ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the introduction of same-sex marriage (SSM) as a contemporary case study to assess the degree of CCs' positive religious liberty. It explores the legal impediments to public opposition by conservative Christian (CCs) to SSM and then briefly considers whether they can make a successful case against it under the current terms of public debate. Apart from being inherently contradictory and anti-normative, many CCs believe that legal recognition of SSM would entail disastrous societal consequences. CCs have the usual democratic channels open to them—forming pressure groups, publishing pamphlets, lobbying MPs, writing submissions to select committees, running petitions, and so on. Free speech is a delicate and vulnerable one for CCs, for, on other occasions, they are all too ready to invoke the law to suppress expression which offends Christian sensibilities. The ambivalence of most CCs toward freedom of expression is traceable, in part, to their understanding of societal blessing and judgment.
