LOVE THIS LETTER!

I'm always mildly surprised whenever someone is sworn in at jury duty with "so help me God" at the end of their oath. How can a court of law invoke someone of questionable existence? I saw this letter to the Village Voice from one of it's readers who makes a great point:

Within all the debate about marriage--which combinations of men and women are socially acceptable and/or legally valid and which are not--I think a central fact has slipped down the memory hole:"Marriage" is a religious institution. Since there is a constitutional amendment of church and state, marriage should not be the domain of th government to begin with. The only real debate that should be taking place is about civil unions. Civil unions are secular unions and thus are up for grabs for tax legislation and all that fun, bureaucratic, Byzantine, governmental bullshit. The government shouldn't recognize government at all. It doesn't matter if it's Jim and Laura or Jim and Jimmy, marriges happen in churches and civil unions happen at your tax-funded justice of the peace. --John David Bowline


Wise words. And I totally agree. I don't want to be married precisely because it IS a religious institution and I don't believe in god. Same reason non-christian kids may opt out of theur school's bible studies. Same reason I don't feel the need to get baptized or fed communion. Well, there's another kvetch about communion--syruppy grape juice and processe white flour crackers? Too many carbs! (I wonder if looks-obsessed Californians' places of worship now offer a low carb version of communion>)

But didn't George Bush actually offer gay civil unions in his 1st presidential campaign or first term? Whoops! I seem to recall gay activists turning it down, because they wanted that actual church service. As I mentioned recently, Quakers are a christian sect which DO hold gay marriage ceremonies, but even if the Quakes marry you, you still won't have the benefit of legal (is this a word?) spousehood. Homo's, you just ain't gettin' a church wedding. The only gay unions besides the Quakers and maybe a few other fringe sects are the molestations of children by priests and maybe a little monk-eying around in the monasteries and convents.