“<http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/330642/8703856/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpress/hindu-press-international/2009/08/25/get-out-of-my-marriage/>Get Out of My Marriage!<http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/330642/8703856/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpress/hindu-press-international/2009/08/25/get-out-of-my-marriage/> ”<http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/330642/8703856/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpress/hindu-press-international/2009/08/25/get-out-of-my-marriage/>
Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com<http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/330642/8703856/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2009/07/big_brother--get_out_of_my_marriage.html> WASHINGTON, DC, USA, July 2009 (By Aseem Shukla): What is marriage? Is it a sacred rite or a civil right? What role, if any, should religious institutions, traditions or beliefs have in the legal act of marriage? A Hindu marriage is a most sacred ceremony. Loud, colorful, celebratory, it is consecrated in front of God — any or many of the manifestations of the One Supreme Being that Hindus worship. In the United States, one must also go to the county courthouse, fill out some routine paperwork and picked up a state marriage license. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans a pluralism in which Hindu traditions stand equal before any other. For family and friends, a Hindu couple are married the moment they complete the seven steps circumambulating the Homa, or Holy Fire, chanting the ancient Sanskrit verses. For the government, the couple are married once their “marriage certificate” is issued. The government need not care where, when, in front of whom or in front of which God, any other ceremony is performed. But in regard to same-gender marriage, these issues elicit a specter of emotions and bias. Even India, the spiritual home of all Dharmic traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism), was convulsed just a few weeks ago when the New Delhi High Court struck down a British-era law that criminalized same-sex relationships. At the Hindu American Foundation, we have joined with Rev. Welton Gaddy and the Interfaith Alliance on church-state and religious liberty issues in a shared conviction that the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our pluralistic society that must be affirmed against the onslaught of too many assaults on its sanctity. Marriage, as a social contract between two people, enjoining commitment–a legal union of two individuals predicated on a commitment of love and sacrifice, should not be limited in the eyes of the law. Houses of Worship, do as you please. We have succeeded in booting Big Brother out of our bedroom, we’ll keep working on keeping it out of our houses of worship. And it should never get between my marriage! (Read a more comprehensive analysis by clicking at “source” above).
