The Christian conservative group Minnesota Family Council plans to spend $4.71 million over the next two years to ban gay marriage, the Minnesota Independent reported.

The campaign, called Ignite, will also work to make getting a divorce more difficult and place greater restrictions on abortions.

Ignite is a two-year plan designed to fan the embers of November 2010 into a lasting movement built to achieve enduring cultural transformation, starting with passage of a constitutional amendment to preserve marriage as God designed it, the foundation of strong families and a strong society,” the group says in a campaign brochure.

On November 2, voters handed both chambers of the Legislature over to Republicans, a move that shut off talk of Minnesota becoming the sixth state in the nation to legalize gay marriage.

Also elected was Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, a supporter of gay marriage, but lawmakers do not need Dayton's backing to put an issue on the ballot.

Republican State Senator Warren Limmer, who has pledged he'll introduce an anti-gay marriage amendment, praises the Family Council's work in the brochure.

“There is no one else that does the work of the Minnesota Family Council. They are absolutely vital,” he said.

The group says God is behind its effort to ban gay marriage: “You see, God has uniquely positioned Minnesota Family Council (MFC). God has blessed MFC with the unique opportunity to be a catalyst for enduring cultural transformation rooted in spiritual renewal, for the glory of Christ and the good of our state.”