To do what ought not to be done ...

The state editor for Blog Net News Oklahoma recently opined:

First of all, there is no such thing as "Judeo-Christian values." That's a phrase made up by certain Christians who want to feel better about thrusting their supposed moral superiority on the world. They throw "Judeo" into their "values" so as not to seem exclusivist. The truth is that the phrase "Judeo-Christian Values" is code for homophobia and religious discrimination.

He then continues to spew truly hateful speech about citizens who hold traditional Christian values for several more paragraphs. The rhetoric is so inflammatory that were the situations reversed and a Christian public official uttered it, they might be demoted from their position or hounded from public office.

But, it is the sheer ignorance of this statement that astounds me most. To say that there is no such thing as Judaeo Christian values is to display such profound ignorance of history, western culture and the law that only a quasi-Marxist, post modern university could have produced it. This level of ignorance cannot be produced by simply a lack of learning but must instead be instilled by such rebellion against the very nature of fact and reason that it blinds the hearer to the reality surrounding them.

At the time of the American Revolution, the English Common Law was already the law of the land. It was the law of the courts of the Colonies and most of the states have adopted it in one form or another as has Oklahoma in 12 O.S. 2002 as explained by the Oklahoma Supreme Court here: "The common law supplements our statutes. It remains in full force unless it is clearly and expressly modified or abrogated by our constitution or by statute."2 Silver v. Slusher 1988 OK 53. This of course begs the question, what was/is the English Common Law? At the time of the revolution and for a hundred years thereafter, the most authoritative text on the English Common Law was Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England which states:

MAN, confidered as a creature, muft neceffarily be fubject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. A being, independent of any other, has no rule to purfue, but fuch as he prefcribes to himfelf; but a ftate of dependance will inevitably oblige the inferior to take the will of him, on whom he depends, as the rule of his conduct: not indeed in every particular, but in all thofe points wherein his dependance confifts. This principle therefore has more or lefs extent and effect, in proportion as the fuperiority of the one and the dependance of the other is greater or lefs, abfolute or limited. And confequently as man depends abfolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is neceffary that he fhould in all points conform to his maker's will. This will of his maker is called the law of nature...

THIS law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himfelf, is of courfe fuperior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and fuch of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.

This natural law has been with us in codified form since at least the time of Moses. Justinian recognized it, " The laws of nature, which all nations observe alike, being established by a divine providence, remain ever fixed and immutable."

From Roman times through the Middle Ages and beyond, the natural law remained as civilizations rose and crumbled. "This true law is diffused among all men, is immutable and eternal. To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege" (Cicero). This "divine and natural" law and is expressed in the Ten Commandments. The law is "natural" because reason (which decrees it) belongs to human nature. "These rules are written in the book of that light which we call truth and are imprinted on the heart of man as a seal upon wax" (St. Augustine). "Natural law is the light of understanding placed in us by God through which we know what we must do and what we must avoid" (St. Augustine).

A thinking lawyer cannot read the books of the Mosaic law (the Torah) without smiling as he finds the elements of modern statutory law, everything from homicide to trespass and a lot in between. I used to preach a sermon where I compared passages from Leviticus and Deuteronomy to citations from the Oklahoma Statutes and let the congregation make up their own mind where the latter came from.

In the end, this profound, blinding ignorance and the hate that must surely follow it springs from the ultimate rebellion of man against not only his Maker but also against the very nature He created even to the nature of their own being. Unable to avoid the physical attributes of the natural law, they rail instead against its moral component, seeking to justify unnatural moral depravity by equally unnatural human law as is described by Scalia in his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas:

The Texas statute undeniably seeks to further the belief of its citizens that certain forms of sexual behavior are “immoral and unacceptable,” Bowers, supra, at 196–the same interest furthered by criminal laws against fornication, bigamy, adultery, adult incest, bestiality, and obscenity. Bowers held that this was a legitimate state interest. The Court today reaches the opposite conclusion. The Texas statute, it says, “furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual,” ante, at 18 (emphasis addded). The Court embraces instead Justice Stevens’ declaration in his Bowers dissent, that “the fact that the governing majority in a State has traditionally viewed a particular practice as immoral is not a sufficient reason for upholding a law prohibiting the practice,” ante, at 17. This effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation. If, as the Court asserts, the promotion of majoritarian sexual morality is not even a legitimate state interest, none of the above-mentioned laws can survive rational-basis review.

And that is the goal of people such as this. Not to live quietly. Not to privately practice their "lifestyle choices" behind closed doors, but rather to overthrow by force of law the moral sentiments of the majority and then punish and ruin anyone who dares disagree with them. This is not freedom for a minority but rather oppression of the majority and there is a word for that, tyranny.

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18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:18-31.