(April 20, 2015 at 2:50 pm)Mezmo! Wrote: Rebecarox, I cannot say that personally I care all that much. The depravity, promiscuity, and over-sexualization of Western culture have already done their damage, unwed mothers, high abortion rates, custody battles, etc.. I choose to ignore it and go on with my life. And yet, on an intellectual level I cannot ignore the likelihood that alternative forms of marriage will have negative cultural effects. Many of those will eventually affect me and the people I care about. Anyone that is concerned about crime, equal opportunity, income disparity, and social stability should seriously reflect on such changes.
For example, I had a friend that was raised in a commune. None of the children were certain about who their real parents were. When the adults gave favor to some children over others for no apparent reason, the children got very confused. While not inevitable, these kids grew up with lots of issues. Few people would deny that today’s high divorce rates and serial monogamy negatively affect the children. Why would Western democracies want to create even more problems for themselves?
Robvalue, unfortunately the concerns raised by the 'slippery slope' argument have already started. I know of at lease one case about the constitutionality of plural marriage bans has started making its way through the courts.
There are many things that correlate with the divorce rate. Take a look at:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_022.pdf
If you wanted to reduce the divorce rate, one way would be to prohibit marriage before the age of 25. The document to which I have given a link above uses the age of the woman at the first marriage, and, basically, the older the woman, the less likely the marriage will end in divorce. About 25 seems to get past the worst of the part associated with age, but there are other things that correlate with the divorce rate.
As for how this compares with gay relationships, there are gay people who have been together for decades, and there are some who are always in transitory relationships. In other words, they are like heterosexual people in this regard, and we can expect that gay marriage and social acceptance of homosexuality will increase the likelihood of a gay relationship lasting longer.
Not that it matters for this discussion, but I am married, and have been for over 20 years. For both my wife and me, it is our first marriage. We are very happy together, and expect to be happily married until one of us dies.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
