{"id":201,"date":"2014-11-10T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T18:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html"},"modified":"2015-03-14T21:42:21","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T03:42:21","slug":"marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html","title":{"rendered":"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This morning, Ann Althouse<\/a> linked to an article<\/a> about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for wedding. \u00a0In 2012, a lesbian couple asked to book their wedding there, and (acting, again, as \u201ctesters\u201d) recorded the conversation and filed a complaint when they were denied. \u00a0The state agreed with the couple that this family farm was a public accomodation, and required to provide services to gay\/lesbian and heterosexual couples equally, and fined them $13,000 \u2014 $10,000 to the state and $3,000 to the couple.<\/p>\n

A while back, there was the case of the \u201cHitchin\u2019 Post\u201d wedding chapel, where it seemed that the owners, who perform weddings as a business, would be required to perform same-sex weddings or shut down. \u00a0This was actually difficult to find reasonably even-handed information on \u2014 the best article seems to be this one<\/a>, but even here, it\u2019s not clear what happened exactly: \u00a0is the chapel being exempted because it\u2019s deemed a \u201cnon-profit\u201d organization, even though it clearly is the family business of the owners? \u00a0The ACLU is quoted as saying they wouldn\u2019t pursue the case unless \u201cthe chapel were to offer secular services, such as providing flowers or cakes, or holding nonreligious ceremonies\u201d \u2014 which seems to indicate that the city and the ACLU decided to hold their fire, rather than recognizing a right to deny same-sex weddings. \u00a0Indeed, the article says that wedding chapels in Las Vegas are indeed being required to officiate at same-sex weddings \u201cbecause they do not provide just religious services.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would seem that \u201cfreelance\u201d wedding providers are equally at risk \u2014 though I would guess that the impact on the freelance officiant industry is relatively small, as freelance officiants tend to be fairly liberal (at least, my old friend the \u201cpriest\u201d <\/a>happily performed weddings of any sort according to her now-inactive website, though she never did feature any triads in the pictures of happy couples).<\/p>\n

But where is the line drawn? \u00a0What differentiates a \u201creligious\u201d from a \u201cnonreligious\u201d wedding? \u00a0Are there a minimum number of prayers or scripture readings? \u00a0If the traditional \u201cgreatest of these is love\u201d is balanced with an Emily Dickinson poem, or if prayers are toned down in an interfaith wedding, has an officient demonstrated the requiste willingness to perform a nonreligious wedding that means they\u2019ve lost their religious exemption?<\/p>\n

What of churches which open their doors to non-members? \u00a0Here\u2019s a link to a local church<\/a>, which opens its doors to \u201cmembers (of at least one year) and prospective members\u201d and charges different fee levels for each category: \u00a0for nonmembers, it\u2019s $640 for the church, $300 for the pastor\u2019s time, and $300 for the organist.<\/p>\n

Hmmm. . . sounds like a business to me.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some info on wedding policies at another local church<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We are planning a wedding. How can we learn about the church arrangements?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We consider it an honor to help in the planning of a wedding. We do ask interested couples to do three things: 1) Meet with the pastor at least three times prior to the rehearsal 2) Take an active role in planning your wedding service so that it is truly your service, not a \u201cpre-packaged\u201d or mechanical experience 3) Be open to the Christian faith, so that you can answer for yourselves the question: \u201cHow can our marriage be spiritually strong, grounded in an ongoing relationship with God?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How do we reserve a wedding date?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Please call Pastor Dan to inquire about available dates. Wedding services are placed on the church calendar when we receive 1) a completed Wedding Date Reservation Sheet and 2) a reservation deposit of $50.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is not the policy of the church to not look upon weddings as a source of revenue; however, there are costs connected with a wedding which are covered in part by wedding fees. In cases of financial hardship, the fees may be reduced. Please note that the balance, payable to Trinity Church, is due no later than the rehearsal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not much detail here, but asking couples to \u201cbe open to the Christian faith\u201d sounds like they\u2019re pretty much open to all comers.<\/p>\n

Now, some other local churches specifically required church membership, others had no information available online, and one openly stated that they\u2019re good with gay weddings<\/a>, as long as they pay the required fees, of course.<\/p>\n

Now, Catholic Churches are pretty firm that marriage is a sacrament, and are clear that the couple is committing to a set of religious obligations. \u00a0But Protestant churches? \u00a0It\u2019s not clear to me that they have firm grounds to fight a discrimination lawsuit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for wedding. \u00a0In 2012, a lesbian couple asked to book their wedding there, and (acting, again, as \u201ctesters\u201d) recorded the conversation and filed a complaint when they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":1550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[151],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nMarriage: sacrament or commercial service?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-10T18:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-15T03:42:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/03\/Wedding_rings.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html\",\"name\":\"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-10T18:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-15T03:42:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?","description":"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?","og_description":"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-11-10T18:56:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-15T03:42:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/03\/Wedding_rings.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html","name":"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-10T18:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-15T03:42:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"This morning, Ann Althouse linked to an article about a couple who, as a form of agri-tourism, had been in the practice of renting use of their farm for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/marriage-sacrament-or-commercial-service.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marriage: sacrament or commercial service?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}