A new policy paper from The Heritage Foundation<\/a> warns that the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex unions “poses significant threats to the religious liberties of people who continue to believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.” These threats are acknowledged by both those who support and those who oppose redefining marriage, according to to Thomas M. Messner, a Visiting Fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at Heritage. Some “talking points” from Same-Sex Marriage and the Threat to Religious Liberty<\/a>:<\/p>\n — Judicial decisions redefining marriage to include same-sex unions state that limiting marriage to men and women is a form of unacceptable discrimination against homosexuals.<\/p>\n — The freedom to express the view that marriage involves a man and a woman will come under growing pressure as courts, public officials, and private institutions come to regard the traditional understanding of marriage as a form of irrational prejudice that should be purged from public life.<\/p>\n — Individuals and institutions that believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman could lose access to government benefits and become subject to costly lawsuits under nondiscrimination laws that protect sexual orientation, gender, and marital status.<\/p>\n — Given America\u2019s long history of protecting the basic human right to religious liberty and the role of religious liberty as a pillar of free society and liberal democracy, lawmakers have a serious obligation to uphold religious liberty and to provide exemptions where laws would force people to violate their religious beliefs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In California, opponents of Proposition 8, the successful ballot initiative that affirmed traditional marriage, are turning their ire on the Mormons<\/a>. According to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune<\/a>, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints “got into the thick of the California battle when officials issued statements encouraging members to actively support the ban. All told, Latter-day Saints are estimated to have given, by some counts, as much as $22 million to the effort.”<\/p>\n