The marriage debate, some accuracy please
December 7, 2012 4 Comments
The debate over gay marriage (a term which, at best, only partially describes what is wanted) often falls into dissecting the meaning of the word ‘marriage’.
Now, I do not subscribe to the ‘it is Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve’ argument, although I am sensitive to the views of those for whom same-sex marriage is a sin. However, much that is legal is a sin in someone else’s eyes – smoking, drinking, gambling, sex outside of marriage, and eating meat, to name but a few things.
So, what is marriage?
Dictionary.com has this:
the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies
It also has this:
a similar institution involving partners of the same gender
Oxford Dictionairies has this:
the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife
It also has this:
(in some jurisdictions) a union between partners of the same sex
The Collins English Dictionary has this:
the state or relationship of living together in a legal partnership
the legal union or contract made by two people to live together
The Merriam-Webster has this:
a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage
The Free Dictionary has this:
a. The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife, and in some jurisdictions, between two persons of the same sex, usually entailing legal obligations of each person to the other.
This is a random selection, and you get the picture. Marriage is defined as the union between a male and female, as well as the union between persons of the same sex. Let’s have some accuracy in the debate, please.
Yeah but what sort of accuracy … ‘I’m long-term committed to my my shag’ … or … ‘hopelessly and unchangably’, possibly Biblically, ‘committed to my spouse and children’ produced for the benefit of a growing society as a whole?
Difficult question for the religions of the world and secular society undoubtedly.
But all have a part to play no question.
Legal definitions are not the same as dictionary ones. We have loads of new words. Why not one for same sex commitments. Perhaps gayrage or homorraige.
In the main, objection to equal marriage comes from conservative Christians and like-minded members of other world faiths, the right-wing of the Conservative Party and, inevitably, their spill over party of protest UKIP and the others closer to the gutter.
Personally, I hope that society actually does manage the evolutionary leap into societal inclusivity.
It would then remain to be seen whether the only places we would find such contrary prejudice continue to be the above.
Certainly Christianity’s leadership has made such leaps in the past which bodes well for future ones.
The same optimism, sadly, cannot be held for the rest.
I think most people are aware of UKIP’s shameful attitude to equality. See here :- http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/2625-pm-picking-fight-over-samesex-marriage