Tony Jones: Two marriages

I was pointed towards this blog about "two marriages":

Actually, there are two marriages in America.

On the one hand, there’s legal marriage. It’s sanctioned by the state, .... and it is officially incentivized by our government. And legal marriage has nothing to do with sexual intimacy.

On the other hand, there’s sacramental marriage, which is defined by communities of faith. This marriage accrues neither governmental benefits nor tax incentives. However, sexual intimacy is of gre at interest to this marriage, since the sacred texts of all religions have lots to say about sex. Sacramental marriage is about what God wants — and that is, of course, a matter of interpretation and debate among Christians. ....

Courtney and I got married, as I wrote above, on July 13. We were married in the sacramental way, but we did not ask for the imprimatur of the State of Minnesota on our marriage by means of buying a license ....

Why not? Well, that’s what I’ll be attempting to show at length in a series of blog posts this week. But, in short, here’s why:

• The sacred ceremony of marriage is far more important to us than the legal contract of marriage. 
• We don’t really care if the government considers us married. We’re far more interested in our marriage being solemnized by our family, friends, and community of faith. 
• We don’t think that we should enjoy the 515 benefits of legal marriage when so many of our friends cannot. 
• I do not think that clergy should act as agents of the government (as I’ve written before), and I did not want to ask my friend, Doug, to do so.

I look forward to reading more from Tony on this subject.