Minnesota Atheists support equality

Minnesota Atheists denounces President Bush’s call for Congress to start the process of amending the U.S. Constitution to deny equal civil marriage rights to gays and lesbians. “For us, this is an issue of human rights, fairness, and separation of state and church,” said August Berkshire, president of Minnesota Atheists. “We support the right of religions to make their own rules regarding their own religious ceremonies. How ever, religious prejudice must not become the basis for civil law.”

In a speech Tuesday, February 24, 2004, President Bush stated, “Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots…” Yet this is exactly what happened.

“The word ‘marriage’ has both a secular and a religious meaning,” said Berkshire. “Perhaps we should follow the example of France, where civil and religious marriages are separate events, often held on different days.”

“Perhaps all civil marriages, gay and straight, should instead be called ‘civil unions,’” said Berkshire. “They would be conducted by a judge or other government official and would be requested of all citizens who wish to have their unions recognized by the state. The civil ceremony could be as simple as registering a contract or as elaborate as a traditional wedding. Religions could then keep the word ‘marriage’ and discriminate as they wished in their separate, private, religious ceremonies. This would preserve both religious freedom and separation of state and church.”

The President has asked Congress to act “to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever.”

However, marriage has already changed several times in history, according to Berkshire. “In ancient Jewish culture (the root of Christianity), polygamy was allowed. In America, a woman used to lose ownership of her own possessions to her husband upon marriage. Slaves were not legally allowed to get married. Inter-racial marriages were illegal. Spousal rape was not a crime.”

“Every time marriage laws have been ‘redefined,’ it has improved society,” said Berkshire. “So, too, with the current attempts to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It is only by treating people equally that we can, in President Bush’s words, ‘respect every person’.”

“Do we want to be remembered as the only generation that amends the U.S. Constitution to deny equality for some citizens?” asked Steve Petersen, associate president of Minnesota Atheists. “Do we want to vote against the principles of the Declaration of Independence and against common sense?”

Minnesota Atheists is the state’s oldest and largest atheist organization. We practice positive atheism in order to create a community of atheists, to educate the public about atheism, and to promote separation of state and church.