Redefining marriage

Our society has conducted a number of experiments with marriage already, and all of them have had negative results that were not foreseen.

Traditionally, it is defined as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman. Some societies have redefined this so it is between one man and multiple women, but this creates numerous problems.

Our society, along with others, has made divorce easier, and it has become much more common. The expectation now is that marriage will not last for life. As a result, many children grow up fatherless or motherless. Such children are far more likely to become delinquent, more likely to be sexually abused, etc, to say nothing of the damage done to their parents.

So we see that changing marriage to allow multiple wives doesn’t work, and neither does making it a temporary arrangement. The damage done to our society alone by divorce should make us tread carefully before allowing further change. Yet most of this damage was not foreseen. Divorce was not made easier in order to destroy marriage, but to make it easier to escape from bad ones, which was difficult at that time. Yet the solution to the problems that were evident in that day has only produced larger problems.

What shall be the result if marriage is changed in order to make it same gender? We need to consider the effects not only on the marriage partners involved, but also on their children and on society as a whole.

Marriage is an institution that is fundamental to the stability and well-being of our society. It is universal to humanity; common to all religions and cultures. Since it is so intrinsic to human relationships, why do we attempt to redefine it? Are we so arrogant to think that we know better than all those who passed before us? Surely these proposed changes are hubristic in the extreme.

Where there is injustice in our society, we should seek to resolve it, but not by redefining marriage.