US Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage

[Bolty]

And I think opponents of gay civil marriage identify so strongly as "Christian" that they consider opposing gay anything a fundamental characteristic of that identity.

This applies to most peoples' viewpoints in life, as far as I've seen. Humans have a fundamental need to identify with groups, as we are tribal animals by instinct. It is a survival mechanism. We allow our opinions to be formed by the groups we identify with. Perhaps we joined those groups based on geography, perhaps we joined those groups based on upbringing, or perhaps we joined those groups because they held a belief we shared. Further beliefs come from that identity.

One can cynically claim that "people are sheep" who don't think for themselves, and by doing so imply that they are above these petty mentalities, able to evaluate stances objectively in every aspect of their lives. But I think anyone would be hard-pressed to factually claim they have never been influenced by the groups they belong to, even if subconsciously.

Myself included.

However, when a belief is challenged, it does take a strong mind to evaluate that challenge objectively rather than instinctually react to the challenge and shut it down. Our very biology screams at us to reject anything that could threaten our group identity, because without the group, we're stranded, alone from the tribe.

Not everyone can overcome that instinct. Harder yet is to figure out if your bias is interfering in an objective analysis of a challenge, or if the challenge is crap and deserves rejection.

Some challenges are pretty easy to evaluate and determine if there's an objective reason to reject them. Gay marriage is one of those, which makes me feel sorry for those who still can't overcome that challenge to their belief.