For a good while now, I have seen many people argue against things like gay marriage, abortion and other civil rights with the statement that such things are "sins" or "against my religion."

As a Christian myself, I have had my own personal thoughts on how to feel about these things. But I also realize that not everyone shares my beliefs, and that attempting to justify my desire for someone to not do something based on those beliefs is oppressive and wrong. Not everyone is religious. Not everyone thinks these things are sins. And if that's the case, where is the justification for telling them they can't do certain things based on the notion that they are?

They tell people that gay marriage is a sin, that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry because it's offensive to God. But where does it say that everyone honors God the same way you do, or even believes in Him at all? Where does it say that your beliefs should be the basis of something like a law? It doesn't. With that argument, you force others to accept your religious beliefs as fact, which is absolutely wrong, period.

They say abortion is murder, that the killing of an unborn child is a sin. I won't deny the sadness of such an act, but no one wants to get an abortion. And going to a woman pregnant with a child that may be the product of rape, or that she simply can't take care of for any number of reasons, and telling her she can't abort it because God doesn't like it, is again forcing someone to do something based on your beliefs.


People need to realize that not everyone believes the same things they do.