Covenant Marriage Law

[sereneorange]

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a big fan of marriage-at least not for me. I am not even sure I can skip over how disgusted I am that there is this constant mixing of church and state. I am aware that the phrase seperation of church and state is something that was stated by Jefferson to the Danbury Bapstist Association in 1802 not the Constitution. The Constitution mentions it in the First Amendment.The first amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."  I may be obtuse in my view of this, but it seems clear to me that religious marriage and civil unions are different  and seperate.
Here is where most would expect me to go off on a rant about tax laws or gay marriage. Nuh uh. Not today folks.
I was watching the Daily Show and they did a piece on the Arkansas governor and his wife going through the Covenant Marriage ceremony. My sister and I had not heard of this, so we investigated online. We found

What is covenant marriage?Covenant Marriage laws generally provide that a couple can choose, at the time of marriage or later, to have slightly more limited grounds for no-fault divorce in their marriage. The couple is required to get marriage education or counseling before their marriage (or the conversion of their marriage to a covenant marriage), and also before divorcing.

How do you get a covenant marriage?Legal Covenant Marriages are currently available only in Arkansas, Arizona and Louisiana. (Legislation for them also has passed one house, but not both, in Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Oklahoma.) In most states you do not have to be a state resident to get married in the state, or to "upgrade" an existing marriage into a Covenant Marriage.

Looking at HOUSE BILL NO. 756 [Louisiana] this seems like it is going to be a very bad idea that is going to prove to go ugly  in a couple of years.
Basically, a couple can decide to upgrade at the time of marraige or later on in the marriage to a covenent marriage. This will be a legal binding contract.  This is not just like the other empty promises people make to God, themselves and others. . A man a woman ( because this is a religious thing, it is man and woman only) can have a covenant marriage after having received counseling emphasizing the nature and purposes of marriage and the responsibilities thereto. Only when there has been a complete and total breach of the marital covenant commitment may the non-breaching party seek a declaration that the marriage is no longer legally recognized.This is a  pact stating they intend to stay married for life. There are various  and specific hoops that someone would have to jump through to end this marriage. There is nothing stating specifically how long the pre-marriage counseling would have to take, or how it is to be administered.

This is a long bill so I have thought up a few horrible scenerios instead of just cutting and pasting

• A man and woman get married at a young age, while they are still naive and stupid. One or the other party suggests to covenant marraige because of course, they want to be married for life. The other one will agree because who wants to be the dick that says, "Nah. I want to marry you, but 'for life' is more of a commitment than I am willing to agree to right now."  Unfortunately, while the youngsters are laying out all their ugly secrets so that they can enter into this agreement with full knowledge, the one of the parties doesn't understand the gravity of something that was disclosed. This item seemed to be something they could live with at the time, but later on, is more than they could handle.
  
• One party turns out to be a cheating bastard. They are more clever than the other party and while it is apparent what they are doing every weekend, they are not caught in the act or the other party cannot prove it. Because it cannot be proven, the marriage is still on.
  
• One of the parties in the marriage decides that they are just not planning on having sex anymore. They don't say so. They just don't do it anymore. The other party is SOL.
  
• One party takes off for 364 days. No contact. Just doesn't feel like living with the otherone anymore. Just as the other party is getting on with their life, party number one comes back for a reconcilliation. For a week. Then the first party is off again for another 364 days. That marriage is to remain intact.
  
• The bill specifies that they can get a divorce if one of the parties physically or sexually abuses the spouse or one of their children. Hmmm... But I am thinking about what if you know they molested another child. They have not been convicted of it, so no felony. You have to remain married to that sick bastard.
  

I am sure there are others I haven't thought of, but it is late and I am already disgusted enough. I just think that in a few years there are going to be reports of this getting very ugly.