The LGBT community believes there is nothing wrong with same-sex "marriage," arguing that such a union does not hurt anybody. But bestselling Christian author and speaker Eric Metaxas begs to differ.
"Well, I can think of one significant way it will hurt us: It will destroy religious freedom and free speech rights," he writes for CNS News.
Metaxas cites an instance in Saskatchewan, Canada when a homosexual man asked the state marriage commissioner to facilitate his marriage to his partner. But since the commissioner is an evangelical Christian, he refused to conduct the ceremony for religious reasons, and asked that another commissioner conduct their marriage instead.
"But that was not enough for the gay couple. Even though they got their ceremony, they wanted to punish the Christian who had declined to conduct it. The case ended up in the courts. And the result? Those with religious objections to conducting such ceremonies now face the loss of their jobs," says Metaxas.
But that's not all. When Fred Henry, the Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, Alberta, sent a letter to churches in Canada hoping to explain traditional Catholic teaching on marriage, he was even "charged with a human-rights violation" and "threatened with litigation" because the teachings excluded same-sex couples.
Meanwhile, the Knights of Columbus in British Columbia declined to rent out its building for a same-sex wedding reception also due to religious differences. The lesbian couple who wanted to rent their place sued them, and the Human Rights Commission ordered the Knights of Columbus to pay a fine for discrimination.
Metaxas says there have been many other similar cases in America. Christians are being forced to accept and condone same-sex marriage at the risk of their jobs and public fury.
"You and I must demonstrate love to our gay neighbors, of course, remembering that we are ultimately engaged in spiritual warfare. But we should boldly stand up when our rights as citizens and the demands of our conscience are threatened," he says.
