Editor's Blog May 10th 2012
Obama Steps Up
The American President came off the fence yesterday by saying that he backed same sex marriage. For the leader of one of the most Christian countries in the world this is a major breakthrough.
The arguments for not allowing same sex marriage hold strongly in those regions in America where the church holds the biggest sway. And in most cases it is the deeply religious that seem to have an issue with same sex marriage.
But marriage has many guises and what may be considered abhorrent to some, may be perfectly normal for others. Take arranged marriages as an example, in India and some of the Arab countries, arranged marriages are normal and no one would bat an eyelid, even though to me I would find the idea of my parents choosing my life partner for me ludicrous.
But if you go by the percentage of arranged marriages that fail you will see that the divorce rate is somewhere in the region of 4% as opposed to the failure of non arranged marriages which sit between 40% and 50%.
Admittedly these cultures do not allow for divorce and any attempt by a woman to leave the marriage may lead to some kind of retribution by the grooms family for dishonoring him, sometimes with disfiguring or fatal consequences.
Arranged marriages do seem to have some major advantages. When the parents choose a bride or groom for their children it is done so with a lot of planning, ensuring that the families in question are of similar resources, education and standing, already the persons would be sharing many similar traits which can be an excellent foundation for a life long relationship.
Marriage in the West has become a sham, most get married for tax breaks, Joining forces financially so you can afford housing or to claim any number of financial benefits that are not available to persons who wish to remain single, or in a partnership with someone without the religious blessing.
With more and more Governments allowing for civil unions between persons of the same sex, there will come a time where it will be normal for these unions to exist and I am for it, at least in terms of equality.
If the western god is a god of love, then who are his followers and ministers to say that persons of the same sex cannot love each other and commit to each other in the same way as heterosexuals do?
And if anything, before all else, isn’t marriage about love?
Ed.
