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Originally Posted by SMHarman
Or a civil ceremony devoid of religious reference, creating a legally binding contract, which is where the gay marriage would fit in.
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In the UK, civil marriages in a registry office have to be devoid of religious connotations. I was a witness for a friend at his registry office wedding, he'd written a lovely poem for his bride, but because he used words like soul and spirit he wasn't allowed to use it without first removing the word. IMO words like those can be used in a metaphysical though non-religious context (as he was intending) so I thought it a little unfair. Apparantly, this was due to the CofE, it's part of the conditions on which the Church allow civil marriages to occur. Puts me off a little bit.
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Originally Posted by SMHarman
I think it would be sensible to try and keep religion out of this thread (yet look what I wrote 3 paras up!)
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It's quite hard to keep religion out of it, since so many of the issues stem from marriage as a religious institution. Perhaps we would be better to refer to it as the church rather than religion.
I would argue that marriage existed long before the Cathloic, CofE churches existed, almost all cultures have some form of marriage. In todays world in the UK and the US where many cultures co-exist there needs to be some way of recognising all of the marriages. I agree with danielf, there needs to be a situation where there is a civil marriage, whereby anybody can apply for this. I would suggest that there not even need to be a ceremony if people wish, they could apply for a license in a special court or something along those lines. Then on top of this, there are religious marriages in which, for state recognised religions (in order that people just don't make up their own religion) the civil marriage is automatically granted. It is then up to the church to decide whom they will or wont marry.