California Voters Approve Gay-Marriage Ban

I don't recognise any marriage unless conducted in a church.

I don't recognise any marriage unless conducted in a church.

Quote:

I don't recognise any marriage unless conducted in a church.

The marriage ceremony is just that, a ceremony, it does not say anywhere in the NT you have to be married in a church, nor is there any example of Christians being married in a church in the early start of Christianity in the Bible.

revelette wrote:

Quote:

I don't recognise any marriage unless conducted in a church.

The marriage ceremony is just that, a ceremony, it does not say anywhere in the NT you have to be married in a church, nor is there any example of Christians being married in a church in the early start of Christianity in the Bible.

Marriage for Catholics is a sacrament, I thought. Marriage for Jews and Moslems is a contract actually signed by both husband and wife.

Perhaps, "church" refers to "a religion," not an edifice? Married "by the church" might be what was being inferred?

But to get any of legal, social, tax .... name it ... advantages, it's worth nothing.

Ethics rules don't violate free speech, Supreme Court says
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

Updated 1h 46m ago |

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that state ethics rules barring public officials from voting on matters because of a conflict of interest do not violate free speech rights.

In a decision highlighting the nation's history of preventing officials from participating because of personal conflicts, the justices reversed a Nevada Supreme Court ruling that said voting in council meetings or other legislative arenas was protected by the First Amendment.

The Nevada court, in a decision that used a novel approach to legislators' speech rights, had struck down a state ethics law as unconstitutionally overbroad.

Writing for the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia said recusal rules such as Nevada's have been commonplace for more than 200 years and never thought to infringe on speech rights.

"Voting is not a symbolic action," Scalia said, as he read portions of his opinion from the bench, "as is, for example, the burning of a flag."

More specifically to the legislative role, Scalia said that when a public official votes "he does so not as an individual but as a political representative engaged in the legislative process. Acting in that capacity, his vote is not his own speech but a mechanical function of government."

This might help resolve the Prop 8 issue.

Prop 8 defenders are saying all sexual issues must be ruled by heterosexuals - which makes no sense.

Support in polls for same-sex marriage could influence Proposition 8 legal battle, experts say
Recent polls showing majority support for same sex marriage could have an effect on judges as the legal fight against Proposition 8 moves through the courts, experts and advocates say.

Opponents of Proposition 8 rally outside San Francisco City Hall in August last year after a ruling in their favor. As the issue makes its way through the justice system -- probably to the Supreme Court in a couple of years -- some experts say that recent polls indicating majority support for gay marriage could subtly influence judges.

May 23, 2011|By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

A series of recent polls suggesting a majority of Americans support the right of gays to marry may influence the outcome of the legal dispute over California's ban on same-sex marriages, some legal experts and gay rights advocates predict.

The courts don't look to opinion polls when they decide cases, but shifts in popular sentiment can influence their thinking on evolving interpretations of civil rights, constitutional experts say.

It is not that hard to determine someones sexual activity when they are written about with "words" by supposed "disciples" who claim to be "eyewitnesses" and whose testimony is referred to as "gospel".

I am still wondering why Peter denied Jesus so many times before the cock crowed twice.