Professor Michael McConnell discusses the need for “more toleration” not just for same-sex marriage advocates, but for those with other beliefs as well with author David R. Wheeler in The Atlantic.

Page 15 of the new student handbook of Cedarville University tells students to obey “the laws of the land.” However, there’s at least one law the Ohio evangelical college doesn’t support: the recent Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states. The school’s “Commitment to Purity,” printed on page 12 of the handbook, begins, “We believe that God’s design at creation for sexual desire and orientation is within the bounds of a marriage union between a man and a woman.” Cedarville prohibits students from engaging in not only same-sex dating, but also “public advocacy for the position that sex outside of a biblically defined marriage is morally acceptable.”

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The forceful tone of this handbook reflects a growing sense among evangelicals that they are being persecuted for their beliefs. Cedarville’s unequivocal rejection of gay marriage is consistent with the “human sexuality statements” for dozens of the 121 members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the nation’s premier organization of accredited evangelical higher-education institutions.

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Meanwhile, Michael W. McConnell, the director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, believes that government aid should not be used as a “club” to enforce conformity to any one particular value system. “The same-sex marriage decision liberated millions of people to live their lives in accordance with their own beliefs and identity,” he said. “Let’s remember that there are other forms of belief and identity likewise entitled to freedom. Let’s have more toleration all around.”