[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by razark

Wouldn't this be a case of the government not allowing churches to conduct gay marriages, even if the church feels it is appropriate?

Freedom of religion works both ways. No religion in government, no government in religion. That's true. But it also works both ways in the fact that the government can allow gays to marry and the church can view it as not valid, just as the other way around.

Originally Posted by August

If you believe in separation of church and state then government has no business sharing any kind of rites or ceremonies with religion.

So why can any man and woman of any religious or non-religious persuasion get married by the JOP and have it viewed as valid? Because marriage is not a religious institution and is not viewed that way by the government. In your world of marriage being a strictly religious thing, you'd have the Baptists saying the Catholic marriage wasn't valid, and the Catholics saying Jewish marriages don't count, and the Muslims saying none of the others were true marriages in the eyes of Allah.

These are the same old tired arguments that have been addressed a kajillion times before:

Top 10 Arguments Against Gay Marriage

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.