Religious crusaders in Oklahoma are angry at the state legislature and governor because they refused to legislate morality.

Granted, the LGBT activists and progressives opposing a new law passed in the state probably don’t view themselves as religious, but their drive to mold society into their moral image through the power of the state features all the hallmarks of a religious crusade.

SB1140 effectively allows private adoption agencies to discriminate. Under the new law, the state cannot require a private agency to “perform, assist, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer, or participate in any placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the proposed placement would violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”

Practically speaking, the law simply allows agencies to take moral and religious beliefs into consideration when they write their adoption guidelines. It doesn’t prohibit adoption in any situation. But LGBT groups call the law discriminatory because it would allow agencies to potentially refuse to process adoptions for same-sex couples.

Several opponents of the law have called it “theocratic.” As they see it, the Oklahoma government has imposed some type of religious code on the people of the Sooner State. The problem with this assertion is that the state hasn’t imposed anything with the passage of SB1140. In fact, the progressives protesting the new law are the ones seeking to impose their will upon society.

SB1140 gives private agencies some latitude to set their own adoption policies. Under the law, an organization could discriminate against same-sex couples, single parents or even divorcees. By the same token, it doesn’t preclude a gay-only adoption agency, or an organization that only processes adoptions to single parents.

The law does not involve any force nor does it coerce people into taking any action that violates their consciences.

In contrast, the LGBT and progressive groups opposing the law want the state to force every adoption agency to operate under uniform rules based on progressive moral values of tolerance, inclusiveness and equality. Note the keyword – force. These progressives literally want the state to impose their moral framework on every person in Oklahoma.

And make no mistake – these progressives operate within a very strict moral framework.

In fact, opponents of the new law more closely resemble theocrats than those who passed it. They are the ones who want to use the coercive and violent power of the state to impose their moral and ethical worldview on all Oklahomans. They may not acknowledge any god, but they embrace their moral framework with religious zeal rivaling any Christian, Muslim or Hindu.

And they carry out their war to impose their moral vision on the world with all the violent fanaticism of the most religiously devote crusader.

We can debate whether or not same-sex couples should adopt children. We can disagree about the morals and ethics of sexuality. We can condemn discrimination. The problems begin when we allow force and coercion to enter into the equation.

If the state of Oklahoma had passed a law banning same-sex couples from adopting, I would be making the exact same argument. If all parties involved agree, it’s ethically wrong to point guns at people and tell them they cannot adopt a child – regardless of their sexual orientation or marital status. By the same token, it’s just as ethically wrong to point a gun at a Catholic adoption agency and demand it facilitate adoptions that violate its moral tenets.

You can disagree with their stance. You can speak out against it.  But you don’t have the right to use force and violence against them.