Gay marriage? and religion?

Like kenneth pointed out, civil marriage doesn't require a pastor. I support gay marriage, doesn't hurt me unless I have to go. How does that hurt me? Cause weddings are dreadfully boring: both gay and straight.

Uh, the Bible doesn't say anything about getting married in a church, with vows, or with a pastor, and modern people, do *not* need to have a pastor. It's also not a Christian ceremony; the church basically took over marriage during the middle ages. Marriage existed for a very long time before the Bible, and in a variety of cultures that didn't have the Bible. These are matters of fact, not opinion.

But if you're in favour of removing what is really a purely civil matter from the control of churches, and making it a matter for civil authority alone, I'm all for it.

Butterfly -- you don't make the rules. YA makes the rules.

There is no such thing as "gay marriage." There is only "marriage," same as you don't get a 'straight' or 'gay' driver's license.

"There are no docmentation of marrige before the bible and some historians beleive it was created by it(not my opinion)." Uh, no, that's not true.

There is plenty of documentation (note spelling) of marriage before the bible. Try ancient Egypt. Look in any culture you like that existed before the bible -- how about the Hopi, in North America?

There is NOTHING WHATSOEVER in the marriage equality concept that says ANY church has to marry a same-sex couple. Churches have ALWAYS had the liberty to impose their bigotry on their own congregations, because belonging to a church is not required by law. Thank you, Thomas Jefferson.

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."-Thomas Jefferson, February 10, 1814

"... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."-TJ Jan. 1, 1802

You're demanding that EVERYONE who is not a member of YOUR RELIGION "understand how they can get angry that they are forced to share their traditions with people they dont agree upon." Well, I'm sorry, Sunshine, but (see above), America was not founded to make Christians comfortable. It was founded to create a country in which no one religion was running the show. Yeah, I understand that religious extremists get angry when people refuse to be bullied. And that's too damned bad.

Ask George Washington: “Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792

But the issue here is not even religious rights. It is CIVIL rights. And nobody "loses" civil rights because other people gain them. Non-Caucasians and women are now able to vote. Does that mean YOU somehow lost the right to vote? I don't think so. Biracial couples can marry Does that mean couples of the same race lost their civil rights? Well, no.

Marriage is whatever a society deems necessary. For the Hopi, it was a woman who owned property marrying enough men to work the land. In biblical times, it was one man and however many women he could get his hands on (contrary to propaganda, the most common form of marriage in the bible is NOT one man/one woman, it's polygamy.)

Marriage in today's society is a binding legal agreement that establishes joint property and next-of-kin rights for two people who have chosen to spend their lives together. It also allows for protection of children of that union. According to a study at UCLA, half of all lesbians under 50 are raising children. They have the right to marry a partner and give those kids protection in case they die.

Rubbish. I think ALL marriages should be civil marriages -- give couples a ten-day cooling off period after the license is issued, and if it's not cancelled then it just goes into effect. Let religious people have whatever ceremony they like, but since marriage in a secular state such as the US is a CIVIL CONTRACT, keep the clerics out of it.

The real problem here is that religionists refuse to accept that the United States of America is NOT a theocracy. Never was.

curiously its better in UK.

Same sex couples can enter into a "Civil Partnership" in a non-religious ceremony - I have a devout roman catholic friend who is authorised to carry out civil partnership ceremonies which she happily does. Many of us think that these partnerships should be open to everyone rather than different sex couples having to have a civil or religious marriage ceremony!

Here in France a civil ceremony is mandatory, many couples also have a full church wedding as well but this is personal choice. It's a pity that the American Revolution didn't separate State and Church as the French one did!

I get the impression that "Religion" is so powerful (such big business!?) in the US that it is most unlikely that the Constitution would be changed as you want.

Why should a pastor be forced to conduct a wedding ceremony for people who are not members of his/her church. In UK many couples pay a lot and wait for ages in order to hold their wedding in a pretty country church and they are often totally irreligious.

You do not need to get married by a pastor in America today. Marriages by Justice's of the Peace are just as valid.

I am straight and I am in total support of gay marriage and the gay community. There is such thing as a civil marriage, where you wed without religion. There is no reason to be opposed of the idea of same-sex marriage except for religion, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness.

Civil marriage?

@James: why not? Do you have to go to the wedding? how does that affect you?

I don't support gay marriage if that is your question