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Published: July 1, 2008

“Largest grass-roots campaign in California history”

San Diego minister seeks to unite churches in prayer and fasting as part of marriage amendment campaign, but so far few Catholic parishes have signed up

Pastor Jim Garlow of the 2,500-member Skyline Church in San Diego has a plan to propel a ballot initiative to protect traditional marriage to victory in November. Garlow’s plan includes not only networking with other churches in California, but prayer and fasting as well.

The goal of Garlow’s campaign, he told the June 26 Los Angeles Times, "is to create a climate, a culture of fasting and praying for our state." His plan includes calling a 40-day fasting period leading up to the November election, accompanied by 100 days of prayer. Garlow says he wants to fill Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego and other large venues throughout the state on the weekend before the election with people praying for the success of the marriage initiative.

The initiative, Proposition 8, would amend the state constitution “to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

On June 25, Garlow had a conference call meeting with more than 1,000 ministers from across the state to discuss strategy and to consider Garlow’s proposal for prayer and fasting. Lawyers and political consultants also participated. Initiative organizers say that the ministers involved in the conference call lead congregations that total more than 1 million people. A political analyst, Tony Quinn, told the Times that the pastors’ involvement could be significant. "This… could bring people to the polls that would not otherwise vote,” he said. “The churches can do that."

But opponents of the proposed amendment downplayed Garlow’s efforts. "There are certainly thousands of people of faith who are supportive of the freedom to marry," Kerry Chaplin, organizing director for California Faith for Equality, told the Times. CFE is a coalition representing more than 2,000 faith leaders and congregations that support same-sex marriage.

Proposition 22, the 2000 ballot initiative defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, included some participation from religious leaders – particularly Catholics and Mormons. Garlow’s campaign, however, is thus far largely Evangelical, as is born out by a list of venues, found on the Marriage Protection Act web site, for the June 25 strategy meeting. Of the 94 churches listed, only three are neither Protestant nor Evangelical. They are St. Mary Catholic Church in Escondido (Fr. Rich Perozich, pastor), St. Maria Coptic Orthodox Church in Irvine (Fr. Bishop Kamel, pastor), and St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church in Riverside (the Very Rev. Josiah Trenham, pastor.)

But the fight for the marriage initiative excludes no one. "We are working with all the churches who are willing to work with us," Frank Schubert, the initiative’s campaign manager, told the Times. "It's woven together to form what we hope will be the largest grass-roots campaign in California history."

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