I don’t see how same-sex marriage could possibly have any effect on how I believe?
If I remember right,
you base your “beliefs” not on anything solid,
just on what you want to believe.
Feet firmly planted in mid-air, so to speak.
However, those of us that have the bible as the foundation of our beliefs cannot openly state our beliefs that marriage and sex is to be between one man and one woman,
because that would be a “hate crime”.
Legalizing prostitution and drugs wouldn't affect your religious beliefs either, but that's not the point. The author wants you to consider the consequences of state-recognized gay marriage on your religious liberties, not on your religious beliefs.
If your religious beliefs are opposed to gay marriage and the state forces you to recognize gay marriage, what effect will that have on how you practice your beliefs? Maybe none in your case. But others who provide public services to and recognize only traditional marriages may be forced to provide those same services to gay married couples against their will/judgment/beliefs.
The Romanian state could do nothing to change what Richard Wurmbrand believed, but they could outlaw his preaching, lock him away and torture him.
Religious liberty is not about what you believe, it's about the state respecting your right to act on and promote those beliefs. A pro-homosexual law that makes it a hate crime to preach from Romans 1 won't change the preacher's belief that it's true, but it will take away his liberty to stand up for his convictions.
Does that seem American to you?
The "church" is being forced to accept the NEW religious beliefs of the religious left who no longer see this to be a sin.
That is a violation of the separation of church and state.
No man should have to bow to their religious beliefs.
Celebrating sin is aposty. We are all sinners, some seek to redefine what is sinful.
We were told that Lawrence v. Texas was strictly about consenting adults in private. Now it is about kids in schools too and in the workplace and in the church and...
After "marriage" comes adoption (when does the child get to consent to being brought into an abnormal relationship?) and insurance coverage. Could a church deny a same sex couple "membership" (not rejecting them from attending church, the doors are always open for sinners) in the church, listing in the members directory, etc? Would there be the same acceptance of publicly proud "swingers" who have wife-swapping parties every month?
BTW, I can provide you a long list of people in supposedly free nations who have had their liberty taken from them by gay activists and the laws they push. We aren’t talking about some rarified philosophical point, we’re talking about opppression.