Chait uses Maggie Gallagher to document its decline:
The surest sign of resignation is that Gallagher has redirected her focus from stopping gay marriage to preserving the dignity of her reputation and those of her fellow believers. She now presents her cause as a kind of civil rights movement to protect her fellow believers from the stigma of advocating bigotry and discrimination. “I worry when I get an email from a woman who’s a nurse in a hospital,” she told NPR, “who wrote a letter to the editor opposing gay marriage, and finds that she fears her job is in jeopardy.”
This leap toward leftist victimology is not new, but it sure is getting more intense, as the polling keeps bludgeoning the morale of those “defending” civil marriage from homosexual couples. When I was debating in Idaho, my debating partner, Doug Wilson, basically said that heterosexuals had already broken marriage – through no-fault divorce, “living in sin”, etc. – and so it was too late (and somewhat unfair) to take it out on the gays. He was reduced to what Bill O’Reilly has called “thumping the Bible.” But here’s what I don’t understand. Aren’t Christians supposed to be counter-cultural? Are they not supposed to be thrilled when they are ostracized or marginalized or held in contempt? Doesn’t Jesus predict exactly that and Paul celebrate it?
My view is that those who hold the view, in good conscience, that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, life-long, monogamous and procreative – have, and always have had, the option of leading by example rather than suppressing the rights of others. That’s the Christian, not Christianist, way forward. If their argument is so strong, they should not be worried by what presumably they think is a fad. Fads die out. All they really have to do is be true to their principles, convey them persuasively … and wait.
And yet they don’t. I wonder why.
(Photo: Opponents of same-sex marriage kneel in prayer as they arrive at the Supreme Court as they participate in the March for Marriage on March 26, 2013. The US Supreme Court hears arguments on California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. By Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 