Gay Marriage: Fair Legislation
Gay Marriage Is Getting Growing Recognition worldwide
Should heterosexual couples who cannot procreate be banned from marriage? This seems to be the next step of the Church if it is to follow its guidelines and regulations.
Marriage has undergone many changes since it started. Nowadays even it is possible for same-sex couples to get married in some countries and to get recognition to their unions in others. Religions, in general, are against these rights and churches attack political leaders who are trying to bring changes in order to recognize new kinds of unions.
History of Marriage
When the Code of Hammurabi was enacted marriage was a contractual institution between a man and a woman giving the man absolute power over his wife and the possibility to take concubines. In ancient societies this seemed to be more or less the trend when establishing the rules of marriage. Even today Muslims are allowed to have several wives provided the husband can afford them and until quite recently Mormons were also allowed to marry several women.
Christianity adopted the idea of marriage and transformed it into a sacrament by which the man was entitled to a dowry and where the consent of the woman was not really relevant provided her father agreed to the marriage. The church also established that marriage was the union of a man and a woman and that procreation was essential, paramount, in order to serve as the basis of society. This tenet has remained unchanged since then because the Church decided that marriage should be oriented to the “continuation of life”, effectively rendering love as an accessory to the act of marriage.
Christian doctrine, regardless of denomination with the exception of the Unitarians, has used this tenet to fiercely oppose gay marriage. Worldwide churches have been using pompous rhetoric in an attempt to justify an injustice. They consider that procreation within a religious marriage is the only meaning of life on earth apart from those who chose to serve God exclusively. For the Church love and respect can only exist in a relationship between a man and a woman, any other option is totally unacceptable.
Marriage Today
Since the Code of Hammurabi and the laws of other ancient societies and civilizations marriage has undergone many changes. A dowry is generally not considered in modern societies mainly in the West and the roles of husband and wife have also changed drastically. Nowadays wedding vows are regularly written by the happy couple and rarely do they promise submission to the other. Their responsibilities are the same with neither of them is in a superior position. Nowadays parenthood is something decided by the couple and it is not something imposed by society any more with many couples choosing not to have children. If we follow the true guidelines of the Church regarding procreation, all those couples who cannot have children because of physical impediments or simply because they decided not to, should not be allowed to marry. The same situation would be true of those who marry later in life who are too old to have children. How many couples we know that decide to marry when they are in their fifties, sixties or even seventies? Should the Church tell them they are not allowed to marry because they cannot have children?
Marriage is a contract between two consenting persons. Some people see it as a religious institution but many others do not. If a couple choose to marry simply to love and care for one another, then why can’t two people of the same sex do likewise? Love, respect and care are not exclusive to heterosexual couples and the Church should be very careful if it wants to claim exclusive rights to something that did not start as a religious commitment.
