Quote:
Originally Posted by kahljorn
what is the purpose of marriage, McClain?
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The answer to that question depends on who you ask. Since you're asking me, I'll give my answer. And since I'm about 3/4 the way through a bottle of Merlot, you'll get a long-winded version.
It's an act of desperation. It's a move to secure benefits. It's done under pressure. It's done as a public display of devotion. It's done because it's the normal thing to do.
While it's not always all those things it's typically at least one of them. But I do know that our modern concept of marriage can basically be broken down in to three parts; the courtship, the wedding, the wedlock. Marriage is a term we use to encapsulate all three aspects of matrimony. Courtship is a social more, the wedding is a religious event, and wedlock is a legality.
The modern purpose of marriage is to have a union recognized by the state. But because this country was founded by God-fearing Christians, it's clear their convictions were imposed as these rules were produced and amended. And even after we've made the distinction of separation of church and state our country remains seemingly innocuous to this civil prejudice.
And this is precisely why many consider it a "failing" institution. Because our understanding of this norm has evolved but our laws haven't. But those understandings evolved because Christian religion in our country is changing. And Christian religion is changing because this religion, as with any other, is typically a reflection of the society. A perfect example is how our interpretation of scripture has changed considerably in the past 50 years alone - an honest case study of theological evolution considering the New Testament is 2000+ years old. Think about it... How much have things changed from our parents generation to ours? And so on and so forth. Religion is a reflection of economic conditions.
My ultimate point is that denying gays the ability to formalize their union is a matter of denying human and civil rights. Personal convictions regarding sexual orientation should be idealized within a personal (not public) manner; individually, through organized institutions or as a family.
The American Evangelicals are dictating personal choice based on aged mores using "crusader" money collected via special interest groups across the nation. It doesn't matter what the purpose of marriage is to me or anyone else. What matters is that as long as the government is involved there needs to be that separation of church and state.
The Divided States of America seems more topical.