The controversy over the recent Newsweek cover story, “A Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” continues. See here for my initial analysis of Miller’s article.

Newsweek magazine, one of the most influential news magazines in America, has decided to come out for same-sex marriage in a big way, and to do so by means of a biblical and theological argument.  In its cover story for this week, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller offers a revisionist argument for the acceptance of same-sex marriage.  It is fair to say that Newsweek has gone for broke on this question.

The passage of Proposition 8 in California has reset the table with respect to the issue of same-sex marriage. Clearly, those pushing for legalized same-sex marriage thought that the decision of the California Supreme Court last May was the final word, and same-sex marriage would be an established legal reality in California. The fact that Proposition 8 passed on November 4 threw that assumption aside, and an ugly new chapter is opening.

The challenge of defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman was on full public display on November 4.  The immediate news was very encouraging indeed.  Voters in Arizona, Florida, and California all passed measures defending marriage and prohibiting same-sex marriages in their states.  These three states, added to the over twenty others that had already passed similar constitutional amendments or similar provisions, have made a massive public statement in support of marriage.

Writing more than twenty years ago, Thomas Sowell described the basic worldview clash we observe today as a struggle between “constrained” and “unconstrained” visions of humanity.  The fundamental distinction between these two visions is moral, but the thrust of each is ideological.  The constrained vision may be considered basically conservative, while the unconstrained vision is basically liberal, in modern terms.

“We’re talking about really refraining from using things like, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, those kind of things, and just say ‘partner,’” explains Robin Sinks.  She is the health education specialist for the Long Beach Unified School District in California.  The point she was making is clear enough.  The legalization of same-sex marriage will require a comprehensive change in our language.

Same-sex marriage is, for now, legal in three of fifty states in the United States.  Beyond our borders, it is legal in the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, South Africa, Canada and Norway.  This represents a very small percentage of the world’s population.  Same-sex marriage is, by any measure, the exception rather than the rule.  Even when legalized civil unions and domestic partnerships are thrown into the mix, the countries that consider same-sex unions and heterosexual marriages to be equal before the law represent a small percentage of the world’s nations.