What About Separation of Church and State

Marriage Equality as a First Amendment Issue

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -First Amendment, Bill of Rights, US Constitution

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties." - Thomas Jefferson (1802) in response to the Danbury Baptist Assoc. when asked why he would not proclaim national days of fasting and thanksgiving.

Marriage equality is a First Amendment issue, touching on different elements including:

• the freedom to not have any one particular religious viewpoint shape public policies such as marriage;

• the freedom of clergy and houses of worship to determine practices in their congregations;

• the freedom from religious-based discrimination.

Honoring Diverse Voices

The First Amendment, among other things, forbids government from promoting or opposing religion or interfering in the free exercise of faith.  The U.S Constitution guarantees each of us the right to make decisions about how we live our lives.

The writers of the constitution, in their wisdom, wrote a document that upholds freedom of religious conscience guaranteeing the right to worship or not worship as one chooses.  The government's role in these deeply personal and private religious matters is to protect individual choice.  In order to protect everyone's rights, we must protect every person's rights.  This is why the government should not make laws which privilege one person's religious and moral viewpoint over that of another person.

Our freedom to make private choices about personal issues is endangered when public officials and community groups seek to impose a particular religious view into law and public policy, disregarding the diverse viewpoints which make up our society. Our "first freedom" will be preserved only by safeguarding separation of church and state and protecting religious liberty.

Some religious leaders and politicians want to use the government to define marriage in a way that favors some religious traditions over others. Religious-political interests wish to limit marriage only to "one man and one woman." This discriminates against the growing number of faith groups that perform same-sex religious services and wish those services had civil standing as well.

Honoring Religious Conscience

Houses of Worship have the freedom to consecrate marriages based on their theology. As required by the Constitution, the government must accommodate the diversity of beliefs on this issue. Denying rights based on specific religious traditions is unconstitutional and is not the American way.

Communities of faith and clergy which choose to not perform civil marriages for gay and lesbian couples will continue to be allowed to do so.  This has been and is the case.  The marriages of interfaith and divorced couples, despite some faith traditions having objections to both, are completely legal and churches have full choice whether or not to perform these services.  Marriage equality, for gay and lesbian couples, would continue in this same vein.

America's various faith traditions take different approaches to marriage. Respecting the rights of those in our diverse communities of faith who deem marriage equality to be consistent with their religious creed, ensures that the United States will continue to protect the religious liberty of all Americans.

Honoring Individual Conscience

Americans value families in which love and commitment, not politics, define the home. Happy, healthy families deserve respect and should be free to live according to their own beliefs. As responsible adults, it is our freedom to make personal choices about family life and raising our children, without "playing politics" with our homes and privacy.

We are appreciative for the work of firstfreedomfirst.org which provided the groundwork for this article.