Janson Thomas
Published: November 9, 2005
In the United States Constitution, marriage is defined as a union between two members of the opposite sex as husband or wife. In most societies, marriage is a religious, legal, and social bond between a man and a woman and is the sole foundation upon which a family is based.
Unfortunately, marriage’s sanctity is being increasingly challenged by societal trends, with unfortunate results: the divorce rate in the U.S. is roughly 56 percent, with some groups (military members and young couples, for example) seeing percentages as high as 80 percent.
Throughout history, marriage has been an institution that has served as a basis for family. With a family came social stability and order; it was a way to have a structured and established life. Unfortunately, the societal reforms of the 20th century, which made obsolete many more traditional structures in society, negatively impacted marriage. It became easier to divorce and it became more socially acceptable to be divorced; the divorce rate skyrocketed.
However, in my opinion, the U.S. divorce rate cannot be accounted for just by the ease of getting a divorce or the acceptability of being divorced. When we marry for the wrong reasons, the chance of having a successful marriage drastically decreases.
We need to remember why marriage happened in the first place if we want to reverse these trends. Every human society in existence has been based upon the unions of men and women, never upon homosexual unions.
According to Focus on the Family, married people live longer, make more money, stay healthier and are less likely to be the victims of violence. Their children do better academically and are less likely to become involved in crime. These are some of the benefits of marriage between a committed husband and wife.
Nowadays, however, people are marrying without any regard to the sanctity of marriage. Gays are demanding the right to marry because “it’s not fair” that they can’t. People are marrying “for love” and then giving up, many of them in the first year of marriage. There has to be something wrong with our definition of marriage if it has become so shallow.
Furthermore, when we start marrying without any consideration for the sanctity of marriage, where do we stop? Should we let gays get married without considering the possible effects it could have on their children? And if we decide to let gay people get married, we can’t forget about bisexuals. So, to be fair, bisexual people should then be allowed to marry a man and a woman. Let’s disregard the possibility that when its time to drop the kids off at mommy’s house, they are being raised by seven husbands and wives all sleeping in the same bed at night.
The importance of keeping marriage in line with its original purposes has very little to do with prejudice against gays, or forcing people back into traditional roles. If we want to see the divorce rates go down, we must start reconsidering our attitudes about marriage.
