There’s an effort underway to label anyone who isn’t supportive of same-sex marriage rights as a bigot who should be banned from society.

There are many who feel the issue is no longer debatable, that the world has spoken and those who feel marriage should be limited to one man and one woman are nothing more than ignorant, intolerant fools.

The most recent example was a Buzzfeed article that sought to shame Chip and Joanna Gaines of “Fixer Upper” fame. The article sought to paint the popular Christian couple as anti-gay. The story attacks the couple because the pastor of their church “takes a hard line against same-sex marriage.”

The pastor’s hard line is simply that marriage is defined by God as between one man and one woman.

“So if someone were to say, ‘Marriage is defined in a different way,’ let me just say: They are wrong,” the pastor said. “God defined marriage, not you and I. God defined masculine and feminine, male and female, not you and I.”

That’s not a radical viewpoint — it’s shared by many in this country and has been the prevailing definition of marriage for thousands of years.

Buzzfeed’s article has led to demands from some in the LGBT community. They want the Gainses to clarify their views on the matter. Whether they speak out or not won’t matter much in the end. They will be ridiculed and the network that airs their show will be pressured to punish them in some way.

Buzzfeed’s article and the pushback against the couple are perfect examples of the same intolerance that the Gainses are accused of. Nevermind that the couple hasn’t said one way or the other how they feel on the matter — and they shouldn’t have to.

To accuse someone of intolerance while at the same time being intolerant of their views is just plain hypocrisy.

Apparently, anyone considered a “celebrity” must walk a very narrow path of liberalism or else be punished by those who disagree with them. That path is a religion unto itself that is led not by a god but by those who claim to know what is right and what is wrong. But their moral compass blows in the wind, changing directions every decade or so.

The crowd that seeks to punish the Gainses is the same crowd that hates to see a happy, successful Christian family. It’s apparently an affront to their progressive values. Some will go so far as to seek to destroy that happiness, simply because those happy people believe differently.

Why is it that some liberals are open and accepting of anyone and anything except conservative Christians? It must be that way I suppose. Christians are told that the world will hate them so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

I wonder if those spewing that hatred are aware that they are simply affirming the very Bible they despise.

For the Gainses, it will probably get worse before it gets better. But the Bible tells us to rejoice in suffering. I’m guessing the couple will have plenty of opportunities to rejoice in the near future.

Luke Horton is publisher of The Daily Leader. Email him at luke.horton@dailyleader.com.