Rational thought at the UChicago Law School

[dsrtao]

http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2008/10/why-did-marriag.html

Basic argument: the state stays out of baptism, naming, confession, communion, confirmation, and so forth -- it shouldn't be in the marriage business, either.

Comments

[robertdfeinman.livejournal.com]

I posted an essay awhile ago where I suggested that "marriage" be a civil transaction which was basically registering a contract, just as mortgages are registered.

If the parties then want to have a ceremony of their choice they are free to do so. In this model any two people of sufficient age and mental capacity could get "married".

I think the persistence of intervention of the state is still an issue of (religious) control. Various religious powers are still trying to control human behavior. In "secular" Israel a Jew and a non-Jew cannot get married, but need to leave the country. So much for church-state separation.