I do not believe that our government should be in the business of making people behave morally. Rather, I believe it is their job to ensure that we function well as a society. That said I wish there was an easier way to distinguish what laws are required to allow us to function well. For example, I do not believe that state recognized unions between homosexuals will be the break down of our society, as such I think that the state should recognize civil unions and let the churches define marriage. However, I can also see the beginnings of an argument saying that the very foundations of our social structure will begin to crumble if we did that. I don’t know that I agree with that statement; but, my point is that there is no simple test that we can apply to legislation to see if it is required for the smooth functioning of society.
Just a quick thought … I’ll probably write more about it later.