Rep. Dan Dumaine, a Londonderry (New Hampshire) Republican, told the committee that any religion other than Christianity was "manmade." Two of the five committee members are Jewish.

"The first marriage in the history of mankind was ordained by God, and it was between one man and one woman," Dumaine said. He added that "there's a difference between religion, which is manmade, and Christianity, which is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the son of God, with God through his son. That's a fact."

Dumaine said that what he saw as the true Christian faith would exclude civil unions. "Just because somebody can pick and choose out of the Bible what they want to read and disregard what else they want to read doesn't make them a Christian," he said.