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Atheist Marriage
Posted on: June 1, 2009 - 1:43am
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Atheist Marriage
This might sound really stupid, but I have no idea how the legal part works so where would two atheists ''go'' to get married? And then my actual question, what's the difference between that and a gay civil union? ''Black Holes result from God dividing the universe by zero.''
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The person is usually generically referred to as a Justice of the Peace.
That person can be a current Mayor in your State, a judge
in your State, etc.
Google: "Justice of the Peace"
BTW. You're too damn young to
be "worried" about it. lol
Well, I was asking because if gays get all the rights in the civil unions that heteros get, How are hetero couples ''married'' and gays not? Is it just semantics?
And I know I might be young but this sort of thing pisses me off.
''Black Holes result from God dividing the universe by zero.''
In the state of California you can be married anywhere. Being married in your home or a public space that you rent or a church are all good choices. Any minister can marry people in California and there are non-religious ministries. I am a minister according to the California state government and I could marry people. I haven't actually married anyone and I only became a minister for the lulz; but thanks to the odd way marriage laws are written I could marry people.
Also any judge or ship captain on their own ship can marry you.
Check it out:
http://www.themonastery.org/?destination=ordination
It is free and you will be a minister for the rest of your life and allowed to marry people.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
They can be married by the traditional persons that performs any kinds of weddings, depending upon the laws of that State, as to whether or not they can
marry.
Civil Unions aditionally occur (depending upon the laws of the State), after 2 people live together for a certain number of years. I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's a matter of Civil Law that in my State has been approximately 7 years.
Now, it appears to be a term that is considered PC for religious assholes that don't want to use the same word (marraige) to apply to gays. However, as I said, I'm not a lawyerand in DIFFERENT States it is QUITE LIKELY that Civil Union LEGALLY means / has different implications as to a variety of OTHER THINGS, than a legal recocognition of some form of a legal bond between 2 persons. For example, inheritance, power of attorney, insurance coverage, and ssibly FEDERAL IMPLICATIONS such as Social Security.
It MUST BE researched State by State and with an Attorney
to understand all that one should know, if you are gay and considering it.
Well, would it piss you off if I now know that I was "too young" in my mid-30's to be thinking of it, too?
Marriage is a secular institution that some people choose to add religion to.
It is not a religious institution that some people do without the religious part, ie the default marriage is secular
My wife and I were wed in Vegas.... I am not sure of the religious implication of being married by an Elvis impersonator...
Provided you know the person you marry before you enter the casino...I highly reccomend it...it was a fucking riot.
www.RichWoodsBlog.com
In most, if not all, states, it's really easy to get a license to perform a legal marriage ceremony. Two friends of mine were asked by another friend to perform their ceremony, so she spent about thirty dollars online and completed a few forms. Now she can officially be called a reverend.
Then there's my other friend who decided it would be fun to be an atheist priest, so he got himself officially certified as "The Grand Exarch, His Excellency, the Baron von Bone." He's the highest religious official in his religion. Of course... he's the only person in his religion, but why sweat the details?
(He's a trombone player, for you music illiterates.)
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
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Oddly enough, the Puritans (you know, the founders of our Christian Nation) thought the same way about marriage, that is to say, that it was an affair of state, or to be more on the nose, a civil union. Marriage wasn't routinely carried out in churches (in the English speaking world, anyway) until around the Victorian era, when the international celebrity of that monarch (also one of the first women to wear a white, one-use-and-it's-garbage gown) became the standard for all young ladies of matrimonial age. Obviously some minister or other would carry out the ceremony in most cases, but that owed as much to his prominence in the community as it did to his religious office.
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell
SSBBJunky~ As others have said, some states may have differing definitions of a "marriage" and a "civil union," but if both of those institutions provide the exact same legal benefits under state laws, then yes, it would just be a matter of semantics. In that case, the religious just don't want THE GAYS tainting "their" sacred marriage title and ceremony. (gasp~ the horror!)
Just to satisfy your curiosity, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bene.htm :
In my opinion, either we grant these rights to gays too (and allow them to call it "marriage"
, or else allow only opposite-sex couples to marry and no longer require that all those benefits be exclusive to marriage.
As for your other question about atheist marriage, well, you're lucky if you're an atheist. Many religions have rules regarding what they will and won't recognize as a "true" marriage within the church. This affects who can officiate the ceremony, where the ceremony can be held, and even some of the practices within the ceremony. But if you're an atheist, you can get married wherever you want, by whomever you want, and - most importantly - to whomever you want! I know you don't live in the US, but over here the only thing you have to do to get your marriage legally recognized is to fill out a marriage license and have it signed by a justice of the peace or religious clergyman. That's basically the bare minimum you have to do.
Of course, a lot of people like to make a big deal out of it. Most commonly, it's because they want their union recognized in the eyes of god. However, I just want to have a big party when I get married to share our joy with others, combine the two families, etc. There are perfectly good secular reasons to celebrate too!
I've only been with my current boyfriend for a couple months, and we're both too young to seriously be considering marriage anyways. But the one thing we've agreed upon is that if and when we get married, it will absolutely NOT be in a church, and there will be NO references to god in the ceremony. It might disgruntle some family members (most likely on my side), but we're both very adamant atheists, and absolutely will not compromise on that point. Don't worry~ you can absolutely do things "your way" within the confines of the law, and there's no requirement that religion be involved.
I am officially a minister.
I also am now a minister! I honestly thought the registration would go to a second form or something and was just following the link on a lark.
Oh well, now I can insist on my gf calling me reverend!
My wife and I were married in a park on the ocean. Of course, we lived in Sitka AK at the time, so all parks were on the ocean, pretty much.
My best friend married us. He is not religious, either. He wrote a great speech, and my wife and I wrote our vows. We had *tons* of family from both sides. It really was great. It was essentially a great big party at which we also happened to get married.
I was married once before, at far too young. Religious service, none of my family was there, boring, stiff, and kinda scary.
Of the two, my second was much more fun. (And has lasted much, much longer, as well.)
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
All
I don;t know if this has been caught yet but, here is a nother proof that religion is rediculous and the sanctitiy of marrige is crap. Here is my line of thinking. First one must drink alot of booze and belive that religion is special and the end all and have the coner on the market, then think about marrige. If it is sacred as they say, and the church make it sacred then what about the state as they can grant marrige in all it's binding forms, thus the state is sacred... soooo what do these people think that they are special and need to be here. if the state can marry people then what else other than some peoples fears do we need them for?
Also what do they have against gays being "married" or unioned? again if the state can do it then it must not be sacred, therfore thiers is not sacred as it is as leagaly binding... plus why should we be the only ones suffering? let them enjoy the utter joys of being married.
Can ship captains still marry people? I want to be married by a ship captain.
Hi GB, long time, no sleep!
As to the captain-type marriage, unfortunately, they cannot.
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 32, Subtitle A, Chapter VI, Subchapter A, Part 700, Subpart G, Rule 716, also known as 32 CFR 700.716):
"The commanding officer shall not perform a marriage ceremony on board his ship or aircraft. He shall not permit a marriage ceremony to be performed on board when the ship or aircraft is outside the territory of the United States, except: (a) In accordance with local laws ... and (b) In the presence of a diplomatic or consular official of the United States."
But hey, what the hell. Who decides what constitutes marriage anyway (surely that should draw some comments)? On a completely unrelated note, you had mentioned in one of your posts that you were from Texas. I have several Friends down there so I was wondering what part (I suppose my ethnocentrism knows no bounds0.
i mean, it may require a separate civil ceremony to be "legally" married, as in obtaining the license, but after that you can have any kind of ceremony you want and as many as you want. who's to say which one "counts"?
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I am a ship captain, and I will marry you.
I'm currently living in Houston, although I tend to move around quite a bit. We're planning on moving to Tyler when the lease here is up.
Thanks dingus! That's very sweet of you.
Well, I am a minister with the universal life church. So if dingus ends up needing additional legal backing, perhaps we can work out a chat room or something and I can stand in as a co-officiant for you.
=
my cousin just married a mutual friend of ours in TX, and a bar owner married another friend of mine in Fairbanks.
When you said "we're moving to Tyler" my heart sank. my only hope is that "we're" means you and your mom, who is trying desperately to keep you a virgin, or "we're" as in you and your bisexual lover who are desperately in need of a "handyman". Please let me know.
Damn, you don't waste any time do you?
Theism is why we can't have nice things.
I have to admit I saw it coming, and still laughed hard.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
Haha by "we" I mean my current boyfriend and our roommate. My mum lives in Nacogdoches and I never was and never will be bisexual.
Well, I am in the great state of Connecticut, so if I can help out, let me know. As far as the whole "what can you marry" thing, don't even worry about that. I can't see anything in our marriage laws that prevents you from marrying your dirty laundry.
Seriously, our law makers are so smart that they don't even have to read what is up for discussion. For example, after the chimp attack a year ago, we passed a "dangerous animals" law that is very specific. It actually says AND I QUOTE:
Well, there are only four hominids and the fourth is Humans. So I really can't see how humans are legal in our state.
=
(Hey, they say it to gay guys, why can't I say it to straight girls? I mean, it'll make exactly the same amount of sense, i.e. none, so what the heck?)
Fair enough. But I do like the boys...
I have been to all 50 states but i cant remember anything whatsoever about Conn. painkillers and beer kicking in, Iam beginning to wonder if conn. is reaally a state. R DElaware and rhde islnd states 2? glad i am not there, sounds terrible. who the hell would own a gorilla?
Don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure painkillers and alcohol is not a good combo...
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I'm pretty sure it's not particularly healthy, but I've seen enough failed suicide attempts involving a 26'r of vodka and a full bottle of extra strength tylenol to think it's not a big threat in moderation, barring other complicating factors such as preconditions and prescriptions.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
only one way to find out....
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson