We’ve illustrated this before with the religious practice of wearing burkhas — or, more accurately, the religious practice of requiring the women one controls to wear burkhas. That practice is intrinsically hegemonic, intrinsically constantinian. It cannot be left as a matter of individual freedom or conscience. It’s not sufficient for those who believe in that practice for only the women of their household or congregation or sect to be clad in burkhas. That still leaves open the possibility that one might be exposed to the immodest displays of the wrists and ankles of other women in the market or the public square. The logic of the burkha requires that all women — every woman that every man might see — is fully sheathed so as not to assault the eyes of the faithful.

We see this same burkha-logic at work in that “gathering storm” ad produced by the National Organization for [Our Kind and Only Our Kind of] Marriage.

“Some who advocate for same-sex marriage,” the intern says, “have taken the issue far beyond same-sex couples.”

“They want to bring the issue into my life,” says the closeted actor (subversively playing up a bit of a lisp) who can’t believe he’s doing this for a paycheck.

“My freedom will be taken away,” emotes the young woman.

The script for this ad purportedly has no grievance with others living however they want to live — but only insofar as their freedom doesn’t impinge upon our right to live in a world where we never have to see them, or to acknowledge their existence. That “takes away” our freedom to live as privileged hegemons. And since we can no longer distinguish between our faith itself and the privileged status of that faith, we perceive this as religious persecution — as an injustice against us.

Your freedom threatens my freedom to live in a world in which people like you are not free to do the sorts of things you might do with your freedom. “And I am afraid.”