According to the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) Survey, which was conducted in 2008, almost two-thirds of people now see little difference between marriage and living together. Fewer than a fifth of people took issue with it.
Just under half thought cohabitation showed just as much commitment as getting married. When it comes to children, where opinion can often be a bit more traditional, only 28% said they believe married couples make better parents.
So why do it? Psychologist Donna Dawson, who has specialised in sex and relationships, says it is often about making a public statement.
Since the Protestants gave us guilt free divorce, there really isn’t much difference between marriage and living together.
Never mind, Catholics do enough guilt for the rest of us put together.
The central problem here is that the words of the marriage ceremony don’t mean much of anything. They’re just…..words. Moreover, getting married in a church makes this problem even more absurd: Not only are the words just sounds, but they are pompous, fraudulent sounds. To a world brought up on advertising, the “meaningless word” is an old familiar con.
Great. Larry
One of the things that struck me at the Royal Wedding was the way the old fashioned service was robust about what marriage meant – in terms of commitment, sacrifice, and lifelong. Too often the newer services have muted all that.
Why do people get married after having children? ‘Cause the Episcopal Church now will bless “domestic partnerships”==read “shacking up!”
A loud Amen to that Margaret.Larry
#1 – Fr. J – what a silly, grenade-throwing statement. Posh! Do you want to talk about guilt-free ridiculous annulments? Let’s have appropriate discussion without tossing around the unsubstantiated charges.
Fr J, guilt free divorce didn’t come from Protestants. I suppose it may have been influenced by the way the Church shamelessly bought and sold annulments in the Middle Ages!
I also agree with MargaretG.