PRIVATE PERSONS, PRIVATE PARTS
Marriage is defined by the state not the church. The church's role is at best a symbolic accessory, whatever its denomination . Marriage licenses are obtained from the state for a fee, as prescribed by law, in accordance with legal strictures. One can be married at a courthouse or one's home or out of doors, or wherever .
A judge , priest, reverend, imam, rabbi, or any other person set forth in law may do the honors, conduct the ceremonies, whose vows are as each couple writes them or recites them.
Bigamy is prosecutable because it violates the state law forbidding more than one wife, not because of its immorality or violation of church law.
State law also defines who-or what-may be married. What degrees of consanguinity (blood) or affinity (kinship not based on blood) may join in marriage are set forth in state law.
Given these basic parameters, the gay marriage question is not really religious. It is legal and personal, involving legal rights and personal privileges implicated by state law.
Companionship does not involve the state. Pets are companions to many. Pets are left bequests at death and are the beneficiaries of trusts in life.
Slave marriages were recognized by the slaves themselves even though their offspring or they could be sold at the whim of the "owner" per law. The state defined slavery legally and socially and protected its existence politically, economically and militarily.
Slave marriages involved little more formality than than the proverbial "jumping the broom." Yet, those slave marriages, as tenuous as they may have been, were strong between the spouses, being rooted in love and family, as reflected in literature and history. In short, though lacking state sanction or legal protection, they endured and enabled stability in the midst of hostility. They also enabled the successful self-propagation of a people, who are yet struggling "up from slavery" in some vital respects, persecution by police, for example.
As "gay rights" advocates analogize their "oppression" and entitlement to "civil rights" upon those belatedly obtained by blacks after much blood, sweat, tears, tolls, toils, and years, it is scandalous that they, like "chicken little," show up after the cake is made to demand an unearned aliquot share of the spoils, based on blacks' labor.
If they must emulate the example of blacks, let them adopt the broom ritual or some other suitable one, that implicates neither the state nor the church for their viability or legitimacy.
Then, they can have and enjoy their companionship, their trusts, their bequests, at least commensurate to those now enjoyed by some pets .
The point is plain. Neither the state nor the church is necessary to establish nor to solemnize nor to recognize any "gay marriage," based upon a review of African American history: so, all the contemporary political clamor is a "red herring"--a freak--unnecessarily alienating many affections, being disruptive without cause. Get married if you wish: contract as you wish. Do as you wish.
Your private business is your own business. As former President Bill Clinton once enunciated the "don't ask, don't tell" policy to deal with the gay rights issue in the military, it might be well to employ its spirit in civilian life as well. No one knows another's sexual proclivities nor cares, unless by exhibitionism that person proclaims its orientation as its reason for being and character. It is a private matter involving private parts and private persons. Keep it ever so!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
private persons, private parts
PRIVATE PERSONS, PRIVATE PARTS
Marriage is defined by the state not the church. The church's role is at best a symbolic accessory, whatever its denomination . Marriage licenses are obtained from the state for a fee, as prescribed by law, in accordance with legal strictures. One can be married at a courthouse or one's home or out of doors, or wherever .
A judge , priest, reverend, imam, rabbi, or any other person set forth in law may do the honors, conduct the ceremonies, whose vows are as each couple writes them or recites them.
Bigamy is prosecutable because it violates the state law forbidding more than one wife, not because of its immorality or violation of church law.
State law also defines who-or what-may be married. What degrees of consanguinity (blood) or affinity (kinship not based on blood) may join in marriage are set forth in state law.
Given these basic parameters, the gay marriage question is not really religious. It is legal and personal, involving legal rights and personal privileges implicated by state law.
Companionship does not involve the state. Pets are companions to many. Pets are left bequests at death and are the beneficiaries of trusts in life.
Slave marriages were recognized by the slaves themselves even though their offspring or they could be sold at the whim of the "owner" per law. The state defined slavery legally and socially and protected its existence politically, economically and militarily.
Slave marriages involved little more formality than than the proverbial "jumping the broom." Yet, those slave marriages, as tenuous as they may have been, were strong between the spouses, being rooted in love and family, as reflected in literature and history. In short, though lacking state sanction or legal protection, they endured and enabled stability in the midst of hostility. They also enabled the successful self-propagation of a people, who are yet struggling "up from slavery" in some vital respects, persecution by police, for example.
As "gay rights" advocates analogize their "oppression" and entitlement to "civil rights" upon those belatedly obtained by blacks after much blood, sweat, tears, tolls, toils, and years, it is scandalous that they, like "chicken little," show up after the cake is made to demand an unearned aliquot share of the spoils, based on blacks' labor.
If they must emulate the example of blacks, let them adopt the broom ritual or some other suitable one, that implicates neither the state nor the church for their viability or legitimacy.
Then, they can have and enjoy their companionship, their trusts, their bequests, at least commensurate to those now enjoyed by some pets .
The point is plain. Neither the state nor the church is necessary to establish nor to solemnize nor to recognize any "gay marriage," based upon a review of African American history: so, all the contemporary political clamor is a "red herring"--a freak--unnecessarily alienating many affections, being disruptive without cause. Get married if you wish: contract as you wish. Do as you wish.
Your private business is your own business. As former President Bill Clinton once enunciated the "don't ask, don't tell" policy to deal with the gay rights issue in the military, it might be well to employ its spirit in civilian life as well. No one knows another's sexual proclivities nor cares, unless by exhibitionism that person proclaims its orientation as its reason for being and character. It is a private matter involving private parts and private persons. Keep it ever so!