The New Jersey Supreme Court today ruled that the state's constitution requires that committed same-sex couples have equal legal rights as mixed-sex married couples. There has been quite a lot of noise about undermining the religious institution of marriage, which only highlights the need to separate the legal concept from the religious version, in order to prevent either from impinging on the other's turf. The obvious solution is this:
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I'm sure there are several pages of legalese that would be needed to flesh out the concept, but I think that's a pretty good summary of the framework. One inconspicuous detail in my proposal is that it would effectively legalize polygamy within a religious context, although only two of the participants could be civilly married; the others would have to have legal documents to formalize their connection for civil purposes. While the people of the United States overwhelmingly oppose polygamy — by an even larger margin than same-sex marriage — the fact is that much of the harm caused by polygamy results from the necessity of hiding from public view. If we as a nation are serious about religious liberty, it must extend to FLDS as much as to Methodists or Baptists, and they must be allowed to practice their religion in the light of day.
Technorati tags: Same-sex Marriage, Civil Unions, Civil Marriage, New Jersey, Politics, Religion, Separation of Church and State
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
A Sensible Marriage Law
The Marriage Protection Act of 2006
Posted by Lincoln Madison at 5:10 PM
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