The Sacred & The Profane
Laura Bush is shocked that anyone other than heterosexuals would like to get married, but in light of what I’ve been reading in Mircea Eliade’s essays on religion in everyday life, both her lack of understanding and the desire on the part of gays and lesbians is entirely understandable: everyone has something they hold sacred in daily life, whether it is something contextualized in formal religious practice or something more like aesthetics. We seek out a connection to the world, a sense of centrality in the universe, because it makes us feel like part of creation, joined in the mysteries beyond our senses. Marriage is generally regarded as a sacrament, making holy the primary personal relationship in the lives of two people, and therefore it can easily be the very first thing chosen to bring a sense of connectedness to the cosmos into one’s life. We’ve established the relationship within society by means of the common acceptance of marriage as sacrament, so it’s natural enough for everyone, more or less, to pursue this status. On the other hand, for Mrs. Bush, her religious sensibilities are threatened by the participation of individuals and groups beyond her immediate institutional context. Her church says the sacrament can only be granted according to certain principles, and that’s as far as she’s willing to think. Gay marriage therefore profanes what she holds sacred. However, anyone giving the matter any thought would be able to understand that what is sacred is more extensible than any one sect’s tenets. Would Presbyterians deny marriage to Jews?