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Writer's Block: Church and State
Jan. 4th, 2009 08:15 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]If marriage is a legal contract with legal consequences then the government has every right to define what constitutes a valid marriage according to the law.
In my country I could have chosen, if I wanted, to be married only in church, not undergoing the 'civil wedding' part. In that case, for the state, I and my husband would have been living together with none of the consequences that come from a legal wedding. Some people do it, for a variety of reasons.
It is strange how people seem to react to this question with ' the govenment has no place in telling me what to do with my life', one can do whatever s/he wants with his or her life so long as nobody else suffers for it, but what about this sort of norms existing for the protection of the citizens so that for instance no 8-year old is sold as a bride (it happens) or no people who are incapable of understanding what a marriage is are tricked or forced into it?
In my country I could have chosen, if I wanted, to be married only in church, not undergoing the 'civil wedding' part. In that case, for the state, I and my husband would have been living together with none of the consequences that come from a legal wedding. Some people do it, for a variety of reasons.
It is strange how people seem to react to this question with ' the govenment has no place in telling me what to do with my life', one can do whatever s/he wants with his or her life so long as nobody else suffers for it, but what about this sort of norms existing for the protection of the citizens so that for instance no 8-year old is sold as a bride (it happens) or no people who are incapable of understanding what a marriage is are tricked or forced into it?
