You are treating marriage simply as a religious function when it clearly is not. Atheists are married everyday and a lot of people simply get married by the JP. There is no reason to challenge churches on their teachers and a lot of reasons not to, the constitution being the top of the list. The Catholic church would not marry me because I am not a Catholic and have gone through their sacraments. That in no way impedes on my rights since I have a ton of other options that will get me a marriage just as valid in the eyes of society and in the eyes of the law.

It is the state not the church is who is stopping gay marriage. If the state allowed it some churches would refuse to sanction them but that really means nothing outside of that church and would in no way impede on the rights of gays to marry. It would not even stop them from getting married in a church since there are churches who would be thrilled to marry them.

The opposition to gay marriage goes much deeper than just religion. It is true that many fundamentalist use that as the basis for their opposition but their numbers are too small to stop gay marriage alone. To repeatedly block ballot initiatives all over the country there has to be staunch opposition that extends well beyond the religious right.