Church Members Fasting For Traditional Marriage in Virginia

Religious groups in Virginia opposed to same-sex marriage are planning to fast for the 40 days prior to the next Supreme Court session.

A federal judge invalidated Virginia's gay marriage ban earlier this year, and oral arguments are expected May 13 in a Richmond appeals court. The ban remains in place while the appeals court considers the case.

In a message on it's website, The Family Foundation, based in Richmond, noted similar lower-court action has struck down bans in other states in the last few months, and that the case will likely end up in front of the nation's highest court.

"In the natural, it looks like a David vs. Goliath battle. The federal government, the news media, Hollywood, the public education system and big business all are arrayed on the side of same-sex 'marriage,'” the statement reads. "Only the church stands in support of God’s design for marriage."

The group notes the participants would abstain from some regular activity for those 40 days. The Family Foundation is recruiting churches to take part in the fasting.

Writing in her decision in February, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen gave a forceful condemnation of the state's same-sex marriage ban.

"Tradition is revered in the Commonwealth, and often rightly so," she wrote. "However, tradition alone cannot justify denying same-sex couples the right to marry any more than it could justify Virginia's ban on interracial marriage."