Marriage law treads on civil liberties

I agree with Matthew Kwiecinski of Gurnee that the line between church and state continues to blur as those on the right and the political pundits who vocally support them attempt to give special legal credence at the federal level to their personal religious beliefs over those of other citizens.

The Defense of Marriage Act adversely affects all citizens, straight and gay alike in that it requires by federal law that all citizens must follow specific religious beliefs and tenets regarding marriage, regardless of the tenets of one’s own chosen faith, in order to have access, still in most states, to the civil liberty of marriage at all.

By defining the liberty of civil marriage for all citizens by singular religious standards to the exclusion of others that only couples comprising one man and one woman are eligible, the line regarding the separation of church and state has not only been badly blurred, but trod on and crossed over completely at the federal level.

As we must all now follow one faith or even a group of faiths regarding one civil liberty, what faith will we next be required to follow regarding our access to free speech, voting or otherwise?

I join Mr. Kwiecinski in his view: It was my historical understanding also that our Founding Fathers courageously left behind religious persecution in one country in order to establish civil liberty based upon religious freedom for all citizens here in this one. And while many Founding Fathers, (and certainly not all of them) stated personal belief in a Christian dogma, nowhere did any founding father state legal claim that the laws which govern our common civil liberties should have or would have as their definitive legal basis the singular tenets or views of any specific faith or faiths.

John F. Page

Libertyville