Washington, D.C., July 12, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a recent radio address, President Bush strongly urged the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate “to pass, and send to the states for ratification, an amendment that defines marriage in the United States as a union of a man and woman as husband and wife.” He insisted that “American democracy, not court orders, should decide the future of marriage in America.” Decrying judicial activism, Bush said that “When judges insist on imposing their arbitrary will on the people, the only alternative left to the people is an amendment to the Constitution - the only law a court cannot overturn. A constitutional amendment should never be undertaken lightly - yet to defend marriage, our nation has no other choice.” Bush explained that the activism of some judges would likely lead to the striking down of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman and declared that no state is required to accept another’s definition of marriage. Bush emphasized the importance of the amendment saying, “If our laws teach that marriage is the sacred commitment of a man and a woman, the basis of an orderly society, and the defining promise of a life, that strengthens the institution of marriage. If courts create their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract, and cut marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots, then the meaning of marriage is lost, and the institution weekend.”
See the text of the President’s Address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040710.html tv