I’m horrified at seeing a majority deciding to roll back rights for a minority, but I also wonder about the underlying process of marriage itself.
There’s one other ceremony that comes to mind that has similar characteristics: baptism.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the past, wasn’t baptism when people officially named their child?
Why don’t we split marriage the same way baptism has been split:
Baptism:
- Ceremony in a church
- Naming of a child
- Celebration
- Religious ritual
Marriage:
- Ceremony in a church
- Changing legal status (single / common-law to married)
- Celebration
- Religious ritual
In short: make all marriages into two distinct parts:
- Civil / legal process (birth certificate / civil union forms)
- Celebration (church / etc)
Because the separation of church and state is a very important one and the church is fighting very hard to reunite.
