In fact, Wendy, marriage in the US is purely secular from a legal standpoint.
You're right, Terry, but I think the point that Wendy was trying to make was that in some countries of the world a religious ceremony is not enough. I think France is one, maybe other European countries as well. You must have a civil ceremony for your marriage to be recognized as valid; you can choose to have or not have a religious ceremony in addition to that.
But in Canada, and I believe in all of the US, if you have a religious ceremony and have the proper documents signed, you don't need to have a SEPARATE civil ceremony to make it legal.
And let me just say that I really liked Rona's post too - thank you for making it - and I also felt that it expressed my own personal point of view very well.
Kathy
