Will gay marriage be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The gays can have the benefits all they want, but keep them out of my church. Marriage has and always will be first and foremost defined as a union between a man and a woman. Why they insist on coming into our churches and offending everyone in the process is beyond me. Why people defend them for having that right is beyond me. We can be intolerant if we want .. their practice is against almost every religion imaginable.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The gays can have the benefits all they want, but keep them out of my church. Marriage has and always will be first and foremost defined as a union between a man and a woman. Why they insist on coming into our churches and offending everyone in the process is beyond me. Why people defend them for having that right is beyond me. We can be intolerant if we want .. their practice is against almost every religion imaginable.

Yes.  How dare people offend me by disagreeing with my religion and requesting rights they believe they're entitled to!

This paragraph could be replicated verbatim, replacing gays with blacks.  That doesn't kind of freak you out?

My religion doesn't preach against blacks. In fact, we have black members. Just because tradition doesn't mean anything to you doesn't mean its that way for everyone. I think gays have the right to get the benefits that other married couples get, but why do they insist on calling it marriage? The very definition of marriage is between a man and a woman. They are trying to change the definition of a word. Please don't insinuate that I am a racist or a homophobe because I hold my religious beliefs close to me. I can't stand it when people get all high and mighty and treat those with any beliefs at all as inferior or bigoted.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The gays can have the benefits all they want, but keep them out of my church. Marriage has and always will be first and foremost defined as a union between a man and a woman. Why they insist on coming into our churches and offending everyone in the process is beyond me. Why people defend them for having that right is beyond me. We can be intolerant if we want .. their practice is against almost every religion imaginable.

Who's demanding to come into your church?

No one!  NO ONE advocates forcing churches to marry gays!  It's strictly a govt thing!

Marriage is a religious ceremony. I am all for civil unions and extending benefits to gays and all, but it's the word marriage that some seem so determined to get that bothers me. MARRIAGE has always been a religious union between a man and a woman. I wish people would respect that rather than saying the word is broken and needs fixing.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The gays can have the benefits all they want, but keep them out of my church.

Umm, I'm Jewish and don't give a damn what you do in your church, nor would any law force your church to perform gay marriage, any more than the law can force a rabbi to marry two Catholics even though the state says those marriages are legal. I also think that gay marriages are the last problem that churches in my state have had; frankly encouraging gays to stay in the closet and have no acceptable position in the community has led to some real tragedies there.

Stay in the closet? What are you talking about? Perhaps if you knew more about the church, then you'd realize no one encourages that.