Originally posted on 06/27/2013:

What this does is continue the process of the government eventually intervening in our churches. First off, let me state that I do believe in equal rights for all under the constitution. No couple should be denied access to government benefits. My problem is with the term, "marriage" being shot around in all of this. Maybe not the term, but the philosophy of marriage, has been around all the way back to the Old Testament, involving Adam and Eve. Traditionally, marriage has been a service involving a God in one form or another. This being said, my question is this. If people are so gung ho about this term of "separation of church and state", why is the government being allowed to be in the thick of it? Governments shouldn't be charging citizens for a marriage license. They shouldn't be giving tax breaks to people for holding this distinction. They shouldn't be dictating who can be involved in this ceremony.

There would have been a whole less drama if the tax code just stated you could file jointly with someone that lived in your house that same year. If its a married couple, so be it. If its a gay couple, so be it. If its Kate and Allie, so be it. I would actually say to banish all the tax codes all together (abolish the IRS), and have one flat or fair tax, but that's a different discussion. Health care could go the same way. As long as paperwork is involved, you could allow a gay companion on your roles.

The problem with the term "marriage" being involved is this. Eventually state governments are going to cave in, and make it legal everywhere. Its inevitable. What does this do to churches who hold firm in their beliefs of one man and one woman? Even though we have this perception of "separation of church and state", what's to keep the government from taking a tax exempt status from a church for not allowing a same sex wedding? I don't believe they should have this status anyway, but it would allow churches with that philosophy to eventually lose it, while churches agreeing with the government could potentially keep theirs. What's to keep someone from suing a pastor from refusing to do their wedding ceremony because they are a "bigot", and their marriage rights were trampled on? The separation part only takes place if the church shuts up, and takes what the government gives them. This, in turn, tramples on the rights of Christians all through the country to believe in their faith. Some people will brush this off as saying they need to adapt. True believers in their faith will never do that because heaven and hell is involved. Thus, persecution takes a 180, and another demographic will feel ostracized.

Its another example of the government putting their nose where it doesn't belong. Many people believe that the government shouldn't be in the business of deciding morality. Well, they've been doing it with this topic for a while now. Whether its with an agenda, or not, it doesn't matter. Laws could have been put in place to solve this issue without it being an issue.