I don’t get this. Marriage, i.e. the covenant between a man and woman in the religious sense is vastly different from the “marriage” license issued by caesar and the center of the controversy.
Caesar can put whatever restrictions he does or doesn’t want on his license. He can sell it to whomever he wants. It doesn’t change what marriage means in the religious sense.
Unfortunately churches have been unwittingly complicit here: they agree to execute the license issued by caesar and end up following his warped interpretation of what it means. So why do churches continue to be the unpaid executor of these licenses?
There is a solution to this for the churches: stop executing the “marriage” licenses. The religious marriage ceremony itself doesn’t require it. Churches can and have married people without a license. For thousands of years. Its perfectly legal, and although it won’t be an official state approved “marriage,” are the churches really that interested in keeping family law courts and attorneys in business by executing caesars “marriage” licenses?
To summarize, if you volunteer to be caesar’s agent, you’ll be expected to follow caesar’s rules.
You are echoing my sentiments on the subject quite well.