Quote:
Originally Posted by 4sarge  Historically speaking, marriage licenses have never used the terminology of Party A & or Party B. Only a Government Bureaucrat or an attorney would think of changing the verbiage of Holy Matrimony between a man and a woman into Party A/PartyB or Party 1/Party2 to appease "Special Interest or Protected Groups"  |
Guilty of being a lawyer, sorry.
My view:
'Holy Matrimony' = My wife and I committing to each other in the eyes of God. A blessing by God, through a pastor, showing his hand in and approval of our relationship.
Marriage(tax benefits, property rights, etc) = a recognition of our living status, relationship and pooled resources, by the State/Fed who then gives us the legal benefits we receive.
You can have the church portion without the legal portion, and you can have the legal portion without the church portion. The state should have nothing to say at all about the church portion. The church should have nothing to say at all about the state portion. Due to convenience/tradition the ceremonies have been merged and one ceremony serves both purpose in most cases, but it is still two separate things.