Hello, there. My name is Christine. You probably don’t know me. I’m not any of the politicians or celebrities out there who are commenting on the current state of affairs in our country. I am just your average American citizen.

I was raised with religion. My dad’s side of the family was probably more spiritual than devout. My dad likes to joke that, growing up, his mom told him to go to church because church was where he could meet a nice girl. My mom’s side, they were the strict Catholics… decking all seven children out in their Sunday best every week and piling into the station wagon for church, not to mention at least eight years of tuition for Catholic education for each of those seven children. When my parents met, my dad attended the classes and received the sacraments and became Catholic so they could be married in the church. What eventually followed was a Catholic school education for my two sisters and me.

I am not a good Catholic. Once I moved out of my parents’ house, my Sundays in church became less and less frequent. Now that I’m in my mid-thirties, I couldn’t tell you the last time I attended a mass that wasn’t for a funeral or a wedding. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still hold onto the values that I was taught by my parents and my school and my church. I try every day to be kind and considerate. Rather than praying in an organized setting, I pray alone or through my actions, through sharing smiles and laughter and happy moments with the people who come in and out of my life on a daily basis. I believe in the collective, greater good and the power of people who come together in love and acceptance of each other. I believe in community, and by extension, communion.

But today, I am afraid. I am afraid that so much relies on the decision of nine people. The wrong decision, or even a delayed decision, is completely inconceivable to me. I think of the people who I grew up with in Catholic school and even public high school. I think of my own students at the community college where I teach. I think of my parents, my father in particular. I think of the people within these groups who are more devoutly religious than I am and who don’t believe in marriage equality for religious reasons. And then I think of my uncle, my godfather, who was raised by strict Catholics and then died of AIDS in January 2005, five months before I got married, never having been allowed the opportunity to do the same. I think of how, even at a time when religion treated him like an abomination, he still had faith, and he still shared that faith with me, sending me one piece of a porcelain nativity set each year for Christmas on his meager income so I would have something to remember him by when he passed. Christmas was his favorite holiday, after all. I think of all my friends and other family members who are facing the same inequality today, who are denied the right to join with the person they love in marriage. And then I feel sick to my stomach thinking about what that wrong decision would mean to each of them. How do we reconcile these two sides?

For me, the answer is simple: marriage equality is not a religious issue. The Declaration of Independence spells out for us the fundamental values that this country was founded upon… the self-evident truth that we are all created equal and that we all have the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The issue in question is not whether or not gay couples should be allowed to marry in the church. It is whether they should be allowed the same legal right to get married that everyone else is afforded, period. The answer can only be yes. Separation of church and state must work both ways. If we want the right to practice a religion of our choice freely and without interference from the government, then the government, too, must be able to practice their defense of our rights without the interference of religion. Since when did discrimination become a Christian value, anyway? Was Jesus discriminating when he shared his time with the people society deemed unsavory? Did He not feel that they were equally deserving of His love and attention? Perhaps instead of dividing and alienating, we should consider accepting and communing. After all, faith is a choice, but equality is a right.

As for the Supreme Court and their decision, I can only hope that they have the courage and strength to not only listen to their hearts, but also do what is right. It is what they were chosen to do. The people we all love are depending on them.