Re-thinking marriage

News of Brian McLaren's officiating the same-sex commitment ceremony of his son hit the discussion boards of a number of 'Christian' online communities and with the issue of same-sex union and the perceived attack on what Conservative Evangelical Christians see as the biblical definition of ‘marriage’ and ‘family' I think it is worth exploring also the legal niceties of marriage.

The reason I say this is because if we'd all pay close attention to wedding ceremonies we’d often hear a familiar yet seldom understood line from the officiating minister:

"By power vested in me by..." (which ever state it is that he’s holding the license to pronounce the couple as “man and wife.)



With this line in mind maybe its worth thinking about marriage from the vantage point of a society that isn't governed by Evangelical Christianity alone'?



The question is not about where do we draw the line...

It always seems that America is always under threat...

...from terrorism, communists and those damn secularists in the government who want to change "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" who want to remove the insignia "In God We Trust" in their money...

... and I don't quite understand what the fuzz is all about.


Every now and then I encounter well-meaning American (or Filipino-American) Christians who do good and want to do good, who freak out whenever they come face-to-face with the realization that their country is not (to their disappointment) a ‘Christian nation’