Instead of recreating the Moral Majority of old envisioned by Jerry Falwell and later lamented by Paul Weyrich, Lee urged social conservatives to look for guidance from an unlikely source: the movement for same-sex marriage.

“We should never lose sight of the fact that the marriage equality movement is succeeding not by focusing on marriage, but by focusing on equality,” Lee said. “Political conservatives and religious traditionalists may not like how the gay marriage debate is going. But it is no small thing that the gay marriage movement has succeeded in recent years only by adopting our principles – of tolerance, diversity, and equal opportunity.”

The movement to defend religious liberty needs to become defined by those principles rather than perceived as faith-based discrimination. That can only happen by simultaneously proclaiming religious truth as we understand and respecting the freedoms, and perhaps the political advances, of others.

“Soon, it seems likely that America’s public square will fully welcome married, same-sex couples – not as victims or revolutionaries, but simply as equals,” Lee continued. He said differences over the definition of marriage will need to be dealt with in the same way as other sincere moral differences.