Two Court Cases and Their Consequences

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW5794668 BCX4"> <p><span data-contrast="none">This week is the anniversary of two dark and pivotal cases in U.S. Supreme Court history. In June 2013, the high court ruled in</span> <a href= "https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-v-Windsor"><em><span data-contrast="none"> United States v. Windsor</span></em></a> <span data-contrast= "none">that the</span> <a href= "https://www.britannica.com/topic/Defense-of-Marriage-Act"><span data-contrast="none"> Defense of Marriage Act</span></a> <span data-contrast="none">of 1996 violated Due Process. This essentially made the 2015</span> <a href= "https://www.britannica.com/event/Obergefell-v-Hodges"><em><span data-contrast="none"> Obergefell v. Hodges</span></em></a> <span data-contrast= "none">judgment, which redefined millennia of law on marriage, inevitable.</span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Justice Anthony Kennedy unwittingly defined our chaotic age in the majority opinion for</span> <em><span data-contrast="none">Obergefell</span></em> <span data-contrast="none">when</span> <a href= "https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165obergefell.html"><span data-contrast="none"> he declared</span></a><span data-contrast="none">, “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity.” </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">This idea—that people can freely craft their identity independent from nature, science, and reality—is behind so much of the moral confusion of the last few years. But it has certainly not led to the “liberty” that Justice Kennedy promised. This is the opportunity for Christians to point not only to an abstract moral position, but to reality itself and to the God who made it.</span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739"