I was watching Glen Beck today, who suggested that legislation supporting marriage equality has a more sinister motive of suppressing church religious freedoms. This argument, or some variation of it, has appeared in a number of anti-same-sex-marriage public campaigns. For a great example, take a look at the (fantastically well-designed) Yes On Prop 8 ad archives.

The idea is this: churches should be able to decide whether or not to perform marriages in accordance with their religious beliefs. Legislating that all church perform marriages for same-sex couples who approach them would be undue government interference in religious self-determination.

On the other hand, if legislation defines marriage as between one man and one woman, then a significant number of churches (for example Reform Judaism, the MCC, UCC, and various progressive congregations) are essentially prohibited from exercising their own religious beliefs.