An Essay on: The Defense of Marriage Act

Here is the final of three essays I wrote for Patriot Academy, and for me, it was the hardest to write.  For, this is was only one that had to be a secular argument.  No Bible, no religion, no God allowed.  You see, I had the blessing of being born into a Christian family, and when I was two or three, accepting Jesus for myself.  Plus, I had the privilege of being homeschooled from pre-school through high school, so all of my studies were covered from a Christian worldview and not from the watered-down, politically correct, altered historically version taught in the public schools. I've always believed that God holds the answer to every question, knows the solution to every problem, and has advice for every circumstance.  So to leave him out of this one was quite the challenge, but like everything else I've had to do for Patriot Academy, it was a wonderful training opportunity.  It gave me a reason to formulate an argument that hopefully even an atheist would find feasible.

On the day I was going to hand in my registration, I found a loop hole in my argument.  One small loop hole that made my whole essay blow apart!  So, at the last minute I completely reformulated my argument and rewrote the entire essay.  It's far from my best writing, but at least I tried.

Destiny Palmer

5/11/13

Give a secular argument in favor of the “Defense of Marriage Act” – the bill that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. You may not quote or reference the Bible in this particular essay.

For thousands of years . . . in every culture . . . it has always taken a man and a woman to produce a child. This is simply a biological fact that can be recognized by law . . . called marriage. Marriage is a union, defined by both nature's law and positive law, of a man and a woman. From that union they create a larger unit called a family. The “Defense of Marriage Act” preserves the model of the American family.

Not only does it take a man and a woman to produce a child, but according to social science research, it is also the best possible environment for rearing a child. Children, girls and boys alike, need both male and female influences in their lives, as both genders of parents help them in different ways. It is important for boys to have a father to show him how to be masculine, but they also need their mother to teach them gentleness, manners, and to call out their masculinity. In the same fashion, girls need a mother to demonstrate the role she is to fill one day, and they need fathers to give them security, love, and to call out their femininity. This family model has been proven from the beginning of time to be the best.

The definition of marriage has been the same for thousand of years, just as the family model has always involved both a mother and a father from the beginning of time. You see, the “Defense of Marriage Act” is needed to preserve both. It doesn't just preserve the definition of marriage but it preserves the definition of family as well. The “Defense of Marriage Act”. . . . . Do it for the children!

This may seem silly, but I struggled with this one . . . a LOT!  I had to give a secular argument on an issue I'd always felt was, above all, a moral issue.  To me, marriage should be between a man and a woman because that is how God created it to be from the beginning of time and anything other than that was seen as an obomination to the Lord.  I mean, think about it, He distroyed a whole city for this complete and total sin and perversion.