.

Sanctity of Marriage:    Fundamentalist Christians claim the same sex marriage would "destroy the sanctity of marriage. "   Apparently they consider a state-instituted, legal contract called a marriage license to have some religious sacredness.  

Obtaining any kind of  license from a government agency, is obtaining permission to engage in certain, legally sectioned activities that those without the license cannot legally engage in.    Government agencies issue hundreds of different kinds of licenses.  Some of the licenses are called "permits" -- permission to do something, such as carry a gun.   

We have dog licenses, medical licenses, insurance licenses,  drivers licenses, et cetera.   Why is only one of these licenses sacred?   What makes it sacred?  Who says it's sacred?   How did sacredness get into a civil law contract?  If it is sacred, what makes it sacred?   Can anybody prove that it actually is sacred?   

Have you noticed any consistency or pattern or anything unique among those opposing same sex marriage?   Have you noticed that the opposition comes almost exclusively from fundamentalist Christians.

Who is Harmed:   So again, answer the question,  "Who is injured by gay  marriage?   The answer is "Nobody!"   The fundamentalist Christians hold some rather bizarre beliefs, but then, that's the nature of religion.  We are each supposed to be free to follow our own religious beliefs no matter how strange they may seem to others  --  that is, as long as the practice of our religion does not violate others.    (For an exposé on fundamental Christianity, readers are directed to:  The Crucifixion / CruiseOfFiction.²)    

A Challenge to Fundamentalist Christian Beliefs:   The truth is that gay rights challenge the fundamentalist Christian, mindless, strict, literal interpretation of the Christian Bible.    They are threatened not directly by gay marriage, itself, but in the fact that anything that questions their strict, fixed, on-way-my-way interpretation of the Bible is a threat.   They are absolutely uncompromising.   They believe that to compromise on any aspect of their strict, literal interpretation of the Christian Bible is to make a pact with the devil.    

They've put themselves into a box that says, "We have to be right about everything."   The Catholics hierarchy has even declared its leader, the Pope, to be infallible.    Even one small error opens the door for people to question other aspects of their literal interpretation.    And although the fundamentalists won't admit it, the literal interpretation of the Christian Bible is just one interpretation among many.

An analysis of Religious Freedom:    Any law, any rule, any behavioral guideline has three parts  -- the law giver  -- the law interpreter  -- the law  administrator.    The three branches of the American government are an example of this:   Congress is the law  giver.   Judicial is the law interpreter.    Executive is the law administrator.  

In a society with real religious freedom, all three aspects which determine behavior must reside in each one of us.   We each decide which religious or spiritual path we will follow, (or not to follow any religion).   We each decide what our self-chosen rules and guidelines mean to us.   We each put them into effect in our own lives in our own chosen way.   To attempt to make secular law sacred, or to make religious law into secular law is to violate other people god-granted inalienable right of self-determination.   It's a denial of religious freedom.

Some of those on the Ultra-conservative end of Christianity have no idea that freedom of religion also includes freedom from someone else's religion.