Conservative Pastors Take Libertarian Stance

Writing in a conservative Catholic journal, two prominent Protestant ministers have called on ministers and priests to refuse to perform government marriages.

Therefore, in our roles as Christian ministers, we, the undersigned, commit ourselves to disengaging civil and Christian marriage in the performance of our pastoral duties. We will no longer serve as agents of the state in marriage. We will no longer sign government-provided marriage certificates. We will ask couples to seek civil marriage separately from their church-related vows and blessings. We will preside only at those weddings that seek to establish a Christian marriage in accord with the principles ­articulated and lived out from the beginning of the Church’s life. Please join us in this pledge to separate civil marriage from Christian marriage by adding your name.

Like homeschooling, this is an important act of personal secession. Indeed, it can have a huge and salutary social effect, especially if civil marriage is rejected entirely, as it ought to be.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.