Quote Originally Posted by Jim M View Post
thanks for welcoming me! i looked around last night after posting and this place has a lot of interesting stuff!!!

That's what I was afraid of...do it their way(the wrong way) and it be accepted, or do it the right way and they will ignore it. by any chance would signing the state's license with "under protest" make any difference? I'd like for it to be both accepted by the state whilst not governed by them, but I'm guessing that does not and cannot exist. if they couldn't have their hand in our marriage, they wouldn't be issuing us permission to do something we have a right to do...am i right? We're not especially christian, but we are religious folk who believe we were given certain rights by our Creator.
I believe you hit that nail on the head.
If you have no trust in the STATE, perhaps you should not enter into a TRUST agreement with it?

Signing "under protest" would do no good IMHO, because nobody is forcing you to marry your person to another person.