John Marcotte: California Man Introduces Amendment To Ban Divorce (VIDEO)

John Marcotte, a writer who runs the site BadMouth.net, is collecting signatures to get the "California Protection of Marriage Act" on the ballot. If passed divorce would be illegal in California.

No, John is not a religious zealot (although he has 12 years of Catholic education), instead he's launched this initiative to mock the proponents of Proposition 8, which added "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," to the state's constitution. He told CNN this Act is the the "logical extension of Proposition 8."

Marcotte's Website satirizes the traditional marriage campaigns with lines like:

• You said "Til death do us part." You're not dead yet.
• Jesus still loves you if you get divorced -- just not as much as before
• John + Four and Kate + Four = Sin
• Pat Robertson is my homeboy

As he told the site Cockeyed.com:

"The opposition will always be there. The secular progressives, gays and MSNBC hosts -- but we beat them once with Prop 8 and we'll beat them again. If people are thinking about getting a divorce, just remember 'Hell is eternal, just like your marriage was supposed to be.'"

WATCH:

Comments

[SkuddGobang]

09:57 AM on 11/04/2009

Count me in. Where do I sign?

[jbuhacoff]

10:27 AM on 10/27/2009

Judaism and Islam both allow for divorce so this law means Christianity would be the only religion that can really be practiced in California.

I'm angry about this proposition because it hurts freedom of religion. If Christians don't want divorce, then don't get divorced, but keep hands off my precious American freedoms.

This proposition is only possible because of another misguided set of laws that did pass, a long time ago -- the ones that give marriage a secular legal status and allow "civil marriage" to be performed by a judge. In a state with freedom of religion, marriage is none the state's business. That's where we went wrong, that's why Proposition 8 was ridiculous, and that's why this proposition is ridiculous.

If the state wants to give tax advantages to people who are living together, or to people who are raising kids, that's fine -- those people don't have to be married, and they don't have to be heterosexual, and they don't have to be religious, to do what they do.

[Hadgoux]

11:27 PM on 10/26/2009

I don't care that he thinks this is a joke, I will support a ban on divorce, big time!
Trust me folks who believe in traditional marriage will be consistent, it is the pro gay marriage supporters that might be pro divorce despite all the yabbering about trying to improve marriage.

[eplebneesta]

06:23 PM on 09/16/2009

Thank you!
I've been posting things like this for a while. It's truly beautiful: Exposes hypocrisy: What reason could they possibly come up with to vote against it? If it gets in, it will be a poison pill.

Now, since we're "tolerant" of other lifestyle choices, let's offer them this:
You can have a civil divorce, but not a religious one.
So the xians (faux christians) can split the mammon, children, pets (take the Goldie!), but remain married in the eyes of their god and according to their mythos. In particular,TheSermonOnTheMount specifically says then remarried divorced *women* are committing adultery.

These hypocrites need to be exposed. Reflect their actions back on them.If it inconveniences them,it'll shut em down. Read TheSermonOnTheMount. This can be used to reveal hypocrisy in most xians. And the TenMildSuggestions.Even the bible violates at least one of them.

E Pleb Neesta
GODISNOWHERE
Blessed are the cheesemakers.

[mnich13]

06:22 PM on 09/16/2009

'Hell is eternal, just like your marriage was supposed to be.'

I thought that only Latter-day Saints believed in eternal marriage. Otherwise, for everyone else, the "until death do us part" holds, right?

[MikeHermit]

05:54 PM on 09/16/2009

How about a law that makes it illegal to impliment laws that are based on religion.

Oh, wait, we already have that, and it is infringed upon daily.

I love the hypocrits that call themselves Christians or conservatives.

Don't do anything that lets the govenrment tell me what I can and cannot do with my body unless I can find a reference in the Bible, then I will try to tell non-Christians what they can and cannot do with their bodys.

More and more I have no use for Christians. Where they more Christ-like (new testament) and less God-like (old testament) I might actually respect them.

[Ellyllon]

05:50 PM on 09/16/2009

There is no other way that guy could keep a woman within 20 miles - make it illegal to flee.

[John Marcotte]

01:55 PM on 09/17/2009

Excellent idea. Probably in the Bible somewhere as well. I'll get on it right after I make sure she can't divorce me.

[RevBookburn]

05:47 PM on 09/16/2009

This is hilarious. Then all the bigoted wingnuts who hate gay marriage will find themselves stuck with their spouse after they cheat, pursue members of the choir, and make their sheep unsafe.

[NickfromCali]

05:26 PM on 09/16/2009

Divorce lawyers are rich. They'll ban together to form a PAC and easily defeat this...

[FirstBiteBooks]

04:57 PM on 09/16/2009

What will happen then to all divorce lawyers? Reinvent themselves as PETA activists?

[newtom]

05:04 PM on 09/16/2009

They can defend all the murder cases... to DEATH do us part will take on a new meaning!

[FirstBiteBooks]

05:09 PM on 09/16/2009

Divorce Italian style? :)

However, I still think that their knowledge of dealing with beasts can be useful outside the legal profession.

[lauram]

04:50 PM on 09/16/2009

What about a bill to make adultery illegal? You know, adultery, the abomination that Jesus actually talked about.

[madisonhack]

06:01 PM on 09/16/2009

It already is illegal in some states. It's rarely enforced, but it's on the books.

[lauram]

08:06 PM on 09/16/2009

Well let's get it on the books. I mean, if we're going to live biblically, let's do it right. I'd love to see Newtie, McCain, Sanford. Ensign, and several others get behind that one. Funny how the only "abomination" that seems to bother them is the one about homosexuality.

[Margery Kempe]

04:41 PM on 09/16/2009

Add a rider that any married couple that does not produce spawn within a predetermined time limit will have their marriage voided.

[exhale09]

04:50 PM on 09/16/2009

Wouldn't it just be easier to ban MARRIAGE?

[newtom]

04:56 PM on 09/16/2009

Non-bearing couples can report directly to jail... do not pass go.

[mag68]

04:06 PM on 09/16/2009

OMG!!
YOU HAVE TO GET N.O.M. ON BOARD!!
WHAT WOULD THEY LOOK LIKE PUBLICLY OPPOSING THIS???
SERIOUSLY!!!!

[tonedaf]

03:49 PM on 09/16/2009

How good is this, totally awesome. While he is at it lets add;
1) no birth control for married couples; no sex unless for procreation.
2) punishment for adultery
3) spousal obedience rules
a) house must be clean
b) dinner must be made
c) no talking back to husband

[Yves Papa]

03:56 PM on 09/16/2009

And the husband makes dinner and cleans the house, right?

[MikeHermit]

06:00 PM on 09/16/2009

Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. Now don't get progressive on us. The man sits on the couch and the wife brings him his dinner, then feeds the kids, then washes the dishes, then she can eat . . . after making sure the man doens't need anything else.

This is a defense of marriage issue, not a whole
"R E S P E C T" issue. Now we just need to take the woman's drivers licence away, cover her face, stone her if she doesn't obey.

Now that sounds great.

[valley boy]

03:48 PM on 09/16/2009

Why doesn't he include reports and stats on spousal abuse, child abuse, pedophelia, foster abuse, delinquent support payments, absentee parents and religious sexual predators. Then add up the results showing that being straight doesn't lead straight to righteousness. Get the truth out instead of going back to denying problems and keeping the abuses inside "a man's castle".

[Mirabai305]

06:39 PM on 09/16/2009

You've completely missed the point of this proposed amendment. The spousal abuse soapbox is two blocks over on the NW corner.

[jbuhacoff]

10:17 AM on 10/27/2009

No he didn't. Abuse happens more than you think and it's a really good reason to divorce.

If the point of this amendment is to mock Prop 8, it's a really STUPID way to do it because it might actually pass. California's population is mostly Christian, and a third of these are Catholic.