Brothers+

I agree, separation of Church and State does serve us
well in this situation.    

The nature of my question was a little different than
the current bru-ha-ha rippling across the various
denominations.  I'm simply asking, why should we
participate at all as representatives of the state?
Our stance would be clearer if persons married in the
bonds of Christ had the church witness their covenant
with one another and God, and then went to the local
Judge or JP for the civil legalities.  

If we have nothing to do with the state in this
regard, the world at large would not expect us to
abide by the state's definitions of persons fit for
marriage and thus we would not be participants in the
debate. In that scenario we couldn't be damned by
those not of our flock for not doing some
odd-couplings since we don't do "legal" marriages. 
The Church would be taken out of the possibility of
having "marrying Sams." 

Charles+
Church of the Good Shepherd, Anglican






--- "The Rev GDVWiebe SSC.,PhD" <gdvw@...>
wrote:

> > Charles and  JAD,
> > This matter hasd alreadybeen settled in Canada.
> There civil unions/ same
> sex marriage is on the books but the Church has been
> specifically
> EXCLUDED from participation unless they so desire.
> here the erroneous
> but commonly believed 'separation of Church and
> State' will serve the
> Church well. I do not expect any kind of difficulty.
> Further I doubt the
> thing will pass the 2/3 needed to move it forward in
> the constitutional
> process. This is all electioneering to 'energise'
> the rightwing neocon
> Fundamentalist 'base'. for November. Ascension tide
> blessings. GDVW+
> > But if the law of the land allows for homosexual
> marriage, are we going to
> > be able to refuse to marry someone because of that
> reason ?  Will the
> > State
> > say, you are only acting in a civil way and it is
> only for record keeping
> > ?
> > If we refuse will we be subject to harassment if
> not charges  ?   I am not
> > trying to be an alarmist here, I just would like
> some  questions answered.
> >
> > Fr. David +
> > St. Luke's Port Orange, Fl.
> >
>\