I read the first 10 pages of posts.
If this has already been covered I appologise
There has been a lot of arguments involving people asking for and failing to define the concept of marriage. on both sides of the argument.
let me begin by defining some concepts:
- Humans: Homosapiens. we are sentient (self aware) intelegent (we have access to reason) beings who can to some extent control our actions and our environemnt. We are a Hetrosexual species: i.e. we are Male and Female. Reproduction requires as a minimum copulation between a fertile male and a fertile female at the appropriate time of a womans fertility cycle.
We are a SOCIAL species. We need contact with other human beings and can thrive better in a environemnt where many individuals and groups live and work together co-operatively.
Society: A group of individuals, who work together for the common good of it’s members. this can be from a small group of a few individuals right up to a large nation, federation and now even the whole world.
For a society to function it needs to have a common set of rules and expectations on it’s members. (e.g. Laws and cultural norms for national groups)
A society often has members who fail to keep these rules or refuse to.
The purpose of society is to foster it’s members and seek their wellbeing. - For a society to survive it must place an important emphasis on raising the next generation in a manner that enables them to enter into society as contributing members and not “dissenters” (those who refuse to accept the norms of the society) “Criminals” (those who break the laws of the society) or “Rejects” (those who society rejects).
The very first society by very definition is the Family. A Father, A Mother and their Children. That will then grow (in a primitave environment) into a larger family group with Grand-parents, Cousins, etc…
Larger societies develop initially due to the forming of alliances between family groups and individuals to achieve common good, untill nations are formed.
The Base unit of Society is the Family
The family is the structure in which new members of the society (both the micro structure of the family and the larger structures that the family is a member of )
The family has the primary task of creating, raising and educating children to become productive members of society - whether in forming families of their own or serving other uses in the society.
Government:
A legal structure formed to regulate a society on a town/city regional national or higher level.
The prime function of a government is to assist and lead the society, and to form, revise and enforce it’s laws… With the purpose of supporting and assisting the individuals to live their lives and continue the society.
It also has when necessary the task of organising the members to defend themselves from significant real threats both external (war) and internal (Criminals)
The First attention of the government is therefore to support and assist the formation of and stability of Families.
Marriage:
The cultural norms which govern how a new family is formed. In Western society that is One Man and One Woman forming a permission irreversible bond (“Till death do us part”) by swearing to Love Honor Serve and Obey eachother.
Society sets a framework of rules around this defining inheritance laws and rules or laws to deal with the unfortunate situations where mariages are formed between people who shouldn’t have married (anullement) or subsequently destroyed their relationship to the point where it becomes irreparable (Separation).
Some governments have permitted new marriages to be formed after separation (Divorce and re-marriage)
Christianity Forbids divorce and re-marriage. I believe it is unique in this.
Some societies have permitted marriage to include more than 2 spouses (most commonly multiple (poligamy) but some societies have permitted multiple husbands (polyandry) or other structures. These however allways were based on Perminant hetrosexual families.
Judaism evolved to discourage and later forbid this. Christianity adopted this prohibition.
Western society is founded on a family model inherited from Christianity.
This is
not the recognition and approval of the society of some feel-good romantic or lustfull feelings between the couple, or the recognition of any other type of domestic arrangement where other people come together to live together co-operatively.
Such structures and relationships have always existed (a classic example would be the Greek culture and it’s effects on Roman society around the time of the birth of Christianity.
However these relationships are no buisness of the state. Examples would be same sex couples. whether their relationship is platonic or sexual. and larger groups like religious communities.
As part of the function of the state in protecting it’s members it is necessary that the state have laws protecting the youngest and vulnerable members from coercive or forced sexual relationships. therefore it is proper that a lower age for legal sexual contact is set. That adults or adolescence’s who sexually violate the rights of the younger or more vulnerable members of the society are censured and prevented from re-offending. However not all societies have held this view. in ancient Greece for example it was considered normal for a Man to have romantic relationships with teenage boys.
Most societies in history have considered Women to be of marriageable age as soon as or shortly after the Menarche. In some cases even before this. - I believe that some US states still permit marriage of girls as young as 14 - but I may be wrong on this point.
Modern western society requires a greater degree of education for it’s members to function. therefore both men and women now normally do not marry until in their 20’s or later.
To reiterate
Marriage is therefore the societal structure which sets the manner by which Men and Women can come together to form new family units. This is therefore - by definition a sexual relationship - but that is not it’s only feature or the reason society recognises it.
The primary function of the marriage is to form a new unit of society (a family). Within a wider society, the primary function of the Family is the procreation and education of children.
Social groups which are not intrinsicly “ordered” towards the procreation and education of children are not “Families” and therefore do not require the same level of protection and approval of government - even if they do warrant other forms of recognition.
Traditionally in western countries (and in other traditional societies) the marriage is not complete until it is “Consumated” (ratified by penis-vagina sex). In some countries this is codified in their laws, in others it is not. This tradition & law is inherited from the Christian definition of marriage.
It is inappropriate for the government to require all married couples to have children or insist on fertility testing - however it is unjust for one partner who is knowingly incapable of contaminating their marriage form entering into an attempted marriage while concealing this fact from their spouse.
It would be similarly unjust to conceal a known cause of infertility.
However the wedding vows are " For better or for worse". unknown conditions do not invalidate a marriage. therefore infertility does not normally invalidate a marriage. Such a marriage is still “Ordered” towards the procreation and education of children - there’s simply a medical problem disrupting that function.
In western society we have historically used a Christian model of marriage - i.e. One man and One Woman.
I am unaware of large or powerful pressure groups who are pressing for forms of marriage which permit poligamy, polyandry or other polyamorous relationships - however they would be able to be considered “Marriage” on the basis of traditions from non Judao-Christian cultures.
There is however a large pressure group who Identify themselves within the LGBT community or it’s sub-groups who want society to recognise their romantic relationships and partnerships.
If a democratic society wishes to give some form of recognition to some of or all of these types of relationship then that’s simply democracy in action.
However these relationships are not and never can be “Marriage”. They are not the formation of a new societal unit which is ordered to the procreation and education of children. They can be adapted to the education of children by placing children who have been taken from thier natural parents (for whatever reason) and placed with the couple… but that is not the natural order.
It is possible for one of the partners to concieve (either by copulation or artificail means) a child in a Hetrosexual relationship and gain or retain custody of that child- But that is not the natural order.
These novelties are a twisting of the natural order. they are
perversions in the strictest sense of the word.
(please note I use that word in it’s technical definition not as a emotional judgement.)
I hope this answers some of the questions of the O.P.
