Ysacc Submission

Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation

PO Box 5576 Cape Town 8000

The Chairperson, Home Affairs Portfolio Committee, National Assembly, P O Box 15, Cape Town, 8000

Submission re: Civil Unions Bill Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation vehemently opposes the proposed Civil Unions Bill 26 - 2006 that will effectively grant marriage rights to same-sex couples, as well as any legislation that seeks to grant same-sex unions legal recognition of any sort. We also oppose “civil unions” legislation that favour cohabitation, or in any other way undermines the traditional understanding of marriage as being a union exclusively between a man and a woman, within the sacred bonds of what is currently understood to be Marriage properly speaking. It is self evident that such legislation would inevitably replace the traditional concept of marriage with a definition that contradicts and opposes the currently-held definition of Marriage, and in so doing, necessarily destroy it completely, as two opposing definitions of marriage cannot endure side by side. This being the case, it then also becomes evident that such legislation, and any supporting legislation, would cause a clash in society between those in the vast majority who hold as sacred that union between a man and a woman that is Marriage, and those in the tiny minority who are the protagonists of this new pro-homosexual legislation so opposed to the institution of Marriage and traditional family. Some might argue that it is not in the intention of either the pro same-sex “marriage” lobby or the legislators to weaken or destroy marriage, or cause any such clash, or that such an analysis or prognosis is too pessimistic. Regardless of such intentions or their absence, it is an undeniable reality that these consequences are inevitable, despite any such party’s best intentions, which can only be based on ignorance or extreme naïveté, as the facts that are unfolding internationally around this issue prove otherwise. Indeed, with daily, growing evidence from events in countries and regions where prohomosexual legislation has been enacted, it is becoming ever more clear, with penalties and even arrests, that the result of such legislation increasingly prejudices those who strive to uphold traditional morals in society, including those morals that govern sexuality and its proper place within the bonds of Marriage. Not least among those prejudiced and persecuted is the Church, whose position comes increasingly into conflict with such illegitimate laws, as the State creates conditions that can only, and will inevitably, lead to a real persecution of all individuals and institutions whose consciences do not allow them to accept such legislation in any form. Submission re: Civil Unions Bill Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation Contact: DAVID NASH Tel. (021) 531-0420 Em@il: [email protected]

Will we see the beginning of an open persecution against an institution that, in spite of some failings of a small percentage of its human members over time, has nevertheless provided society universally for centuries with self-sacrificing souls that have laboured with charity to care for the sick, the dying, and the orphaned, and has educated and formed young minds to be good, upright and moral members of that society? (Need we mention that the greatest caregiver to Aids patients, after the State, is the Catholic Church?) These laws could, and probably will, quickly begin to encroach on present rights now enjoyed and presumed sacrosanct – even those of parents over their children, such as when, for instance, schools begin to implement educational policies that expose children to the homosexual lifestyle - in conformity with laws like the proposed bill – and parents are denied the right to keep their children from such influences or classes in the school. This type of thing is already happening in other countries. Who can say it will not happen in South Africa? This clearly demonstrates the potential, even real tendency, for these laws to create a tyranny of the homosexual culture over all of society. Those that warn against it are labelled “homophobes” or censured for “hate speech” – for merely trying to adhere to the norms and customs of 99% of humankind for 99% of our history. Naïve efforts on the part of those who may try to curb these disastrous effects while still facilitating pro-homosexual legislation may only briefly postpone the inevitable conflict, where the conclusion of such a clash is inescapable. It is indisputable that the promotion of the idea of homosexual marriage is part of a political agenda (“Defending a Higher Law” - American TFP), on the part of highly politicised and radical homosexual groups operating in various countries, one that has not excluded activist judges, who have circumvented the due democratic processes that they themselves would most likely have adamantly enforced had it benefited their particular ideology. This fact has not escaped the attention of even the general public, who are increasingly perplexed at an apparent growing dictatorship of an ideology opposed to the most common and long held traditions of the peoples. Perhaps this can be most acutely observed on our own beloved continent, Africa. It is also undeniable that, while we have no desire to see people of homosexual tendency being in any way unfairly treated or discriminated against, the common sense and natural disposition of the vast majority of the population is to completely reject the very idea of same-sex “marriage”. (We are in the process of collecting thousands of signatures supporting traditional Marriage and opposing same-sex “marriage” – to compliment thousands already collected.) If the government or parliament of the country merely facilitates such a judicial decision, pretending to have no choice, especially when it is clearly and expressly against the will of the people they claim to represent, they could not possibly escape the very same attention of the public who will see them as either: – lacking power and will, subjecting themselves to a judiciary which now replaces both the legislative and executive powers with their own; – or complicit with that same ideology that is dictating to them policies the people reject with vigour. Submission re: Civil Unions Bill Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation Contact: DAVID NASH Tel. (021) 531-0420 Em@il: [email protected]

Every organisation and individual that brings their concerns to the Public Hearings, or the attention of parliament or government, will point out that to undermine Marriage is to undermine (and eventually destroy) the very foundation of society – the FAMILY. This is so obvious it would seem ridiculous to mention it, were it not that we face the absurdity of the proposed legislation. In the words of the most prominent philosopher of Christendom, St. Thomas Aquinas, marriage “…consists in a certain inseparable union of souls, by which husband and wife are pledged by a bond of mutual affection that cannot be sundered. And the end of matrimony is the begetting and upbringing of children; the first of which is attained by conjugal intercourse; the second by the other duties of husband and wife, by which they help one another in rearing their offspring. This concept has been the blueprint of marriage in the Western world since the even before the official advent of Christian Civilisation. In recent decades, however, Marriage has suffered its most acute attacks in liberalised legislation, and as a direct consequence the family institution has suffered enormously. With divorce made easily available broken homes increased sharply. Since children from broken homes more easily cohabitate, young people are the most likely to be in live-in relationships, and there is an increased likelihood of the marriage ending in divorce if preceded by cohabitation. Research in a number of countries have found a correlation between the falling away of the traditional Christian concept of marriage and family, and the increase of social ills: early teenage smoking, drug use, alcohol abuse, increased teenage pregnancies, abortions, youth suicide and needless to say, further along, crime. In many places, lack of family structure is now a primary indicator for youth crime. Countries where full homosexual marriage rights have been granted, marriage and normal family structures have suffered even further Since there is a clear correlation between the breakdown of the family & the increase of social evils, does South Africa want to further increase our pandemic crime rate by destroying the family even further with the legalisation of same-sex “marriage”? And yet we see the perhaps more imminent, very real danger, simultaneously within the leap toward the destruction of Marriage and the Family, as this veritable clash of civilisations that such a move will necessarily precipitate – between a Civilisation of order and structure in the traditional family that has served humankind’s survival and prosperity from its origins, – and a “civilisation” of a sort of chaos of pseudo-family and pseudo “marriage”. This is an element that cannot be ignored, and indeed, needs to immediately be weighed in the considerations before us. Those in authority in our society, who now have to decide and act on this matter, have a tremendous responsibility. On their shoulders rests the fate of the nation facing an exceedingly grave situation – one that if ill considered will lead to consequences that for the first time in our history will cause a destruction in our society worse than could have ever been contemplated in the darkest days of the apartheid era or even the possibility of any civil war we may have faced. Submission re: Civil Unions Bill Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation Contact: DAVID NASH Tel. (021) 531-0420 Em@il: [email protected]

Though this destruction might be slower-paced, the effect will be much more profound and much longer lasting, to the point of virtual irreversibility. Thus, we stand at a crossroads in our nations history. Those to whom this decision falls, will either uphold the traditional understanding of Marriage in Natural Law, as is their sacred obligation for the good of society, which we pray they do, or they will demolish Marriage, and with it Family and Society in a fulminating blow through this proposed legislation. Deciding well or badly, they will face the judgement of God and of History, and of generations of South Africans, for decades or centuries to come. *

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1. The State, whose solemn duty it is to legislate and govern for the good of society, would be failing in its responsibility if it were to ignore all the evidence of human history, reason, and current international events, to not legislate in favour of traditional Marriage. Therefore, to do their utmost to protect the society they govern and for which they are responsible, by protecting the family, through protecting the most natural and sacred institution of Marriage, we call on the authorities to take the most necessary action of changing the constitution to read, as was it’s original understanding when drafted, that: The Constitution shall be interpreted to mean that a marriage is the voluntary union between a man and a woman only. 2. Moreover, for an issue of such seriousness and intense public interest, due to the easily demonstrable confusion with the changes and lack of proper organisation of the public hearings thus far, coupled with unreasonable time-constraints, we call for an extension on the deadline for this legislation.

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Contact: DAVID NASH

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Tel. (021) 531-0420 Em@il: [email protected]

Submission re: Civil Unions Bill Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation Contact: DAVID NASH Tel. (021) 531-0420 Em@il: [email protected]