Man, I had thought that a Supreme Court ruling would end the gay marriage issue, but clearly the religious right and pandering GOP conservatives aren't going to go down easy. They're going to force us to have to battle over and over again in court against blatantly unconstitutional and stupid laws (potentially) like this. There is no way that a law that leaves marriage decisions to the clergy will withstand constitutional muster.
Besides denying atheists the right to fully marry (they would be restricted to common law marriage, which means no federal benefits), it also leaves open the possibility of kooky religious groups defining marriage however they want, so long as they have a pastor.
Geez, can't the religious right come up with something better than this?
BTW, Oklahoma was one of the very first states affected by the Supreme Court's decisions to not hear appeals back in September. So same-sex marriages have been going on there for six months now. As far as I can tell, Oklahoma has not gone to hell yet or been turned into salt.
All of these "religious rights" laws are allegedly to prevent poor county clerks from having to issue marriage licenses against their religious beliefs. It's a freaking ridiculous argument. County clerks are government officials. Their job is to give marriage licenses, or auto registrations, or tax notices, or whatever else they do to the people who are legally entitled to get them. Their religious or moral beliefs should play no role in it. If they don't want to issue marriage licenses to gay people, or interracial couples, they're in the wrong line of work. The government has no business coddling bigotry in the guise of religion.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhu … -of-faith/
What will they think of next? Oklahoma House passes law to give marriage licenses to clergy
I have never understood why the religious right CHOOSES to confuse a government issued piece of paper (civil union/marrige) with their "sacrament" of marriage. Do they think so little of their "sacred ceremony" that it can be boiled down to a piece of paper issued by government? A government issued marriage license conveys legal rights under the rule of law, while a religious marriage ceremony takes that legal arrangement and, additionally, makes it "sacred" in the eyes of their particular interpretation of who lives in "heaven" and judges us every second and forever in eternity. There is not nor will EVER be a mandate for ANY religious organization to perform a ceremony of any kind involving a gay couple. Here again, with tongue in cheek, is a list of reasons to oppose gay marriage:
If we elect a republican president and the GOP still controls Congress, we have not yet seen the pain that the republicans will inflict on the taxpayers (but not the rich) of this country.
None of this is surprising. When you believe that you are living in the "End of Times" nothing but that matters. We have newly elected senators writing to foreign heads of state and telling them don't trust our negotiators, eliminate health care for the poor, bust labor unions and abolish voting rights. Is it any surprise that they want to go to war in the Middle East? The head of Iran's secret police is leading the fight against Isis with the Iraqi army and we have politicians that want to go to war with Iran. Hillary Clinton can't delete personal e-mails as that is high treason and Governor Walker compares peaceful protesters to Isis. You just have to love the way the GOP governs! The good thing is another major Catholic country is going to vote soon on marriage equality, support the Irish!!!!!