Gay Marriage in Maryland

This year, Governor O'Malley signed legislation making gay marriage legal in Maryland on the first of next year.  Now, the legislation is subject to a referendum in November.  As such, those of us who are registered voters in the state have a decision to make: will we support the legislation?  Responsible Christians (this post is written from a Christian perspective, so the arguments herein may not apply to everyone) will wrestle with their faith on this one.  Here is my line of thinking about some of the reasons we as Christians are not to support this legislation.

1. Homosexuality is a sin according to Scripture.  This very well may be true.  However, we do not live in a theocracy, something Christians should be very happy about.  Otherwise, it would be less likely we would be able to have disagreements about Scripture for fear of government reprisal.  Remember medieval Europe?  (On the other hand, the mainline Protestant denominations and the Catholic Church would be able to put an end to the creationism movement.)  As such, just because something is a sin is not enough for the government to outlaw it.  Otherwise, the Constitution of the United States would not exist (that whole free exercise of religion thing).
2. The law redefines marriage.  This statement is completely true--for the government's definition.  However, because of the doctrine of separation of church and state, the government's definition of marriage has no bearing on the church's definition.  In fact churches are free to refuse to recognize interracial marriages, if they so choose (and has been done in the past couple of months).  Granted, there may be some explanations needed at Judgment, but the legal right is there, free of government interference.
3. Gay marriage will ruin the sanctity of marriage.  I'd say we heterosexuals have done a good job of that, with the divorce rate the way it is.  Besides, I doubt gays getting married will have any effect on my parents' marriage of over 32 years.  And if opponents of gay marriage actually want to preserve the sanctity of marriage, divorce would only be allowed in cases of adultery (or, for the sake of argument, abuse, although Jesus doesn't actually mention this, unless you consider spousal abuse a form of adultery).
4. The nuclear family is the foundation of American society, and this legislation will undermine it.  With the number of single-parent and step-parent households, this "fact" has changed, if it was ever true at all.  Don't get me wrong; the nuclear family is a foundation of American society, perhaps even the best one.  But it is not the only viable one.

There are other reasons, along the lines of homosexuality being a mental illness or such.  However, the psychological community does not agree, and I'll side with the experts on this.  As such, the only reasons with truth behind them involve homosexuality being a sin.  Ignoring the fact that according to Scripture, only the act is a sin, not the attraction, and there is no legal way for anyone but the people involved to know if the marriage has been consummated, this is not sufficient reason for a pluralistic society to ban something that does not impact the liberties of any other citizens.  As such, we render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto the Lord what is the Lord's.

But wait, aren't we Caesar?  This is a democracy, correct?  Well, not quite.  We live in a democratic republic.  And in our government, the majority rules so long as the rights of the minority are protected.  Thus, we Christians must render that responsibility onto our society.  Not doing so means that we are not giving our full abilities to our society, which God calls us to do.

The only exception to this is if the government requires us to do something against our beliefs.  However, no one is being forced to have or even condone homosexual marriage.

Therefore, I will vote in favor of the legislation, not in spite of my faith, but because of it.