Recently there has been some hubbub in the United States about the possibility of the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage.

As anyone with a Facebook account knows, this issue has been quite divisive with many different thoughts and perspectives on the whole issue.

Unfortunately, all sides seem to take a side that is completely unacceptable to the other.

As someone who personally holds a great many controversial positions, I am no stranger to having usually friendly disagreements with friends and acquaintances.

I find it very sad, however, to see friends become angry and upset with one another over this issue.

This is especially disconcerting as there is a simple solution to the whole issue that should be agreeable to all sides.

The solution is simply to remove the government from the business of marriage all together.

Why does someone need a license from the government to get married?

Why is the status of someone’s personal relationships the government’s business?

If I wanted to get married why would I need to pay Erie County $45 to get married?

In the legal sense, which is the only sense in which same sex marriage has any relevance, marriage is a contract.

What more does the government and law need other than that?

If I have a contract between myself and a girl or between myself and a guy, what difference does it make to the government for the purposes of taxation?

What concern is it of anyone else’s if I have a contract between myself and five other people?

I, of course, have my own personal opinion on whether I believe same sex marriage is moral or not. Yet there is no need to bring that into the debate.

Why can we not simply leave everyone alone to pursue their own happiness?

As a follower of Christ, I am deeply saddened by many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who seem to forget that in Matthew 7 Jesus instructs us to worry about the plank in our own eyes before concerning with the speck in our brother’s eye.

Whether or not homosexuality is moral does not excuse Christians from loving everyone and treating them with respect.

If you believe that homosexuality is a sin, you cannot deny that if one is not free to sin, then one is not free to be righteous.

Using the force of government to enforce what you believe to be moral does not make anyone act in a moral way.

The whole point of free will is that we have a choice between right and wrong. If that choice is eliminated, the whole system is destroyed.

Regardless of whether they believe homosexuality is right or wrong, I believe that the only position that Christians can take while still sticking to their beliefs is to remove government from marriage altogether and leave everyone alone. After all, in the end, everything is between an individual and God.

I know that I have a whole forest of planks in my own eye and am in no position to cast condemnation upon other for the speck in their eyes and I suspect that many of my fellow Christians are in the same situation.