Religious Rituals and Same-Sex Marriage, as Religious Art
ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Tahlib
A week ago, two dear friends renewed their wedding vows after five years as spouses -- vows of a life-time of devotion made in the presence of their family members and Christian congregation five years earlier. In 2008, they first made those same vows in a union blessing at their church in Indiana followed hours later by a government licensed marriage ceremony officiated by a minister in Niagara Falls, Canada. What made the three ceremonies the same and what made them different? The difference in these marriage ceremonies is ritual and government sanction. Ritual as we understand it today employs artistic symbolism, in which representations of spiritual ideals stand in for real events. The wedding ritual is a practice common to all cultures in all ages, and this includes same-sex marriages. It is a natural institution, something common to all mankind including martyred Saints Sergius and Bacchus, two men wed in the Christian church around 300 CE. On January 28, 2013, as their straight Christian Pastor officiated, two gay men in Indiana served as the true ministers in their sacred ritual of marriage, and the artistic symbol of their never ending love was a pair of gold wedding rings. Churches give blessings, but they don't make marriages. Government's enforce contracts, but they don't make marriages either. It takes a loving couple to make a marriage.
By Tahlib
A religious ritual returns to its roots: loving until death.
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| St. Sergius and St. Bacchus. Christian martyrs and lovers. Metropolitan Community Church |
A week ago, two dear friends renewed their wedding vows after five years as spouses -- vows of a life-time of devotion made in the presence of their family members and Christian congregation five years earlier. In 2008, they first made those same vows in a union blessing at their church in Indiana followed hours later by a government licensed marriage ceremony officiated by a minister in Niagara Falls, Canada. What made the three ceremonies the same and what made them different? The difference in these marriage ceremonies is ritual and government sanction. Ritual as we understand it today employs artistic symbolism, in which representations of spiritual ideals stand in for real events. The wedding ritual is a practice common to all cultures in all ages, and this includes same-sex marriages. It is a natural institution, something common to all mankind including martyred Saints Sergius and Bacchus, two men wed in the Christian church around 300 CE. On January 28, 2013, as their straight Christian Pastor officiated, two gay men in Indiana served as the true ministers in their sacred ritual of marriage, and the artistic symbol of their never ending love was a pair of gold wedding rings. Churches give blessings, but they don't make marriages. Government's enforce contracts, but they don't make marriages either. It takes a loving couple to make a marriage.
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| A Kiev art museum contains a curious icon of the marriage of two men. |
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| Same-sex marriage in England. Courtesy of Telegraph |
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| St. Sergius and St. Bacchus (martyred ca. 303) |
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| Saints Sergius and Bacchus by Plamen Petrov |
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| Saints Sergius + Bacchusby ~Eshto |
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