Pastors Vow Not to Participate in Civil Marriages:

[Aquila]

Very interesting, as I've been talking about this for some time now. Of course, when I brought it up it was only a hypothetical situation. Apparently there is a growing movement of pastors vowing NOT to participate in solemnizing "civil marriages" on the grounds that the state has redefined the institution to include same gender couples. These pastors refuse to sign or submit marriage licenses for couples who undergo any religious ceremony or blessing with regards to their unions.

Pastors opposed to same-sex marriage vow not to participate in any civil ceremonies
http://www.cruxnow.com/life/2014/11/...il-ceremonies/


Here is the actual, Marriage Pledge that pastors supporting this cause to separate marriage and state have pledged to:

The Marriage Pledge
http://www.firstthings.com/marriage-pledge

Should pastors and elders simply bless couples instead of acting as agents of the state solemnizing marriage in the authority of the state? It appears that a growing opinion is leaning that direction.

What are your thoughts?

[Aquila]

Nobody finds this significant?

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Nobody finds this significant?

I almost signed it but remembered that the UPCI doesn't endorse same sex unions anyway. lol

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by BrotherEastman

I almost signed it but remembered that the UPCI doesn't endorse same sex unions anyway. lol

lol

[FlamingZword]

I actually signed it because I feel that we need to make it quite clear to the government that many of us simply refuse to accept perversity.

I assure you people that after homosexuals get the marriage rights, the next group will be the polygamy people, then eventually the incest crowd, then the bestiality perverts and finally the degenerate pedophiles.

[Originalist]

I reposted all of this on other sights including my Facebook page.

[Aquila]

I'd like to draw attention to a portion of the pledge that I found interesting:

To continue with church practices that intertwine government marriage with Christian marriage will implicate the Church in a false definition of marriage.

Therefore, in our roles as Christian ministers, we, the undersigned, commit ourselves to disengaging civil and Christian marriage in the performance of our pastoral duties. We will no longer serve as agents of the state in marriage. We will no longer sign government-provided marriage certificates. We will ask couples to seek civil marriage separately from their church-related vows and blessings.

Would this mean that these pastors are pledging to only bless "sovereign Christian marriages", and then allow each couple to decide if they wish to seek a "civil marriage" separately from their church related vows and blessings?

[Jermyn Davidson]

The Clerks of Courts for 5 counties in North Florida are refusing to sign off all marriages.


http://www.christianpost.com/news/th...onies-131950/#!


So what are people supposed to do now?

[n david]

I like the way this is going. IIRC, marriage was always a church rite, until the government took over for tax purposes.

[Jermyn Davidson]

A federal judge is leaving Florida clerks without a doubt: It is their duty to issue licenses to same-sex couples looking to get married.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...to-gay-couples

Says the federal judge:
"I stayed the ruling in this case while those stays were in effect and for 91 more days — long enough to allow the defendants to seek a further stay in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and, if unsuccessful there, in the United States Supreme Court. The defendants did that. They lost...."