Marriage, Not!

Pardon me if this is getting repetitious, but...

Marriage is not a religious institution. It is a human institution, existing in many cultures, some of them religious, some not, and many of them in forms that are contradictory to others. Marriage comes in many shapes and sizes, and even within some religious traditions you can find various forms at various times, and sometimes at the same time. There are religions that restrict marriage only to members of the same religion, and others that don't seem to care. There was a time not too long ago even in this land of liberty that people could not marry in some places if they were of different races. There are marriages that are not religious at all, including some of those that take place in churches and synagogues. There are religions that think only their form of marriage is real, and others fully comfortable with recognizing the civil form.

Furthermore, for the word curmudgeons who insist that marriage can only mean one thing, i.e., one man and one woman for life: There are marriages of convenience, marriages in haste, marriages soon ended by divorce. There are bigamous marriages, plural marriages, loveless marriages, Josephite marriages (look it up!), Levirate marriages and same-sex marriages. There are marriages of high-boys and low-boys, marriages of true minds, and marriages of pairs of socks.

It is not helpful when a false simplicity is alleged in place of the rich variety of reality.

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG