At the libertarian-minded ReasonOnline site, John Coleman
reminds us in My
Privatized Valentine that:
St. Valentine, a Roman cleric, was imprisoned for his opposition to Emperor Claudius' decree that young men (his potential crop of soldiers) could no longer marry. Valentine performed their ceremonies anyway and was thrown in jail for his obstinacy. His belief was that marriage is too sacred a rite to relegate to the incompetence of state bureaucracy. And, on February 14, he was executed for that belief.
Drawing a lessons for our times, Coleman argues that
the state should only certify the legality of civil unions, leaving
the sanctioning of ceremonial "marriage" to the private sphere of
religious institutions:
It is time to privatize marriage. If the institution is really so sacred, it should lie beyond the withering hands of politicians and policy makers in Washington D.C. There should be no federal or state license that grants validity to love. There should be no state-run office that peers into our bedrooms and honeymoon suites. If the church thinks divorce and homosexuality are problematic, it should initiate the real dialogue to address these problems in-house rather than relying on state-sponsored coercion to affirm doctrinal beliefs. And if tax-codes and guardianships need some classification for couples, let's revise civil union standards to reflect those needs.
Well, that's certainly one up on those who believe we must settled for nothing less than full state-recognized marriage! (hat tip: instapundit)
If your interested in this argument, IGF contributing author Steve Swain argues here that what the state does for birth and death it should also do for marriage: merely certify status, and leave the tasks of celebrating and solemnizing to communities and religions.
And over on my right, we now have a diversity of opinion on the
marriage question, most recently from John
Corvino, Dale
Carpenter, and Paul
Varnell.