Author and pastor Tony Evans emphasised the importance of protecting marriage during a presentation before a packed church hall last night.

Heritage Hall Worship Centre was standing room only, with hundreds in attendance for the presentation, organised by United for Change, entitled “What does the Bible teach us about marriage and family”.

Addressing the crowd, Dr Evans used the analogy of cracks in a building to describe what was happening to God’s definition of marriage.

He said he had noticed cracks in the paintwork of his home. After several attempts to repair them, he discovered they were caused by the foundation shifting.

“There are emotional cracks, there are social cracks, there are economic cracks, and all of these patchworks are being used to fix them, and maybe for a while they look fixed, only to reappear again,” he said. “Because of the shifting foundation.

“The problem that you have gathered here to discuss tonight reflects that truth. Because people have left God’s definition of marriage, we have all these cracks in our wall. We have all these problems in society.

“Whoever owns the family owns the future, and the saga of a nation is the saga of its families written large. When there is a breakdown in the definition and implementation of God’s definition of family, there will be inevitable chaos in society. You cannot remove God and have order.”

Pastor Gary Simons, meanwhile, updated the crowd on the Preserve Marriage campaign, saying Preserve Marriage Bermuda Ltd has grown from 35 volunteers to 400 and more than 8,000 people have now signed the Preserve Marriage petition, calling on the Government to legislatively fortify marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

“We believe that number is going to continue to increase,” he said. “You have to keep in mind that there are only 21 out of 193 countries that have redefined marriage according to the United Nations, so the majority are upholding marriage to be between a man and a woman. We are actually among the majority.

“Our twofold purpose is to ensure that marriage remains between a man and a woman for the betterment of society and ensure that the few do not decide for the many to redefine marriage in Bermuda.”

He emphasised that all people should be respected regardless of their sexuality, saying that supporting traditional marriage does not equal bigotry, hate speech or fear, and they will not be bullied by hate speech from the other side.

Pastor Simons said that issues in society and eduction have been linked to family issues, often the lack of the father.

“If we redefine marriage, we therefore make the father optional which is something we cannot afford to do with society,” he said. “Government is involved in marriage because for thousands of years, government has realised that marriage is the bedrock to society, it is the bedrock to family because it is needed to raise up the next generation.”

He also said that a vote for civil unions was in essence a vote for same-sex marriage, noting that in other countries civil unions have led to the redefining of marriage within an average of 8.6 years, typically owing to legal challenges.

“In almost every country that has redefined marriage, civil unions were first introduced as the answer to alleged discrimination,” he said. “The public and the government is led to believe that this will be the end of the matter, however it inevitably leads to a legal fight on the separate-but-equal arguments, and therefore results in the redefinition of marriage.”