August 15, 2012 — Continued talk about same-sex marriage has sparked debate across the political spectrum.
One side insists that marriage is an institution that must be protected by government, while the other claims that same-sex couples should be given the same legal rights as married couples. By their actions, both sides agree on one thing: Government must define marriage.
Both sides have put so much trust in government that they have forgotten the history of marriage licenses. It was not always the case that couples had to have marriage licenses. George and Martha Washington never had a marriage license, and most Americans didn’t need them until the mid-1800s.
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Marriage licenses were originally instituted as a revenue stream. The original marriage certificate was a church document.
ReplyDeleteGood article...however, we need to think about how to deal with a failed marriage; or what happens when to the marriage "estate" when we get divorced?
ReplyDeleteNo, government does not need to define marriage. If religions want to preserve the sanctity of marriage then government needs to not recognize marriage at all, and make it so that all the benefits that marriage offers now can be obtained only through a civil union.
ReplyDeleteThat way religions get to keep marriage sacred and everyone else gets to be in a relationship with the person that they love and still get all the benefits that government now offers with a marriage license.
10:16...that would work!
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