by Richard Stengel

About the author: Richard Stengel is a senior writer for Time.

IT IS BETTER TO MARRY THAN TO BURN.—Paul, I Corinthians 7:9

The funny thing is, on the issue of same-sex marriage, both sides agree with Paul. In fact, advocates of same-sex marriage and their opponents concur that it is better to marry than almost anything else. They both embrace the idea that marriage is the bedrock of a stable society, and that it is the ideal method of civilizing wayward and wanton males, something every society must do. In short, hooray for till-death-us-do-part. The only problem is that both sides disagree vehemently on who should be allowed to take that vow.

Compared with, say, the federal deficit or welfare, the issue of same-sex marriage is not exactly a crisis in the Republic. But it has become...