What is Marriage?

[undergroundpanther]

What is Marriage?

Is marriage a religious institution?

Or is it a legally binding contract?


If marriage is a religious institution...

Then the government has NO jurisdiction over the marriages process in any way or who considers themselves married by their own religious convictions.
Thus the government should have no grounds to differentiate between individuals and married couples.

If marriage is a legal binding contract...

Then the government cannot denounce any two people from negotiating or drawing a contract between themselves.

If marriage is a religious conviction, then only the churches would have any say about who was married and who can be married. Divorce would be as simple as changing your religion or church.


At present,marriage appears to be a religious conviction with a legal binding contract which is why lawyers and courts are involved in divorce.
At that point the governments interaction with marriage, separation, and divorce is the government mandating a religious ideology. * And it is unconstitutional.*

There are only 2 ways to rectify the situation.

1:Allow marriage between ANY two individuals provided they are capable of making the decision and of legal age to bear responsibility.

2:The government would have to renounce all involvement, enforcement and entitlements of married couples.

(Kudos go to Mike my roommate for questioning what all the fighting was about).

[Scuba]

1. I think it's important to protect the sanctity of marriages like Kim Kardashian's. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Marriage in the US is a civil institution which many people by

choice wrap up in religious gift paper. Divorce for example is forbidden by some churches, but they can not prevent their members from divorcing because their marriage is a civil matter. If government renounced all involvement, there would be no legal marriage, as religious ceremonies are not legally binding. Got the whole thing backwards, basically.