Advent Conspiracy

I've been saying for a number of years now what I believe the solution to the gay marriage problem that keeps coming up here in California is. I've said it in a number of private and semi public forums, but I guess I should just own it right out here.

The most obvious answer to me is to just not have marriage at all. No separate but equal provisions, no "one man, one woman" marriage and "everyone else" civil unions. Nope. Just no marriages for anyone by the state. Civil unions, or civic partnerships or whatever you want to call it would be it. Let the state recognize the unique business relationship that can exist between two people, but don't call it marriage. Let any two people, and I mean that - any two people, enter into this business relationship. It would allow for the transfer of certain assets tax free, allow for caretaking, special medical provisions and a whole host of other rights that we now only give to married couples. An elderly mother and her son, two men, two women, whatever. We are not making any moral judgements about the union. Which the state should not do, but rather, we are recognizing a unique business partnership. After all, isn't that really what the state does now? We run down and get a marriage license, have it witnessed and the state sanctions the relationship.

Now, where does this leave marriage? In the church, where it belongs. Many different religions have different views of the importance of marriage. For example, in the Catholic Church, it's a sacrament. Right up there with baptism and the eucharist. It's not a sacrament in protestant churches, but it's treated as a religious ceremony. In the LDS church, marriage is an important part of the path to heaven. This is why Prop. 8 was so important to these churches - it's an integral part of their worship. The mistake we keep making is not following our own instincts regarding the separation of the church from the state. Let's not continue to confuse sacramental marriage with the legal recognition of a unique relationship.

A friend pointed out in a Facebook posting that this would require a change in thousands of laws that reference marriage. It's a valid point, but I think the issue is important enough to make those changes. With computers these days, can't we just do a "Replace All?"

Marriage --> Civil Unions 3843 instances will be changed Yes No

I'd press yes.

McCain-Obama Dance-Off

Too bad I didn't see this before the election:

How cool is this?

Ninjas are cool

How cool is that a samurai sword wielding vigilante saves the police?