Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Nation & World

God and Country by Dan Gilgoff

Gay Marriage Isn't Just for Secularists

January 13, 2009 12:10 PM ET | Dan Gilgoff | Permanent Link | Print

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for FlexSF

Flex, I think we agree. It looks like you're trying to gain the legal and societal benefits before the law, not the spiritual benefits of marriage that Dan's post discusses. I support your liberty to live how you so choose, and admire that you're "not concerned with what anyone believes about (your) lives".

I think the only disagreement we may have is over whether or not the government should mandate Americans to recognize homosexual marriage as equally valuable ASIDE from state and legal benefits. But maybe we do agree since you and your partner aren't concerned with others' opinions. Sounds like you and I both are supporters of liberty, which means you don't have to care what others think about your lifestyle and they don't have to believe that your union is equivalent to their heterosexual marriage. That's the beauty of America. Unfortunately, our government decided to get involved with defining marriage, a business that isn't theirs per say.

marriage equality.

I'm not religious and not interested in marrying my partner in a church. I'm interested in marrying him at City Hall. We live the American dream. We both work, pay taxes, walk our dogs, tend to our neighborhood, celebrate our siblings, nieces, nephews, parents, religious and secular friends, and love to spend money.

We're expecting the California Supreme Court to destroy prop 8, because we don't expect to be treated differently under the law. There isn't anything American, or religious about it. It's was passed by pure hate and reckless ignorance. We're not concerned with what anyone believes about our lives, but we're deeply concerned when others attempt to dominate and control us with laws barring us from participating, fully and equally, in a community that we're a part of.

marriage already is a religious rite

If gay people want to marry, they're fully capable of doing so by finding a church and community who condone that type of union, no one is stopping this. Understandably, equal treatment before the law is THE debate because that's the only thing the government can truly affect unless it decides to start violating liberty. Changing religious sentiments, beliefs, or values is not the government's job; and I would argue, neither is regulating marriage.

If religious homosexuals believe their marriage is a covenant before God, they shouldn't need the government to validate its transcendent value. God already has in their minds. This is about state and legal benefits, not spiritual benefits, of marriage.

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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