Archbishop: Marriage Equality Was Satan's Creation

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul says marriage equality is a concept that came straight from Satan.

Archbishop John Nienstedt urged Minnesota's Catholics to reject marriage equality laws, but the state rejected a ballot measure for a marriage ban last November, and then the governor approved a bill to establish legal marriage rights for same-sex couples earlier this year. As the state started issuing marriage licenses to couples August 1, Nienstedt wrote in Legatus Magazine that the traditional family is now under attack.

"Today many evil forces have set their sights on the dissolution of marriage and the debasing of family life," he wrote. "Sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography, the redefinition of marriage, and the denial of objective truth are just some of the forces threatening the stability of our civilization. The source of these machinations is none other than the Father of Lies. Satan knows all too well the value that the family contributes to the fabric of a good solid society, as well as the future of God's work on earth."

According to The New Civil Rights Movement, Bob Shine and Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry said Nienstedt's "shrill rhetoric on marriage has not only been largely ineffective in preventing marriage equality laws, but it is also seen to be pastorally harmful. What bishops don't seem to realize is that many of their church members sincerely and conscientiously support marriage equality."