Why this week is momentous for the future of our society

On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on gay marriage.

What transpired was very encouraging, as Ryan Anderson reports.

Anderson, one of the most courageous men in America because of his willingness to make the case against gay marriage in the most hostile environments, explains how Justices Alito and Scalia and Roberts registered important concerns about letting gay marriage be declared a constitutional matter:

1. It will suggest that we know the results of gay parenting, when we really don’t.  There has been too little time to know, and the studies claiming otherwise were not methodologically rigorous.

2. Once it is declared a right by the Supreme Court, there will be no room for exceptions for the religious and other citizens who cannot go along with its prescriptions.  If, on the other hand, it is sent back to the states to decide, states can always make exceptions.

3. It will create another culture war as bad as that created by Roe v. Wade.  If we think things are bad now, it will be far worse.

4. Schools that do not endorse gay marriage will have their tax-exempt status removed.  This will create chaos for Christian colleges.  Not to mention all other religious enterprises that hold to orthodox convictions and currently enjoy tax-exempt status.

It is encouraging that even Justice Kennedy, the swing vote, was concerned about the alarming implications of radically changing the definition of marriage.

This is why what happened Tuesday, and the decision that will be announced this summer, will have grave import for our future.

It will be looked back on as either the beginning of the end for religious freedom and family sanity, or the first important signal that our culture could reverse its slide toward the abyss.