U.S. unraveling, morally | Myrtle Beach Sun News

A nation that does not see in law a right to life for its unborn children and a court that allows more than 50 million of them to be killed, claiming a nonexistent "penumbra" in the Constitution, is not about to acquire a moral -- much less a constitutional -- backbone when it comes to same-sex "marriage."

The decision by a single, openly gay federal judge to strike down the will of 7 million Californians, tradition dating back millennia is judicial vigilantism equal to Roe vs. Wade.

As this case proceeds through appeals courts, to think another federal judge, one Justice Anthony Kennedy, could be the deciding vote on a divided Supreme Court, recalls the power Julius Caesar had over gladiators in the Roman Colosseum.

Their fate was ultimately determined when the emperor turned his thumb up or down. At least Caesar, on occasion, was responsive to public opinion. Today, too many federal judges act more like dictators when it comes to the law.

Most great powers unravel from within before invading armies (or in America's case, terrorists) conquer them. A preacher might develop a good sermon on how nations fare when they mock God.

No less a theological thinker than Abraham Lincoln concluded that our Civil War might have been God's judgment for America's toleration of slavery. If that were so, why should "the Almighty," as Lincoln frequently referred to God, stay His hand in the face of our celebration of same-sex marriage?

There is more than one way to experience bankruptcy. America under the Obama administration is on the verge of economic insolvency, and now Judge Vaughn Walker has joined a conga line of similarly activist judges who are accelerating us down the path to destruction.

We have been spiraling downward for some time, beginning in the '50s with the Playboy philosophy that gave men permission to avoid the bonds of marriage if they wanted to have sex. In rapid succession came the birth control pill (sex without biological consequences), "no-fault divorce" (nullifying "until death us do part"), cohabitation, easily available pornography, and a tolerance for just about anything except those who deem something intolerable. Such persons are now labeled "bigots" when once they were thought to be pillars of society.

A nation that loses its moral sense is a nation without any sense at all. Muslim fanatics who wish to destroy us are correct in their diagnosis of our moral rot: loss of a fear of God, immodesty, especially among women, materialism and much more. While their solution -- Sharia law -- is wrong, they are not wrong about what ails us.

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese tells me, "There was absolutely no knowledge, rumor or suspicion" of Vaughn Walker being a homosexual at the time of his nomination by Ronald Reagan. But if it had not been Walker, it would have been another judge, because America's problem is not entirely at the top; rather it is mostly at the bottom. What we tolerate, we get more of, and we have been tolerating a lot since the Age of Aquarius generation began the systematic destruction of what past generations believed they had sacrificed, fought and died to protect.

None of this should surprise anyone who takes the time to read and understand what happens to people and nations that disregard God. A Google search provides numerous examples for the biblically illiterate.

Two in particular stand out: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint," which is paraphrased in The Living Bible, "When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild." (Proverbs 29:18); and "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." (Judges 21:25)

Contact Thomas, a syndicated columnist, at tmseditors@tribune.com.