posted on February 26, 2003 04:27:45 PM new
Do you think marriage is becoming a thing of the past? One out of 2 marriages will end in divorce because people get married for the wrong reasons. Why bother anymore?
posted on February 26, 2003 05:12:49 PM new
Precisely... what is the point... You don't have to be married anymore to enjoy most of the benefits of being a "couple", hell you don't even have to be of the opposite sex.
So why get married and have to have a legal battle to end a relationship. Just call it quits and go on...
However anyone that gets married today definately should have a well prepared pre-nup.
posted on February 26, 2003 05:19:32 PM new
Interesting questions. But I think people get married for the same reasons they always have. The difference is that we've become a "throw away" society. Everything is disposable and meant to be used for the short term. I think that translates over to our attitudes toward relationships. People just don't work as hard at committment anymore. Or maybe they're just less willing to put up with the BS.
posted on February 26, 2003 05:58:00 PM new
"Marriage" will always exist in some form; especially as a means to distribute property rights among family members. I forsee that marriage will come to include group marriages, trios, and whatever combinations that people wish to make. The religious part will likely always be there, but it will be out of government to enforce.
posted on February 26, 2003 05:58:24 PM new
Marraige still is a legal device.
Pre-nup can only go so far or they get thrown out by the courts.
Just as some older couples don't marry to get a better tax rate - if same sex marraiges legal we will see people marry who are not gay just to get the medical benefits one has or to own a business as joint tenents with a solid legal basis for inheritance.
If there is real seperation of church and state Americans should be able to marry more than one wife (or husband) as other cultures do.
You should be able to marry on a contract basis for a limited time - or any other variation you can think of.
But Christian religiopn still imposes it's values on law in this country.
Look how resent there were blue laws on the books for a legal sabbeth. Still is in Canada.
posted on February 26, 2003 06:44:39 PM new
I totally agree Katy but the facts in this day & age make marriage redundant. Why don't we just own what's ours; if a couple decides to have kids, they always 'belong' to mom (unless she's not capable etc.); property is 50/50, if that's the agreement; etc. It ends up that way anyway, except lawyers get well compensated and couples suffer. Why not just do away with marriage? Only the lawyers would suffer then.
posted on February 26, 2003 09:50:23 PM new
At one time, we might have thought the point was increased longevity, as medical studies purportedly showed that married people lived longer.
However, latter studies found that us married people don't actually live longer than unmarried people; it just feels like we do.
posted on February 26, 2003 10:24:10 PM new
If there is a real separation of Church and State, then the government should get out of the marriage business altogether and stick simply to contract law.
"Marriage" should be left up to religions and churches to decide who can marry and who can't according to their faith. I agree that "marriage" is a religious matter and religion is best left to the churches.
However, anyone ought to have the right to go down to a courthouse and file papers for a Civil Union, that is, a non-religious partnering -- doesn't have to be same-sex. I would like to see government get completely out of the marriage business because it must discriminate and do injustice when it decides who can and can't be married. A Civil Union with all of the civil rights and obligations that come with marriage, but none of the religious context ought to be available.
I know what you're probably going to say. Why not just go down and get a Justice of the Peace wedding? I've been married twice by a JOP because I didn't want religion involved. I would have preferred to go submit the form, pay the fee, have the county clerk have me raise my hand and swear to abide by the contract written out by my wife and I. Unfortunately, you have to have a wedding ceremony whether you want one or not and you have to pay for it. I was truly disgusted with it.
posted on February 27, 2003 04:22:16 PM new
I still think that marriage is a great institution, for some. My grandparents were married over 60 years when my grandmother died. My mother was married and divorced four times. This last one has lasted almost 15 years so far. I became a widow at 44 after 18 years of marriage. It takes hard work and commitment. People have to work so hard to make ends meet these days that I bet the majority of them don't want to have to go home and work at something else.
TV shows that the new one where America decides who you are going to marry or Who Wants to Marry a Millionare have made a mockery out of it anyway. It's easier to get a d-i-v-o-r-c-e (for those who remember the song) than stay together these days. My current boyfriend and I have been together almost 5 years now (longer than most marriages). We live in the same household and have decided not to get married. He's been down the aisle twice already. You know what? It's been more work staying together while not married especially knowing that either one of us could walk out at any time! I've found more people I know over the age of 40 are choosing to live together and that the younger crowd I know are choosing to marry.
posted on February 27, 2003 05:14:47 PM new
My wife and I have been married for 30 years.
We both are the sort that do what we have agreed to. We constantly make adjustments for the world that changes around us - our own changing age - and the changes in our own perceptions and ideals. She has become more like me, and I have become more like her. If you are not the sort to keep an agreement or if you abuse it by acting as if the other party has to accept anything you want to do because they are "trapped" then it does not matter what the law is - the marriage will fail.
The marriage may continue as a legal fiction, but not in any real sense.
