A Christian group is planning a 40-day
hunger strike with the aim of influencing the Supreme Court to uphold
state bans on gay marriage.
The “40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and
Repentance for Marriage” is being spearheaded by the Family
Foundation of Virginia, though the Christian conservative group is
calling on Family Policy Councils across the nation to join the
event.
“Our state and nation are mired in a
morass of confusion and post-modern thinking that does not believe in
absolutes nor that any truth can even be known,” the
group said. “Nowhere is this more evident than in the current
debate raging about what constitutes marriage. Pagan philosophies, a
secular humanist education establishment and an entertainment
industry that is absolutely determined in pushing the envelope on
decency and morality have all combined to turn this great land into a
country that our forefathers could not even begin to recognize.”
Next month, a federal appeals court
will review a lower court's ruling declaring invalid Virginia's
restrictive marriage ban.
This case joins similar challenges in
Utah and Oklahoma which have made their way to the appellate courts,
the last stop before the Supreme Court.
The group's 40-day fast ends on October
4, two days before the court opens its session.
“We fully expect [the Supreme Court]
to take a marriage case sometime in the next year,” the group
added. “In the natural, it looks like a David vs. Goliath battle.
The federal government, the news media, Hollywood, the public
education system and big business all are arrayed on the side of
same-sex 'marriage.' Only the church stands in support of God's
design for marriage.”
The Family Foundation of Virginia's
most recognizable leader is E.W. Jackson, who last year made an
unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor of Virginia and who has a
long history of opposing gay rights.
(Related: E.W.
Jackson denies saying gay people are “sick.”)