Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate: Regular Guy Paul on What's Next for Same-Sex "Marriage"

Here's an excerpt:

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3. The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which says that states which don't allow gay "marriage" are not required to recognize homosexual "marriages", which was signed into law by President Clinton, is already being challenged in the courts. It will ultimately be overturned by the Supreme Court (Justice Thomas regretfully concurring) for the simple reason that, being a federal law intended to negate a clause of the Constitution, it really is un-Constitutional.

4. The federal government will force every state to recognize gay "marriages" performed in Massachusetts, as well as Hawaii, Washington, and eventually California.

5. Orthodox Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, and any other religious faith that teaches that homosexual conduct is sinful, will be quickly -- not slowly -- suppressed. Within ten years, the Archbishop of Boston will no longer be able to preach the Church's ancient teaching on sexual morality as regards homosexual conduct without doing time in jail. I predict that within two years, a priest or Protestant minister will do time in jail for what will be called the "hate crime" of preaching the gospel.

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My Comments:
Regarding the future of the Church vis-a-vis same-sex "marriage", I predicted much the same thing just over a year ago:

Not to sound all gloom and doom, but I have long believed that this will be the issue that will eventually drive the Church underground to practice "in the catacombs" once again.

At one point in the Gallagher's piece, this quote appears:
The problem is not that clergy will be forced to perform gay marriages or prevented from preaching their beliefs. Look past those big red herrings: "No one seriously believes that clergy will be forced, or even asked, to perform marriages that are anathema to them."
Sorry, but I seriously do foresee just that. I can easily forsee a day when the government will use "anti-discrimination" law to punish churches who "discriminate" against same-sex orientation - first by denial of tax-exempt status, and then by allowing discrimination lawsuits, etc.

And when that day comes, don't look for the courts to interpret the 1st Amendment in a manner that would protect churches from such action.

A more pressing concern with possible immediate repercussions, however, arises with respect to religious education:
Consider education. Same-sex marriage will affect religious educational institutions, he argues, in at least four ways: admissions, employment, housing, and regulation of clubs. One of Stern's big worries right now is a case in California where a private Christian high school expelled two girls who (the school says) announced they were in a lesbian relationship. Stern is not optimistic. And if the high school loses, he tells me, "then religious schools are out of business." Or at least the government will force religious schools to tolerate both conduct and proclamations by students they believe to be sinful.