I DON'T: THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND CIVIL UNION

GUEST COLUMNIST: BOB

I Don't
The Separation of Church and Civil Union


I am against gay marriage. (And so should every Democratic candidate in the upcoming election.) Not because I am anti-gay, (just the opposite), but because I am against the merger of church and state. At present our government insists on forcing the state into the church? Nothing is more wrong-headed than the following words: "So by the power vested in me by the State of…..". Marriage is sacred. Sacred, as in religious. So why is our government involved? Why is the state granting powers to ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, shamen or whatever? We need to get government out of marriage.

Marriage, that powerful word, is a religious word. Each and every religious institution should be able to define marriage as they see fit. Without the fear of government imposing a definition. So that if a church decides to believe that, say, only right-handed people can marry right-handed people, and left-handed people can only marry left-handed people; so be it. That church can then solemnize only the marriages that they see as fit.

Every religion has the right to set whatever rules for marriage it wishes. The Catholic Church does not marry divorced people whose prior Catholic marriage has not been annulled. That is their right, and no government neither can nor should force them to do otherwise. Similarly, to select a potential example, if the Baptist Church refuses to solemnize a marriage between two members of the same sex, that is their right; and no government should force them to do otherwise.

Let our government insist on civil union in order to be a legal duo in the eyes of the state. And our government can then set whatever regulations we, the people, agree upon for civil unions, not marriage. And stay the hell out of the church's business.

Which is not only the right thing to, but would help save the Democratic Party. Democratic candidates can then say, in all honesty, that they are against gay marriage, using that precise language. Which would remove a powerful weapon from the Republican Party arsenal. "Gay marriage" makes Red State residents fear East Coast liberals imposing distasteful values upon their church. Being against gay marriage, in those words, takes away the "wrong values" argument from Republicans. And being perceived as having the proper values is a key to Democratic victory in November.