Rick Santorum, United States Senator from Pennsylvania, is unapologetic about his remarks about gay couples and sodomy, even though the Supreme Court ruled that laws criminalizing sodomy, and especially those singling out gay sex for legal sanction, are unconstitutional. The Court's ruling was predicated on the idea that sexual intimacy between consenting adults is not a matter of legitimate government interest and control. Santorum, however, believes just the opposite - the sexual relationship between two adults is very much a subject that the government should be interested in, has a stake in, and therefore should be a matter of public debate and regulation.

Of course, such a position is patently absurd - and that's why you won't find him phrasing it in quite that matter. Nevertheless, that is the upshot of what he believes when he says that regulating sexual relationship is necessary for the continuation of civilization. As reported in the Scranton Times-Tribune:

The ruling altered "the people's ability to, through their laws, decide what's moral and what's not moral and what should be legal and not legal. And I think (it) fundamentally alters the landscape of what marriage is going to look like in the future. ...That's the unique role of marriage, (it's) that special relationship between a man and a woman who have children and to create a nurturing and positive atmosphere for children. That's why marriage, in every civilization known to man, has been a unique and respected institution. And when you talk about things other than that relationship ... you get away from the fundamental point of why marriage is sacred."

Someone needs to inform Senator Santorum that "sacred" is a religious concept (indeed, some argue that it is the essential concept that distinguishes religions from other types of belief systems) and that what qualifies as "sacred" will differ from person to person and from religion to religion. The government of all the people simply has no business declaring that marriage - or anything else - is "sacred" and needs to be restricted to what one particular religion has decided marriage should be. So long as marriage exists as a civil institution regulated by civil, secular contracts, then it cannot be controlled by religious dogma.

Read More:

• Supreme Court Decisions on Privacy