What do you think about the "sanctity" of marriage?

Question

People are always bashing the idea of same-sex marriage, saying that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. End of discussion. Yet if marriage is this ideal of perfect and forever bond, why is it that divorce is still allowed and at such a high rate? There are millions of people who are married two or more times. Honestly, marriage should be an option for anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. It doesn't have to take place in a church where I do understand and respect a person's religion. But everyone is entitled to their piece of happiness and people like Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney should stop trying to please the conservative portion of our nation. We are living in a new and modern world, where so much more is now acceptable compared to 100 years ago. What do you think?

Answer 1

Ideas like "sacred" and "sanctity" are clearly religious concepts and therefore have no business being enforced by the law. Policies which do not allow same-sex couples to marry are blatantly discriminating on the basis of gender, and thus violate the Constitutional principal of granting all citizens equal protection under the law regardless of their sex. On a legal level, marriage is simply a type of contract between two people to equally share their property, and the government should just butt out of it. Nobody has the right to tell any consenting adults who they can or cannot form a contract with, and there's no evidence whatsoever that two gay people would be any less caring or loving towards children. On the contrary, heterosexual couples are the ones with the poor track record for child abuse. I've seen some conservatives argue that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry because they can't produce children. But using that logic, we shouldn't allow heterosexual couples to marry either if any of them is sterile. And it's pretty obvious that the human race isn't going to become extinct just because some people choose not to breed. There are MANY children out there waiting to be adopted and put into good homes, so gay couples can provide a needed service that way. Gays are not looking for "special treatment", as religious-types claim. They just want the same rights everybody else has, nothing more and nothing less.

Answer 2

It is a farce how conservatives claim to support the Constitution. It is the Constitution that supports gay marriage. The same argument that gave African-Americans access to "white" schools also supports gay marriage. The Supreme court stated that "equal but separate" rights are not at all equal as required in the Constitution. The right to marry is being denied to some people & no "civil union" can change that.
Plus, several in here have mentioned how marriage is a religious act. It may have been hundreds of years ago but not today. Today, marriage is a legal act. If it was religious why is marriage controlled by laws? If it is a religious act, there would be no requirement for a license. If it is a religious act then the Consitution would require the government not interfere due to separation of church & state.
As for sanctity, come on now! Just look at the studies on how many people stray while married. Affairs are not just for libs either.
I find one of the weakest arguments against gay marriage is how it would weaken straight marriages. This is an argument that speaks so much about a person's inner self & how they view their own marriage. If your marriage is so weak that it is in peril for the guys down the street to marry then you have problems. If the only thing keeping your straight marriage together is a law banning gay people to marry then perhaps you should not have married in the first place. If you honestly believe that gay marriage will cause your child to become gay then you have no understanding of human nature and you must hold a deep inner fear that your parental abilities are inadequate to properly guide your child. This argument says so much about the person making this claim. Why do you fear your own "straightness" so much?
And, if marriage is so great, why would you want to exclude others? Why would you want to discriminate? If your own marriage is a wonderful bonding of souls, why do you want to restrict others from having a similar bond?
Whereas I do not agree marriage is a religious act, I do think most people allow their opinion to be heavily influenced by their religious beliefs. Well, how they want others to believe. How religious they want others to believe they are. They forget some commandments when they are inconvenient. They follow or espouse religion when they wish but do not live a religious life 24/7.
If you wish to truly sanctify marriage then begin with heterosexual marriages before you worry about homosexual marriages.

Answer 3

The word "sacred" should be the first thing you noticed. Then you should see the word "marriage". Words are important. You seem to be an intelligent, open minded individual. Why, then, have you not taken the time to study these two words? I am serious here, you say that you respect a persons religion, and that you understand (presumably the importance of religion to any given person). Sacred is a religious term to show the importance and power of certain acts, events, responsibilities or such. Marriage is a religious term for a union between a man and a woman. Only after being used by the general public for the longest of times were these word watered down to what most people think they mean today and therefor use them for when they discuss things. Take marriage for example, look it up in the dictionary and the definition of a union between a man and woman is but one, as it can be used in other situations to mean other things. Just because it has more than one meaning when used differently does not mean that it can be used in the same context to mean something entirely different. And seeing as how it is a religious meaning in this case, to use it in any other context is not only improper, but disrespectful. Perhaps people that have a different sexual preference should show some respect, and some intelligence, and find a word for thier unique unions. I am not trying to be funny, or hurtful, or snide or any of the like, I just find it ludicrous that a group of people that spends so much time and effort to be allowed to be different would insist on trying to be defined by the same words when so many words are available to them. It seems to me that the battle is to be accepted as equals, no more, no less. To insist on insulting a noble old custom is a sure fire way to distract from that battle and make enemies of potential friends. To do as you, and attack the integrity of a custom like marriage as a mean to make it more accessible to others is even more destructive. Your comments on divorce make no point other than what a spoiled child would make in excuse of bad behavior. Lastly, we live in the same world, not a new one. Yes, there will be change, but still the same old human beings on the same old world. Change, for the sake of change, is not progress.

Answer 4

Recently, voters the Commonwealth of Virginia voted to restrict the rights of same-sex couples. Less than one week later, out comes a story of a phony marriage scandal in which immigrants whose visas were about to expire would marry citizens long enough to get their green card or residency and then divorce. The citizen would get paid to take part in a sham marriage. It was easy in Virginia because there are no waiting periods (and, I later found out, no residency requirement either)

I'm sure there are other places in the country where sham marriages go on because it's easy to get married and not too hard to get divorced either.

Or how about Twitney Spears' 55-hour spur-of-the-moment marriage to a friend?

There are far greater threats to the sanctity of marriage than allowing two men or two women to set up housekeeping and file a joint tax return.

Answer 5

I believe in the sanctity of marriage? People bash same-sex-marriage because it is wrong. If you read the scriptures; you would KNOW that this is wrong.

People have been cramming the new and modern world down peoples throats for years and we still have the same LORD GOD, who is the SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY and FOREVER. He got things going and He makes the rules. You either choose to live by them or you don't. The modern world doesn't change him. A fickle changing world we are worn out with. We need stability and God provides it.

Answer 6

The sanctity of marriage comes from the bible. ("Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Genesis 2:22&24). Devout Christians/Catholics believe this to be the word of God and live their present day life and make choices in politics based on those beliefs.

Answer 7

"One of the biggest problems facing America is the growing number of people getting pregnant out of wedlock."

this is one of Americas biggest problems how exactly?? I feel like if the middle class wasn't dissapearing longer work weeks etc that this growing number would be a decreasing number.

to your question... you're absolutely correct however we've got a big christian population in the US which are easy votes to get as long as you don't upset their views. Do you honestly believe these people are religious men? Look at some of the things they've been convicted of recently. A senator just resigned because he tried to solicit sex from a male undercover police officer in an airport bathroom. Yet I guarantee he stated he believed in these ideals as well.

Let me repeat that in case you weren't listening one of the top 1000 or so influencial men in the US was convicted of soliciting sex from a male undercover police officer in an airport bathroom, how sad.


"75% of welfare goes to single parents"
ok this is your argument why it's bad... to counter I say this the reason these people can't get married and raise a normal family is because of how poor they are not because they're born out of wedlock. ok say there single parents got married do you honestly believe that those two poor people will combine to produce a good environment, it's not the people it's the lack of money. Fix the economy, and society will fix itself, do you think these people wanted to become poor single parents? It happens due to economic and social pressures. Also look up children who grow up poor vs children w/out a father you'll find strangely similar statistics. Also look up statistics of wealthy single parents vs poor single parents I think you'll find that the single parent in the equation isn't the sole problem.

Answer 8

Men and women can get married because it's easier to run a business.
They don't have to live together, or have even met other than to sign a license.
It takes more preparation to buy a firearm then to get married and divorced.
Yet we want to deny people WHO ACTUALLY LOVE EACH OTHER the same rights.
It's ridiculous.

Answer 9

Marriage laws should stay the same. There is no reason to change the laws just for an extremely small percentage of the population. And people of the U.S. want marriage to be between a man and a woman.

One of the biggest problems facing America is the growing number of people getting pregnant out of wedlock. That is number one source of social decay in our cities.

75% of welfare goes to single parents
"three quarters of this aid flows to single parent families.Children raised without a father in the home are more likely to experience: emotional and behavioral problems, school failure; drug and alcohol abuse, crime, and incarceration.The beneficial effects of marriage on individuals and society are beyond reasonable dispute, and there is a broad and growing consensus that government policy should promote rather than discourage healthy marriage." http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/tst021005a.cfm

Answer 10

It doesn't look like you have much respect for marriage so I say don't do it. And people DO make mistakes, thus divorce. I'm doubting that you are Ms. Perfect.