lots of ppl have the privledge of saying they are married but they arn't religious. Religions say that marrage is a religious institution because they are trying to control every single bit of our culture through indoctrination at every step. Now I come at this topic from a interesting point of view. I have been bisexual for most of my life when i took interest in my sexuality and I decided to pray to let Jesus into my heart. After praying over and over suddenly i felt a wash of energy flow in my 3rd eye and flow down to my nuts than my heart felt like flesh, soft and beating full of love i'd never experienced. So after that i became a believer in Jesus but also i've been reading books called conversations with god, in which God comes out against the christian church. god says theres no hell, no devil, we all go to heaven, and much more. I know its god that helped write this book because god predicts that ppl will try to get rid of clinton before it happend. The book is totally convincing proof of God trying to help humanity but christians are so hell bent on convincing ppl that their truth is correct, that theyve become judgemental, therefor assuming god is judgemental. I can also say that Jesus has not tried to change my sexuality. So to get back to my original point, marrage is not religious. The bible is full of lies and edited down to keep the ppl in control. God is not religious. lololol therefor marrage isn't religious and gays should aloud to be married and use the same label common ppl use. So bring it on religious nuts, I have experienced higher states of love than any of you. I was uplifted with true passion for 4 months and i felt so high inside. You can call me a sinner or what ever you want but it doesnt change the fact that i feel accepted by jesus and god, the ones you claim are on your side! ahhaa

"Conversations with God" would better be titled "metaphysical masturbation..." since it's basically just some guy talking to himself and telling himself what he wants to hear.

Anyhooo.... marriage can be either a religious institution, purely legal or a mixture of both.

As for God accepting us the way we are.. well, sure. But the heart of the teachings of Christ and God's other messengers isn't "Hey, God accepts you... so, sit around and feel good about yourself."

No, the messengers all call for repentance, change, sacrifice.

One of the most profound statments I've seen in summing this up was posted by somebody in another debate forum. It went like this:

"God loves you just the way you are, but He also loves you too much to let you simply stay that way."

dude with the bill orielly image next to your name. you just prooved my point that christians are judgemental and not open to anybodys truth except the church choir, your opiate of the masses. i could teach you things about spirituality and about your chakras that i've discovered..but I won't. ahah you take your happy pills made of condesending insults. Yumm thats good for you.

If you don't think marriage is supposed to be based on religious tenets, what do you propose we base it on. IMHO no matter how you look at it, there is no way you can come to the conclusion that the gay union is the same as the hetero one. It takes extreme rationalization to justify same gender love as any thing other than a manifestation of a defective sex drive.

what is marriage? its a pair of ppl making a life long commitment to start a family. some marriage's are open and involve multiple partners. although i perfer open marriage and having multiple sexual partners, i just dont see how religion gets to say who can get married. Its really only up to the people choosing to be in the relationship commitment. It should be based on their desicion and if the government has to recognize it for it to exist, than let it be the governments responsibility. And i dont know why you think you can judged another person based on their sexual preference as defective sex drive. Sexual preference is based on feeling and that is personalized truth that everyone must respect and accept unconditionaly. Feeling should be the authority, not ideas that are judgemental or condecending of others and that is exactly how the christian church has gone about its crusade of moral authority. When you look at the history of the Christian Church, its actually not so pretty but i'm not gonna get into that. I have accepted jesus so i am not antigod, i'm just anti religious. Religions teach you to doubt yourself and thats not what i'm about. i'm just trying to self discover free from the fearbased ideology of church and state. Let the gays and bisexuals get married, its normal to wanna be married, stop making it a priveledge for straight ppl only, and let ppl get married outside of religion if they want to.

Your entire post starts with homosexuality as an intended human condition and works backward though. That's what anyone that supports homosexuality has to do. You can't start with the differences in the genders, a specific analysis of their bodily functions and systems, and come to the conclusion that the same gender union is the same from a biologic standpoint as a heterosexual one. It takes a insane amount of irrationality and delusion to come to that conclusion.

Do you know why they say that mate?...because ...heres the secret... It is, a religious instiution, it started with religion its been held with religion and just because some people are rejecting god but want a sense of cosyness gives no damn right to take it away from religion.

Marrige "should" be kept Religious this is why we have "Civil partnership" Marrige is a purely religious object a A holy vow Between two people" a Man and a woman" and there god.This is to join the two both in life and in faith and to bless the reproduction of the species.

It should "never" be anything differant. Marrige is something so much "more" than living together and raising kids...you dont have to be married to do that it's called "Co-habitation". If you want to have the same "privleages" of marrige you get a Civil partnership. But do not go breaking down the sanctity of a religious marrige with things like that.

Syrokal-

In America, civil unions (in the very very few places that allow them) don't come near to giving the same protections, benefits and privileges as marriage.

Marriage is not always about religion. There are certainly atheists who are married, but don't consider themselves having any kind of "holy" contract whatsoever.

Well, if the Bible is full of lies, then marriage does not have to be religious, you know.

I've seen my cousins be married before the JOP's in real quicklike fashion. Nothing religious in those. Most of my cousins on my dad's side are members of Jehovah's Witnesses. Only two were married in a religious place, like Kingdom Hall of JW and a church of whatever denomination I can't remember. The cousin who married in that church broke off from JW.