"Moral values" became a positive affirmation of the institution of marriage against its hitherto relentlessly successful same-sex lobby. This was a way to protest the self-congratulatory "coming out" from marriages for same-sex partners and the encouragement and praise for those "coming out" in prep schools, colleges and churches, said Episcopal Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison (SC ret.)

Noting Michel Foucault's observation: "The sodomite has been a temporary aberration; the homosexual is now a species," Allison said one of the sad casualties of the current conflict is the loss of any "thorn-in-the-flesh" category that one can see in the remarkably creative lives of Bishop Stephen Neill, the poet W. H. Auden, the playwright Julian Green, and perhaps Dag Hammarskjold, auth or Markings.

The emergence of the "values voter" is the most significant political development this year and the place to see it at work was in Ohio, where values trumped perceived economic self interest, said Republican activist and orthodox Episcopalian Colin Hanna, a member of Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA.

"Gay marriage has been stomped on in 12 states and in Ohio. The Marriage Defense Amendment was a catalyst to mobilize the evangelical base. We met with 1000 pastors during the last week of June and the last week of October. We led "Let Freedom Ring" pastor polling briefings," said Hanna who is president of Let Freedom Ring Inc., a public policy non-profit organization promoting a conservative agenda.

"We were encouraging them to stand up and lead their congregations to looking above the issues level to the values level. Many treat "issues" as the highest level. It is not true. It is the middle level. The highest level is the values level that brought about demographic changes" said Hanna.

Marte Moss-Coane, NPR radio personality acknowledged as much on morning radio saying that "moral values" and "gay marriage" were paramount in the minds of most Americans across the great Mid-West and South.

Clearly millions of America's evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics carried the day for Bush, recognizing that if the moral crisis America faces is not stopped, this country will head in the same direction as the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

The constitutional ban on same-sex marriage swept the country as a defining issue. If this is not a wake up call to the Episcopal Church's revisionist bishops, its pansexual priests and its lesbitransgay agenda then they deserve to lose the church. The laity are always more conservative than the leadership.

"It's a democratic tidal wave for marriage," said Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, (AFM) one of the leading advocacy groups pushing to amend the Constitution.

But eleven states approved state Defense of Marriage (DOMA) initiatives on the ballot, with several in key battleground states, such as Ohio, Michigan, and Arkansas, said the Alliance.

"The state DOMA victories are a prelude to the real battle," said Daniels. "America will soon be hit by a wave of lawsuits intended to strike down marriage in different states across the country -- even states like Ohio, Michigan, and Arkansas where voters approved state DOMA initiatives on Election Day."

"In fact, a federal lawsuit has already been filed in U.S. District Court seeking to declare the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional," Daniels said. "Smelt v. Orange County asks the Court to declare the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California marriage law to violate Due Process, Equal Protection, the Right to Privacy, and Full Faith and Credit under the U.S. Constitution."

"Ultimately, only our Federal Marriage Amendment will protect marriage -- while leaving all issues of benefits to the democratic process in the states," Daniels said. "AFM believes this centrist approach embodied in our amendment offers hope of a democratic solution to the debate that will be forced on America as a result of activist judges." "The constitutional problem created by almost a decade of activist lawsuits to destroy our marriage laws demands a constitutional fix," Daniels said. The Alliance for Marriage drafted the Federal Marriage Amendment, won President Bush's endorsement, and successfully spearheaded votes in both Houses of Congress this year, holding every member of Congress accountable to voters in an election year.

Advocates on both sides of the issue expected that the measure would pass in all states with the possible exception of Oregon, where it was the subject of a heavy media blitz by gay-rights groups.

But gay-rights supporters said court challenges to the state amendments were inevitable on a variety of procedural or equal-protection grounds. And, they added, those state court battles will set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the issue.

In Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi, gay-rights activists were already considering court challenges.

George W Bush has said he is seeking to change the US constitution to specify that marriage can only take place between a man and a woman.

San Francisco became the first place in the US earlier this year where gay couples were able marry. But California's Supreme Court in August annulled about 4,000 gay marriages that took place in the city. Massachusetts also signed on to gay marriage with support from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and its Bishop Tom Shaw. Missouri in the summer voted overwhelmingly to ban gay marriage.

Of encouragement to Christians was that even the most cynical, liberal-biased commentators are admitting that a major factor in the Republican victories was the strength of the evangelical Christian vote. This statement is occurring again and again: President Bush won on the "values issue."

But remaining issues are still of importance to Christians. They include not only the Marriage issue, but preventing public opinion from being shaped by the views of a few liberal judges. Preserving the Sanctity of Life is a hot button issue through government legalized abortion at the current rate of 3,000 per day with the goal of a more balanced Supreme Court to overturn the disastrous Roe v. Wade decision, which goes to the heart of outlawing the trend toward human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research, for which no medical necessity or benefit has been demonstrated.

Protecting Human Rights and bringing a halt to "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide" in the Sudan, including the increasing traffic in slavery for sex exploitation between nations, and the spread of AIDS throughout the world.

The Defense of Religious Liberty which deals with the "Persecuted Church" is no longer just a fact of life in Africa, India and the Orient -- it has spread throughout the world to as many as 30 nations where the minority Christian church is experiencing unbelievably destructive persecution, often with no hindrance from the ruling government, and with no protection for believing Christians.

The increasing threat of secularism is seen by many as the traditional rights of Christians being taken away by organized opponents of religion such as the ACLU, and court action through new "religious hate" laws which is being viewed as impeding the right to pray, to worship and to preach from the Bible.

Second tier issues like the war in Iraq, the conflict with terrorism, the need for improvement in health insurance coverage without inviting the failures of national health plans in Great Britain and European countries, and in Canada, the need to improve the Social Security system, strengthening the economy are also very important, but those broader issues are different from the more religious, spiritual issues, which are of prime concern to Christians.

"It is to be hoped that this political triumph of 'moral values' may herald some cultural protest against the mindless lobby that is proving to be no real friend to people in same-sex relationships," concluded Allison.

NOTE: If you are not receiving this from VirtueOnline, the Anglican Communion's largest biblically orthodox Episcopal/Anglican Online News Service, then you may subscribe FREE by going to: www.VirtueOnline.org. VirtueOnline's website has been accessed by more than one million readers in 45 countries on six continents. This story is copyrighted but may be freely forwarded electronically with reference to VIRTUEONLINE.ORG and the author. No changes are permitted in the text.

END