Posted by CB on December 20, 2010 at 09:49:53
In Reply to: Re: Am I pouring oil in the fire?...woman dies after caning... posted by Farmer on December 20, 2010 at 02:30:19:
I see a difference between culture and the teachings of a religion. Very often, religious teaching is used to rationalize/justify cultural practices. And the reverse happens--cultural practices are used to interpret religious teachings.
This phenomenon is particularly true where women are concerned, because religion is used to justify a culture of male domination as revealed truth. When cultural practices appear in scripture, they are sometimes conflated to be part of the esstential message of the revelation.
Historically, Christian cultures have been as brutal and backward as some Islamic cultures are today. E.g., burning women as witches, the Inquisition, scriptural justification of slavery and the genocide of native peoples in the New World.
To the extent that modern "Christian" societies of the West are more enlightened, it's because they've become more secular. That's "secular" in the sense that the authority of the state to punish rule breakers is not based on someone's interpretation of religious law but on civil codes.
Some people will claim that out contemporary laws are based on the Ten Commandments. That's only partially true. Contemporary western states do not view adultry as as a felony punishable by death, whereas that is the Levitical sentence for the crime. Obviously, our system of laws as they relate to marriage has been secularized.
The reason I'm interested in this topic is because I feel very strongly that Big Brother has no place in people's bedrooms. Whomever I choose to love and the conditions under which I choose to love should not be a matter for criminal courts. The only reason it comes up as a subject for civil law (as in the demand for same-sex marriage) is due to property rights issues.
Under civil law in a secular state, marriage is essentially a business arrangement. That doesn't mean the partners can't love each other. It just means that what the civil law governs--bottom law--is shared property. Until the 10th century in Western Europe, marriage was strictly a private matter between families. It wasn't until the 13th century that the church took charge of proceedings. I see the legalization of same-sex marriage as a way to get the church out of the business arrangement.
If you want to spiritualize marriage as a union sanctified by God, that is a matter to take up under the governance of your chosen church.