CHURCH AND STATE AND THE MARRIAGE DEBATE
Why not a civil union - for all?
December 29, 2008
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Why not a civil union - for all?
ONCE AGAIN the unnecessary furor over gay marriage has been reopened by President-elect Obama's pick of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. Once again we hear the old mantra that gay marriage is "an attack on the sacred institution of marriage" ("There are many who don't accept idea of gay marriage," Letters, Dec. 23). So once again I have to ask, if marriage is a "sacred," that is, religious institution, why in the name of the Constitution is the government in the marriage business at all? Why can't the government, state or federal, simply legalize civil unions for all people, gay or straight, and let those who want "holy matrimony" attached to their union go to the church of their choice and have it done? There are enough liberal churches around to accommodate all. Then churches would keep their freedom from government intervention and we would all be equal in the eyes of the state. Why has this idea not been seriously considered? Robert Finch
Wellfleet 
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