The Public Nuisance has a wonderful idea: as long as the religious right is proposing a Constitutional Amendment that bases our national definition of marriage on Biblical standards, let’s go ahead and do just that. For example…
- Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen. 29, 17 – 28; II Sam. 3, 2 – 5)
- Marriage shall not impede a man’s right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam. 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)
- A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut. 22, 13 – 21)
- Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25 1 – 9; Ezra 9:12; Neh. 10:30)
- Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
- If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother’s widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen. 38 6 – 10; Deut 25 5 – 10)
He then goes on to follow up on some concerns brought up by his post, with some more good points:
Although it would be easy to get that impression, I want to make clear that I am not suggesting that the laws of the OT are absurd or barbaric. Whether you are a Jew, Christian, or secularist, it is important to remember that the laws were incredibly successful in their time and place. Like all laws, they were designed to ensure the community’s survival.
[…]
Those who wish to condemn gay marriage are free to do so. I myself have no problems with calling it a union or using some other term, so long as the legal rights of gay people are respected. But I do dislike it when those who advocate denying equal protection to gay people hide behind a few sentences in the Bible and say that they are merely expressing God’s immutable will.
(via Ex-Gay Watch via Anil)
there is a reason we divided church and state in the united states. its so that people can believe whatever religion they want and go on with their lives. if this so called “bible” / book of stories with people dying then being reborn and all that hullabaloo tells people that only men and women can be “married” then good for them. that refers to christians. well guess what, people believe other religions also. and since they do they have other beliefs. and some people, crazy enough, dont believe in religion. and they are allowed to do this and still be people in the U.S. So what this means is that guys are allowed to marry guys and girls can marry girls. They deserve a tax break and should not be singled out because YOU believe in this “god” business.