'Torial Tuesday #2: Going Forward--in Reverse?

Ireland has it right--but in the wrong way.

Yes, I said Ireland. For those of you who missed it, a church in Ireland has said that, if gay marriage were legalized in the UK, they would cease to recognize state marriages and instead only perform weddings.

The problem with this is that the church has it right, but not so right. It seems to think that this is a punishment for legalizing marriage. However, their idea can be applied to America. Why? Because, of course, this nation was founded on the separation of church and state.

For too long, the church has allowed marriage licenses to be signed at wedding ceremonies. Weddings are the religious rite--the signing of the marriage license is the legalese. In fact, were there to be a perfect divorce of church and state, only weddings would be performed, birth and death certificates would be signed only at a government office, and so on. There is nothing that makes an atheist's birth somewhat "more" significant than a Christian's birth. Likewise, there is nothing that makes a marriage to one of the same sex any more significant than marriage to one of the opposite sex.

The lesson can be applied in this instance and so many other instances. This is how you keep the church out of government--you restrict its access to matters of government, keeping them entirely separate. Unless...

...unless of course, you want to make the church an organ of the state and no longer be "religious." In this case, churches would be subject to the same regulations of the state. For instance, churches would have to provide birth control, health insurance, bail out bankers, be responsible for voting on legalizing gambling, provide free and fair elections devoid of religious propaganda (Not to mention that, come election time, there could be no homilies for or against a candidate or proposition, etc.), provide counseling on end-of-life, be subject to all the provisions of ObamaCare, speak for the government (meaning a religious czar or something would have to be appointed), and, of course, provide coverage for abortion. Oh, and if that's not enough, because the church would cease to be "religious," this means that it would be subject to taxation. And we're not talking one church; we are talking ALL of them.