Same-sex marriage and the Christian conservative reaction

In this chapter, we examine the acrimonious public debate about same-sex marriage from the perspective of John Rawl's liberal theory of decent democratic and plural societies and Jurgen Habermas's critical theory of postsecular society. Both approaches take note of the issue of reconciling the values of secular democracies with the spread of such fundamentalist religious movements as Christian fundamentalism and reformed or purist Islam. In the modern world, religion appears to be at the forefront of social conflict, and it therefore presents an important test of any theory of social order. We argue that questions surrounding sexuality, marriage, abortion, and family life have become defining issues in the religious confrontation with secularization. In particular, recent legislation to accept same-sex marriage as lawful has ignited widespread opposition in societies as different as the United States, France, and Australia. In many respects, the defense of heterosexual marriage has become, for certain religious communities, a key issue in the maintenance of Christian civilization as a whole. On these matters, we have seen the rise of "public religions" as a challenge to the trend toward the privatization of religious belief, the marker of a secular society