Honestly, this is some of the same tricky territory that I am dealing with, myself. As a Catholic, my faith tells me that I ought to be evangelizing and advocating public policies that sync up with Church teachings. But as a pluralist American, I recognize that not everyone agrees with those teachings, particularly as they relate to social policies, the big ones being same sex marriage and abortion. I’ve come to the colclusion that it is not the business of the Church how a same sex couple is allowed to file their federal income tax returns, or how their medical powers of attorney work. Tell me, if your neighbors are gay, and they are given recognition of their union by the secular state, would you love your wife or husband less? Would you love your children less, or teach them differently? Would you love God less? or stop going to Mass?
Not to mention, as a student of political science, it is dangerous territory for religious freedom to advocate a policy using their religion as the basis for the policy. Say, for example, that a Catholic-based policy is passed. You’ve opened the door to ANY religious policy being passed, as long as it has enough votes in a legislative body or ballot referendum, threatening religious freedom: laws may be passed that ban Catholic Mass as being contrary to the traditions of the great many Protestants in this country. Or perhaps, people may make a claim that Sharia law, for example, can and ought to replace the authority of our justice system. It is dangerous precedent to set to use our faith as Catholics to set the direction of public policies that effect non-Catholics.
Long story short: I don’t believe that a civil recognition of a same sex couple takes away from a heterosexual marriage, nor do I believe that it weakens your ability to teach your children about the morality that you subscribe to. Put another way, in the same way that a gov’t may choose to recognize same-sex unions, we are all free to not apply for the same-sex marriage liscence.
