Press Release 6 May 2004

“Political Fallout” if Civil Union Bill and Omnibus Bill Proceed

The Society predicts that there will be massive political fallout if the Civil Union Bill and the Recognition of Relationships Bill (also referred to as the Omnibus Bill), which the Labour-led Government is planning to shortly introduce into Parliament, proceeds to the select committee stage and beyond.

It believes that most New Zealanders want the bills decisively junked and would rather see Parliament focus on critical social issues such as: assisting the economic plight of struggling lower and middle class families and their children, the breakdown in law and order, hospital waiting lists, illiteracy and declining educational standards and the crisis in student debts etc.

Associate Justice Minister, David Benson Pope, said recently that the legislation, dubbed the “gay marriage bill” by the United Future Party (which opposes it) would be tabled on May 13. However, today the Dominion-Post reported that a government spokesperson has confirmed that the bill has been delayed till the next session of Parliament due to the complexity of the bill and Parliament’s workload.

Society Vice-President, Graham Fox, describes the bills as “yet another Labour-led strategy to undermine the divinely created order of marriage. This strategy is driven by a secular humanist religious ideology where ‘Human Rights’ are seen as being paramount. A secular humanist must reject the idea of a divinely created order and attempt to replace it with the doctrine that man has evolved and is ultimately master of his own destiny.”

“Most opponents of the Civil Union Bill,” he says, “hold the philosophical position that man is a created being and as such, is subject to the order established by the Creator. Marriage, instituted at the beginning of the human family, involving one male and one female, has been practiced by all known cultures down through history.”

“At the heart of the Civil Union Bill controversy,” he argues, “is a debate over opposing worldviews - fundamental presuppositional belief systems that underpin explanations of the origin and nature of reality. They both have theories of origins that either encompass or reject the concept of a Creator.”

Since its inception the Society has held to fundamental beliefs tied to its objectives, which include:

To encourage self-respect and the dignity of the human person made in the image of God. (2) To promote recognition of the sanctity of human life and its preservation in all stages.

“Advances in scientific knowledge, particularly rapid advances in fields like biochemistry and DNA research,” says Fox, “have overwhelmingly shown that life was designed and could never have evolved. Consequently the Neo-Darwinist evolution theory on which secular humanists’ devaluation of marriage is based, should be rejected.”

To summarise, the Society holds:

That marriage is a divinely created order, established by the Creator.

Research proves marriage is the most stable, the strongest, and the most beneficial family structure, because it is an expression of the Creator’s intentions for human relationships.

Thus New Zealand law should continue to protect the special status of marriage –defined as involving one man and one woman - for the benefit of our society.

The Civil Union and Omnibus Bills should be junked at the first reading stage.

ENDS

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