This debate over gay marriage seems to have hit us from nowhere. I suppose that’s not strictly true, because the issue’s been bubbling away for a few years now; but it only came to the fore when Barack Obama announced he was a supporter of gay marriage.

As usual when debates centre around issues combining human rights and morality, religious groups have had a lot to say. It’s unfortunate that religious leaders have been subjected to a great deal of hostility from gay rights campaigners, considering the great things religion has given us. Don’t these people deserve our respect?

If we disregard for a moment all the terrible tragedies perpetuated in the names of various gods, the deliberate lies, the child abuse, the hypocrisy, the suicide bombers, the Inquisition, the subjugation of women, the corruption, and the ongoing suppression of scientific knowledge, religion doesn’t come out looking too bad.

So let’s hear it for all those priests, mullahs, pastors and rabbis who think they have the right to tell people what they should do in the privacy of their own homes. Without their efforts where would society be today?