Righties and others: "We should leave marriage alone because it is thousands of years old!!!111!!!"

[ck4829]

But wait, isn't abortion thousands of years old, going as far back as being described in Egyptian papyri?

[Orrex]

1. Yeah! And homosexuality is a lot older than that!

Great point! LOL!

[snake in the grass]

23. ...and slavery.

[Orrex]

25. True, but Righties love that one

At least in principle.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Or, at least several hundred.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. And we know God never approved of THAT marriage!

Or anything that resulted from it..... :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[muntrv]

3. While we're at it, let's leave prostitution and dope smoking alone too?

:evilgrin:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. How old is the Golden Rule?

Was that just published recently, or did it come out some time ago?

It's so hard to keep a good timeline going these days ............................

[Mike 03]

5. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought marriage was invented to create concepts of inheritance, financial

linearity, and resolve all sorts of financial and property issues. It has nothing to do with God.

[jmowreader]

10. Exactly...

The best cinematic explanation of the true meaning of marriage is in Monty Python and the Holy Grail--where the king tells his son that he has to marry a woman he does not love because their kingdom is in a swamp, the princess' father owns the largest tracts of open land in all England...and we need all the land we can get, son! God, of course, came later.

[Mike 03]

14. Thank you for the response and reminder. I love that movie! NT

[ejpoeta]

13. well, in the 1200s they took it over and made it their own (the catholic church)

at least i read that somewhere when i was looking up all the traditions of marriage ceremonies before i got married. so, marriage is older than the church's 'marriage' so.... the religious ought to but out of it.

[sarge43]

18. It wasn't a sacrament until the 13th century.

People might get a priest's blessing, but they didn't have to marry in a church ceremony to have a legal marriage. Most didn't, especially the non-aristos.

[ejpoeta]

22. ok, thanks. i knew it was around that time, and that it wasn't alwayspart of the church.

though they like to pretend it was.

[sarge43]

29. In fact the happy couple weren't even allowed inside the church

for the blessing. They stayed on the porch.

The things to remember about the early Church is the Church Fathers were of two minds about this whole sex and marriage thing. For the great unwashed it marginally acceptable that they marry rather than burn, but it was, well, tacky and not something the pure of mind and body paid any attention to.

They truly believed that the Second Coming was right around the corner, so what went on in this scummy world wasn't of any great concern. When 1000 C.E. (the date JC would make his come back tour) was due they were packing their bags. When 1001 C.E. rolled around and nothing happened, a major rethink was in order to the effect that the world doesn't look it's going away any time soon, we may have to deal with it.

Finally, until the 10th and 11th centuries, Europe was not well organized to say the least and neither was the Church, what with empires falling and barbarians at the gates. Once things returned to something resembling civilized life, the Church did get involved from bringing marriage under its aegis to crusades to some hair raising power plays with secular governments. Is that you, Thomas Beckett?

FWIW

[TahitiNut]

27. It's about entitlements ... and the "God" part was one way the priesthood got power over monarchs.

"Love" had nothing to do with it ... but "lust" had a lot to do with it in some cases. Henry VIII, for example.

Entitlements are the government-created legal fictions of property, inheritance, titles, etc.

[QC]

7. And God is in the mix!

Oh wait....

[Catshrink]

8. How about divorce? Polygamy?

Or how about Lot sleeping with his daughters so he could have a son? This was after he offered them to an angry mob.

Oh, and don't forget the ban on shellfish. I really think these Old Testament Christians need to follow that stricture. That would leave more shrimp for me.

[stevedeshazer]

9. So is slavery.

It still exists.

[madmom]

11. UM the oldest profession anyone? In case you don't get it...

Prostitution!

[ejpoeta]

12. well, prostitution is the oldest profession, so.... we should leave that alone too.

this is fun.

[sarge43]

15. And organized warfare is at least as old as formal marriage, probably older. n/t

[KGodel]

16. And human sacrifice! And cannibalism!

We've got to respect tradition.

[Enrique]

17. and wearing bear pelts

and carrying clubs.

Who are we to say all those generations were doing it wrong.

[Kerrytravelers]

19. Kingdoms were also thousands of years old, where only the royalty lived comfortably and the peasants

were living in abject squalor... or, wait.


Never mind. The righties seem to think this is a good idea.

[47of74]

21. Damn right

And their hoping and praying for a return to that sort of good ol' days.

[Buzz Clik]

20. Speaking of papyrus, shouldn't we be etching cuneiform in mud tablets?

The advent of papyrus was the first step in the unraveling of the fabric of society.

[kestrel91316]

24. News flash: so is slavery. And murder.

[shanejfilomena]

26. Bibles and other children books....

The concept of marriage , Love, sexuality and the stars are best left up to powers beyond mortals.

The most important answer to any of these questions that plague the media is whether or not one has the right to impose their opinions in a life altering way upon another's affairs and happiness?

The pursuit of Happiness did not come with a clause, santa clause or any other.

[ellenfl]

28. thousands? but isn't earth only a FEW thousand years old? isn't

that what the fundies claim?

ellen fl