Easy Solution for Marriage

In the constitution of the United States, the very first amendment in fact, it is stated clearly that there should be a firm separation between Church and State. There are an unlimited number of reasons why this is a necessary state of affairs, but of course, for reasons beyond any thinking person's grasp, our country fails miserably in upholding this simple rule. The 10 commandments are still being etched into stone at public schools while senators and presidents still make it very clear which religions agenda they will be pushing. And much of the resistance facing gay marriage comes from "christian politics", how can the church possibly weasel its way into political issues is beyond me. There is a very simple solution, erase the ambiguity between the state and churches role in recognizing marriage. Now if there are social objections to gay marriage, fine, those can be dealt with. But it is overwhelmingly obvious that the main conflict here is the Christians vs the Gays.

The way marriage should work here in the US is very simple, there should be two completely separate "marriage" ceremonies. Any given couple should be consummated separately by the church and state. If a couple wishes to have a christian marriage in Arizona there should be no law against it, but there is no reason that the State of Arizona should recognize it. The same couple can be spiritually satisfied that under the eyes of God they are merged as one family and their marriage is religiously mandated, however to be recognized by the state there should be a completely separate "ceremony" or "event". If the couple does not complete the state ceremony, then legally they are not married. States will have their own marital laws, and if they conflict with the religious ones than the state wins. If a given religion allows a man to marry his 8 year old daughter that's fine, but the state of Arizona doesn't have to allow it, that man is free to move to an area that allows that type of thing. Moral and Ethical codes have to outweigh Religious ones. Religion is helpful to billions around the world but it is a poison to any efforts in advancing government and social norms.