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| Date: From: Subject: | 10/27/2004 4:43:21 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Utah--Vote "Yes" on Amendment 3 |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== October 27, 2004 Utah--Vote "Yes" on Amendment 3 Dear HSLDA members and friends: Next week voters will decide whether to amend the Utah Constitution to define marriage. I write to explain why this issue is so important to our long-term freedoms. Homeschooling is legal in America because the Supreme Court ruled, in 1925, that "the child is not the mere creature of the state." In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925), the United States Supreme Court struck down an Oregon law that would have abolished all private schools. That case limited state power over families. In that case, and in subsequent cases, the Supreme Court has upheld the fundamental rights of parents on the basis of the unique status of marriage and the family in Western Civilization. Our homeschool freedoms are based on that legal foundation. The Supreme Court recognized a fundamental human right in the Pierce case, but it did not create it. Parental rights are not a gift from the state, but from God, who alone can give the gift of life to parents. When a man and a woman pledge their lives to one another in marriage, they create a family government. Each child born to that couple comes under the loving control of those parents, who have the duty and high obligation to prepare those children for their future. When the state invades the family unit, it profanes a sacred space. If we allow state court judges to undermine the family through marriage alternatives, the uniquely protected constitutional status of the family will be forever lost. The state can invade the family unit by kicking down your door and taking your child away, but it can invade the family by trying to redefine marriage, too. Marriage between one man and one woman existed before Utah was a state; before America was a nation; before democracy was a viable form of government. Marriage was not created by the state, and it cannot be redefined by the Legislature. Some argue that Amendment 3 gives the state too much power over marriage. They say the state should not be involved in making any laws affecting marriage. This novel argument has no precedent in American law. States may not change marriage, but they should uphold it. Marriage is like human life, in this respect: no government official can create a life, but every government official should protect it. It is up to you to keep it that way! Unfortunately, judges all across America are using the power of the bench to create alternatives to marriage, which necessarily reduce parental rights. The judicial elites are ready to reject the American model of the nuclear family unless "we the people" rise up to stop them. A "yes" vote on amendment 3 upholds marriage. A "no" vote lets the government redefine the family at will. Please vote "yes" on amendment 3! Sincerely, Scott W. Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What do you look like when you get out of bed? It's hard to look our best all the time. HSLDA works to present homeschooling in an engaging, dynamic, and informative light to the public news media. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1104 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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