Marriage - Revised

The United States was founded on the principle that all citizens are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There are no exceptions to that clause based on gender, race, sexual orientation or religion. Too often, this principle comes under attack when an individual’s pursuit of happiness conflicts with another individual’s moral beliefs. The question of whether marriage is an “institution between only a woman and a man” highlights this conflict in American society – but also raises more significant questions of what it means to live in a “free country” and how we truly separate “church and state.”

Among the first colonials to American shores were those seeking religious freedom; and though our history is not purely one of enlightened tolerance, we generally have accepted that one person’s understanding of God may differ entirely from another’s. As James Madison wrote, “Above all are they to be considered as retaining an "equal title to the free exercise of Religion according to the dictates of Conscience." Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us” (Memorial and Remonstrance).

Ideally, American society is supposed to embrace freedom, tolerance and reject prejudice. To be a “land of the free,” the founders recognized there must be a separation of church and state. Our laws and institutions should promote freedom and impose as few restrictions as possible on an individual’s ability to pursue happiness. It is a natural instinct in people to couple and therefore to form and recognize a committed relationship is part of many people’s pursuit of happiness, which should not be denied because of a certain subsets religious values.

Marriage is not a specific fact with a definitive definition (like two parts hydrogen plus one part oxygen IS water); it is a function of its time and place. Throughout history, it has served various purposes – from assuring property transfer to defining heirs. By modern standards, most often it is used to describe a commitment based (one hopes) on binding love. Marriage is a term that can be defined in any manner a society sees fit. The implication that there is a gender element to the term comes from religious principles that have no place in civil legislation.

As a question of semantics, perhaps “marriage” should be left to the religious to define as they see fit. The state should recognize “civil unions” only and for all.

America must not allow any particular religious viewpoint to dominate or become law. Freedom depends on safeguarding ourselves not only from outsiders, but from the tyranny of the majority. If we must err, we should err on the side of allowing too much liberty, rather than too little.