The United States Supreme Court is staying on the sidelines — for now — regarding state laws forbidding same-sex marriage. The Court decided not to decide — yet — whether states have the right to protect true marriage and eschew the counterfeit.

Appeals courts have overturned several states’ laws protecting natural marriage. Recently, the Supreme Court declined to consider reversing them. This has the effect of permitting same sex-marriage in five states, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In these states, citizens voted to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman and to prohibit same sex marriages from taking place in their states. The court’s decision not to protect these states’ marriage laws could also force the redefinition of marriage in six other states covered by the 4th, 7th and 10th circuit courts of appeal.

Last year, in United States vs. Windsor, the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that same-sex marriages must be recognized by the federal government in states where it’s legal. But the High Court left in place the provision that allows states to prohibit same-sex marriage if they want to.

Since that ruling, dozens of federal and state judges have pushed the envelope, striking down states’ laws and constitutional amendments meant to keep marriage as it’s always been. And appeals courts have, so far, affirmed these decisions.

The High Court is reticent to get ahead of public opinion, which is moving toward support of same-sex marriage at a rate of about 1 to 2 percent per year.

The question is: will that support grow to the point where, as in the case of racial integration, the whole nation comes to agree it’s the right thing to do. Or will the controversy endure with the opposition to redefining marriage remaining static or even increasing again. Is there a persistent steadfast opposition to same-sex marriage that will not budge? In time will we see a pro-marriage backlash similar to what has happened on the issue of abortion.

The New Republic’s Nate Cohn tackled this in a piece entitled, “As a Long Term Political Issue, Gay Marriage Will Be More Like Abortion than Integration.” He cites a poll from Pew Research that shows Republican support for same-sex marriage has increased only 7 percent since 2003. During this time period, the public as a whole has increased its support for gay marriage by 30 points. We hear that young people are more likely to support gay marriage. But just 30 percent of 18 to 34-year-old evangelicals support same-sex marriage, up from 25 percent in 2003. Nate Cohn concludes, “if much of the remaining opposition to gay marriage is founded on firm religious and moral beliefs, not bigotry or animus, evangelicals will probably hold out for a long time.”

If the Church steps in with strong theological and practical arguments for marriage, we can reverse the march to same-sex marriage.