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OT: Rebelious reopening of locked topic 2-Sep-2010 At 12:29:14 AM christos

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On 1/09/2010 gordoste wrote:
>1. Do you see marriage as a religious or a civil institution?

Hope you don't mind me having a stab at this. I can't pretend to offer you David H's apparent sharpness of mind but here goes...

Today in Australia it’s a civil thing. Whether its relevant that its origins are from God and that it is done in his sight and with his blessing is up to the beliefs of the couple involved. The fact that its origin is from God is what makes it difficult to separate it as entirely secular and remove God from it altogether. (A start might be to give it a different name than that which God gave it).

I think now I can go straight to #3...

>2. If religious, then should we be following Christian guidance on who
>can get married?
>- If yes, then why should other religions be able to get married?
>- If no, then homosexuals should be able to get married as some religions
>allow it.
>3. If it's a civil institution, should society make this kind of decision
>based on theological arguments or secular ones?
>- If theological ones, why? We don't for anything else and our law is
>supposed to be secular. An exception should really have some justification.
>- If secular ones, then all of the religious discussion is irrelevant
>and should be disregarded when deciding whether gay marriage should be
>legalised.

I would have thought that as long as society is made up of both the religious and the secular then both camps should have input to the decision.
>