Religion and Gay Marriage

During my last semester at BYU, I took a class on American religious rhetoric. For one of my projects in that class, I gave a presentation on the religious rhetoric surrounding the Prop 8 campaign. Supporters of Prop 8 were generally associated with religious groups, but as the debate approached "the front lines," the openly religious quality of the rhetoric diminished. That makes sense because many of the opponents to the proposition were not religious (although there certainly were some religious groups that opposed Prop 8 as well), and thus, an argument based on religion would not necessarily be effective. 

Still, I think it is a pity that religion-based rhetoric is often not generally accepted in the public sphere. So, I wanted to provide this virtual space to discuss the religious arguments both in favor and against gay marriage. This is not the place to simply explain your opinion or to rebut the opposing view. Rather, it is meant to allow us to compile the religious arguments that are or could be used in the current discussion about gay marriage. Hopefully, this will help us, as religious people, to more fully understand how our faith could influence our political positions, one way or the other.

Please use the following format in your comments:

"In favor of gay marriage: RELIGIOUSLY INFLUENCED ARGUMENT"

 

OR

"Opposing gay marriage: RELIGIOUSLY INFLUENCED ARGUMENT"