Santorum on Marriage Laws

Turmoil and travail over Rick Santorum's answers about gay marriage. This is a situation where you can't win, can't break even, and can't get out of the game. Folks, we're being forced to deal with religion and politics simultaneously. Never going to be fun.

Historically, religion has defined marriage. Within any given group, traditional practices and concepts were followed and marriages were registered within the church. In the 1800's, governments realized they were passing up a chance to make money, so they instituted civil registration of marriage and required marrying couples to buy their license, etc. Since churches had previously controlled marriage, same sex marriages, plural marriages, and bestial marriages were allowed within the rules of the church body. When civic laws took over, restrictions were added.

So, my discussion and I infer Rick Santorum's discussion are simply addressing the legal points. For any one person, if your religion prohibits same-sex marriage, plural marriage or bestial marriage you will probably not go any of these directions if you consider yourself to be a "good" church member. If you belong to an alternative church you are subject to alternative marriage directions, or if no church at all, then you are limited by your internal moral compass ON THE RELIGION LEVEL. But, you are still subject to the law.

Like it or not, if someone wants to marry their dog in a state that allows same-sex marriage, such a bestial marriage should be legal. Likewise plural marriage (polygamy) should not be restricted in those states. For the fanatics who insist on the mythical "separation of church and state", this HAS to be the case -- a penumbra encompassing all marriage concepts.

So, I don't think the question is as simple as "do you approve of gay marriage?" The question that you are asking, from a legal perspective, is: "do you approve of rewriting laws and practices regarding marriage that have stood the way they are since the Code of Hammurabi?", or some such equally long time. The question you are asking, from a religious perspective, is: "does your religious denomination and/or personal set of beliefs acknowledge same-sex partnerships and, in that context, are you and your church willing to recognize such as marriage."

Logically, these are mutually exclusive. My answers are easy. My denomination and my personal religion are not willing to accept same-sex partnerships as marriage. Nor am I personally inclined to make changes to laws that have stood for years without a LOT of careful consideration and a full vote of ALL the people, not just the (Iowa) Supreme Court. Neither of these statements has to mean that I eschew LGBTs or that I am specifically discriminating against them.

So, Rick, you opened up a can of worm's. The only way to get rid of a can of worms is to get a bigger can. Good luck.