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Quote by: CoffeeSaint  Fair enough. Do you agree that the government does not actually grant the right to marry, as that is a religious institution? I'm not arguing with this, I want to make sure we have our terms straight. Am I mistaken when I refer to the government's action as recognizing and subsidizing marriage, rather than creating it? |
Traditionally, the right to marry has been solely the states' domain. The states decide how they regulate marriage and how protect it.
States' rights, however, are completely broken, in the ineffectual sense. Federal rights are bah-ROken, in the over-dominating sense.
The boundaries of state and federal domains have essentially dissapeared. So yes, marriage rights are a federal issue, just like anything else nowadays...
Marriage is ingrained in society past the ideas of religion. It is not a religious institution in the sense that the government must not have anything to do with it. Besides, separation of church and state does not supercede majority rule (with minority rights, of course...).
I'm not sure as to the semantics of recognizing versus creating. There's definitely a distinction, but I find it unimportant.