It has been argued that the banning of gay marriage is in many ways an issue that involves the separation of church and state because it privileges a particular religious position above others. Some religious people consider gay marriage sacrilegious and some don't. This impression has been reinforced in New York where prosecutors are charging clergy who perform same-sex marriages.

New York Daily News reports:

The charges against Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey may be the first brought against clergy for performing same-sex unions, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay and lesbian rights group. Greenleaf and Sangrey were charged with multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license, the same charges leveled against New Paltz Mayor Jason West who last month drew the state into the widening national debate over same-sex unions.

Williams said before Monday’s charges were handed down it would be more difficult considering charges against clergy as opposed to an elected official because the clergy had not sworn to uphold the law. He said his decision to press charges was influenced by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s opinion that gay marriage is illegal in New York and by the injunction issued by a state supreme court justice against West.

Not all clergy who preside over same-sex unions are being charged - only those who, apparently, state in public that they consider the unions "civil" as well as "religious" in nature. But how much sense does that really make? The clergy might be wrong, that is true, but how can such an error be something that can be prosecuted?

Read More:

• Ethics of Gay Marriage
• Religious Right
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality