Marriage is God's business, Atlanta pastor says

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Christian Examiner) – Efforts by same-sex marriage activists to redefine marriage defy God, said Garland Hunt, an Atlanta-based Christian leader.

Hunt spoke Feb. 12 at the fifth annual Belonging and Rejection: The State of the Family in the United States, a talk sponsored by the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) and hosted by the Family Research Council.

The evening also included a 50-year comparison of Black families in 1965 and today, which honored the research of Patrick Daniel Moynihan.

"God created marriage; therefore, He's the only one who can define it," said Hunt, an attorney, past-president of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship and former executive pastor of The Father's House, a church in Norcross, Georgia.

During a Q&A that followed remarks by MARRI's director, Pat Fagan, Star Parker, conservative activist and founding president of CURE (Center for Urban Renewal and Education), and by Hunt, a question was asked about the Supreme Court's review of same-sex marriage.

"Contrary to popular opinion, actually the Supreme Court is not the final arbitrator," Hunt said. "We're lining up with [God,] the final arbitrator."

Hunt said even if the Supreme Court rules for same-sex marriage, it is up to Christians to stand up for what they believe.

"There is going to come a time where we have to decide what we believe, even if the court isn't saying it or the government isn't saying it; this is what we are saying," Hunt said. "We cannot compromise what we believe under any circumstance.

"It has to be a massive group of people together that determines we are going to stand together on it and marriage is one of those areas," the influential leader said. "God created marriage; therefore He is the only one who can define it."