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.

Comments

[Barry]

Reverend Steve, this is very sound thinking and perfect common sense. It also supports true separation of church and state. It is unfortunate that common sense and sound thinking do not carry much weight in the politics of our nation.

-Barry

[Brian Hill]

I applaud your stand. The organized church has forgotten how Christianity started. Jesus was compassionate with the marginalized people of his society. He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.

When the church became a part of the power structure of the state, then the status quo, meaning the power of the ruling elite, was sacrosanct, and dogma justified it, thus trumping Jesus' original message.

[Brian Hill]

I applaud your stand. The organized church has forgotten how Christianity started. Jesus was compassionate with the marginalized people of his society. He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.

When the church became a part of the power structure of the state, then the status quo, meaning the power of the ruling elite, was sacrosanct, and dogma justified it, thus trumping Jesus' original message.

[Steven Kindle]

Thanks, Brian. One of the least understood factors in Christianity is how the church, when corrupted, becomes as much a part of the "powers that beset us" as any of the others. We seem to have traded in Jesus' vision of God's Jubilee (Luke 4) for a consumerist economy that has come to despise the outcast as losers rather than the victims of oppression. Thanks for helping spread the word.