Originally Posted by lsfoster

I'd rather not get into a religious discussion which will just get the thread locked, but if you're actually interested in this issue, I'd be more than happy to continue over pm's.

Okay, we can discuss this matter in PMLand.

All I'll say here is that the argument you are presenting does not keep church and state separate. A marriage ceremony and a marriage certificate are two very different things. To restrict one part of the population from obtaining a legal certificate because of religious views (which I'd be happy to discuss elsewhere), is doing the exact opposite of separating church and state. If you personally, or your church didn't want to perform a marriage ceremony, no law would make them. Right now, if I wanted to have a church perform a ceremony for me and my girlfriend, they are absolutely allowed to. The issue is whether or not the government will give us the little piece of paper that carries all the rights and recognition on the legal side of things. And whether or not they do that should have absolutely nothing to do with anyone's religious beliefs. It would be like saying that we shouldn't be allowed to get driver's licenses because some people are Amish and their religion leads them to avoid modern technologies. Their beliefs aren't supposed to affect the laws for everyone else. That's the point of keeping church and state separate.