Jesus Wept

[rolanni]

YES ON ONE claims a victory for the "little guy," according to Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

The rest of the story here. (That's here: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/128048.html)

Comments

Civil vs. Religious Marriage

[(Anonymous)]

I lived in Germany for about 10 years. As I understood their system, a couple could choose to have a religious wedding service, but was required to have a civil service to be legally wed. That approach makes sense to me - and would, in my opinion, eliminate the church/state separation issue that currently exists.

The State's legimate interest in marriage (as I understand it) is because of taxes, transfer of property, custody of minor children, the right to make medical decisions for partners, and similar issues. All of those issues could be handled by a civil union - that would apply to EVERYONE, not just same-sex couples. Then couples who want one could have a religious service.

And as a side benefit, think of all the additional fees local governments could collect for performing all those civil ceremonies!

Mary

Re: Civil vs. Religious Marriage

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Ah, but they do. You have to have a marriage license, even for a church wedding, so you have to pay the state for the right to marry. Of course, the license is relatively inexpensive. When my partner and I were looking into flying to CA to get married (before Prop 8), we calculated that the combined cost of license and Justice of the Peace would cost about $170. Plus, of course, the flight to CA, hotel, dress clothes (if we wanted to) and other accoutrements, like buying dinner for our witnesses. Still, I wish we'd done it, even though it has no validity in CO. It was easier in CA, because we have family there.