Church and State

Do the citizens of this country really WANT our Constitution?

Everywhere I go, I hear people saying that gay marriage is rightly against the law--because it's against God's Law.

If God's Law is to be our Constitution, I'm outta here!

I have a radical idea. Let's leave "marriage" to the religious, and consider that a Church Contract, and let us have Civil Contracts for everyone else, regardless of gender.

Jim and I had a ceremony officiated by a Justice of the Peace. Why could the same not be made available to any couple who wants it?

It seems to me that to deny such contracts is to deny the separation of Church and State.

Let us consider a reform of the marriage laws to include this.

I know that several states now allow Civil Contracts for gay couples, but isn't that a bit redundant and prejudicial? The same thing should be available for everyone who wants it. The way it stands, "straight" couples have two choices or ceremony: religious or civil, and gays have one: move.

Not fair.

Different denominations have different rules. Different individual churches have different rules. Some churches won't marry divorced people, for instance. Some don't allow dancing and cards, either. I don't believe we should make dancing and cards illegal just because some preachers tell us it's in the Bible that God doesn't like dancing and cards.

I rather like the old traditional "Handfast" ceremony. The couple agrees, in front of witnesses, to stay together for a year and a day. At the end of that time, they either split or get married. Unless a baby has ensued, in which case, the marriage becomes binding.

There could be different lengths of contract. Eighteen years, for the raising of a child. Ten, to get a business off the ground. Thirty, to pay off a mortgage.

Some things are just too sensible.