Some Clarification--Religous vs. Secular Marriage

Commenter exitr makes a fair point:

Hold on a sec - just going by what you've quoted here, Obama is definitely not saying that gays should not have the right to wed. He's left himself a huge (frustratingly huge, actually) amount of wiggle room; when he says "my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman," that is a far cry from saying that the law in an at least technically secular society should not permit same-sex marriage. Especially when he frames it with "I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue." Basically I think his words here can be interpreted to support almost any position on this issue - and he can certainly be criticized for that.

Here is Obama's original quote:

I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.

My understanding has always been that Obama was opposed to gay marriage--as a legal matter. Perhaps that opposition has nothing to do with opposition to gay marriage as a religious matter. Indeed, I could be wrong about his opposition to gay marriage. In this clip he says he is not someone "who promotes same-sex marriage. But he believes in civil unions." You can make of that what you will. A charitable interpretion argues that he's against it religiously, but doesn't have a problem with civil gay marriage. My interpretation is that he's a politiician and that he believes, perhaps correctly, that this issue could be fatal.

Honestly, I don't know. I'm just sick of  playing the pathological problem child. I'm sick of black folks being America's sin-eater. It's a maddening--if neccessary thing--to extend good faith to people you deeply suspect are not in the same business.