What can I say when this says it so well.
Subj: Marriage -- a legal right versus a sacred rite
Date: 12/4/2003 11:32:35 PM Central Standard Time
From:
dainna@dainna.com
>Considering a legal right versus a sacred rite
>Scripps Howard News Service
>FAITH MATTERS
>By DAVID WATERS
>Scripps Howard News Service
> Just about anybody can get married in this country.
>Two atheists can rent a church and a preacher and get married with their >hands on a Bible, if they want to.
>Two strangers can get married in weddings arranged by their parents, their >attorneys, or the Unification Church.
>A convicted mass murderer on death row can get married. So can a convicted >serial rapist, child molester or spouse abuser.
>A man can go on a TV show and choose his bride from among 25 contestants, >just so a TV network can sell ads. A woman can choose her groom the same >way.
>A 90-year-old man can marry a 20-year-old woman, if she'd have him. A >90-year-old woman can marry a 20-year-old man, if she'd have him.
>An 18-year-old man and woman can meet tonight in a bar, drive to Las Vegas >tomorrow, rent Elvis and Priscilla costumes, and get married at the Viva Las >Vegas Wedding Chapel.
>Jerry Lee Lewis, who once married his 13-year-old cousin, has been married >six times. His sister, Linda Gail Lewis, has been married eight times.>In fact, people in this country can get married as many times as they want >to.
>As long as they don't marry someone of the same gender.
>That may be changing, and a lot of people aren't happy about it.
>Some people are pushing for laws that allow same-sex civil unions. Others >are pushing back, trying to get laws that define marriage as a union between >one man and one woman.
>"The legalization of homosexual marriage is for gay activists merely a
>stepping-stone on the road to eliminating all societal restrictions on
>marriage and sexuality," Dr. James Dobson wrote in a recent fund-raising >letter for Focus on the Family.
>What restrictions? The only marriage restrictions that seem to exist for
>heterosexuals over 18 is that they can't marry more than one person at a >time. Some still do.
>It's not homosexuals who are threatening the sacred institution of marriage. >It's heterosexuals who turned marriage into a reality TV show. >It's heterosexuals who pushed the divorce rate over 50 percent.
>It's heterosexuals who are co-habitating in record numbers.
>I've been married to the same (unbelievably patient) woman for nearly 25 >years. I believe marriage is a sacrament, a gift from God. But I won't
>pretend to know what God thinks of same-sex civil unions.
>Maybe we should figure out a way to distinguish marriage as a legal right >from marriage as a sacred rite.
>Quakers do that. They take care of all the government paperwork. After all, >every marriage is a legal contract. But a Quaker couple is married not by a >church or government official. >After a period of discernment among family and friends in their community, >the couple marry each other in the presence of God, and other witnesses.
>What man joins together is one thing. What God joins together is quite
>another.
> (Memphis columnist David Waters may be reached by e-mail at
>waters(at)gomemphis.com or by mail at The Commercial Appeal, P.O. Box 334, >Memphis, TN 38101.)