04 July 2012

REALLY! WHAT IS MARRIAGE?




      On this; the fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord: 2012, we come together around bar-b-ques, fireworks and family to celebrate the 236th birthday of American independence from England. As I sit comfortably in my Lazy-Boy, surrounded by a loving family and a couple of very spoiled cats, two distinct thoughts come to mind.

First: 

     Did Washington, Adams, Jefferson and all the rest of our founding fathers “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour" 1, fight eight years of a bloody war and go through all the work of building a new nation out of a wild continent so they could take money, property and livelihood from those that work hard, take risks and finally succeed only to redistribute that wealth and give it to a bunch of spoiled, lazy, self-aggrandized bums? Did they put together a constitution supposedly limiting the power of the federal government and guaranteeing liberty and freedom for all only to have a bunch of socialist, Johnny-come-lately liberal whiners impose their Marxist ideals on the rest of us? I think not. Maybe; just maybe it's time for another revolution. 
Just a thought.

Second: 
     With the words”We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal” the biggest social and political experiment in the world started. Yet, in those days, the term “All Men” held a different meaning than today. It did not mean women, blacks, native Americans, or anybody else other than white males over the age of majority. Times have changed and our society has evolved and matured.
     This posting is not about any conspiracy. Nor does it have anything to do with cryptography. It is about possibly one of the most hot-button issues; both politically and socially in the last 20 years.
      That issue is same-sex marriage. Adamantly for it or vehemently against it, one thing is for sure. You will be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't have an opinion about it.

      Many people feel that marriage should be restricted to a union between one man and one woman. Others say that anybody should be able to marry anybody else. In the midst of this controversy I propose what I hope is a satisfactory compromise using an already-in-place legal concept: civil unions.

      Civil unions are supposed to let gays and lesbians feel like they are being treated equally and yet this concept comes at a time when non-traditional marriages are cropping up all over the place. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that probably less than half of marriages these days are actually performed in a church. On top of that, women keep their last name or the husband takes the wife's last name or they choose a completely new name to celebrate their lifelong union. Prenuptial agreements are almost as common as the marriage licenses they accompany. With the concept of “Spiritual Marriage", some people have even found a legal way to practice polygamy.        
     The time-honoured religious institution of marriage as we [used to] think about it is these days more the exception than the rule. Civil unions are supposed to be a subset of that institution. A type of “separate but equal” status. Of course that status goes over as well with the GLBT crowd today as it did with African Americans back in the 50s and 60s.

      So here's my thought. Maybe we're looking at it backwards. Maybe marriage should be a subset of civil unions. Let everybody that wants to join in a life-sharing contract do so. They can specify things like hospital visitation, inheritance rights, property rights and all the other things that married couples now take for granted. Along with the injustice this would remove from our GLBT population it would for our atheist brethren remove the stigma of having to have their union recognized some kind of religious power or authority.

      These contracts will be sworn to before a court-approved authority and registered down at the court house just like a whole lot of other contracts are. AND... those that decide to have their union performed in and sanctioned by the religious institution of their choice can enter into their contract via a preacher, priest, rabbi or whoever is their recognized religious authority. Those civil unions performed under religious trappings– and only those would officially be known as a “marriage”, although you would be free to call your union whatever you want.

      Let's face facts. As long as there are people, there will never be true and total equality for everyone. This simple step should however bring a semblance of equality and acceptance for a large portion of our population and a little peace of mind for another bunch all while keeping the term “Marriage” pure and un-defiled for those of us that feel that “Marriage” is a religious and spiritual institution.

      So that's my opinion. Tell me yours. Put them in a comment and I'll share them with the world. Just maybe we can start a dialog that will someday lead to a little better society and a bit more freedom and justice for all.

Happy 4th of July






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1 comment:

african woman said...

Hi there! Thanks for sharing this nice thought of yours.
My opinion also about marriage nowadays is that I don't find it now sacred. Marriage is a sacred and something ordained by God. In this sacrament God joins man and woman together, in mutual love for the begetting of children and for the propagation of the faith.
But how come the traditional marriage suddenly changed?

I'm so confused why some countries legalized the same-sex marriage where infact it is against the law of God right?
As of now I don't know how to react to the current happenings.