Vorlonagent wrote:
> "Andrew Swallow"  wrote in message 
> news:9YadnQy7e4PNZnfYRVnytAA{at}bt.com...
> 
>>> As I understand it, English common law did /not/ make marriage a
>>> government institution -- indeed, we refer to de facto marriages as
>>> "common law" marriages. The marriage license
requirement is a more
>>> recent big-government nanny-state power grab.
>>>
>> Marriage is religious activity.  Secular government had to pass statute
>> laws to issue marriage certificates and authorise non-priests to conduct
>> marriages.
> 
> Regardless, it is the state of affiars.  Gay marriage has to be *legalized* 
> in most western countries.
> 
> Facts or speculation about why this is true don't mean much because they 
> don't change the above state of affairs.
> 
> I was perhaps in error about English Common Law but it's a natural mistake 
> considering both the US and England have had to legalize gay marriage.
> 
It is even more complex than that.  It took over a thousand years
for the Roman Catholic Church to make marriage an official ceremony.

Andrew Swallow
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