> -----Original Message----- > From: C. Hatton Humphrey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:16 AM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: the list > > > One argument I've gotten in the past at this point is "well, it's > just a > > term; why do you care?" And my response is always "Why do *you* care > what I > > call it?" > > But for me, the term marriage is a sacrament, something sacred. You > can't apply logic to any level of reasoning I give... and not just > because of the warning (which is still vaid as I write this). > Marriage by religious definition is between a man and a woman.
And if the government hadn't co-opted the term for its general civil marriages then I'd agree... but the fact is that the government provides secular (completely non-religious) marriages and has for nearly all of its existence. So I simply can't agree: marriage is both secular and religious by law. There doesn't have to be any cross-over between the two and one side doesn't have to inform the other (and often does not as when the government provides for the dissolution of marriage and religion often does not). The government, not gays, co-opted the word "Marriage". Get mad at them if you want, but not at people that simply want to exercise the processes that their fellow citizens are afforded without question. The fact that a completely secular ritual and recognition is withheld from any segment of the population is cause for protest. My wife and I are married and are atheists: why can't my mother-in-law and her wife share the same secular, non-religious, completely-unquestioned, legal union as we do? If nothing else there's already a process in place: I personally don't want to see a single tax dollar go to the generation of a "separate-but-equal" system simply because of religious considerations that shouldn't enter into this secular system in the first place. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:280627 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
