The ground has shifted on same-sex marriage for conservative Christians.

For decades, opposition to same-sex marriage has been a major theme for the religious right in the United States. Activists such as Anita Bryant, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson characterized homosexuality as a threat to traditional family life.

When the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, the head of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, initially warned that the case would be “America’s downfall.” The evangelist Franklin Graham told Christianity Today in 2015 that the country had “survived a nosedive from the moral diving board to the cesspool of humanity”.

But the Obergefell pronunciation changed the landscape, ended the battle between states over the issue and deflated the marriage issue somewhat, particularly among the religious right-wing base, which is now much more focused on issues of gender.

Public opinion on same-sex marriage has turned around quickly to acceptance this century. In the early 2000s, about 60 percent of Americans opposed it, according to the Pew Research Center. Now, that’s the same stock that supports it. And views are also shifting among many Christians, including young evangelicals. Another poll by Pew found that nearly half of white evangelicals born after 1964 supported same-sex marriage in 2017, compared to about a quarter of older white evangelicals.

Some faith groups that have traditionally opposed gay rights now support some same-sex marriage amendments. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in November its support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which President Biden signed into law in December and enshrined federal protections for same-sex marriage. Yet many other religious groups with conservative leadership opposed it.

In recent years, conservative Christians concerned about same-sex marriage have found themselves protecting a smaller slice of legal territory. They have defended multiple small business owners, such as Lorie Smith, who work in the creative industries and oppose taking jobs specifically related to same-sex marriage. They have also focused on preserving tax-exempt status for churches and universities, including those exclude people in same-sex relationships of some jobs.

Jim Daly, the president of the influential Colorado-based conservative group Focus on the Family, suggested in an interview last year that the shift was all but inevitable. “People see the handwriting on the wall, to use an Old Testament term,” he said, adding, conservative Christians “realize that we can’t control the culture.”