Conservative US Christians see California's gay marriage issue as a defining battle that could set the stage for a national showdown and get the vote out for the Republican Party in the November presidential election, a leading evangelical said.
"People feel like this California fight is for all the marbles," Dr Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Reuters at the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis.
The 16 million-strong SBC is America's largest Protestant denomination and is a key part of the Republican Party's conservative Christian base.
California is set for a pitched political battle after it was announced last week that the November ballot would include a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to unions between men and women. A similar proposal is on the Florida ballot.
Initiatives to ban gay marriage played a role in US President George W Bush's 2004 re-election as they brought Republican conservative religious voters to the polls.
If a majority of California voters approve the measure, it would neutralise last month's state Supreme Court ruling that said preventing same-sex couples from marrying was unconstitutional and discriminatory. The state is set to begin marrying gay couples next week.
Land said the court decision was bad timing for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who will face Republican John McCain in the November presidential election, because it would serve as a red flag to self-styled "values voters" who lean heavily Republican.
"I would say that if I were the Obama campaign, I would not be very happy with the California Supreme Court because it has put back on the front burner an issue that is not good news for Democratic nominees," said Land, who is regarded as one of the most influential conservative evangelicals in America.
