Why do some people who would recognize gay civil unions oppose gay marriage? Certain religious groups want to deny gays the sacredeness of what they take to be a sacrament. But marriage is no sacrament….
Those who do not want to let gay partners have the sacredness of sacramental marriage are relying on a Scholastic fiction of the thirteenth century to play with people’s lives, as the church has done ever since the time of Aquinas. The myth of the sacrament should not let people deprive gays of the right to natural marriage, whether blessed by Yahweh or not. They surely do not need””since no one does””the blessing of Saint Thomas.
Ask yourself this question: is it true that the church came to think that a marriage necessary involved only one man and one woman in the thirteenth century?
The 12th-13th century is also the point at which the church begins to define marriage as a covenant relationship entered into freely and with consent by both partners to the covenant. The developing understanding of the church corresponds roughly to the emergence of the medieval romances. What is so sad about this tripe (about from it being unworthy of Wills when he’s serious) is it is just that understanding that is key for any possible case for same sex marriage. Wills is, so to speak, sawing off the branch he’s sitting on.