Dear Sen. Lee Bright,

Today you stood in front of other legislators and spoke your mind about the recent gay marriage ruling. You were supposed to be addressing the controversy over the Confederate battle flag still being flown in front of our State House, but thank you for bringing this other controversy up as well.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I am a fellow Carolinian, and a fellow Christian. I believe in freedom and God's love and the power of the law. I believe in sacrifice and sin and patriotism and perfect, pure love. I am American. We have all of those things in common.

In your speech, you said that the state of South Carolina needs to rise up. I agree.

But what we don't see eye to eye on is what we need to rise up against.

You said that this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and those principles are under attack by the Supreme Court. I have to ask: wasn't our very founding encouraged by the necessity for freedom? Freedom from religious oppression and freedom from oppressive thought. Our forefathers recognized the thirst our nation had to be free. They did not recognize the need for a theocracy. Our laws are not designed to support one religion's laws, they are designed to protect freedom.

You also mentioned how Supreme Court justices are not popularly elected, and thus given the opportunity to be tyrannical. This confuses me, because the fundamental purpose of the Supreme Court is to be apolitical and offer fair rulings of the law. Don't get me wrong, not just anyone can be randomly placed in that position of power; in fact, after being appointed by the President (who was popularly elected), candidates must then also be approved by United States Senators (also popularly elected). Thus, there are two layers of approval to ensure no tyrants may sit on the bench. We must respect our Constitution, and our Constitution grants justices their authority.

Lastly, Sen. Bright, I think you are right about the Bible. The Bible is clear in what it says, and many Christians do believe that gay marriage is morally wrong. You even went so far as to call the rainbow lights that lit up the White House after the decision "abomination colors."

That is fine, and I thank you for having the courage to share your beliefs, because that is what makes our country great. But the thing is, mustn't we also respect the beliefs of others, who may have different views? You allow the marriages of those who sin by following another faith, so why not those who sin by following their hearts? Who is to decide which sins the United States condemns by law? It would be impossible, because that is not the point of our law.

So yes, Sen. Bright, you are right that it is time for South Carolina to rise up. We citizens of the Palmetto State need to stand up for ourselves and have the courage to proclaim the truth about our country. America was founded on the idea of freedom, and it is by freedom we will remain true to the purpose of our revolution over 200 years ago. It is about time we start fighting for progress and pure love, because after all, that is what we can all agree on.