Kudos to the Supreme Court on the gay marriage ruling?  Not from me.   I understand, but I see this ruling differently than some. I am not looking at this in an emotional “all about love” sort of way.   I’m not addressing this as a Christian. I’m addressing it as an American citizen.

We are diverse and our religious beliefs are bigger than the government. Religious Freedom will most likely be challenged by lawsuits trying to force Christian vendors to service gay weddings and receptions, Christian adoption agencies to place children in gay homes, Christian parents to tolerate sex education which includes homosexual safe-sex in the public schools.  Most likely individual gays will not file these lawsuits; it will be the radicals with an agenda.  If all along gay partnerships had been contractually supported to afford gays the same protections under the law as married couples i.e., next of kin in decision making, division of property when the partnership ends, fair housing, etc. the Supreme Court may not have been involved.  Had we respected gay partnerships and not put religion into the mix we would have perhaps been able to avoid this… now, we’re facing God only knows what with radicals at the helm.

The Supreme Court has robbed us of the opportunity to govern as individual states.  They’ve opened Pandora’s Box. What about age of consent, the death penalty, marriage / divorce laws, prostitution (look at Vegas), polygamy?  Do we really want to infringe on state governments?  Do we want each state forced to abolish the death penalty or allow prostitution? With state diversity we learn from each other. We can look at state laws and how they handle moral issues and compare social, economic, and growth statistics.  We will do ourselves no favor having the Supreme Court rule on these moral issues.

Much bigger than this landmark decision, yet largely ignored, is what’s happening around the world.  On the same day as the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, terrorists gunned down dozens of tourists on a Tunisian beach, left a severed head atop a fence outside a French factory and blew up a Kuwaiti mosque in a bloody wave of attacks that followed an ISIS leader’s call to make the month of Ramadan a time of “calamity for the infidels.”

We should probably shift our attention to our ignorance or blindness of evil as it infiltrates our world and our country, while President Obama lights up the White House like a rainbow.

No happy dance happening here.

July 2, 2015  This ruling is based off Ore. anti-discrimination law, which includes sexual orientation.   UPDATE: GRESHAM, Ore. — The owners of a Christian bakery in Oregon have officially been ordered to pay $135,000 in damages to two lesbians who claimed that they suffered emotionally after they were told that the bakery could not make a cake for their ceremony because of their religious conviction that marriage is between one man and one woman.

The two lesbians, who claimed to be discriminated against, identified as Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman, submitted individual lists of just under 100 aspects of suffering in order to receive the damages. They included “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “distrust of men,” “distrust of former friends,” “excessive sleep,” “discomfort,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “loss of pride,” “mental rape,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”

In April, Alan McCullough, an administrative judge with the bureau, recommended a fine of $135,000, with one of the women receiving $75,000 and the other $60,000. Prosecutors had sought damages of $75,000 each.  This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage,” the final order, written by Commissioner Brad Avakian, read. “It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal.”

BINGO:  Lawsuit #1 ignores religious freedom… there will be hundreds more.