Tens of thousands of Christians rallied at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., yesterday to support traditional marriage, with many calling for a national amendment to protect against homosexual activists who want to change its definition.
The rain-soaked crowd at the Mayday for Marriage heard speakers Gary Bauer of American Family Values, Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship, Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition, Alan Chambers of Exodus International, U.S. Senate candidate and former ambassador Alan Keyes, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash., and Dennis Rainey of FamilyLife.
Organizers said attenders came from across the country to voice support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex “marriage.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, the master of ceremonies urged supporters to “make the next 21 days intense days of prayer for this nation.”
Perkins also said Americans must return to the “understanding of the meaning of the covenant of marriage.”
Lapin encouraged the crowd to “remember marriage at the voting booth.”
Christians across the nation must “repent from the casual view of divorce” within the church and “say yes to marriage,” declared Rainey.
Bauer referred directly to the Democratic presidential candidate.
“Senator Kerry might be confused as to what marriage is, but we all know that marriage is between a man and a woman and no one else need apply!” Bauer said.
Dobson said, “We are not here for purposes of hate; we are not here to disparage anyone. We are here because we believe in the institution of marriage.”
“It is so important that we treat every human being with dignity and respect, even towards those who we feel have a destructive lifestyle,” he said.
Hutcherson, a former player for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, initiated the event after organizing a “Mayday for Marriage” rally with Dobson at Safeco Field in Seattle.
“I think that traditional marriage is under attack,” Hutcherson told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I think it’s an emergency situation. The church has to stand up.”
Hutcherson pastors a multi-racial church with 3,500 members.
The rally cost about $4 million, the paper said.
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