THE SCHISM – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  The Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states is causing the expected schism, the same kind of divide we saw after Roe v. Wade. This can get very bitter.  From The Hill:

Congressional Republicans are coming under pressure to respond to the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage when they return to Washington next week.

Religious organizations aligned with the GOP are concerned the government will punish them for opposing same-sex marriage, and want lawmakers to put in place new protections for people with faith-based objections.

The groups are putting their lobbying energy behind the First Amendment Defense Act, a bill that would prohibit the government from retaliating against churches, schools and adoption agencies that only recognize heterosexual marriage.

"Regardless of where you come down on the issue of same-sex marriage, we shouldn’t allow the federal government to punish religious institutions for their beliefs about marriage,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who introduced the legislation shortly before the Supreme Court ruling.

A number of GOP presidential candidates are backing the bill, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) is sponsoring the same legislation in the House.

Groups such as the Family Research Council, Heritage Foundation, and National Organization for Marriage are pushing for votes on the bill, calling it a commonsense response to the high court’s ruling.

“It doesn’t change the definition of marriage,” said David Christensen, vice president of government affairs at the Family Research Council. “It simply protects those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman.”

COMMENT:  Gay marriage proponents would have been wiser to wait for state legislatures to work the matter out, in true democratic fashion.  By getting a decision from the Supreme Court, they went the Roe route, indifferent to the controversy that would erupt. 

Surely people of good will can work out some formula under which freedom of religion would be protected, and the faithful not constantly be attacked as "bigots." 

July 6, 2015