Same-Sex Marriage, the Right to Religious and Moral Freedom, and the Catholic Church

Abstract

This chapter addresses the legal dimensions of same-sex marriage from the vantage of the legal categories of religious and moral freedom as well as of widely accepted international doctrine on human rights. It disputes the assertions advanced by the church hierarchy in the political actions it has undertaken to combat—on moral grounds—the legalization of same-sex marriage. It argues that the religious or moral claims of one sectarian group may not be legitimately used by governments to displace the moral freedom of other groups or persons, especially in societies in which various religious groups may differ on the question at hand. There is, indeed, a religious freedom argument to be made about same-sex marriage, but it is not the one championed by the Catholic bishops.