Sunday, March 1, 2009

Marriage

Marriage is one of those things that religion has fervently latched onto. Religion cling to marriage, like a stain, leading to embarrassing opposition to homosexual unions. There’s nothing quite as pathetic as when religion attempts to stand firmly between two people who love each other.

Like it has done with ethics, religion often claims to be the source of marriage. It even proports to be the key to marital success. However, statistics show that atheist/agnostic couples have lower divorce rates than religious couples. The difference is even more pronounced when comparing non-believers to fundamentalists.

One of the basic religious myths is that religion itself does anything. In point of fact, religion does absolutely nothing; the believers are the religion, and religion itself is an inanimate concept. In the end, every religion is as weak as its human members. However, there is little good that can come from an ideology that encourages hasty unions. This is likely the cause of higher divorce among the religious.

Case in point, a fourteen year old was married in Israel on a school yard because they uttered the right sacred words, exchanged rings, and had sex (whether this last part was on the school yard is my question). This is an instance in which theocracy attempts to supersede the rule of secular law. This news story shows the ridiculous nature of literal religious belief. Another divorce in the name of God.

This is really why gay marriage should be allowed. Aside from the fact that allowing gays to marry does not alter the sanctity of marriage, heterosexual religious couples have successfully made a mockery of the institution long ago. The opposition for gay marriage will go down as a hideous reminder of intolerance, and hopefully serves as a reminder of why tradition was meant to be changed.

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