Proposition 8 has always been about restoring the traditional definition of marriage. It doesn't discriminate or take rights away from anyone. Gay and lesbian domestic partnerships will continue to enjoy the same legal rights as married spouses. Our coalition has no plans to seek any changes in that law.

Prothero, the chairman of Boston University Religion Department, contends that GOP presidential nominee John McCain's effort to reach out to conservative evangelical voters was blunted when "Obama played the God card, too...," publicly professing his faith and "parsing Biblical passages." With both Republicans and Democrats talking about God, "there will be less to gain from discussing" religion, and political discourse will be "less about Jesus and more about jobs."

The colloquial meaning of the word was taken for granted. To define marriage legally would have been redundant since the word itself was defined as the union of a man and a woman.

If one were to trace the origin of marriage in modern societies, one would probably come up with some folk theory of natural law. The human race depends for its maintenance on the union between the male and female of the species, and societies have an interest in guarding and regulating that union.

The survey shows that Proposition 8 has majority support among men (53%), women (51%), whites (51%), Latinos (57%), those who are married (59%) and those age 45 and older (59%). Those opposed include likely voters under age 45 (54% opposed) and those who are not married (54% opposed).

The poll also shows that Proposition 8 leads in every region of California except the Bay Area, where 58% are opposed.