The battle lines have been drawn between those who adhere to the traditions of Judeo-Christian religion and those who seek to undermine them, and the line in the sand is the issue of gay marriage.

Pope Benedict XVI has thrown down the gauntlet in a speech he made earlier this week:

In the fight for the family, the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question. The question of the family … is the question of what it means to be a man, and what it is necessary to do to be true men. (The defense of the family)  … is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears.

The Pope referred to the writings of French Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim:

Bernheim has shown in a very detailed and profoundly moving study that the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper.

He spoke of the “falseness of gender theories,” noting Simone de Beauvoir’s view that women are not born with a certain gender but become women later on. That gender was not biological but socially developed, the thinking goes. Benedict retorts, “The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious.”

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s newspaper asserted backing gay marriage was based on belief in a communist-like “utopia.” 

In Great Britain, where the Culture Secretary announced last week same-sex couples could marry, Joseph Devine, the Bishop of Motherwell, condemned Prime Minister David Cameron for backing gay marriage with “indecent haste” and refusing to back Christians who want to address the European Court of Human Rights about their right to wear a cross:

You vacillate, ambivalent about the role you wish to perform – the disciple of David or Nero … With such a contradiction between your statements and actions, on what basis can you expect anyone – Christians in particular – to trust or respect you? I suspect it is only a matter of time before you go one step further and outlaw the teaching of Christian doctrine on sexual morality on the grounds of discrimination … So far as the Roman Catholic Church … is concerned, you are out of your depth. We will take no finger-prodding lectures from anyone or any group devoid of moral competence.

It isn’t only the institution of the Church going after Cameron; almost 60 members of the Commons and Lords wrote a letter charging Cameron’s coalition with acting without a mandate. This is the beginning of a campaign to combat the approval of gay marriage; almost half the parliamentary party, 137 MPs, will vote against it. The letter stated:

At the last election, none of the three main parties stood on a platform to redefine marriage. It was not contained in any of their manifestos, nor did it feature in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. These facts alone should have led to extreme caution on the part of those calling for this change to be made. Instead the Government is ignoring the overwhelming public response against the plans. The consultation has ignored the views of 500,000 British residents in favour of anonymous submissions from anyone anywhere in the world. We believe that the Government does not have a mandate to redefine marriage.

The leader of the movement opposing same-sex marriage, David Burrowes, the Tory MP for Enfield, has received death threats. He has spoken of allies of his receiving “Orwellian” treatment; Adrian Smith, the housing trust official from Trafford, lost his job when he posted his views supporting traditional marriage on Facebook.

There is little doubt that the issue of gay marriage threatens the Judeo-Christian tradition of the West. There is also little doubt that proponents of gay marriage, in their desire to tear down that tradition, will use any and all means to achieve their goals.

As the Pope has clearly indicated, the lines have been drawn.