay marriage bill that lacks VT law’s protection for religion.”
To: Senators Sanders and Leahy
H. R. 8404 having passed the US House now comes before the US Senate as “The Respect for Marriage Act.” The purpose is “To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage, and for other purposes.”
The plans are already being laid to use this law to strip the tax exempt status of any church, synagogue, or other institution that maintains the belief that marriage should be defined as the union of “one man and one woman”. The next step will be to criminalize organizations and individuals who hold this view. Thousands of years of history and fervently held convictions of millions of Americans are to be overturned by legislative tyranny. Most importantly, this is an act in defiance of Almighty God in whom some of us still trust.
Laws like this only add to the cultural and moral chaos that is killing America and Americans. Suicide (22 veterans per day), drug addiction (more than 100,000 overdose deaths per year), divorce, mental illness, violent crime and other societal ills will only increase in the America you are shaping. Future generations of Americans will curse your weak and myopic leadership.
The enemies of America look with glee at reckless actions such as this. A morally weak America is an inherently weak target for defeat and occupation. The CCP in particular would never allow such chaos to be unleashed on their people. But for America to choose such a path makes it much easier for them to proceed with their plans of total world domination and even North American colonization.
The “Respect for Marriage Act” should be called the “Distain for Traditional Marriage Act”. Not an act of protection but of destruction.
You no doubt proudly regard yourselves to be on “The right side of history”. History is about the past so your vision is for a future time when this will be looked on with great satisfaction. It is my opinion that you will be known as the generation of leaders who led America to the dustbin of history. This failure of moral leadership will only be matched by your fiscal irresponsibility that has already given us more than $30,000,000,000,000 in national debt (soon to be more than $100,000 per person).
Yours sorrowfully,
Pastor Ed Wheeler, Middlebury, Vermont