Eric Zorn is right on target with his column published on 22 May entitled "Let Churches Define What Marriage Is" http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/columnists/chi-zorn-22-may22,0,3266777.column.
My parents were married in Europe over 40 years ago and they had two steps. The first was a church ceremony and the second was registering at the marriage registrar's office. The marriage was not considered official until this second step was completed.
I think that gay marriage has become such a hot topic is because we have members of the clergy acting as functionaries of the state.
My marriage is not defined by some civil statute but how we live our marriage as our religion (we're active Roman Catholics) has taught us.
I believe that people in this country should be able to enter into any sort of contractual relationship they want. It should be fairly easy to change the "marriage law" so that any couple, be they heterosexual or homosexual could apply for a "civil union permit". Notice I did not call it a marriage license. That permit would be enough to guarantee all the benefits that married people now have. If people want to have their contract soleminized in some fashion by a clergyman or clergywoman, that would be up to the dictates of their conscience and the teachings of their chosen religion.
In a similar vein, I would call upon state legislatures to collaborate and draft a uniform civil union statute in the same fashion as we have the Uniform Commercial Code.
This is my first attempt at a blog. My plan is to post to it at least 2 times a week to start with. Hopefully, folks will find some useful and thought provoking thing here.
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