Republican politicians have three concerns about gay marriage besides safeguarding the institution of marriage. One is that the religious right, a powerful constituency, is dead against it.
But, if the high court decides to strike down laws against same-sex marriage — including California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act — no church will be forced to perform such marriages. This will be a civil matter that religious institutions will be free to bless or not, as they choose.
And, theologically, as Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, put it so well, “ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God.”
The fact is, Jesus had nothing whatever to say about the subject. Biblical condemnations of homosexuality are contained in the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, and in various letters of St. Paul, who listed it with numerous other sins — adultery, fornication, etc. — that conservatives have long since given up trying to control by law. Full story
