Jeffro: I agree entirely.
So do my strict, conservative Catholic relatives, apparently - oddly enough.
Of course, I had to come at it from a different direction, regarding divorce. They said that they understood the desire for gay couples to have visitation rights and such, but it shouldn't be called 'marriage'... isn't 'civil union' good enough?
Well, I said, what business does govt have in calling ANY marriage more than a 'civil union', legally speaking? Should that not be the domain of the Church, not State?
Specifically, if you are married in the Catholic Church, you cannot get divorced - Catholics can only get a marriage 'annulled' which means 'it never happened' (a debate itself, but not for this thread). How can the government then grant divorces? "Well, that's a different part of marriage, that's the 'civil union' part". Yes, but they granted the marriage license in the first place, which is now 'ended', so are they now not married? "No, in the eyes of the church , they still are married... the govt part is not the real marriage part, the part that makes marriage 'sacred'"
So, the govt part is not the real part of 'marriage', it's only a civil union? So, why call it a 'marriage' license? Why not just let the govt make civil unions for EVERYONE, legally speaking, and leave the 'sacred' part called 'marriage' to the church?
"Well, yes, that makes sense."
Q.E.D.
