The bill would make New Hampshire the fifth state to legalized same-sex 'marriage' and the third to do so this month.
A last-minute amendment ensuring the right of religious clergy to decline performing same-sex "marriage" ceremonies, and allowing heterosexual couples to choose the words "bride" and "groom" on their marriage certificate rather than simply "spouse," helped gather critical support for the bill.
CONCORD, New Hampshire (LifeSiteNews.com) - New Hampshire's senate this afternoon voted 13-11 to extend the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, reports the Associated Press.
The bill would make New Hampshire the fifth state to legalized same-sex "marriage," and the third to do so this month.
The measure survived despite the fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee last week voted 3-2 to send the bill to the Senate floor with a recommendation to vote it down.
A last-minute amendment ensuring the right of religious clergy to decline performing same-sex "marriage" ceremonies, and allowing heterosexual couples to choose the words "bride" and "groom" on their marriage certificate rather than simply "spouse," helped gather critical support for the bill.
In late March the House passed a similar bill, which must now be rectified with the Senate version.
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Comments
It's time that we catholics take a stand against the secular states attempts to bastardize our sacramental marriages. I sugest the Church determine a single word description for the Sacramental marriage. We are evidently different, this is a great Religion to shout from every perch, and it is neither un-American nor false pride when we fly our Magisterium's Catholic flag of truth!
Peter Gelinas | 5/6/2009
A secular gov't will only create institutions that the people allow it to create. We can certainly create civil unions, and enshrine them in our laws, but they only serve to make people more self-focused and selfish and unable to give a coherent account of why this nation deserves to exist (the best reason they come up with is "we are free to do whatever we want" which isn't a good reason for a civilization to survive on). Civil unions don't give an adequate account of what relationships we ought to be in, they just allow us to create whatever relationships we desire to be in. We can get whatever we desire, but this nation won't last long with everyone just pursuing what they desire. This nation will only survive when we have people pursuing what we ought to be doing. The Catholic Church through the Catechism, encyclicals, JPII's Theology of the Body and many other great writings have laid out a wonderful, even if challenging, vision of what we ought to be doing. The question is whether enough Catholics will take time out of their busy schedules and become humble enough to listen to the whole vision and really think hard about what the Church proposes. She has 2,000+ years of wisdom on what we ought to be doing...it is worth giving her a fair hearing. Europe has ignored her and will soon be gone...America may soon follow suit if we don't listen to what the Church has to say. We don't live in the dark ages...the information is out there and anyone can read it...are we courageous enough to read it?
hanley18106 | 5/4/2009
Marriage is both a secular institution and a covenant before God. I agree with Libertarians that all (including same-sex) should be considered civil unions and "marriage" should be a religious term.
I agree with Romans 13:1-7 which begins, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong..."
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