Advice from Princeton Professor Robert George on the Marriage Debate

"I’m not a Hegelian or a Marxist. I do not believe in historical inevitability. History is impersonal and contingent. The future will be determined, for better or worse, by the free choices and actions of human beings. No good cause is permanently lost. So my advice to supporters of marriage is to stay the course. Do not be discouraged. Do what the pro-life movement did when, in the 1970s, critics said, “The game is over; you lost; in a few years abortion will be socially accepted and fully integrated into American life; it won’t even be an issue in our politics.” Keep bearing witness and making good arguments. Speak the truth in season and out of season. Do not allow yourselves be intimidated or bullied into acquiescence or silence. Keep challenging the arguments of your opponents, always with civility, always in a gracious and loving spirit, but firmly. If you are told that you are on “the wrong side of history,” remember that there is no such thing. History is not a deity that sits in judgment. It has no power to determine what is true or false, good or bad, right or wrong. History doesn’t have “wrong” and “right” sides. Truth does. So my message to everyone is that our overriding concern should be to be on the right side of truth. And that requires a willingness to think as rigorously as possible and to carefully, dispassionately, and fearlessly consider the strength of the arguments advanced in support of the competing positions. We ask nothing more — but also nothing less."

Robert George is a collaborating author of "What Is Marriage?"

HT: Rev. Professor Peter Scaer