Michael Peabody, editor of ReligiousLiberty.TV, interviews Jason Hines, attorney and Andrews University seminary student, about the topic of same-sex marriage and why religious groups need to be careful to protect liberty of conscience in their advocacy on this issue. Here's an excerpt of the interview.

Peabody: I recently heard a Seventh-day Adventist pastor say that we need to defend marriage just like we defend the Sabbath. And then he went on to talk about a ballot initiative, a constitutional amendment and other forms of legislation that would make sure that marriage would only mean one thing--and that is between a man and a woman. I am sure that the vast majority of Seventh-day Adventists would oppose any legislation having to do with a holy day, regardless of which day of the week it was. What do you think about this comparison. Is it safe?

Hines: I think  there's a misunderstanding there because what we're doing right now, we're not defending marriage like we defend the sabbath. We [should] defend marriage with a shield.  We say we want protection for what we desire as our religious understanding of a day of rest. What we're doing right now is we're defending marriage with a sword, not a shield. We're saying, "look, if you don't believe what we believe on marriage, we'll run you through with it, we'll slice you in half with it, we're going to cut down whatever you believe marriage is, and instead we will build our definition as the definition for everybody." So, I would critique that pastor's statement by saying that if you want to defend marriage in the way that you defend the Sabbath, then you should say, "This is what we believe marriage is and we want protection for that definition."

Hear more of this interview on the ReligiousLiberty.TV podcast, or click here.