The persecuted are now the persecutors.

Mormons, Latinos and African-Americans played a decisive role in the passage of Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage in California. These three groups have long been mocked or discriminated against. Yet they supported a constitutional amendment to impose legal restrictions on a minority group whose behavior has no direct impact on them.

Mitt Romney, a Mormon elected governor in one of the most progressive states in the country, was mocked for his faith outside the liberal northeast. Mormonism was called a cult, un-Christian and an affront to God by Republican evangelicals adamant in derailing his presidential ambitions. The Catholic Church also is condescending toward Mormonism, but institutionally it is polished, diplomatic and restrained in its disdain.

Because citizens democratically voted to approve a constitutional amendment doesn’t make it just. It is breathtaking that citizens of Thomas Paine’s republic actually believe that the “will of the people” makes something right. Think again. Oh, please, think again!

Adolf Hitler received more than 43 percent of the popular vote that led to his parliamentary election as chancellor of Germany in 1933. Two years later the Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship and Race were passed that denied Jews citizenship, property rights and dignity as children of the Creator. Not long thereafter they were sent to death camps to be “legally” exterminated.

Discrimination against Latinos and African-Americans remains a major moral challenge in the United States. Its legacy is long and dark.

 

In 1962, George Wallace became governor of Alabama in a landslide election. The democratically elected governor said in his inaugural, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” The line is attributed to a speechwriter with Klansman membership who detested Jews.

At one time the will of voting Americans also permitted the ownership of human beings.

Marriage remains an emotionally charged issue which may reflect, in part, the projections of heterosexual American society that has collectively failed at it. Affairs for married men and women exceed 30 percent. Fifty percent of all heterosexual marriages end in divorce. There are now businesses that match individuals with those looking to stray from marital vows.

Yet for some reason gay and lesbian marriages are a threat to the institution of heterosexual marriage. Heterosexuals opposed to same-sex marriage need look no further than their own group.

Why aren’t these advocates of traditional marriage calling for penalizing premarital sex, the criminalization of infidelity, requiring mandatory marital counseling, and making divorce more difficult to obtain? Is it easier to scapegoat the nation’s gay and lesbian minority than take responsibility?

Every denomination is responsible for its own spiritual definition of marriage. If there is to be a marriage in the eyes of God then it must be celebrated by a priest, rabbi, pastor or minister.

One of the limited roles of government in Thomas Paine’s republic is to guarantee equal rights for all its citizens. As Jesus prudently taught, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Supporters of Proposition 8 should remember that Pilate wanted to spare the life of Jesus. The crowd, however, repeatedly shouted “Let Him be crucified!” Pilate responded, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it.”

A member of the crowd shouted back, “we have a law and according to our law He ought to die.” Passage of Proposition 8 is the people’s will, but it is hardly just.

Bishop Paul Peter Jesep of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Schenectady, N.Y., is author of “Crucifying Jesus and Secularizing America ? the Republic of Faith without Wisdom.”