Marriage, according to the Bible, is a union blessed by God. Many people don't feel ';married'; unless they're married by a minister in a church in the eyes of God. And rightly, so.Atheistically speaking: Why do some people think of marriage as an exclusively christian concept?
I don't know what ';Atheistically speaking'; has to do with the question. Also, why some people think what they do probably isn't a useful thing to ask.
Obviously, Christians aren't the only people in the world who get married. However, Christians -- Catholics in particular -- believe that marriage can be a sacrament. What this means is that it is a life-long covenant between the two spouses in which they give themselves totally and exclusively to each other, for the good of the other, and with an openness to what good may come of their relationship. They invite God into and to empower their commitment to each other, to help them become better people individually, and as a couple.
I think any honest person will agree that this kind of understanding, level of commitment and the good that can come from it is different than the norm. This is not to say that marriage, itself, is an exclusively Christian concept. But it is to say that (some) Christians understand and rightly believe that marriage can be much more than it often is.
It's more that they have deluded themselves into thinking that america is a 'christian' nation, and that our laws regarding marriage should reflect that.
Obviously these poor saps are living in a dreamworld where 'leave it to beaver' was the way it actually used to be.
This country was founded by deists, agnostics, and atheists - the only thing that christianity brought to the table was witch burnings, and churches that double as tax shelters.
I think everybody knows Marriage existed before Christianity, although some would say, it did not until Christian marriage existed. Some fanatics would say only a Christian (or from a denomination, like the Catholic Church) marriage would be real.
But beyond that extreme and unusual view, for much of US history, the majority of Americans were at least nominally Christian. Most people until the late 20th century who were nominal Christians or actual practicing Christians chose to be married in a Christian church of some kind. For some, it might be one of the few times they were ever in a church, of course for others church would be an integral part of their lives. So association of church or religion and marriage is part of the culture of many people.
I had a non-religious relative, who went to a Sunday school at times as a kid, but grew up and married a likewise semi-religious guy who had not been inside a church except for a wedding in 10 years. They had to 'shop around' because they wanted to be married in a church, she had always dreamt of a church wedding. I think they settled on a Unitarian Church.
Because it allows them to continue to fool their ignorant sheeple into believing that Christianity has powers that it legally doesn't actually possess.
The fact of the matter is that in America at least it is the State and not the Church that has the ultimate authority over who does and who does not get married.
It is the State that issues a marriage license without which no marriage performed by any person of the cloth is legal
To deny a couple a marriage license because the tenets of Christianity say that it's wrong is a violation of at least a couple of that couple's Constitutional Rights
No idea. Checked your last post and was surprised to find that even some non-christians thought that, too.
While the whole ';written commitment'; might be a bit pretentious and unnecessary, it's still not a christian concept. It happened way before christianity, and it still does in all non christian countries, either for administrative purposes or for reasons of ';morality';, whatever this may imply. :-)
Wow, what obviously ignorant answers you've gotten so far.
Obviously, no Christian thinks that marriage is exclusively a Christian concept ... there was marriage from the beginning of time for man and woman. Where would someone get that idea?
So my answer is that I have to idea why ';some people'; (probably those same people who rant that marriage is nothing but so desperately want to be married) would claim that marriage is a Christian concept. It makes no sense.
like many things christianity successfully stole the concept
even though history shows marriage was around before christianity they don't acknowledge that
I've lost track of how many damned times I've put up links and shared knowledge about marriage only for bigots/fundies to ignore it
Yeah...
I was married for 25 years, and loved every minute of it.
And neither of us had ANY Divorces on our Record.
Few Christians can top that.
It's a misunderstanding, really.
I don't completely blame them, I put the blame on their spiritual leaders that use certain texts and manipulate the meanings to go along with this idea.
usualyl its religious people and more over christians, and thats because thats what tehy are taught, and sadly, its what soceity, even non beleivers, are taught
Christians are an amazingly insular people. It's as if there is absolutely no world outside their little village of Buttf**k, Miss.
Because they're literally uneducated about the history of marriage.
Because they're uneducated culturally ignorant bigots.
Not to mention the fact that marriage existed before Christianity did...
They embrace ignorance.
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