New Hampshire and the Future of America (I hope)

2008 got off to an auspicious start with January 1st being the beginning date for civil unions in New Hampshire.  We can thank the Democratic governor and legislature for this act of courage and, hopefully, it will spark renewed interest in other states to do the same.  Critics cannot pass this off as the product of "judicial activism" so easily.  It is a product of representative democracy in action.

Naturally, many gay activists were hoping for marriage rights, but are willing to applaud this act, nevertheless.  I concede their point and join them in this wish.  Well, sort of.  You see, my view is that the state should not be in the marriage business at all.  What business of theirs is the regulation of a spiritual act?  All a state (whether state or federal) should do is grant civil unions and regulate them as contracts, and leave the marrying up to the religious and spiritual institutions. 

In the Christian tradition, a wedding is a covenant between a couple and Jesus Christ.  The government certainly cannot mediate such a relationship.  As a pastor, I long ago quit marrying strangers to the congregation.  So often, couples would come to me requesting me to perform a marriage ceremony who had no relation to a church and no interest in beginning one.  I would not turn them down flatly, but offered them this possibility:  Go get married at city hall (a civil union) and then we will talk about marrying you in the eyes of God.  "Why should we do that?" was the usual reaction.  "So you will know what marrying in the church is all about."   Not a single couple took me up on it.

This, to me, is the perfect solution.  Let the state offer civil union contracts to all couples wishing to be protected by contract law (gay and straight), and leave the marrying to the churches, mosques and synagogues.  This way, the state could legitimately say that offering civil unions to gay couples is not the same as marrying them (which it isn't), and those religious institutions may set about marrying whomever they please.