Bishop of Honolulu Larry Silva has called gay marriage the devil's
handiwork.
In an open letter to Roman Catholics in response to a proposal to
legalize such unions in Hawaii, Silva claims that limiting marriage
to heterosexual couples is “just discrimination.”
(Related: Hawaii's
Neil Abercrombie optimistic on passage of gay marriage bill.)
“To discriminate between heterosexual and same-sex couples
regarding marriage is not, despite the hype on the street, unjust
discrimination,” Silva
wrote.
“If same-sex couples are given the legal right to marry under
the pretense that discrimination that excludes them from marriage is
unjust, why would people who prefer several spouses at the same time
not be afforded the same right?” he rhetorically asked.
“Children will be the greatest casualties, in that they will be
deprived of being raised in a loving home by a mother and a father
who loves them and whose love cooperated with God's plan in creating
them. When children are deprived of such a home, there will be more
poverty, more social ills, more juvenile suicides, and more problems
than we can imagine.”
Silva goes on to suggest that the devil is behind marriage equality.
“The language of the proponents is meant to convince us that
this is a civil rights issue and that anyone who does not agree is
bigoted. Do not be led astray with such language, and do not allow
yourself to be bullied by it. Remember, Adam and Eve themselves fell
for the serpent's [Satan's representative in the Garden of Eden]
manipulative promise that they would be like gods, knowing good from
evil, if they just ate the fruit God had forbidden them to eat. The
fruit might have been tasty at the moment, but it ultimately brought
us all into a very sorry state.”