ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how religious organizations formally responded to marriage equality before and after national legalization. Demographics are also an important factor in understanding religious responses to marriage equality. The advancement of marriage equality was lamented by critical religious groups, including Southern Baptists and Catholics, who situate the issue within larger societal shifts over the last 50 years. Religious groups who formally supported marriage equality demonstrated strong opposition, including white mainline Protestants and Jews. Religious groups with high religious intensity identified more strongly with the Republican Party and more strongly opposed same-sex marriage. Religious groups who formally opposed marriage equality commonly articulated an understanding of marriage as between one man and one woman as a "biblical truth," as stated by the Southern Baptist Convention. Religious authorities perceive attitudinal differences toward same-sex marriage between younger and older adults.
