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The structure of marriage is heavily based upon religion; in the sight of god, till death, what god has joined etc and it appears to me to be increasingly irrelevant in our current society. The extremely high divorce rates are a testament to this and it appears to me, from what I have observed, that marriage is an effective way of ruining a good relationship. The expectations and the way in which people are taken for granted within marriage seem to set the relationship up for failure and make it difficult for people to make any committment with such a heavy load riding on it. My feeling, formed from observing the different things people expect from a relationship depending upon their age group and their gender orientation, is that we would be better served with individual contracts, renewable, where the obligations and expectations are spelled out. That way the expectations around child care, support and obligations with separation could be incorporated into the contract for younger people and the different requirements and expectations could be incorporated for older couples. I work in the area of mental health and I've observed that the relationships that older, 40+, people want is very different to that of younger couples. Not only that, but people tend to avoid the committment of marriage because it's so BIG and my own problem was with the idea of my young self making committments for my older self knowing that I woulf likely be very different. I'm curious as to other people's thoughts on this matter, chiefly to find new ideas to develop or challenge mine.

Cyklone 7 Jan 16
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48 comments

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2

Most weddings are now non religious. It's ages since I was at a wedding in a church and the couple make up their own vows so there is none of the god stuff

@creative51 maybe in your circles but not in mine.The last seven weddings i have attended overe the past five years ,three in the USA and four in the UK have all been humanist weddings. In the last one I attended in the USA last year the parents of the bride refused to attend because it wasn't a proper "Roman Catholic" wedding. I don't think they were missed.

I believe that's true in the UK, but I'd say nationally, here in the US, the figure is somewhere between 40%- 50% of weddings being totally non-religious. I perform wedding ceremonies for a living, in a popular destination wedding location.

The bulk of destination weddings are non-religious, since the religious folks are going to get married in their home town church. The ones wanting a beach or garden tend to be more nature oriented.

100% of the weddings I perform are totally non-religious. I make that clear on my website, but there are still a few couples who contact me and want some mention of God to please their partner or parents. I've got one coming up this week where the mother of the bride is going to read a prayer, but otherwise the ceremony will be humanistic. My part is always non-religious, but sometimes I'll add in a line for those a bit nostalgic for God that says "With the source of all creation as our witness..."

The trend is definitely to have less focus on God and more on the human values necessary for a good marriage, love, honor, respect, patience, devotion, responsibility, trust, honesty, communication, etc.

12

you're not much of a romantic are you? lol

I had a civil service. A wonderful man. 4 wonderful kids. The only thing I could've asked for is that he lived for longer so we could have been grey nomads.

Do what works for you.

11

My marriage had nothing to do with religion. Everything to do with expectations of others, rather than my own.

I got married without really thinking too much about what it meant. I felt tricked into the marriage (that's another story) and was just going along with what was expected of me, I thought. Everything in me wanted to say no, but I'd said no to 5 other suitors previously, and felt I should say yes before my little sister's wedding a few months later. Silly me, I thought all of us siblings should get married in order, which now I realize was ridiculous. Anyway, my marriage was a big mistake.

I really did not want to get married and had a hard time letting go of the wedding invitations into the mailbox. Just didn't want it to happen, but I didn't have anyone to talk to about it. My mom was pre-occupied with her new life, as my dad had just died. My sister was pre-occupied with her own wedding. My brother had just had a baby... My life wasn't important to anyone enough to hear me out with my apprehension, least of all the guy I married, who never cared or listened to what I was feeling or saying.

We didn't meet with the judge prior to the wedding, so we didn't have a say in the vows. To this day, I still think that had we met with the judge/officiant in advance and had to define our marriage and agree to our vows, I likely wouldn't have gone through with it.

I was married 29 years - it was very difficult to get out of a mistake that only took 10 minutes to make.

That is why now that I am a wedding officiant, I like to meet with my couples in advance, and ask them what it is that they like about each other, what do they like about themselves when they are with each other, what do they each bring to the marriage in the way of emotional support, etc., and I ask them to choose their own standard vows or write their own. So, it's a bit like pre-marital counseling, not just to make me feel better, but hopefully also makes for a richer fuller feeling of commitment and positive reasons to them to stay together.

I would never have been able to answer the questions I now ask my clients without leaving the room and saying "I don't want to do this - I don't want to lose myself - I want someone to believe in me - be on my side..."

Now, I usually have a good feeling with the couples I marry, and many of them come back to renew their vows, taking stock of what is good in their marriage and focusing and celebrating that, for their own inspiration and that of others.

All that said, I think it's good to not get drawn into just having a "wedding" but really think about the partnership, what your expectations are, what you think are the strong points in the marriage, what things you know might need extra attention, and so on. This is something I never did.

By the time I was married 25 years, my husband wanted to renew our vows (since by then he knew I wanted out) which made me want to gag - there was nothing to celebrate in our marriage - it was miserable. It took me 4 more years to get the divorce. That's a lot of my life wasted in misery - for a 10 minute ceremony.

My advice to couples is to think about why they want to get married.

6

I like Leonard and Penny's relationship solution BEST (from the The Big Bang Theory):

5

Marriage like many other ceremonies was coopted by the church. Christian weddings didn't start until about 1600ce.

5

Lets back up a bit. We are apes. We are social animals with a high sex drive and usually an inherent desire to have children ( this includes everyone ). We tend to seek one mate but not always. If we do choose only one other ape to be with we tend to want to show our commitment or publicly lay clam to our favorite ape.

We can be selfish, we do change personally, the ape we love may become attracted to another ape or we might do the same. We are still apes. Our social structure is very complex. Evolution does not care about legal contracts this type of apes do.

My point is I don't know that marriage is something that is symbiotic to our evolution. It seems foriegn to evolution. I'm not knocking marriage but it seems to be put on an unrealistic pedestal.

I have been marride twice and was very commited to both of them. I was married young and have found that the most important thing is to give as much as possible to ones favorite ape, to communicate with them and have frequent grooming! I don't need to OWN another ape again. I am not against marriage but it is not somthing that I need to do either. Marriage is more for others than the ape couple it seems. I will reject the religiois aspects of marriage and simply COMMIT MYSELF to my favorite ape.

"My point is I don't know that marriage is something that is symbiotic to our evolution."

I'm betting you do know, and I'm betting you know the right answer based on your post. 🙂

There's absolutely no reason to believe marriage is symbiotic to our evolution. Logically, that ought to be the default position.

@Shawno1972 Hey some creatures mate for life, and even among those that do some cheat on their spouce Bonobo monkees have sex with everyone, You present your boy bots and someone will attend to your need. gay, straight very young and old. They have more sex the Netflix Original's characters.

Open marriage are well known and some people who have them are mainstream.

@praytothemilkjug Right we are sexual beings and marriage is human social construct.

@praytothemilkjug All of those examples are fine, it's just that we're talking about marriage, here.

5

I have said for a long time now that, as far as the government is concerned, marriage should be a contract entered into by consenting adults. The terms of that contract are up to the individuals in question. You should not have to take any kind of "vow;" but the signing should be witnessed by a clerk, a notary, an attorney--whomever is preferred.

Beyond that, the people involved can have a wedding ceremony with vows if they want, or just a reception, or go to McDonald's for dinner-- whatever they want to do to celebrate.

I should state-- if they should choose to go to McDonald's for dinner to celebrate, I would have to question whether they were of sound mind when they signed the contract 🤔.

Sometimes only a Big Mac will do...

@birdingnut It would have to be an Impossible Burger for me 🙂

5

Getting married is not much different than getting a dog license; it is akin to giving the government one more reason to interfere with your life.

That's just silly nonesense.

5

I have been married twice and see Marriage as an outmoded and inefficient structure.

This bleeds into gay rights because they want equal treatment under the law (which all deserve), but struck me as "Why in hell do you want to adopt a religious notion?"

Civil unions for all, under the state, seemed to me a better path. Marriage reserved strictly for the religious institutions which favor them under that particular dogma.

I hope society evolves to a more civil outlook, allowing everyone a civil union with the same rights, a even playing field so to speak.

I also think that a default responsibility act would be a good thing to have, a default shagging contract. If your shagging, you are, by default, responsible for children created by that process, and any other circumstance created intentionally or unintentionally via shagging.

I think marriage is an outmoded concept.

ME TOO I got married once and regretted it for long time past other relationships

5

Not everyone uses those elements in their vows. At any ratei think it's a stretch to blame divorce rates on the vows -- or to think divorce is always a bad thing.

g

5

I think a lot of marriages fail because people are too quick to jump into things. My husband and I were together for almost 13 years before we got married.

We've been through some shit. The kind of shit that sometimes rips relationships apart. Ours somehow never faltered. We are stronger for it. We couldn't picture our lives without each other so marriage just made sense. No religious meaning or worry about what afterlife punishment might happen if we didn't. Just love.

Side note: Many people describe marriages 50/50, but that's not right in my opinion. It should be 100/100. You must be willing to give 100% of yourself for that person and they must do the same for you. If not, it's probably not going to work.

4

I was married, at 20, in 1984. The second youngest of a large clan of cousins, all catholics, I'd been the first, to openly live with my man (my first!), before our wedding. I was the black sheep; an overt sinner. (Never mind the big church weddings, for numerous swollen-bellied brides in white.)
I was chastised, for choosing to wear a white full-length dress, "how dare you!", "you've no right!". Truth being, MiL2B had offered to make the dress, but wasn't happy to work with black-on-black; so, white was just my next preferred option.

We married on top of the steps, in the rose garden, of the local Teachers' College; looking over the celebrant, our friends gathered below, and the views of our home city, in Autumn. There were no references to imaginary friends, theist traditions, or unrealistic expectations. I promised to love him for the rest of MY life; and I have, so far.

He was killed in a car accident 5+ years later. Beyond my control and his (previously stated) wishes, his funeral was a full hour catholic mass. It was, for me, like pulling lengths of veins, from my heart, via my wrists. I'll never forgive the theists for torturing me, when I was at my most pained, weak and vulnerable. How dare They!

I haven't remarried, and only attempted to re-partner, briefly, a few times. I've been un-partnered for the past 22+ years. I have a home, mortgaged to the max, and there is no way I would entertain the idea of co-habiting, and risk losing my home.

Marriage, to me, is a legal contract with emotional filigree, and a wedding is a pronouncement of legal intentions for emotional, ethical and logical reasons. Perhaps these contracts should have optional caveats. (I didn't need any, but my husband did. In my future, I would need many.)

Perhaps, an interrogatory document needs to be completed by all marriage applicants, a legal contract is spat out of a computer that includes all the legal agreements needed, between these two specific applicants. And then they can, later, sign & celebrate, or not. 💞

It's 2020. There'll be an app for that! 😜

4

My wedding vows were secular and the minister had paid $1 to be certified by the Universal Life Church. There was nothing in my ceremony or marriage that was dependent on religious expectations

UUNJ Level 8 Jan 16, 2020
4

It is true that religion has attempted to take control of the institution of marriage. But, religion did not begin the practice. Marriages fail for several reasons, among them that (1) young people sometimes are overwhelmed by their raging hormones, and fail to see the incompatibility of personalities, (2) the self-centeredness of one or both the spouses prevents them from seeing and attending to the needs and concerns of the other, (3) unwillingness to assume and exercise responsibility. A good marriage is always a work in process, and attends to the needs and concerns of both spouses.

4

"A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished." - Zsa Zsa Gabor

3

It's not true that the structure of marriage is based on religion unless you allow it to be.

3

My wife and I are devout atheists, but we got married in a church (to please relatives). The legally binding part is the civil registration of the marriage, which even the church is obliged to do. Nothing to do with religion, at least not in a truly secular state.

@Allamanda Poetic licence.

It is so very sad, to me, to have others dictate their preferences for your wedding/celebration of commitment to marriage to each other. That they have so little respect for you, and that you acquiesced to their delusions, is dreadful. I hope the strength of your relationship grows to where you prioritise yourselves, and your children (if any).

@LizZyG We'll see. Our first 51 years have survived OK. We didn't marry in a church at anyone's insistence, or to appease wrath. We did it in full, traditional style because, religion aside, the ceremonial aspect is rather pleasing.
Why should deluded believers in mythology have all the fun? Our son and daughter thought much the same when they married. Their children, too, are devoutly atheistic.

@Petter That sounds a little different to how I interpreted what you originally posted.
Pleased for you.

3

Most people marry for the wrong reasons or are together for the wrong reasons.

3

I'm in agreement.
Marriage should be treated like the legal contract that it is.
Requirements and expectations should be spelled out prior to entering into
any marriage.
There should be renewal periods, where both parties are permitted to amend
the original contract, or exit entirely, without penalty.

Thats pretty much how we do it.

Not sure what the post was about, if I have to use spell checker they ought to be forced to use paragraph checker, so didn't read it out of spite.

@1of5 Where is marriage done like that?
Not in this country.

@KKGator ours.

We got married because it only cost 25 bucks for the license and 80 for someone to sign it, would have been over 3 grand to get the same legal rights from marriage (mostly healthcare and insurance crap).

We just bought a house, and by we I mean she did. She paid for it and we did all the paperwork to relinquish any and all claims to the property marriage automatically gave me. It's her house, but our home. In 5 years when we evaluate our living situation we'll decide what we want to do. We decide to move, my turn to buy the house. We decide to stay, we decide what mods we want done and who will pay for them. We decide we want to live seperaty I'll buy a place for me. We decide to end it then it's easy to dissolve. Our finances are seperate except for a singe joint account where all common things are paid for that we both contribute 50% to.

The one and only reason we stay together is because we want too. Nothing forces us to stay together, and it'd be easy and quick to seperate if that's what we decided to do.

One thing we will do is both of us are going to change our last names. We've pretty much decided on what it'll be.

@1of5 In your particular case, you've reached an agreement with one another.
You sound like thoughtful, mature adults.
For most others, that is not the case.
Which is why divorce lawyers are usually pretty wealthy individuals.

@KKGator we sound like thoughtful, mature adults but the reality is we both act like 14 year olds. 😉

But isn't that what a relationship should be? 2 people reaching agreements with one another for mutual benifit/enjoyment/support through life's ups and downs?

I can't imagine a relationship any other way, I guess.

3

The extremely high divorce rates , are due to the fact that women are able to earn enough to live on and no longer have to put up with being treated badly . This is due in combination of laws against disparity in salaries for the same work , women being able to make purchases and receive medical treatment without having to report to a man first , and also due to more reliable contraceptives , which women have more control over . God had nothing to do with it one way or the other .

2

I don’t think marriage has anything to do with religion. It’s a very useful universal social construct that has be historically framed with religion.

2

Secular weddings are also a thing. And fall apart just as easily.

Deb57 Level 8 Jan 17, 2020
2

Based on my personal observations, I think people enter into, or rather insinuate themselves into relationships for many reasons other than true emotional attachment.
You also mention failed expectations. That right there is the death of many a fine relationship.

2

I don't even think a contract is a good idea. People should stay in a relationship for as long as they agree they want to. Sticking yourself into a legally binding agreement to be with another person makes no sense whatsoever.

That does not mean we shouldn't take into consideration what may be in the best interest of any children, if they're in the household. Sometimes we have to set aside what we want in order to best serve our kids, of course. But that doesn't require a contract, either.

2

Do what makes you happy. I don't plan on marrying again, but ya never know. People and thoughts change.

I don't think that I will ever get married . As an atheist my priorities are now different than they used to be . I am delighted to have the opportunity to listen and learn from all of you who are willing to share your thoughts and knowledge with me .

2

It would be easier if we did something like was being proposed pre 2015 when marriage was opened up to all. One of the DOMA ideas was that "the gays" could have civil unions that were legally identical to marriage (except a few things like changing names and other gender/ownership stuff, iirc) but they couldnt get married. Basically it was a big FU if you wanted your relationship to be religiously sanctioned. Personally i think all of us would be better off if the govt only dealt in civil unions and also avoided the notorious vows about forever stuff, that obviouly are misinterpreted reinterpreted and broken on a regular basis, plus don't add to anyones understanding of the nuts and bolts of a commited partnership. It would make the partnership much clearer, and those who craved the ceremony/vows and/or religious sanction, would have a better perspective on what they were "adding" to their union.
The wedding industry and churches could work out the details for those people.

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