There has been a lot of talk recently about the role and size of the American government, and how it should relate to our everyday lives. The discourse has hit our neck of the woods because there's been a recent push for churches to look into divorcing their wedding ceremonies from civil marriages.
The basis for the argument is this — is the contract of marriage between the couple and God, or the couple at the state. In a survey of 2,000 American adults, the Nashville-based LifeWay Research company found:
• Nearly six in 10 Americans (59 percent) say marriage should not be "defined and regulated by the state."
• Nearly half (49 percent) say "Religious weddings should not be connected to the state's definition and recognition of marriage."
• About a third (36 percent) say clergy should "no longer be involved in the state's licensing of marriage." More than half (53 percent), however, disagree.
• Those most likely to favor a split between religious weddings and government or civil marriage include 54 percent of men, 53 percent of Catholics and 45 percent of Protestants.
It would be strange to be at a wedding without the priest doesn't say, "By the power vested in me by the state…" However, with this issue bubbling up to the surface, it looks like this argument is in for the long haul.
For more:
1 in 3 Americans want a divorce between clergy and civil marriages (CruxNow)
Photo by @jeanettevictoria/Flickr