Gene Bryant
Newton
Kudos to the Daily News for a balanced article of June 28 regarding local reactions to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling establishing marriage equality throughout the land.
Members of conservative churches, such as Sheri Benson, should remember that the justices’ decision concerned civil rights and not the affairs of churches. Part of the genius of our democracy is this: It is not necessary for all civil law to coincide with religious teaching, or vice-versa.
In the Constitution, and in established law, we have been careful to affirm the right of individual believers, and religious bodies, to practice their faith as they see fit. This right remains intact. At the same time, our courts and other civil authorities cannot, and must not, be bound by the beliefs and practices of any particular religious group.
To launch a retention vote because of a particular ruling, as Family Leader did in Iowa and as candidates like Ted Cruz now want to do, is to insist that the United States should become a theocracy. We would then be governed not by the rule of law but by the convictions, even prejudices, of whichever set of religious leaders manage to gain power. Conservative religious believers should remember that the next such case that comes along may go their way. That’s the way it works under the rule of law.
Simply put, conservative believers rejoiced when Iowans threw out three justices from our Supreme Court for the same kind of ruling we saw on Friday. Why should we progressive believers not be afforded the same privilege when a civil right for which we have long worked is achieved? Either way, marriage equality is now the law of the land, and it’s time to move on.