Have I upset the religious base yet? Let me try it again. Why your belief in the sanctity of marriage is destroying the Constitutional Republic in which this country was founded upon. Now you’re upset? Okay good, then I got your attention. Let me explain why this issue is more important than people may think. It all starts with how our country/government is designed. No, it is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. If you are wondering what the difference is, let Wikipedia explain…

A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government’s power over citizens. In a constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct branches and the will of the majority of the population is tempered by protections for individual rights so that no individual or group has absolute power.

Unlike a pure democracy, in a constitutional republic, citizens are not governed by the majority of the people but by the rule of law. Constitutional Republics are a deliberate attempt to diminish the threat of mobocracy thereby protecting dissenting individuals and minority groups from the tyranny of the majority by placing checks on the power of the majority of the population.

A constitutional republic is designed so that “no person or group [can] rise to absolute power.” - Wikipedia

Now, if our government is designed to work within the limits of the Constitution without the rule of the majority, then let’s look at what this Constitution says. More importantly let’s look at the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights also restricts Congress’s power by prohibiting it from making any law respecting establishment of religion and by prohibiting the federal government from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. - Wikipedia

So, if we have a government ruled by the Constitution [law], and that Constitution has the Bill of Rights declared within it, specifically the one mentioned above, then we should be able to say that if our government declares that gay marriage is illegal, then it is in a serious violation of its design [law].

Any argument that goes beyond this, is ridiculous. First, the government is prohibited to rule by the masses. That means that it should not care whether you feel it destroys your sanctity of marriage even if the country was 99% Christian, because religion, declared by Thomas Jefferson, should be separate from State. The Constitution declares that even the 1% has just as much right as the 99%. The ONLY reason for someone being against homosexuality and/or gay marriage is because of their religious fervor. Nothing else. With that being said, why would we institute something that has any religious rationale in our laws?

Second, the government should only [by law] recognize marriage as a contractual agreement between two people concerning itself with the couples financial, tax, offspring and other legalities. The government should NOT recognize any religious connection with the act of marriage. That is why you can get married without a wedding, but you are not married, in the eyes of the government, if you never go to the courthouse and apply for a marriage license. So, why would the government care if your religion thinks gay marriage is a sin? If the government does not recognize the church in regards to marriage, then it should not care if two guys or two girls get married.

You may ask, “Why should any straight man/women care if they make homosexual marriage or acts illegal?” Well, do you like to be able to bear arms, or speak freely without persecution? Or, how about the trial by jury amendment, would you want only one person deciding whether you get life in jail or not? All these are subject to change if we allow this anti-gay marriage act to become law. If we allow our government to manipulate our Constitution for this issue, what is going to stop them with another, and then another? What if all of a sudden we wake up and no longer have all the rights that we so neglect to appreciate? Then it will be too late!

This is [by law] all of our country, and is [by law] no more a Christian country than it is a Muslim, Jew or Atheist country. We need to stand up against anyone that wants it otherwise as we all need to realize that the rule of law is not the rule of the majority, and it is not about what is common or about individual beliefs. It is about the law. You may not realize the need for this if you exist on the side of the majority, but everything changes, and one day you may end up on the side that is threatened. Even if you are not pro-gay, you should be pro-America, and that means you are pro-Constitution, so help fight for gay rights, even if you happen to not agree with their choice. Not for their sake, but for America’s.

Still don’t believe me, how about a Republican senator that happens to be an ordained Episcopal priest. John Danforth says it best in his book Faith and Politics when he says…

“If Christianity is supposed to be a ministry of reconciliation and has become, instead, a divisive force in American political life, something is terribly wrong, and we should correct it.

No one should presume to embody God’s truth… [the Republican Party does not have] …the right for its focus on wedge issues that drive people apart and that create “tests” for religious and political orthodoxy.”