Marriage IS a Religious Issue

There has been a lot of talk lately about marriage, what it means, and if it is a civil issue, a state issue, a moral issue, a religious issue, etc. The proponents of same-sex marriage argue that the ballot issue that just passed in California, Prop 8, which clearly defines marriage as between one man and one woman, is not a religious issue. They are angry because of the involvement of churches and religious groups for supporting the proposition and argue that these groups should "stay out of it" because marriage is not a religious issue, but a state, or civil, issue.

Guess what people!! Marriage actually IS a religious issue. Here is why:

• The first marriages were performed by churches, not state or government.

• Historically, the authority to marry a man and a woman lay with the church.

• Prior to 1859, no Hispanic government had authority to perform marriages. The authority to perform a marriage came only from the Catholic church in these countries.

• In the western world, the earliest known record of government or state/civil agency to be granted authority to perform a marriage was in France in 1792. Prior to this only churches had the authority to perform marriages.

Conclusion:
Marriage is a religious issue because it began that way. Historically speaking, it was the church (religion) that granted the state the authority to perform marriages in the first place.

Just because we have come to a point in this country where there is so much separation of church and state, let us not forget where the authority to perform a marriage originally came from.

There were marriages before there were governments or civil agencies. Therefore, there is no way that anyone can say that marriage is not a religious issue. Of course it is. The one is entwined about the other.