Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Quote of the week ...
Thanks to "uffda51" for this keeper:
"Why does anyone think that marriage equality will destroy traditional marriage? Marriage has survived Liz Taylor, Mickey Rooney and Britney Spears. I think it will survive the two guys down the street who have been together for 20 years."
I think that in this quote you are selling the Episcopal church short. It probably holds more blame for the state of marriage than Brittany or Liz.
Before 1930, married people's sinful inclinations to pursue affairs with other married people were kept in check by the specter of pregnancy as a result of the affair. Undesired consequences made people think twice.
With the Episcopal church leading the way, contraceptive sex became the norm. Remove the temporal consequences to sin and what do you think happens? More sin.
So, that led to an explosion of divorce by the 1950s and 1960s. The women's movement combined with removing men's responsibility for their actions (with birth control men have no responsibilities)weaken marriage to the point that divorce and remarriage is almost normal.
This creates a problem. Divorce was prohibited by the mainline Christian denominations. So, TEC in 1931 allowed remarriage if there was a civil divorce and the bishop approved.
What we are left with now are throw-away marriages that can be sterile for their entire life (through artificial birth control). With marriage weakened, now a serious number of people don't even participate in it. That leaves us with a rising number of single parent households where the children live in poverty.
All because people don't want to hold their sinful inclinations in check.
So there were no unwanted pregnancies before the 1930s? So a woman, beaten in front of her children on a regular basis, should stay married so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So another woman, whose husband threatens to kill her, should stay married so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So a woman with six children should have numbers 7, 8, and 9, even thought the household income can’t support them, so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So two octogenarian widowed folks shouldn’t get married because their union won’t lead to children? And TEC is solely responsible for these offenses?
Actually, marriage is on the rise at the moment because some couples are marrying to obtain otherwise unobtainable health insurance. Maybe the apostles didn’t have a health plan, but we live in a different world today, where one medical setback can lead to major money problems - the biggest cause of divorce. Does the fact that the minimum wage is not a living wage have any impact on divorce? Does the fact that middle class jobs have been moved offshore leaving only McJobs as an option in many cases have any impact on divorce? Does the fact that the U.S. now, thanks to the Current Occupant, has a bigger gap between rich and poor than at any time since before the Depression have any impact on divorce?
Back here on planet earth, where the humans live, things are not always as black-and-white simple as some may imagine. The expression “Walk a mile in my shoes” comes to mind.
uffda51, no, TEC is not solely responsible for the state of marriage as it is today, but it is certainly in the forefront of 'new things' that have had an adverse affect on the institution.
When someone brought up the link between birth control and divorce, I was skeptical. But, I believe it's true. One of the results of "sex without consequences" is a cheapening of sex in general. If one can have sex in marriage with no consequences, then how about sex outside of marriage? No problem. If one can have "sex without consequences" no matter what the marital state, why not? Let's just do it to be happy, for recreation.
If we are just doing it to be happy, well, if I'm not happy in my marriage anymore, I'll just leave.
It's all about me being happy, isn't it?
I feel very strongly about the importance of marriage. I feel it gives children a stable environment to grow up in. I feel that if the seriousness of the commitment is such that it is really, really, forever, the divorce rate would go down. Marriage is for the couple; marraige is for society; marriage is for the children.
4 comments:
AMEN!
Hmmm. Interesting.
I think that in this quote you are selling the Episcopal church short. It probably holds more blame for the state of marriage than Brittany or Liz.
Before 1930, married people's sinful inclinations to pursue affairs with other married people were kept in check by the specter of pregnancy as a result of the affair. Undesired consequences made people think twice.
With the Episcopal church leading the way, contraceptive sex became the norm. Remove the temporal consequences to sin and what do you think happens? More sin.
So, that led to an explosion of divorce by the 1950s and 1960s. The women's movement combined with removing men's responsibility for their actions (with birth control men have no responsibilities)weaken marriage to the point that divorce and remarriage is almost normal.
This creates a problem. Divorce was prohibited by the mainline Christian denominations. So, TEC in 1931 allowed remarriage if there was a civil divorce and the bishop approved.
What we are left with now are throw-away marriages that can be sterile for their entire life (through artificial birth control). With marriage weakened, now a serious number of people don't even participate in it. That leaves us with a rising number of single parent households where the children live in poverty.
All because people don't want to hold their sinful inclinations in check.
So there were no unwanted pregnancies before the 1930s? So a woman, beaten in front of her children on a regular basis, should stay married so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So another woman, whose husband threatens to kill her, should stay married so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So a woman with six children should have numbers 7, 8, and 9, even thought the household income can’t support them, so that the self-righteous won’t be offended? So two octogenarian widowed folks shouldn’t get married because their union won’t lead to children? And TEC is solely responsible for these offenses?
Actually, marriage is on the rise at the moment because some couples are marrying to obtain otherwise unobtainable health insurance. Maybe the apostles didn’t have a health plan, but we live in a different world today, where one medical setback can lead to major money problems - the biggest cause of divorce. Does the fact that the minimum wage is not a living wage have any impact on divorce? Does the fact that middle class jobs have been moved offshore leaving only McJobs as an option in many cases have any impact on divorce? Does the fact that the U.S. now, thanks to the Current Occupant, has a bigger gap between rich and poor than at any time since before the Depression have any impact on divorce?
Back here on planet earth, where the humans live, things are not always as black-and-white simple as some may imagine. The expression “Walk a mile in my shoes” comes to mind.
uffda51, no, TEC is not solely responsible for the state of marriage as it is today, but it is certainly in the forefront of 'new things' that have had an adverse affect on the institution.
When someone brought up the link between birth control and divorce, I was skeptical. But, I believe it's true. One of the results of "sex without consequences" is a cheapening of sex in general. If one can have sex in marriage with no consequences, then how about sex outside of marriage? No problem. If one can have "sex without consequences" no matter what the marital state, why not? Let's just do it to be happy, for recreation.
If we are just doing it to be happy, well, if I'm not happy in my marriage anymore, I'll just leave.
It's all about me being happy, isn't it?
I feel very strongly about the importance of marriage. I feel it gives children a stable environment to grow up in. I feel that if the seriousness of the commitment is such that it is really, really, forever, the divorce rate would go down. Marriage is for the couple; marraige is for society; marriage is for the children.
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