Particularly true if you consider religion as an effect of culture as much as a cause.

It has not gone unnoticed that Islam developed over time into something reflecting Arab cultural norms. Same is true for Western Christianity and most other religions in their own cultures.

You would think a true revelation from God or gods would, at least once in a while, take a culture in a completely different direction. Yet somehow most religions seem to emphasize things a culture already believes, don't they?

But I digress.

It is difficult, although certainly not impossible, to find a culture anywhere in history that formalized same-sex marriages in a way equivalent to man-woman marriages. Some had a different formalization (civil unions?) Gay marriage didn't serve the same needs in a society as man-woman marriages.

In fact, if we use history as a guide, you'd think polygamy would be legalized long before same-sex marriages. That particular tradition is all over the place in human history. I can find many famous people in the Bible in polygamous marriages, and to the best of my knowledge there is not one verse anywhere where God specifically points to this practice and says "not cool."

Ask a gay guy "is it okay to marry your sister? Your adult daughter?" He'll go "Ewwww! That's just not right!" Why will he say that? Good question. Can't be genetic issues in this modern world--gay people don't reproduce normally either and must resort to artificial means or adoption. It's cultural. The gay marriage advocate just has a cultural line drawn in a different place than those who are against it.

I think gay marriage is more of a political tool than a real need. There were two women in my church who had been married longer than I have been (one of them recently died and we had a nice service for her). They didn't seem to be worried about whether or not it was formally recognized in California. They knew they were married, and didn't make a big deal about it. I didn't even know about the relationship until after the death and the services were announced, although the pastor and everybody else seemed to know about it. But then my wife is the social flower at church, not me. The remaining spouse has since been elected to the church council.