Good response to this about government and marriage?

[ThinkingSapien]

When these discussions occur among mixed audiences (especially people with different religious and non-religious backgrounds) I often get the feeling that they don’t go anywhere. It seems that the people involved are having different conversations. For some it’s a discussion of semantics and some form of language purism. For some it’s a question of theology or Sacraments. For some its a question of civil contracts. For some it’s a question of regulating sex. As long as people are speaking of these different concepts I don’t expect much agreement or arguments from each side to be persuasive.

 

[frobert]

Are you kidding? Watch the news or do a Google search!

If that is your response how do we know that you simply did not make it up after all not how do you expect people to keep up with everything in the news. When someone does not supply a source no on will take seriously seriously.

 

[frobert]

I see . . . you are unable to work the Google machine. Let me help you. Since the query returned hundreds of instances, I’ll confine the selection to only those in the last month so as not to completely overflow the post.

adfmedia.org/files/KnappComplaint.pdf

eaglerising.com/6712/government-forces-church-perform-gay-marriage/

blog.speakupmovement.org/church/religious-freedom/washington-same-sex-marriage-bill-is-a-threat-to-churches/

theblaze.com/contributions/of-course-the-government-should-force-churches-to-perform-gay-weddings/

adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9364

cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/October/Idaho-Ministers-Told-Peform-Gay-Marriage-or-Go-to-Jail/

startchurch.com/blog/view/name/the-legal-ramifications-of-same-sex-marriage-on-the-church

After you’ve read them, I’ll be interested in your point-by-point reply.

If you don’t even bother read them (as in not even bothering to Google to find them), all the readers here will know that this denial of the clear facts is simply an attempt to pull a John Gruber, denying the plain facts and obfuscating the issues in order to dupe and decieive.

Since I am not Rau I didn’t feel obliged to read all the articles so I picked a couple at random and here is what I found:

Denmark has just passed a law that will force churches to participate in gay wedding ceremonies.
Read more at eaglerising.com/6712/government-forces-church-perform-gay-marriage/#3VtMkwVvWuExVzdK.99

The Denmark law applies only to their supported religion. It does not apply to other religions.

The Constitution of Denmark contains a number of sections related to religion. §4 establishes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark as the state church of Denmark.
For ELC there is no separation of state and religion. Why should state supported agencies, churches included, be excused from following the law?

So at least in this case your objection is misleading.

From: Idaho Ministers Told Perform Gay Marriage or Go to Jail

Donald and Evelyn Knapp own a Hitching Post Wedding Chapel

Attorneys representing them say this is government coercion. They say just because the government recognizes same-sex marriages doesn’t mean citizens, even business owners, should be forced to do so.

The Wedding Chapel is a private business. Why should a private business be exempted from the law in the same way a recognized religion?

Exempting a religion from performing SS marriages is a separate issue from exempting a private business.

Do you have any evidence at all of where a religion was forced to perform same sex marriage? I think not.

 

[Ignatius]

If you ask someone if they think government should be in marriage

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is not a contract. The Church should administer the Sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ and stop acting as an agent of The State.

Waiting until actual instances of The State forcing churches to act against their conscience is imprudent. It is clear that government agencies are now doing so in the case of forcing Churches, Monisteries, and Convents to pay for abortifacient drugs and contraceptives and they will have no compunction about forcing churches to do their bidding against their consciences as well. It is clear they are heading in that direction. It is like waiting until a crime is committed before acting. Severe the ties causing the Church to act as an agent of The State now, before it is forced by The State.