Alight, so 2 posts within a month of each other, I must have a lot of time of my hands....  nope, just a few things that I have read that are really worrying me about where the world is going.

So I read an article this morning about a gay couple who is suing their church for opting out of performing same sex marriages.  In the UK it is legal to get married if you are a same sex couple, (this just went into effect this month in England) but the law put in a provision that some can opt out of performing these services.  The legislation that was introduced on Dec 2011 included the following in order to sustain the religious freedom and still allow for same sex marriages to be cleared for performing.

• Ensuring the legislation states explicitly that no religious organization, or individual minister, can be compelled to marry same-sex couples or to permit this to happen on their premises
•  providing an 'opt-in' system for religious organizations’ who wish to conduct marriages for same-sex couples, which also allows individual ministers to continue to refuse to perform same-sex marriage even when their religious organization opts in
• amending the Equality Act 2010 to reflect that no discrimination claims can be brought against religious organization’s or individual ministers for refusing to marry a same-sex couple or allowing their premises to be used for this purpose
• Ensuring that the legislation will not affect the Canon law of the Church of England or the Church in Wales, i.e., unless Canon law and the same-sex marriage legislation are changed in future, both churches will be legally barred from performing same-sex marriages.

But in the article that I read this morning (The Libertarian Republic.com article) a gay couple is still trying to compel a church to perform their marriage even though the law was put in place to not allow this.

My question is why?  Why take away others religious freedoms because you have an agenda to make a point?  Why take away religious freedoms in the cloak of civil rights?  Why trample over others rights and freedoms to impose your own?  I think that is a form of tyranny.

I think that what the UK did in terms of writing the laws when they approached this subject was great.  They spent a lot of time talking about both sides and tried to do their best at giving same sex couples more rights and the legal marriages that they wanted, and also keeping those that do not agree with that, their freedoms to not have to "perform" those ceremonies if they did not want to.  I think the US would be wise to look at that, and maybe they have, but they are leaving it up to the States and each state is deciding to do it differently so we will see what the outcome is when all the dust settles.

I for one want those that desire a same sex union to have all of the rights and privileges that any opposite sex marriages have.  If that means you have to call it a marriage than so be it, BUT I do not want to lose my religious rights and freedoms to not accept having to perform such when I don't agree with it.  There will be plenty of others that are qualified to perform such unions, but in my church, we have a lay ministry and those in the congregation are called to be ministers (like a pastor) from time to time and in that situation you are given the authority perform marriages.  I do not want to be compelled to perform a same sex marriage if I was ever put in that situation and that is a direct violation to my religious beliefs.

Again, I want to state that I would love nothing more than to have the rights of those seeking a same sex marriage to be granted, and that they can experience all of the same rights under law that opposite sex couples are granted.  I just don't want peoples religious freedoms cancelled over it.

My personal religious beliefs are centered in a church that has a history relating to plural marriage.  Most that I have talked with when telling them that I am a Mormon, jokingly ask if I have more than one wife.  For the record I do not, and that has not been practiced since the late 1800's but people do ask, and I have many that have stated that they think that it is disgusting and degrading to woman.  I am just thankful I was not asked to do that (if you want to really know more about that, please ask), but I am surprised that I have a few gay friends pushing for this new legalization of gay marriage, that are ones that are most vocal about how plural marriage is wrong.  Well, once same sex marriage is legal, there is nothing to stop those that want to have plural marriages from doing the same thing (for the record I am not wanting it). Other combination could be thought up, but really under this logic, they should all have the same rights, and if the same sex couples are forcing others to perform these unions, even when they feel it is against their moral compass to do so, they might have to perform these types as well.