The California Supreme Court recently held that same sex couples have a fundamental right to marry. In November, voters in Arizona and California will decide whether to amend their state constitutions to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Many mistakenly "ho hum" this issue, figuring that what gay couples do doesn't impact their lives. What many miss is that same sex marriage threatens the survival of religious institutions that refuse to compromise their beliefs.

The California Supreme Court now equates homosexuality with race. The same legal standard applies to both. Can you imagine a church school being permitted to exclude teachers or students because of their race? In the very near future, all church institutions can be expected to conform to the new ethic of non-discrimination against gays, or be sued and/or shuttered. Already, Catholic adoption agencies in Boston and San Francisco have been shut down because they refused to provide services to same sex couples, in violation of their beliefs. Who is next?

Church legal experts have expressed varied concerns:

Churches that rent facilities for weddings or other groups to use will have to permit same sex weddings.

Public school students will be taught from kindergarten on that same sex marriages and families are moral and good.

Colleges will be required to conform not only hiring and admissions policies, but curriculum and instruction, or lose accreditation and access to Cal Grants.

Property tax exemption will be challenged for institutions that hold onto "outmoded" notions of marriage and sexuality.

Clergy may lose the right to perform state sanctioned weddings.

Students from Christian schools may be denied admission to public universities.

There is remarkable consensus among scholars that same sex marriage poses a very grave threat to the future of religious freedom. Churches that refuse to change their doctrines and practices will likely become marginalized, forced to close their schools, hospitals and social service agencies, and stripped of property tax exemption, income tax exemption or other "benefits." Amending the state constitutions to define marriage as a man and a woman would interrupt the steady loss of religious freedom.