The Freedom from Religion Foundation and Marriage
Freedom from Religion Foundation takes on a very religious profile. The Tulsa World
carried a very interesting article April 30, 2011. The article is entitled Freedom from Religion Foundation approved to perform marriages. Bill Dusenberry who is the Tulsa County coordinator of the Tulsa Coalition of Reason is one of the three Celebrants approved to perform such ceremonies. According to the article, Dusenberry said “Up until now, the religious community has had a monopoly on who can officiate at weddings.” In actuality he is incorrect. A judge or a justice of peace, in most if not all, jurisdictions is authorized to perform weddings. They do so without any oversight of a church or the religious community and they may do so with no reference to God.
An examination of the requirements to become a Celebrant authorized to perform weddings has a distinctively religious feel.
There is an educational requirement (reading at least ten book on free-thought)
There is a cultural awareness component (reading news magazines and traveling)
There is a personal experience component (being in love at least three times)
There are belief requirements (unreliability of Fox News, the mythological nature of the Bible)
There is a screening prerogative (say no to marriage candidates)
There is a requirement that sounds very much like negative version of the Roman Catholic Church (agreement to a commitment to not allow children to be brainwashed by religion)
So, the Freedom from Religion Foundation takes on the attributes of a religious organization. It appears that you cannot be a free thinker and get married by a Celebrant. In the name of being free from religion this organization creates a godless religion. They call for conformity. They exclude those who don’t believe like they believe. In the name of the separation of church and state, they create a religious state.
Marriage is God’s idea. The family is God’s idea. The state is God’s idea. Our Founding Fathers understood the concept of the separation of church and state to mean that the state could not do exactly what the Freedom from Religion Foundation advocates, dictating where, when and how an individual expresses his religious conviction.
The preservation of marriage and the family can only be accomplished through a biblical understanding of these institutions. Let us be about the task of recovering our domain philosophically, legally and functionally.