The Legal Ramifications of Same-Sex Marriage on the Church
On one hand, the government has a responsibility to uphold religious freedom (1st amendment), and on the other hand, it cannot deny equal protection of the laws (14th amendment). If proponents of same-sex marriage, they will get the courts to declare it a constitutionally protected right. This will create a constitutional conflict. When faced with conflicts like these, the courts have relied on a stringent standard of judicial review known as the strict scrutiny test. In this test, the court has to weigh out if the state has a compelling interest to enforce a certain law that places a burden on an already existing constitutionally protected activity. When it comes to same-sex marriages, this test will be relied upon to measure whether the state’s compelling interest to protect the new “constitutional” rights of homosexuals and same-sex marriage partners warrants placing a burden on religiously motivated practice. Most attorneys and legal analysts on both sides of the issue believe that most Federal courts will almost always rule against religious institutions and practices.
http://www.startchurch.com/blog/view/name/the-legal-ramifications-of-same-sex-marriage-on-the-church
I was speaking of the sacramental life of the Church. I know about church-related adoption agencies (see my first post); receptions in church halls are (but should not be) a gray area.
Perhaps churches should get out of the civil marriage business. Then if an Orthodox couple (man and woman, of course) wanted to get married, they would first go to a justice of the peace and have a simple, low-cost civil “wedding”, after they would NOT be considered married by the Church. Then they would have a Big Fat Greek (or Serbian, Russian, OCA, etc.) Orthodox Wedding in the Church, presided over by an Orthodox Priest. Then they would be considered REALLY married. Receptions in church halls could be restricted to celebrations of Sacramental Weddings.
Such a system was how it was in communist countries, and is still followed in several countries today. It would tend to devalued civil “weddings”. But it is not Christians who have devalued them, but the disgusting “gay” activists and their parasite lawyers, judges, and liberal protestant clergy.