Same Sex Marriage Will Lead To Discrimination Against Religion

But this has nothing to do

with tolerance by religious faiths for homosexuals.  That’s what those who

are pushing for gay marriage want you to believe, but it isn’t so. 


If gay marriage becomes the law of the land, religious institutions and

individuals will be under legal attack for their principled

beliefs.  

Synagogues, churches, mosques and parochial schools, camps, youth programs and

non profits serving seniors, the poor, immigrants, the unemployed and those

with medical and health needs will be denied government funding and government

services. They will find it hard, possibly impossible, to use state owned

facilities. And they will be under pressure by force of law to allow gay

families equal access on equal grounds to their programs and services.


That would be an unacceptable breach in the separation of church and

state.  Let's be clear: everyone admits that clergy will not be required

to perform marriage ceremonies they deem out of sync with their faith doctrine.


Such is not what we worry about.


What we worry about, to those who would tell us, we are being hyperbolic or creating fantasies

that would never come to pass, it's already happening.  Let's look at what already has occurred:


* Universally acknowledged as the best adoption agency in the entire state,

Boston Catholic Charities was forced by court order to either comply with state

law and offer placements into same sex families or shut down. Rather than

violate their religious principles, they closed their doors. That is not a

victory for gay rights; it is a loss to thousands of orphans and children in

need and to families looking to adopt.


* the Boy Scouts were evicted from a federal building in Philadelphia - incidentally,

their longest running lease of any office in America - because their policy on

gay scoutmasters conflicted with Federal policy. 


* a Methodist Church in New Jersey is now being sued under the state's Laws

Against Discrimination for its refusal to rent its gazebo on the Jersey shore

for same sex ceremonies.


If gay marriage is the law of the land, how long before a synagogue is sued for

refusal to provide family membership to a gay family; how long before a

Catholic school is sued for not admitting a child of gay couples; how long

before an imam is sued for a sermon decrying homosexuality; how long before parochial school curriculum is challenged?


What this is about for us and others who side with us, is the targeted legal

attacks on religious institutions and others who have a sincere belief about

homosexuality. 

Our bottom line is that those who demand tolerance must show tolerance in return. 


Magicelli's picture

The first point, where you state that the adoption agency was 'forced to close it's doors if it didn't comply' is untrue. What they did was pull government funding, which is a completely different thing. The warping of facts to support your argument is offensive.

Babaroni's picture

There is no way that legalized same-gender marriage would lead to "discrimination against religion." Religious groups have been free to pursue their own beliefs since this nation was founded, even when those beliefs have been odious to the general population. Churches were among the main proponents of antimiscegenation laws, which prevented people of different races from intermarrying. When those laws were overturned, churches continued to preach against interracial marriage, and even to refuse to marry interracial couples.

A couple was denied marriage as recently as 2000 because the bride was white and the groom was black. To my knowledge, no legal action has taken place against the church involved:

http://www.skeptictank.org/wedband.htm
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-29802943.html

The Roman Catholic Church has been denying holy orders to women and denying marriage to previously divorced persons for their entire existence in this country, and has never been the successful target of a lawsuit or prosecution for these activities.

The separation of Church and State is strong enough in this country to protect churches from undue interference from civil legislation which affects other agencies and non-profits. The problem is that separation of Church and State is suddenly not proving forceful enough to protect innocent citizens from undue influence being exerted by churches to deny those citizens basic civil rights protections.

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