In the aftermath of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision making same-sex marriage the law of the land and with the 2016 elections looming, social conservatives will be headed to Orlando in July to plan their next steps.
On Tuesday, prominent social and religious conservative leader John Stemberger announced the “Florida Renewal Project Pastors Conference” and a campaign training session will be held in Orlando on July 9-10.
“This will be a great time of equipping, motivation, renewing and training for church leaders as we step into the future given to us [by] the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on marriage which will have widespread implications for the church," Stemberger, the president of the Florida Family Policy Council, noted on Tuesday.
The events will be featuring some leading national conservatives including former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., who is currently making a second bid for the Republican presidential nomination; talk-show host Dennis Prager; David Brody from CBN News; and former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen, R-Ohio.
Huckabee and Stemberger were sharply critical of the Supreme Court decision striking down same-sex marriage bans across the nation.
"The Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do -- redefine marriage,” Huckabee said after last week’s decision. “I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat.
"This ruling is not about marriage equality, it's about marriage redefinition,” Huckabee added. “This irrational, unconstitutional rejection of the expressed will of the people in over 30 states will prove to be one of the court's most disastrous decisions, and they have had many. The only outcome worse than this flawed, failed decision would be for the president and Congress, two co-equal branches of government, to surrender in the face of this out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny.
"The Supreme Court can no more repeal the laws of nature and nature's God on marriage than it can the laws of gravity,” Huckabee insisted. “Under our Constitution, the court cannot write a law, even though some cowardly politicians will wave the white flag and accept it without realizing that they are failing their sworn duty to reject abuses from the court. If accepted by Congress and this president, this decision will be a serious blow to religious liberty, which is the heart of the First Amendment."
Huckabee is scheduled to be in Iowa this week, which he carried in his 2008 presidential bid, as part of his "Religious Liberty Townhall Tour.”
Stemberger was also critical of the decision, running an essay against it which appeared in Sunshine State News on Friday.
“This sad day in history will forever reflect that the highest court of our land ignored the rule of law and the will of 51 million people in over 38 states in an illegitimate act of raw judicial power and arrogance,” Stemberger wrote. “Though countless millions of U.S. voters have defined marriage as between a man and a woman through the legitimate democratic process, a handful of judges in one decision today has disenfranchised them. The court deliberately ignored the plain meaning and legal history behind the Constitution and foolishly disregarded what is self-evident in biology, logic and the collective wisdom of human history.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
