This holiday is a great chance for me to get some work done, so no major posts, but I wanted to highlight this fantastic post by Ian Ayres & Jennifer Gerarda Brown over at Balkinization. I agree with just about everything they say.
The one exception is that if churches want to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages, I say let them. But they need to be aware that for many straights (more as time goes on, I hope), this violates our conscience and we will likely vote on those policies with our feet. I've gotten a sense that more people are willing to switch churches than they have been in centuries past. In time, churches, then entire religions, will have to adapt. Granted, ones with vast hierarchical structures (read: Catholicism) change more slowly, but I like to think that even they change over time. Heck, the Catholic Church used to burn people at the stake, and they seem to have gotten out of that game, right?
Keep in mind that while the Catholic Church does have a strong anti-gay marriage stance, mots Catholics vote Republican for anti-abortion.
It's the Southern Baptists and Evangelicals that make up the meat of the Religious Right. They're the ones holding "God hates Fags" signs at election rallies.
TC
Actually, the Catholic example was more to illustrate the slow pace of change an organization has the bigger it gets. It doesn't apply just to religious ones, either.