Paul of Alexandria (#109): The term “Civil Union” is based on the false premise that a marriage is primarily a religious institution.
Sorry, I thought you were missing our point when in fact I was missing your point. You see marriage as primarily a social or legal contract, I see it as primarily a religious one. I’m not sure which one, social or legal, you see it as though; I’m guessing social because of your references to the definition of marriage. If it was primarily a legal contract the government would be the definer.
>>>Please tell me in what way a “civil union” would differ from a marriage contract?<<<
If it’s a legal contract, then any two or more people of whatever sex could simply have draw up a contract and wills to share funds and inheritance etc. and be married. Then there is no difference from a civil union and gay marriage has been available as long as strong contract law.
If it’s a social contract, then the name is the essential part. Homosexual couples who want marriage rather than civil unions see that instinctively. A civil union does not confer social legitimacy, only legal equality. As society as a whole does not recogize same-sex marriage, homosexuals see the government definition as a lever to change that. If the government definition is gone, the lever is gone. You also want to use the government definition as a lever to keep it our way.
I see marriage as primarily a religious institution; to me same-sex marriage can never take place regardless of what institution says it has. I do not think prayers to the saints are appropriate, and state sanctioning cannot make it so. That state sanctioning was the case in most European countries when Protestants (protestors) founded this one. Though to a religious person the government cannot truly change God’s law, yet it is enormously better to live in a place where they do not attempt it; their only tool in the end is the gun. Therefore I will fight people imposing a government definition of marriage that happens to match mine just as I do opposing definitions or as the Founders fought imposition of prayer.
