What happened in Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s happened because the German public wanted it to. They had been humiliated by their losing WW1, and by the excessive reparations demanded of them by the French after that loss. As a society, they were looking for a scapegoat to blame this all on, and the nazis gave them exactly what they wanted, in blaming it all on the Jews.
The laws of a people generally reflect the will of the people because if they don't, sooner or later the people will revolt, and overthrow the law-makers. Yet at the same time, there will always be some people who disagree with the majority of their own society, and so disagree with the laws that society set forth. And that's a tough position to be in, because those people will find themselves in opposition to both their government and most of their neighbors. And that's a battle that few will ever win, regardless of how right they think they are, or even how right they may actually be.
In the U.S., at the present time, the majority of Americans have decided they no longer want to allow the oppression of gays, atheists, blacks, and other traditional social scapegoats that we allowed to be oppressed in the past. And because this change in the general attitude toward this oppression is recent, there are a significant number of people who have not yet come into agreement with it. And there are some who, of course, will never agree. And they are falling into that category of folks who find themselves in opposition to both their government AND their fellow citizens. Which sucks for them. Because that's a battle they are not likely to win, no matter how right they think they are, or even how right they may actually be.
My friend Bob used to say: "Ya gotta ask yourself, is this really the hill you're willing to die for?" And unfortunately, in this instance, that's where you're at if you want to continue oppressing gays, and atheists, and blacks, and whatever other traditional scapegoats you prefer, to avoid having to accept the blame for your waning respect as religious Christians, yourselves.
Just as the German people in the 1930s did not want to accept the blame for their own humiliating and difficult circumstances after starting and then losing WW1.
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