(b) Marriage is inherently a unique relationship between a man and a woman. As a matter of public policy, this state [Alabama] has a special interest in encouraging, supporting, and protecting this unique relationship in order to promote, among other goals, the stability and welfare of society and its children. A marriage contracted between individuals of the same sex is invalid in this state.
(c) Marriage is a sacred covenant, solemnized between a man and a woman, which, when the legal capacity and consent of both parties is present, establishes their relationship as husband and wife, and which is recognized by the state as a civil contract.
The Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment (2006)
“Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and then rejects her, accusing her of impropriety and defaming her reputation by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations with her I discovered she was not a virgin!” Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity for the elders of the city at the gate.
“The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected her. Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out before the city’s elders.
The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish him. They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
“But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death… In this way you will purge evil from among you.
Christian Old Testament / Jewish Torah: Deuteronomy 22:13-21
My question: If marriage is so sacred, why is divorce legal?
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...salted lithium. 
I’m guessing, but I think divorce was originally intended to meet the ulterior motives of men. Evangelical Christians view divorce an an extreme option in cases interpreted to involve physical abuse and sexual infidelity, and from personal experience, tolerating over a decade of mental abuse from my then-husband wasn’t grounds for divorce in the eyes of the church.
I viewed my marriage (otherwise known as 11 years of hell) as a binding commitment, and I wasn’t willing to give up on it as soon as I should have, and I was willing to commit suicide as an escape option, so I view divorce as a necessary conclusion to a life threatening problem.
Now, 5 years into a relationship with my live-in fiance, I couldn’t be happier. We would like to get married for the legal benefits not available to common-law relationships and to solidify our commitment to each other. Does it matter, though? No. The love, caring, support and friendship we both get out of this is a hundred-fold more than anything I ever experienced married to my ex.
Getting divorced was the smartest thing I have ever done. Go divorce!
Definitely, thank God the Tea Party People have yet to turn their attention away from teh gayz to focus on divorce as the main obstacle to a society where marriage is solely for the righteous. Marriage got my mother into abuse, divorce got her out.
Marriage, along with divorce, was a concept created by a dude terrified that, without the legalese, some random guy from the next village would steal away the 14-year old girl he just bought from a village elder for three goats and a nice scarf.
But, what I’m really interested in, is the mental gymnastics it must take for someone to believe God gave us marriage as a sanctified Gift that must never be given to anyone who loves someone of the same sex, but it’s all cool and shit to break the Holy covenant once someone finds out their differently sexed spouse has cancer… or refuses to do anal.
So, how can someone be anti-same sex marriage, and pro-divorce?
There are few religions, including the Evangelicals, that will give someone a hard time when it comes time to trade in a differently-sexed spouse for a newer, less cancerous, model. But teh gays wanting the same rights get those same people all up in their bums about the Holiness of Everything.
It’s just odd.
“Marriage, along with divorce, was a concept created by a dude terrified that, without the legalese, some random guy from the next village would steal away the 14-year old girl he just bought from a village elder for three goats and a nice scarf.”
Quoted for truth.
First, we need to accept that religion is nothing but a bunch of archaic fairy tales for adults, which as you stated, originally served the purpose of controlling large groups of people so as to benefit the originators of the fairy tales.
Second, “sacredness”, which is by definition religiousness, has no place influencing laws and privileges of citizens of western countries progressive enough to separate church and state. I wouldn’t want astrologers influencing my laws, and as much as I like to fantasize/believe in astrology, I am not about to vote for candidates and policies stating that scorpios should not be in positions of power as they tend to be excessively vengeful. People can believe what ever fantasies / fairy tale nonsense they wish, but please do not violate other people’s rights because of your complex grandiose religious delusions.
Third, a society that allows michael jackson to marry (as a cover for the fact he is a homosexual pedophile) and kim kardashian to pull the bullshit she did, has no right saying marriage is anything like “sacred”. Many if not most married people I know cheat as soon as the opportunity presents itself, anyway, and those are normal every day folk. Today marriage merely serves the purpose of fueling the existing social structure (two people raising children, basically) and I see no reason to deny gays the privilege to marry, and the only purpose of this as it is the last barrier which “normalizes” and “validates” homosexuality from a social perspective. It is no longer acceptable to hate blacks, jews, gypsies, witches or communists… gays are pretty much all we have left to function like a social pressure valve, and the bigoted morons among us are not about to let it go quietly.
Religion might be archaic and mostly necessary as a tool people use to keep themselves from wetting their pants when faced with the unknown, but that’s still a decent reason for creating one. Really, who likes wet pants?
Religion has a purpose, but when it refuses to adapt to new surroundings, new ages and to a growing understanding of the unknown, the religion becomes dangerous. People don’t fight for religion, they fight against potential changes and threats of change to the religion.
It’s the same with nationalists who freak out when a flag gets burned, or get all crazy and shit when people try to pass perfectly reasonable laws, like opening public schools to non-white kids, or banning people from packing guns in their carry on luggage.
Basically, once religion became “sacred” everyone involved were doomed to the Dark Ages and the Inquisition. Just like when American politics became sacred, like post-9/11, we were all doomed to live with Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.
Marriage, in most of the American states, just as in most nations around the world, has been defined by people who are afraid of change. And anal sex. Mostly anal. Seriously, none of these people are protesting girl on girl stuff.
…the people who cling to these prejudices, to their bigotry, the hardest, are the people who most need a hug. And some seroquel. Lots of seroquel.
PS: nice of “conservative family-values Republican [and] Southaven, Mississippi mayor and failed Congressional candidate, Greg Davis” to give us such an excellent and recent example.