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In the hours since a federal judge struck down California鈥檚 ban on same-sex marriage yesterday, religious-right organizations have sent up an angry howl of protest, accusing the judge of doing everything from overruling the Constitution to laying the groundwork for a contemporary version of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Tim Wildmon, leader of the , called the decision 鈥渢yrannical, abusive and utterly unconstitutional鈥� and said it 鈥渃avalierly trashed鈥� the votes of some 7 million Californians who voted to approve Proposition 8 in 2008. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also extremely problematic that Judge [Vaughn] Walker is a practicing homosexual himself. 鈥� His situation is no different than a judge who owns a porn studio being asked to rule on an anti-pornography statute.鈥� Wildmon went on to demand that the U.S. House of Representatives impeach Walker.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, which worked to support the proposition during the 2008 campaign, sounded a similar theme, saying that the ruling dealt a 鈥渢errible blow鈥� to the country and that the 鈥渂iased, homosexual judge鈥� had 鈥渋mposed his own homosexual agenda.鈥� Bishop Harry Jackson, leader of Stand4MarriageDC, called the judge鈥檚 ruling a 鈥渟lur鈥� against those who had voted for Prop 8. And former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the judge鈥檚 鈥渘otorious decision鈥� showed 鈥渙utrageous disrespect for the Constitution.鈥�

In fact, Walker found that Proposition 8 merely asserted 鈥渢he notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples鈥� without any rational basis. 鈥淭he Constitution cannot control private biases, but neither can it tolerate them.鈥�

But that鈥檚 not the way most religious-right organizations and activists saw the decision. On the contrary, they seemed to believe that it was them who were being discriminated against. Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, for example, said that the decision would lead the government, 鈥渁lmost Soviet-style,鈥� to reeducate American children. Andy Pugno, general counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund that represented supporters of the proposition, said the judge had 鈥渓iterally accused the majority of California voters of having ill and discriminatory intent鈥� in voting for it. Robert George of the American Principles Project said his decision was a 鈥渦surpation of democratic authority鈥� and described same-sex marriage supporters as having a 鈥渞evolutionary sexual ideology.鈥� Tony Perkins of the blamed 鈥渢he far Left鈥� for pushing judges to such decisions, and said that 鈥渢his dangerous decision鈥� had to be appealed. And David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, said that 鈥渞adical forces鈥� and 鈥渢yrants who threaten to destroy this country鈥� were to blame.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, put it even more starkly. 鈥淭his is a grievously serious crisis in how the American people will choose to be governed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f and when the Supreme Court agrees with the lower court, then the American people will have to decide whether they will insist on continuing to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, or whether they鈥檙e going to live under the serfdom of government by the judges, of the judges and for the judges.鈥�

Actually, the decision supported the very American idea that people have 鈥渞ights鈥� that cannot be legislated away via the 鈥渢yranny of the majority.鈥� There was a time in this country when a majority of eligible Americans would most certainly have voted to keep from giving the vote to black men and women. But the courts, as is their assigned role according to the Constitution, finally ruled that African Americans had basic rights that could not voted away. Similarly, many civil rights attorneys believe that in the end, the Supreme Court will rule, as Walker did yesterday, that society has no right to discriminate against homosexuals in marriage.

James Edwards is no official of a religious right organization 鈥� far from it. But the racist and anti-Semitic host of the Memphis-based radio show 鈥淭he Political Cesspool鈥� seemed to understand that last point better than most of the ruling鈥檚 more 鈥渕ainstream鈥� opponents. 鈥淵ou can thank Martin Luther King and his crusade to make it illegal to recognize important distinctions between human beings for this,鈥� Edwards wrote on his blog yesterday. 鈥淗ad the courts never thrown out laws against interracial marriage, we wouldn鈥檛 even be having this discussion.鈥�

Larry Keller, Leah Nelson and Evelyn Schlatter contributed to this post.