The millennials are more detached from organized religion than any earlier cohort of young Americans since polling began: Roughly one-third reject formal religious affiliation. Many scholars — notably Robert Putnam and David Campbell, whose “American Grace” is the definitive book on the United States’ religious landscape — attribute this to the hyper-politicization of faith on the right.
To young adults, Campbell and Putnam wrote in a 2012 article in Foreign Affairs, “‘religion’ means ‘Republican,’ ‘intolerant,’ and ‘homophobic.’ Since those traits do not represent their views, they do not see themselves — or wish to be seen by their peers — as religious.”
Religious accommodations in our laws involve an ongoing effort to balance robust protections for faith groups with the need for laws of general application.
For both pragmatic and principled reasons, supporters of marriage equality have already gone out of their way to respect the objections of many faiths to blessing homosexual unions.
In November 2012, Maryland’s voters approved gay marriage by a majority of 52 percent to 48 percent. Key to this victory (and to victories elsewhere) was the willingness of marriage equality’s supporters to acknowledge the freedom of religious institutions to run their own affairs.
The wording of Question 6, as it was known, thus included strong language noting that the law “protects clergy from having to perform any particular marriage ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs; affirms that each religious faith has exclusive control over its own theological doctrine regarding who may marry within that faith; and provides that religious organizations and certain related entities are not required to provide goods, services, or benefits to an individual related to the celebration or promotion of marriage in violation of their religious beliefs.”
The sponsors of the Arizona legislation thought that religious florists, caterers and photographers should not have to work weddings they don’t believe should be taking place.
Most Americans make a sensible distinction between guarding the rights of religious groups and allowing wholesale discrimination against gays and lesbians in commerce.
A poll in July by Third Way, a policy organization reflecting the thinking of moderate Democrats, and the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, found that while 61 percent of voters said that a clergy member or church should be able to refuse to perform a gay marriage ceremony, only 35 percent said a restaurateur should be able to refuse to cater a gay couple’s wedding; 56 percent said he shouldn’t.
The public sees the difference between a church and a marketplace. Shouldn’t this be good news for religious people?
E.J. Dionne’s email address is ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne.
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