I need to watch the full comments the President made in support of gay marriage. The news tidbit popped up via some posts on facebook yesterday. Yes, I was playing with facebook yet again at work, and getting paid to do so!
Anne Rice linked to a news article about it as did several other writers I follow. Today I'm waiting for the evangelical right to hit back.
Churches have always had the right to marry or not marry people. The government can not force them to marry two people if they don't want to. Civil marriages are another matter. States, I guess, can legislate who is allowed to marry. There used to be laws that prevented interracial marriages. Then, of course, you have the whole marrying your cousin thing.
Bottom line for me is this, if a church wants to marry two gay people, let them. If they don't want to, then they shouldn't have to. The federal government should be able to allow civil marriages between two consenting adults. Whether or not states have the right to define what they consider marriage to be or not be might have to be left up to the Supreme Court.
Marriage has evolved over the centuries, both in and out of churches. Marriage is a contract, always has been. It is just in modern times that the financial/property aspect has been removed from center stage for some couples.
In world that has so much hate, why do so many people feel threatened by love? In a world where so many marriages end in divorce, it seems a bit hypocritical to hold up the sanctity of marriage as some holy grail.
Stepping off the soap box now.
2 comments:
Lots of folks don't differentiate between marriage as a legal contract and marriage as a religious union. I think that's where the problem comes in.
I thought the President's message was pretty low key and nicely said. But I really don't want to hear all the backlash in church on Sunday. Oh my. (I'm a Mormon. It's gonna be scary. Maybe I'll sneak out early this week.)
I'm sure I will hear it in church on Sunday too....ugh. I agree, most folks don't get the legal contract vs. religious union thing at all...or understand marriage in a historical context.
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