Those who oppose gay marriage point, for example, to Matthew 19: "And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"

"We're not going to compromise the Bible," says Southeast Baptist Church Pastor Mike Gray.

But an amendment banning same-sex marriage is not in keeping with the gospel of Jesus, argues the Rev. Dan Webster, a spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. "You can find anything in the Bible to support any position you want to take," he says, including slavery and discrimination of women. "When I engage in a discussion about this, my whole thrust is the life of Jesus. . . . In the life of Jesus he is constantly opening up to accept everyone. He constantly brings in people that the majority consider unclean or marginalized."

Marriage, Webster argues, is not under attack but is simply evolving, as it has through history. As for himself, he says, "I'm a heterosexual person who has been married to one person for seven years, and for the life of me, I don't see how my marriage is going to be adversely affected if two people of the same gender say 'We love each and and want to be good citizens and good followers of God.' "

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com