About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

14 Ave Maria L. Rev. 140 (2016)
An Argument against Civil Marriage

handle is hein.journals/avemar14 and id is 146 raw text is: 








      AN   ARGUMENT AGAINST CIVIL MARRIAGE

                            J. David Bleicht

    Permit me to begin with a report of an incident that occurred during the
period of the Irish troubles as recounted to me by a colleague. Apparently,
it was the practice on the part of both sides of the conflict to establish
roadblocks in order to stop automobiles for inspection before allowing them
to continue. The driver of each automobile was asked, Are you a Catholic or
a Protestant? The  wrong  answer  could have  extremely serious adverse
consequences. At one  such roadblock, a driver was stopped and asked, Are
you a Catholic or a Protestant? The driver answered, I am neither. I am a
Jew. That response met with a follow-up question: Fine, but tell me, are you
a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?
    In Utah, other than Mormons,  everyone is a Gentile. I am proud to be
identified as a Jewish Gentile. As a committed Jew, I share the distress of
many  fellow citizens of faith in wake of the decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States in Obergefell v. Hodges.
    The Sages of the Talmud had scant regard for the pagans of antiquity. Not
only  did they find their religious views and practices to be theologically
odious, they regarded the lifestyle adopted by them as morally repugnant.
Reportedly, the pagans were untrustworthy, and had little regard for human
life. Licentiousness was rampant  among  them,  promiscuity endemic  and
homosexuality  very much a part of the culture of their day.
    Nevertheless, the Sages found them to have manifested one  redeeming
quality and, for that reason alone, worthy of an accolade: they did not draft
marriage contracts for homosexual unions (Babylonian Talmud, Hullin 92b).
To  be sure, the Sages, in that statement, were damning with faint praise, but
the praise was genuine. The Sages gave pagan libertines high marks for not
having  also  established homosexual  marriage  as  a legally recognized
institution.
    Almost  modem   in their perspective, the Sages recognized that, arguably,
 society might grant license to consenting adults to act as they choose. What
 individuals do or do not do may be regarded, within reasonable parameters, as


     t Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Yeshiva
 University. This paper is intended for private circulation only. Permission to quote must be obtained from
 the author.


140

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most