The Ambiguous Separation of Church & State

There's no denying that gay marriage has become a hot-button issue. You can't be a full-fledged, staunch Republican (at least in the eyes of party leaders) unless you adamantly and openly oppose the concept alongside it's sister: abortion. John McCain recently talked about his views on "Ellen" - at which point they agreed to disagree. (Sidenote: Ellen plans to marry her girlfriend of many years, Portia de Rossi.)

Despite the party's strong messages of change and equality, complete support for same-sex marriage is not required to become a card-carrying, popular Democrat either. Senator Obama is against referring to such a union as "marriage." This one has nothing to do with party lines.

So, the entire debate centers around the definition of a single word: marriage. State and Federal government members are wasting time, money, and energy in the on-going battle to define the term. Not only are appointed officials slinging mud and taking pot-shots over a social issue, they are once again blurring the separation of Church and State. And is there really any linguistic difference between "marriage" and a "civil union"?

As many on the blogosphere have pointed out, you know there's a problem when Bill O'Reilly actually conducts an interview in a serious manner and allows important discussion points to come up.

It's an excellent question to pose: Are there persuasive non-religious reasons to prohibit same-sex marriage? People say "yes" but then fail to give a reason. Pointing to your personal beliefs of family values is not a non-religious argument because those are completely shaped by a connection to religion.

I'm inclined to say that the word "marriage" should simply be removed from the English language. This debate is getting tiresome and expensive, not to mention that its basis fuels segregation. It's also about time the government called for a moratorium on creating social reforms and shift all of its focus back to serious issues like Iraq, homeland security, the weak economy, and immigration reform. None of these have anything to do with religious beliefs. Well, Iraq might.