NC judges resigning

[Jenny A]

I simply never understood gay marriage granted I support gay rights fully overall but isn't marriage a religious institution? Shouldn't the government be seperating itself from religous rituals? I'm not gay but I don't understand why the lgbt community does not fight against what is essentially government regulation of sexual behaviour am I wrong here?

Marriage is about as a religious only a thing as the sale of real property.

In the ancient world, it was for making sure everyone knew whose babies were whose, property settlements, and alliances between men. Some cultures had a ceremony involving the gods, but they had ceremonies involving the gods for the sale of property, crowning of kings, the election of Roman officials, and setting the cornerstones of buildings.

Although the OT and the NT both talk about marriage, neither suggests it's a covenant with god thing. And even if they did, who cares when virtually every culture has had marriage as an institution and it's been a primarily secular institution.

The OT concern is not marrying outside the Hebrew tribes. What descriptions there are, do not, unlike say the descriptions of how to sacrifice meat, involve religious ceremonies. They involve negotiations over money and women passing hands, and treaty alliances.

In the NT it's a thing you do so as not to have adulterous sex, even if that adulterous sex is only in the privacy of your own mind. With Jesus comes the thought police.

In the U.S., where in most states adultery isn't a crime, the legal descriptions of marriage rights are all about money, property, and who takes care of/gets the kids.

Any religious aspect is religious add-on and applies only to the particular sect that believes that particular add-on.