Interesting, as usual. Is it worth reminding everyone that the Puritans made marriage a civil affair, precisely because they thought it was not a religious thing, and therefore the church had no business being involved with it?

Marriage is a sacrament; the Puritans heretics.

If marriage is a sacrament, perhaps Sunstein is correct that marriage is not the business of the state. But what about the 80% of the US that's not Catholic?

Mostly question-begging article. Diabetes-related amputation is not 'wrong' yet we would certainly be reasonable in wishing to reduce the frequency of the procedure. So too late term abortions are a risk to the mother's life and health. That is a perfectly coherent position, and the question-begging is yours. The problem is that, as a cultural warrior, all you can see are other such warriors, and wish to convert anyone on the sidelines to such wars. Kind of like a Dick Cheney mindset, trapped in a cold war or culture war consciousness. The american people have caught up to such a blinkered vision. Your dream of some unifying augustinian vision could not be more dead, deader than castro's marxism.