Religion & Marriage

[miaharun]

Greetings, I'm just thinking of the fact that people use religion to get married. Is it really necessary? Why is there a rule set upon a couples that they have to get married in a church under gods eyes. In general people get married to love and share their lives together. Why do we need to get religion involved in everything? Even go to the extent to "think" with it. Before marriage there is a class to attend in the church and only if you attend, one is allowed to get married in a church. I don't see why people cant have a simple reception in a hall or a garden wedding. Alter all you celibate your love for one another.

[Foxaèr]

Marriage was a ritual long before religion claimed a monopoly on it.

Religion likes to lay claim to everything and be in everyone's business because it makes the erroneous claim to atruth that we must all follow.

That atheists are able to legally marry in a courthouse without a religious ceremony alludes to the fact that religion is not needed in any capacity except through the delusion stated religion has created for itself.

[robvalue]

They don't need to include religion.

Or to look at it the other way, they don't need to involve the government.

How many religious people (in the west) who get married just do so in the eyes of God but don't then also get a legally binding secular contract?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Marriage is a promise that very few people actually have any intention of ever keeping. It just shows that people can lie while looking directly into each other's eyes.

[MentalGiant]

Marriage (or some variation on the theme) has been around forever, long before modern religions claimed it. Lifelong pairings (mostly between 2 partners, sometimes more in polygamous/polyandrous societies) have been present in most cultures since the dawn of civilization. People pair off, just like many other species do and it has nothing to do with religion. Religion turned marriage into an exchange of goods (i.e. the father selling the daughter/son in law+family buying her) and claimed it is sanctioned by god to do so. It's a big investment, thus all the classes and fuss surrounding the exchange. Religious weddings have always struck me as business deals. I also think religious or not, a lot of people get caught up in throwing themselves a big party. Sadly, the desire for a fancy wedding more often than not overshadows you actual selection of your lifelong mate (and thus the divorce rate is high, they want a wedding, not a marriage, not a life together).

[Minimalist]

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/sacraments.html

About half way down the page.

Matrimony
Marriage was not, of course, invented or even practiced by Jesus, nor was it a rite especially important to the early Christians. In pre-Christian times the marriage ceremony might be sanctified by a priest but essentially mutual agreement in the presence of witnesses was the only prerequisite. A high-status wedding would involve banquets, dowries and property transfer and among the peasantry, an acclamation at a sacred grove or shrine might dignify the occasion.
For the first Christians Judgment Day was imminent and in the eternal Kingdom some form of celestial celibacy would be the norm. However, in the fallen world in which Catholicism was extending its writ, marriage was both a politically and economically useful "holy sacrament," a valuable addition to its instruments of dominion. It certainly set the Catholics apart from the sectarians who appraised "purity" and wished to keep their bodies "unsullied" by carnality.
In the dogmas of Holy Mother Church sexual intercourse was a concession from spiritual purity made solely in the interests of procreation. Under the bizarre smokescreen that marriage expressed "Christ's love for his Church" a ritual for Christian marriage was eventually developed, patterned after the sacrament of baptism. Led into the Church in procession, the soon-to-be-wed received blessings and solemn advice as to their duties and commitments. The raison d'être of marriage was the procreation of children, who were to be raised in the faith and would become, in turn, loyal servants of the Church. Hence a fierce opposition to the control of conception, abortion, or the exposure of infants. More babies meant more Catholics.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Churches don't perform marriages. They perform wedding ceremonies.

Marriages are, and remain, entirely a state entity. Because of religious influence on our culture, we allow priests (instead of judges) to sign off on the official documents, as part of their license as an ordained minister.

The rest of the wedding ceremony is entirely between the couple and their friends/family and their deity. The fact that most Christians can't tell the difference between a marriage and a wedding ceremony is just evidence of how deeply-entrenched their privilege has become.