C_Clayton_Jones
Diamond Member
This is as ignorant as it is wrong.Dear bodecea:Show me were all marriages in this country have to be religious to be valid.Marriage is religion based and the state wants separation, therefore, they should support same sex unions with civil unions.
Marriage is NOT just religion based. If that were true, it would be required you get married in a religious institution.
Religion is an institution, let me know when you are about to make a real point.
You miss the point.
Only the LEGAL CONTRACTS need to be validated through the govt.
Not anything to do with marriage, and who we marry and what our choices are.
To be SECULAR and NEUTRAL the govt should technically stay out of marriage
laws, for the reasons you refer to, that govt SHOULD NOT be required to validate a marriage.
Same with not endorsing baptisms, confirmations, communions, etc. through the state.
We register birth and death certificates as NEUTRAL legal matters,
but the baby showers and funeral services are not regulated.
The whole point of sticking with civil unions and domestic partnership contracts
is to keep govt out of the marriage part, so as you say, NOBODY tells anyone else
what constitutes a valid marriage or not. The state should only be concerned
with the legal issues of custody, guardianship, property, legal or business partnerships and terms, etc.
That way bodecea once people have a partnership or legal guardianship
agreement, this is independent of any social or gender relationship between them.
It's about the legal agreement and responsibilities only, which any two parties can consent
to as long as they are legally and mentally competent and of age of consent,
and they agree to the contract, there is no fraud or misrepresentation involved that could void the contract.
Marriage as contract law is the creation of the states, the sole purview of the states, and as such they have the authority to administer that law, the notion of the states ‘getting out of’ the very law they create is ridiculous.
Marriage as religious ritual is the sole purview of private religious organizations, safeguarded from attack by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment – government was never ‘in’ private religious marriage rituals to begin with.