First allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry won't cause the Earth to spin off it's axis. In fact it quite possibly will have a stabilizing effect and close up that hole in the ozone layer. (Hey if you can spout ridiculous theories about what marriage equality will cause then so can I.) Both Canada and Great Britain have allowed same sex couples to participate in legal marriages for going on ten years now and those countries have not disappeared under a black cloud of God's wrath.
Second, while this country was founded on the principle of freedom of religion let us not forget that the first settlers from Europe were the Puritans who were escaping religious persecution. And now hundreds of years later it seems to be perfectly acceptable to persecute/bully people when they don't subscribe to certain views on what is properly Christian. And please don't take this as an anti-Christian rant - it isn't. It's a rant against those who scream the loudest from the conservative right that their freedoms and rights are now being trampled on. Get over yourselves. Nothing is being taken away from you. If you don't believe in marriage equality then don't marry someone of the same sex. No one is forcing you to do so. And for the matter of protecting your children from the "homosexual agenda" - can you get any more ridiculous? No one is a bigger influence on a child than a child's parents if those parents are doing their job. If as most of you claim that a child is best raised in a household with both a mother and father then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Isn't it as simple as explaining to your children that your beliefs are such that you see marriage equality as wrong?
Third, if you think that marriage equality will force your church to allow same sex couples to wed in your sanctuaries you need to consider this: are people now allowed to be wed in your church who don't believe what your church teaches? Do Catholics allow non-Catholic couples to be wed in their churches? Do Rabbis perform ceremonies for Baptists in their temples? What makes you think that we want to be married in such a hostile environment! Trust me when I say that we don't. There are plenty of other places, courthouses, churches, and temples that will be more than happy to perform marriage ceremonies for us.
Last, this needs to be considered: when was the last time you heard of someone walking into a church to get a marriage license? You haven't. Marriage licenses are proffered from an office of the government. The conservative right wants to make this a religious matter when the simple truth is that a marriage certificate is a legal contract between two people of consenting age, witnessed by other people by placing their signatures upon it. Any religious connotations beyond that is what you want to make of it.
The following was found on Buzzfeed:
