"There are no winners, and the biggest losers are children in America who are the chief victims of the breakdown of marriage and family." -- Mark Tooley, IRD President

Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- Justices of the United States Supreme Court have recognized a Constitutional right to marriage between couples of the same sex. Ruling 5-4 in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, justices this morning overturned same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The ruling mandates that same-sex marriage be imposed in all 14 states that recognize marriage as exclusively a union between one man and one woman, while reaffirming the other states where courts have overturned state laws.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

"As in other infamous politicized rulings, the Supreme Court has chosen fashion over law. There are no winners, and the biggest losers are children in America who are the chief victims of the breakdown of marriage and family.

"As The Church has for 42 years rallied ongoing resistance to the court's Roe vs. Wade invention of a right to unrestricted abortion, so now The Church must resist the court's attempt to claim authority over the definition of marriage.

"The coming decades offer the opportunity for Christians and other traditionalists to help revive marriage and family as increasing numbers of Americans suffer the consequences of radical secularist assaults on both.

"Now is not the time for despair, retreat or anger. The court's arrogance should be mocked, and The Church should declare that, in a free society, appointed judges don't have power over what is eternally rooted in creation."

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