Why are people such dicks about marriage?

"Marriage," is a term that historically has belonged in the social and legal realms. Now many people are pretending like it's a religious term. Hey, marriage ceremonies happen in churches, administered by religious leaders, right?

Is one required to get married in a church? No, you don't need a church or a religious leader to get married, you just need a license from city hall. Do you have to be a member of a certain religion to get a marriage license? Of course not. Some people are all of the sudden pretending that marriage is a religious term, probably because homosexuality gives them unease and they're not yet ready to accept it as legitimate. Don't be fooled though, people know that you get a marriage license at a city building, not a church.

Catholics, Protestants, Scientologists, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, Pagans, Atheists and Agnostics are all allowed to marry whoever they see fit, and call it a 'marriage,' so long as the resulting couple consists of 1 man and 1 woman. So which religion owns 'marriage?' Seriously, which specific denomination owns the term 'marriage'--tell me quickly, so that we can deny everyone that isn't a member of that specific religion the right to call their union a 'marriage.'

Most people would probably refuse to discriminate in that way, but some still claim that it's the privilege of the churches to define what is and isn't marriage. Okay, well they should know that it's the official stance of some (or all) branches of Judiasm, Unitarianism, Buddhism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and more I'm sure that same sex marriage should be allowed. All of these groups apparently hold rights to the term marriage, so that's settled, right? Churches have their say, and gays can get married, mission accomplished!

I understand that a lot of people who support civil unions are trying to be fair while also keeping the peace. I understand a lot of other people are trying to push something separate but equal out of their own fear and hatred of that which they do not know, which seems to fuel most segregation and bigotry.

Marriage isn't solely a religious concept. It was most probably a social concept first. Today, above all it's a legal construct. From a Libertarian perspective, the government gets it's rights from the people. Since no person has the right to tell any consenting adults whether or not they can marry, the government doesn't posses that right either. Churches can still make as many rules for it's congregation as they want. As with every other religious proclamation, those of us outside a particular church shouldn't be subject to any of it's doctrines.

David