Should atheists in America be allowed to marry?

[MrFun]

Should two atheists be allowed to marry one another? Should an atheist and a Christian be allowed to marry one another?

I often hear the cliched retort from right-wingers that America is a CHRISTIAN nation. I think we would still have to allow Muslims and Jews to marry, because of the First Amendment. But the First Amendment seems to mean, "freedom OF religion," not, "freedom FROM religion."

So since America is a Christian nation, why are atheists allowed to marry? It doesn't seem that the First Amendment should apply to non-religious people.

It doesn't seem to matter to right-wingers that getting a marriage license through the state is not a religious sacrament, so I don't think that should stop any prohibition of atheists getting legally married.

[Al B. Sure!]

Opposition to gay marriage is stupid. All rational people realize this. In case you have been living under a rock, you're on the winning side.

[Sava]

WELL NOW THIS POST IS IRRELEVANT

[MrFun]

Sava, by allowing non-Christian religious people to still get married, we would avoid having our government establishing one religion over others.

[Sava]

I don't care about that. You were factually wrong about the 1st Amendment.

[Lorizael]

Uhm. No.

I have no reason to post in this thread now.

[MrFun]

I don't care about that. You were factually wrong about the 1st Amendment.

Yeah, I made an off-cuff mistake. I edited that post.

[Sava]

I like the idea of getting the government out of the marriage business altogether... sorting out things like benefits can be done with basic contracts...

though... I have no idea what all that would entail

if someone wants to figure it out and come up with their own plan, be my guest

[Sava]

Yeah, I made an off-cuff mistake. I edited that post.

K

[Ben Kenobi]

Opposition to gay marriage is stupid. All rational people realize this. In case you have been living under a rock, you're on the winning side.

Coming from the same man who believes that Jews are evil, this somehow has less punch.

[Ben Kenobi]

I like the idea of getting the government out of the marriage business altogether... sorting out things like benefits can be done with basic contracts

The problem is what do you do about family reunification, and immigration? Do you eliminate spousal visas? Spousal support in case of divorce, etc?

The argument, "lets get the government out of marriage", seems like a solution, but it's not, really. Government does have a role to play in marriage in enforcing the contracts between men and women. Always has had a role in it.

The problem with extending recognition is that it removes much of the underpinnings for state involvement, this will have consequences. If marriage itself becomes unrecognizeable ten what will eventually happen is that people will start arguing against spousal benefits in the case of divorce. There are a lot of parties that will benefit that believe they are currently getting a raw deal by the current system.

[Sava]

The problem is what do you do about family reunification, and immigration? Do you eliminate spousal visas? Spousal support in case of divorce, etc?

The argument, "lets get the government out of marriage", seems like a solution, but it's not, really. Government does have a role to play in marriage in enforcing the contracts between men and women. Always has had a role in it.

The problem with extending recognition is that it removes much of the underpinnings for state involvement, this will have consequences. If marriage itself becomes unrecognizeable ten what will eventually happen is that people will start arguing against spousal benefits in the case of divorce. There are a lot of parties that will benefit that believe they are currently getting a raw deal by the current system.

There's not a single thing the government does WRT marriage that requires it to also perform and sanction marriages.

[Ben Kenobi]

There's not a single thing the government does WRT marriage that requires it to also perform and sanction marriages.

I listed two biggies - spousal support in divorce and spousal visas. Are you arguing that the state should do away with both?

[Sava]

No.

[Ben Kenobi]

Then I rest my case, the government does have a significant role to play in marriage.