Supporting Marriage Equality is Defending Religious Freedom

Once again, with Supreme Court decisions on the table, gay marriage and equality is the talk of the national community. Well, equality doesn’t seem to be of much concern to one side of the conversation, which is basically the crux of the conflict, but at least we’re talking about it. A piquant bit of irony in this debate, almost entirely overlooked, is that supporting marriage equality is actually a matter of sticking up for your own religious freedom.

Assuredly, some eyes are rolling, but I’m going to further that statement: Removing Christianity entirely from the public sector is the best way to protect your freedom to practice Christianity.

This, of course, also applies to all other religions (or lack thereof), as well. My focus here has been Christianity because it has been the most vocal religious group in the US weighing in on marriage equality and sentiments of religious persecution.

What is it called when one tax-paying group of people is allowed to vote, and another tax-paying group is not? It’s called unconstitutional… and sexist or racist. It’s known as taxation without representation. It amounts to slavery. It is a social iniquity. It is why the Revolutionary War came about. Equality is the foundation of the American spirit, philosophy, and way of life.

But because we, as a society, do not often enough recognize the immutable connection between equality and freedom, we lose sight of our rebellious snarl at authority that creates inequity. Instead, we revert to the base discriminatory practices of the human condition.

It is equality that allows you to be a Christian. People flooded the New World because they sought freedom to practice Christianity in their desired fashion. There are around 41,000 denominations in Christianity; can you imagine what would happen if one denomination became super powerful and then started executing members of other denominations for heresy? Oh, wait, that’s EXACTLY what happened across Europe for centuries. It continues today wherever religion rules the land. That’s called religious tyranny.

Equality eliminates tyranny. No tyranny = freedom. Therefore, equality = freedom. The freedom of that weird dude down the street to practice Satanism is what grants you the freedom to believe whatever you want, to be part of whatever denomination you like. Equality is essential to freedom.

With the myths of gay parenting soundly debunked, this leaves Biblical morality as the only argument left to be made. Despite the fact that Jesus never condemned homosexuality (in fact, his philosophies are more likely to be accepting of gay men and women), and that the book of Leviticus, which condemns it because it is gross to the author, also bans certain haircuts, shaving sideburns, shellfish, and bacon, people continue to say things like, “the Bible defines marriage as between one man and one woman.”

It doesn’t. King Solomon had seven hundred wives. Deuteronomy says that if you rape a woman, you must marry her. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.” 

Let us not forget the fact that marriage is a non-Christian institution first legislated by Sumerians over 5,000 years ago (and likely used even earlier), then updated by the Romans shortly thereafter to ensure marriage was equally desired (consensual); so, it's not like there's any kind of patent origin claim to the concept.

The fact is, regardless of its well documented place in nature, people call it an abomination because they just don’t like it, then they euphemize it as a moral issue. Well, newsflash: If you’re not gay, you don’t have to like it. It doesn’t have to happen in your bedroom or house. You do, however, need to keep the principle of equality paramount in your society if you wish to maintain your own freedoms. Imagine if one day people were voting on whether or not you can attend your favorite church… or if you can get married.

Defend your religious freedom, reject tyranny: support marriage equality.