Mrebo said:
...I grant you that it is problematic from a legal standpoint when people only refer to the bible to make their case. Yet for believers, the bible is not merely an antique text (and certainly not hateful). For them, it is the truth. Thus when a law is proposed that in their view sanctions something immoral, it is natural for them to oppose it. It would be quite weird for someone to assert a moral belief but consider it somehow less legitimate because it is religious. And Christians believe a great many will "burn" for a great many reasons - primarily if one does not accept Jesus. That doesn't mean one cannot have a reasonable discussion with Christians.
There are alternative views for Christians to hold on marriage. For instance I know one evangelical who views homosexuality as immoral yet believes the government should have no role in marriage, which he sees as a religious sacrament quite different in nature from legal marriage, even as it exists for straight people. Sort of the difference between Christmas (Santa Version) and Christmas (Jesus Version).
It should be respected when people sincerely advocate for positions based on their religious views, including advocating for laws. Part of the difficulty is that many Christians see homosexuality as an activity, whereas same-sex marriage advocates see homosexuality as an identity - the former view I think is evident in RO_2's posts. I see no hate in RO_2's or ender's posts but I think far too many people may take it that way.
I never considered neither Darth_Ender nor RicOlie_2 as posting hateful. Otherwise I think the whole discussion would have been some kind of bad blood, which it surely has not.
The Problem are not the people just having another opinion, and just express them, but no matter what topic, no matter which side: There are always some extremists with too much destructive power.
I do not see any really kind of solution, unless people start to change. Sometimes I read such sentences as "Start tolerancing our intolerance." I have a 'maybe' answer: "As soon as you start tolerating what you are intolerance of... ;)"