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by Fritz Spencer
Augusta -- Recently I got together with Mike
Heath, Executive Director of the League, for a candid Q&A session. Heath
has led the League as Executive Director since January 1994. At that time,
the homosexual rights movement was just beginning to succeed in its push
for statewide power. Since then, they suffered dramatic losses thanks to
the leadership of Mike Heath. Heath thought the League had no choice but
to confront their agenda. He persuaded the Board of the Christian Civic
League of Maine to make the issue their top priority in 1994, and it has
been at the top of their list ever since. As the issue is now the subject
of another major political battle, we thought it would be helpful to get
some insights from the forty-three year old father of three.
Q -- Mike, why do you do it? Despite your successes against the
homosexual rights movement, you have faced a tremendous amount of
opposition. Why do you stay in the fight?
First of all, I am very proud of the League. It is the only organization
which has the courage to tell the truth about sexual orientation. The
people of Maine should be very grateful for the League. It has
proactively carried its Christian convictions to the citizens. The
ministry has unapologetically confronted the so-called "gay" rights
movement. And it has been successful. At the same time, it has been
candid about its religious roots. Maine is not Maine without
Christianity. I don't know what America will look like without Christian
morality. No one does. There are , however, many people who are quite
willing to push us out into those uncharted waters. If we go there, Maine
will sink to the bottom like a rock. That is why I stay strong in this
battle. We have to.
Q – Could you give us a brief history of this issue?
In the late 1970’s Maine quietly erased our anti-sodomy law. The criminal
code was rewritten at the time and nobody took notice. We should have.
Homosexual activists started their drumbeat for homosexual rights. Their
bill went down to defeat ten times. In the early 1990s the League took
notice. We decided to confront them. In 1997 Governor King signed their
bill. It never became a law. We vetoed it in a historic peoples veto.
During the 1990s we said they were leading us toward same sex marriage.
They said we were lying. In 2000, the Legislature put the matter on the
ballot again, and Maine people rejected it again. These people are master
manipulators when they are in darkened corners and small rooms, but in the
light of public scrutiny they just wither away.
Q – That’s interesting. So where do you go from here? The Governor
wants to pass "gay" rights without consulting the people. What are you
going to do now?
Fortunately, the outcome isn’t up to me. It’s up to God. He seems to be
waking people up to what is really going on. The family is under attack.
The high ideal of marriage and sexual purity is being dragged through the
mud -and we know what the Bible says about this. Homosexuality is a sin
that arouses God’s anger in a special way. Eleven states voted
overwhelmingly against the radical approach of the homosexual rights
movement last November. I do see an erosion however, which is troubling.
In liberal states the vote was closer than in more conservative states.
The conservative states need to be vigilant. Unless they get active, the
onslaught of "progressive" and radically secular forces -- pagan really -
may prove overwhelming. About the only thing they aren't doing to
Bible-believing Christians is throwing them in jail. And that threat is
looming larger everyday. In Philadelphia, five Christians are now facing
forty-seven years in jail for witnessing to homosexuals on a public
street! I'm really concerned about the fact that many of our
highest ideals are disappearing from politics. We are becoming a nation
under man instead of a nation under God.
Q – After 9/11, many liberal commentators compared Christian
Fundamentalists, and the League in particular, to Osama Bin Laden and Al
Queda. What do you think about that?
Well, look, Bin Laden is a terrorist. That’s just a smear tactic used by
people who have run out of legitimate arguments. There is nothing worse
you can call a person, so it’s just an indication of how desperate some
people are to stop us. I feel sorry for such people, because they really
have no understanding of the Christian religion. The League works hard at
putting forward the plain, unvarnished truth. We don’t have any hidden
agenda. We base everything we say on the teachings of Christ – that’s why
we’re called the Christian Civic League. To borrow from Lincoln –“We don't
want God on our side - we want to be on His side.” We need to maintain
our humility. Having said that, I think it is incumbent on all Mainers to
take a stand publicly in accordance with their deeply-held moral
convictions. If you believe in abortion, then tell us how that fits in
with your religion or your worldview. If you think we should create a
society that honors homosexuality, then tell all of us how that is good
for our families, and how that squares with your own deeply held moral and
religious convictions. The problem with this debate is they’ve got us
talking “rights” when we should be talking about responsibilities. We have
the responsibility to raise strong and intact families and build a nation
under God. We need to get back to that – and the sooner the better.
Q – Does that mean that you want Maine to become a kind of theocracy, a
place where everyone is forced to obey your definition of what God wants?
Our money says “In God we trust.” We swear allegiance to our flag by
saying that we are “one nation under God.” America is part of the West –
which used to be called “Christendom” by the way. America grew up out of
Christendom, out of the west. I want what the founders wanted. I want a
Maine that is committed to high ideals. Maine will never establish a state
church, but Maine will forever honor the Ten Commandments. Maine must
always remain a place that honors the right of Christians, and people of
other faiths, to practice their free speech rights. And that means that
Maine must welcome candor about religious matters in her political and
public spaces. We have things exactly upside down when we are pushing
Christianity into the closet at the same time that we invite promiscuous
sex and homosexuality out of the closet. We have things backwards, I
think.
Q – So what do you think the Legislature will do? Will they add a
referendum amendment, or pass homosexual rights outright? Will they,
repeal DOMA, or pass the constitutional amendment, or enact same sex
marriage? What will they do?
Only God knows. I sure don’t. I just know that the camel has followed his
nose into the tent. At first, we thought that all homosexuals wanted was
for us to be nice to them when they wanted to rent from us, or work for
us. Now we know that they want more. They want us to accept a very
unreasonable way of thinking. They want us to really believe that
they can get “married” – and that homosexuality is a qualification for
them to raise kids. They really think that being homosexual qualifies them
to raise children. It is ridiculous really – it shows how far our society
has fallen. And kids are being hurt every day by this nonsense. I feel
like our society should finally stand up and tell them what I tell my boys
regularly . . . “would you please just grow up!”
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