c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ A multicultural throng of evangelical Christians plans to spend three hours on the National Mall Oct. 15 to demonstrate their continuing support for a constitutional amendment that would declare marriage to be strictly between a man and a woman.

“We didn’t start this fight,” said the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a Seattle-area pastor who is spearheading the gathering, called “Mayday for Marriage.”

“We will finish it. We’re not going to run away from it.”

He said the issue of same-sex marriage, legalized in Massachusetts in May, has awakened evangelical churches to speak out. Hutcherson, pastor of a Redmond, Wash., megachurch and a former Seattle Seahawks football player, planned a similar event on May 1 in Seattle and while only about 5,000 people registered for the free event, more than 20,000 filled Safeco Field for a rally. He hopes for similar results here, predicting hundreds of thousands of attendees after the event’s Web site received more than 250,000 hits in the last six weeks.

Organizers say attendees _ coming by car, bus and train _ have not been defeated by recent votes in the House and the Senate that failed to create the amendment they desire.

“There’s a commitment here that I have not seen before that crosses denominational lines, crosses racial lines and political lines,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, who will serve as master of ceremonies. “I think there’ll be a strong message sent that we’re committed to this issue and we’re here for the long haul.”

Eleven states have similar measures on the ballot for the November election.

Perkins’ advocacy group has sponsored three live simulcasts of rallies aimed at increasing evangelicals’ awareness of these proposed amendments on the state and national level and getting them to the polls. Other rallies, such as the one in Seattle, have added to the groundswell.

Hutcherson and Perkins say the emphasis of the Oct. 15 event is more on affirming traditional marriage than opposing same-sex marriage, but they both believe gay marriage devalues the institution of marriage.

“If we stand for something, it tells you automatically what we are against, but we’re not going to emphasize what we stand against,” Hutcherson said. “We’re going to emphasize what we stand for. We want the positive message to get out.”

Scheduled speakers include Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson, Prison Fellowship Founder Chuck Colson, and Anne Graham Lotz, a Bible teacher and daughter of evangelist Billy Graham.

Several days before the rally, gay activists and supporters of same-sex marriage will hold a “rally for marriage equality” in Washington.

Sylvia Rhue, director of Equal Partners in Faith, a liberal-leaning network of religious leaders who oppose the proposed amendments, plans to be at the Oct. 11 rally and opposes the one that will occur later in the week.

“I really don’t think that the people of the United States are going to allow for the Constitution of the United States to be desecrated by writing … discrimination into law,” she said.

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