I keep seeing this passage over and over again in Christian literature; "rights of conscience," as if it is in the Bill of Rights. In the original 'draft' of the First Amendment James Madison included a similar line,"No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases." But this was not included by Congress originally and until acceptance of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) which was followed by Supreme Court case Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652, (1925) that made most, but not all, of the provisions of the Bill of Right's restrictions applicable to the states under the doctrine of selective incorporation, states had some leeway with the Constitution.
Obviously, this "rights of conscience" is a canard, in Madison's original it is "equal rights of conscience" which would include those of us against religious encroachment into private lives. As in, I cannot in good conscience keep loving couples apart for the sake of a superstitious tradition. This by itself isn't the point though, it is that the rights of individuals are being impeded by those using their supposedly threatened "rights of conscience" as a battle cry. I am so sick of majority power feigning persecution while persecuting every minority in sight. The Nationalist Socialist Party used this same tactic more than 80 years ago, by proclaiming Catholics the persecuted minority and attacking the gays, gypsies, foreigners, and finally Jews, we all remember the Nazis. I know reductio ad Hitlerum, but I do see a correlation.
But I don't think that romantic unions are something that religions need be a part. I happen to be a civil union proponent. But not for gays, per say, no I think marriage should be like and as common as baptism or bar mitzvahs. But I also happen feel that the population of the planet is at a breaking point. Not everyone is qualified to be a parent. I think children are the leaders of the future and our most precious possession.
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