SRKelley · @srkelley5
29th Jun 2015 from TwitLonger
CC: Mr. John Conyers, please have Michigan legally recognize Covenant Marriage
Hello Mr. John Conyers, I hope that you're in good health. I'm contacting you about having Covenant Marriage recognized in Michigan.
(you may find more information here: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Covenant+Marriage & here: http://covenantmarriage.com/what-is-a-marriage-covenant/ )
Currently, only three states in the United States recognize them and allow for those who marry under it to have the same rights as those who license marriage from the State. As a Christian man I support a Covenant Marriage as part of my beliefs. I believe that God made marriage as a union between Man, Woman and God. Those are the only parties to participate in any and every holy marriage covenant. I oppose licensing marriage because it introduces the government as a third/fourth entity in marriage in place of or in addition to God.
Originally I had planned to marry in a state that recognized covenant based marriages but the recent SCOTUS ruling for gay marriage has changed my mind. I believe that the opinions expressed in their ruling for legal recognition of gay marriage should also apply equally to covenant based marriages. Covenant marriages aren't new, they don't ask for a change from the true norm. Instead, they're how my faith has viewed holy marriages. My faith has also transcribed in great detail other unions and their outcomes. I'd be ecstatic if Michigan would start to recognize covenant-based marriages in a legal sense. It would make wedding planning so much simpler, increase how I feel about my home state and allow for me to practice my religion freely without it affecting others.
I can still marry in this way in Michigan and I plan to still do so. I'd just like to be able to claim my marriage on legal documents so that I can take care of my future wife. I should be able to share my medical insurance with her, file taxes jointly, give her tax deductable gifts, use my employer-based health insurance on child delivery and taking care of my child instead of paying out of pocket or allowing the State to pay for his/her expenses.
As a Christian I am not opposed at all to gays licensing marriage from the State. It does not affect me, it does not offend me and it does not harm any of my views. What they have fought for is something that I honestly cannot blame them for. If such an option had of been made available to me 6 years ago, I may have seriously considered taking it to help an extremely sick friend of mine that is no longer with us.
I believe that people should be able to license limited unions from the Government to legally act as a single entity. We already have this with marriage and corporations, but those are at such a huge and invasive macro scale. We need them on a smaller scale and in a form that matches how people associate and work together today. Marriage should not be the sole, key way to sharing benefits. Plenty of people have true friends and it hurts to not be able to help them in certain ways because you either can't or won't make them a legal spouse just to help them. Add a fee, add something to discourage people from forming these unions and then dispersing them in an abusive manner. Something like a limited term alimony option, a retroactive tax break loss in short-term unions, etc.
Form it in a way that doesn't step over peoples faith and beliefs. I originally started typing this communication to just advocate for my core belief but somewhere in that process it made me think of the many people out there that can't help one another because they themselves don't believe in any form of marriage or view licensing marriage as being overkill for their needs.
Would you license an Enterprise version of Microsoft Office when your needs only require the free version of Google Docs? We don't have that Doc's option available now for people but we definitely do have two forms of the Enterprise license available. Please check to see what can be done to help everyone. One last time, sorry for straying so far from the topic, please introduce legislation or get the State to validate that it will now legally recognize Covenant Marriage as Marriage in Michigan.