Actually the concept of "seperation of church and state" is not in the consitutuion. The ONLY thing the constitution says about religion is that 1. Congress will set up no national religion and 2. Congress won't pass any laws inhibiting the expression of religion.

A.) Your second part is not fully true, Girevik, when you say expression.

Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
Only the beliefs and opinions of one's religion is a fundamental right. The practices of a religion cannot be above the law.

That's why different states have different laws on the usage of peyote. There are states that allow for the use of peyote in the context of the Native American Church only. Other states don't.

B.) A two parent household is not necessarily better than a single parent household nor worse. Many children grow up in incredibly instable two parent households in which divorce would improve the upbringing of the child. Two parents can raise a child from two homes. I couldn't tell you how many dads in two parent households are sitting in their bedrooms all night, or the basement, or their dens. If you ask the kid, they're not there anyway.

C.) Biblical law is not invalid if the law is within reason. Murder, as I said earlier is not illegal because it's is viewed as immoral. It is illegal because it infringes on the fundamental right to life.

D.) I shouldn't have used the word marriage as I don't believe that our government should recognize any marriages, but refer to them as civil unions. Marriage is an institution of the church, not the government.

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Obviously you're going to know a lot more about the court cases than me, but I'm a strict constitutionalist. I think there have been a LOT of decisions that go way beyond what the document actualy SAYS. Quoting them doesnt' change what is actually in the constitution.

I think the statistics prove you wrong on point B IN GENERAL. While not EVERY married household is beter than EVERY single-parent household, the statistic shows that there is more crime and poverty among single parent that dual-parent children.

Divorce rate has jumped because:

A.) Women are able to support themselves financially therefore have no intrinsic NEED to stay in a marriage

B.) There are more people in the world. Law of averages say that the more people that you have to choose from, the more wrong decisions, you're gonna make.

This is the dumbest comment that I have EVER heard on this subject and I go to school with some really ignorant people.

Marry 2 women?
Why not?

A minor?
That's just stupid. You obviously don't understand the issue. It's not about the word: gay; it's about the phrase: two consenting adults having the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness with equal protection under the law as long as their actions don't infringe on the rights of others. If you don't agree with that ("that" being the 14th Amendment, Mr. Strict Constitutionalist), start a petition. You asked, "Where does it end?" That's where it ends.

Look back to my first two posts on this subject because you are confusing your private opinions with the basis of creating public policy. You call yourself a strict constitutionalist, so you should understand that denying someone of an action that hurts no one helps no one. It only deprives someone.

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You're misinterpreting the stats. Because the stats are so general, they only display correlation and the first rule of science is that "correlation does not prove causation."

Maybe there are just more bad parents in neighborhoods filled with crime and poverty. A 15 year old from a two parent household on the West Side of Chicago is more likely to become a criminal, by the stats than a 15 year old from a single parent household in Greenwich.

These are extreme examples, I know, but the class gap is more to blame for crime and poverty than whether you live with one parent or two. In urban areas, many kids are raised by two divorced parents. Divorce does not mean that the child now has only one parent raising them and as society is adapting to divorce, parenting has adapted with it to not allow the child's well-being to suffer with the marriage.

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Alex, you say that marriage is an institution of church. That is basically the whole point. The religious issue obviously comes into play about gay marriage. If gay marriage is going to be allowed, marriage is going to have be an institution of government, rather than of the church. The church will not recognize gay marriage. Or, gay marriage will have to be specified as a civil union. Will the church allow these civil unions in their congregations? I'm not really sure what my opinion is on this. I'm just throwing out some stuff.

I'm pretty sure that outside of religion, all marriage are "civil unions". I was best man at my buddys wedding last year. Hes not religious and had his wedding at the Hilton. His marraige is not recognized in any church and therefore is a civil union.

I think a lot of this problem is semantics. Some people have a problem associating the word "marraige" with to people of the same sex. But never fear! the amazing Jeff has a solution HAHA!

Lets just call any two people who "civily unionize" themselves in legal sense only some new term, (such as Satanized) and save the word "marraige" for people to do it in a religious way. That way all gays (an athiests) can be "Satanized" in the eyes of the law, all the religions that don't want to recoginze it don't have to, and we can all go home happy!

That's the most intelligent post that I've read in this thread on such an elementary subject that people wish to complicate with the "inside the Confessional box" BS.

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Wrong. The bible is the inerrant word of God. Anytime you use you're sense over the bible is a sin.
Using His name in vain has no effect on anyone else. It is a sin.

God gives us free will. We can make choices for ourselves. That doesn't make them right. God does tell us what is right and what is wrong though. Homosexuality is a choice/tempation.(Romans 1:24-27 I believe) It is wrong though.

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“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann

Wrong. Neither of my parents are Christian, and neither of them are what I would call "good people"

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“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann