Carbon County residents should be warned that the new Luzerne County Non-Discrimination Ordinance has opened a Pandora’s box.

As our nation marks 250 years of democratic freedom, what authority does the progressive Luzerne Council have to create a “special commission” that could act tyrannically by dictating what residents must believe or face fines?

This “special commission” will discriminate against those who firmly believe God’s marriage is one man, one woman and their children. In 2008, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, of Bologna, Italy, wrote to Sister Lucia, the last surviving seer of the Fatima apparitions, requesting prayers for him to form the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.

She replied that the Blessed Mother had told her that the final decisive battle between Our Lord and Satan would be over marriage and family.

Her words warned of discrimination against God’s marriage.

The Council’s ordinance is part of that battle, forcing residents to comply or risk persecution and fines. Doesn’t posting online the names and addresses of petition signers who opposed the ordinance seem malicious?

Paul Varnell, a well-known homosexual advocate, advised other activists that passing nondiscrimination laws to accept homosexuality would never abolish the rights of people’s moral beliefs.

Recently, the Council chairman claimed ordinance opponents are focused only on sexual orientation and gender identity, while the ordinance protects a much “broader community.”

Untrue, the broader community’s main concern is if the “new commission” will protect and not punish residents who refuse to compromise their religious beliefs to meet the ordinance’s mandates.

Council is the one making sexual orientation and gender identity the issue; a ploy to increase public compassion and acceptance for their cause.

St. Thomas Aquinas warned true compassion is virtuous only when guided by God’s moral law, without that compassion is merely passion.

Walter Camier

Hazle Township