Is marriage a right or a privilege? Upon what do you base your opinion on this matter?
Is marriage a right or a privilege?
- Thread starter PrincetonGuy
- Start date
Are we talking civil marriage or religious marriage? Civil marriage I would say is an absolute right because you can't deny a couple based on your own judgements ie: sexuality, race, religion etc. Religious marriage however is a privilege and can be given to those within a certain faith group who adhere to certain beliefs and traditions.
Upvote
0
SoldierOfTheKing
Christian Spenglerian
- Jan 6, 2006
- 9,230
- 3,041
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Presbyterian
- Marital Status
- Married
sickntired771 said:
Civil authorities can and do do precisely that. Civil marriage is what the civil authorities say it is - nothing more and nothing less.
Upvote
0
The government has, more and more taken a Libertarian approach to marriage. 50-100 years ago, it strictly controlled marriage and divorce. Interracial marriages were banned in some places, and homosexual marriage was totally out of the question. Divorces were difficult to obtain.
Marriage has become a less important social institution. The stigma of children being born out of wedlock is much less, government actually rewards the underclass for remaining unmarried by giving out social benefits more readily to unmarried parents.
What the eventual social costs will be are probably not good. I think we are already seeing the negative effects on our young. And it's sad to see the religious institutions follow suit.
Marriage has become a less important social institution. The stigma of children being born out of wedlock is much less, government actually rewards the underclass for remaining unmarried by giving out social benefits more readily to unmarried parents.
What the eventual social costs will be are probably not good. I think we are already seeing the negative effects on our young. And it's sad to see the religious institutions follow suit.
Upvote
0
Civil marriage depends on certain conditions and requirements. If these requirements are met, a marriage can not be prohibited.
So, in my understanding of these terms, it´s a civil right (which depends on certain requirements being met, as pretty much every civil right).
I base my opinion on facts observed in our western societies.
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
R
Return to Skepticism
Guest
Societally speaking, it is a right. I base this on the rights of freedoms we have developed.
Upvote
0
I would say by the same argument that civil marriage is a privilege. Marriage rights in the US have been argued in court based on "equal protection" for those who had been prohibited to marry--that if one type of marriage is permitted, then another type of marriage should be permitted.
But the fact that the government can define when a marriage when a marriage begins, when a marriage has occurred, and when a marriage end (or doesn't) indicates that it's still only a "privilege of the powerful"--it is what the group with the most guns says it is.
Upvote
0
Well, it´s just words. Is having a driver´s license a right or a privilege? We all know what the conditions are. So, in the end, we are discussing semantics.
Under certain conditions you acquire the "right" to do something. In my understanding a "privilege" is given out with a certain arbitrariness. I am not sure a "right" requires virtually everyone to have it. So I am not sure I agree with your use of language.
You are talking about determining who may marry, you aren´t talking about who may marry or not. Marriage is not a privilege of the powerful.
Don´t know about your society, but where I live we have elected representatives and stuff. Guns don´t play a part in the elections and neither in the process of determining who may drive a car or marry. But maybe you do it differently in America.
Upvote
0
"Government is power" -- George Washington
"Power comes from the barrel of a gun" -- Mao Tse Dung
Upvote
0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
SoldierOfTheKing
Christian Spenglerian
- Jan 6, 2006
- 9,230
- 3,041
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Presbyterian
- Marital Status
- Married
quatona said:
It's a privilege. You earn in by passing a drivers test, which you are eligible to take when you turn sixteen. It can be taken from you without you being convicted of a crime. I can hardly think of a better example of a privilege. Sure, it's a common privilege, but it's a privilege nonetheless.
quatona said:
Rights are given out with certain arbitrariness as well. You get the right to vote at age eighteen. What's so special about eighteen. What magical event happens on your eighteenth birthday that makes you fit to vote?
Upvote
0
LOVEthroughINTELLECT
The courage to be human
Tomorrow every government in the world could say, "We are no longer issuing marriage licenses to anybody", and there would be nothing morally wrong with that.
Asking if marriage is a right is like asking if ice cream is a right. If everybody in the world decided to stop making ice cream would that be morally wrong? If a person said, "I have the right to ice cream!", would everybody be morally obligated to make sure that ice cream is being made and distributed to him/her?
Marriage is neither a right nor a privilege. It is simply a means--an economic institution--that people created to distribute resources, just like ice cream is a product that people created to get calories, nutrients, pleasure, social interaction, etc.
Upvote
0
Then call it a "privilege".
The problem I see with this definition in the context of the dichotomy "privilege vs. right" is: It doesn´t seem to leave any space for "rights".
With "arbitrariness" I meant that it depends to a degree on a spontaneous decision of the person giving it out.
Upvote
0
dictionary.com
privilege:
privilege:
noun
1. a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most: the privileges of the very rich.
2. a special right, immunity, or exemption granted to persons in authority or office to free them from certain obligations or liabilities: the privilege of a senator to speak in Congress without danger of a libel suit.
3. a grant to an individual, corporation, etc., of a special right or immunity, under certain conditions.
4. the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.
5. any of the rights common to all citizens under a modern constitutional government: We enjoy the privileges of a free people.
6. an advantage or source of pleasure granted to a person: It's my privilege to be here.
7. Stock Exchange. an option to buy or sell stock at a stipulated price for a limited period of time, including puts, calls, spreads, and straddles.
right:1. a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most: the privileges of the very rich.
2. a special right, immunity, or exemption granted to persons in authority or office to free them from certain obligations or liabilities: the privilege of a senator to speak in Congress without danger of a libel suit.
3. a grant to an individual, corporation, etc., of a special right or immunity, under certain conditions.
4. the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.
5. any of the rights common to all citizens under a modern constitutional government: We enjoy the privileges of a free people.
6. an advantage or source of pleasure granted to a person: It's my privilege to be here.
7. Stock Exchange. an option to buy or sell stock at a stipulated price for a limited period of time, including puts, calls, spreads, and straddles.
noun
18.a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral:
You have a right to say what you please.
You have a right to say what you please.
19. Sometimes, rights. that which is due to anyone by just claim, legal guarantees, moral principles, etc.: women's rights; Freedom of speech is a right of all Americans.
20. adherence or obedience to moral and legal principles and authority.
21. that which is morally, legally, or ethically proper: to know right from wrong.
22. a moral, ethical, or legal principle considered as an underlying cause of truth, justice, morality, or ethics.
23. Sometimes, rights. the interest or ownership a person, group, or business has in property: He has a 50-percent right in a silver mine. The author controls the screen rights for the book.
24. the property itself or its value.
So, depending on the definition(s) you pick, it can be called either, both or none.20. adherence or obedience to moral and legal principles and authority.
21. that which is morally, legally, or ethically proper: to know right from wrong.
22. a moral, ethical, or legal principle considered as an underlying cause of truth, justice, morality, or ethics.
23. Sometimes, rights. the interest or ownership a person, group, or business has in property: He has a 50-percent right in a silver mine. The author controls the screen rights for the book.
24. the property itself or its value.
Upvote
0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
GoldenKingGaze
Prevent Slavery, support the persecuted.
- Mar 12, 2007
- 4,202
- 518
- Country
- Australia
- Faith
- Pentecostal
- Marital Status
- Single
- Politics
- AU-Labor
Upvote
0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
In a world where God is supreme, there are no rights; there are only privileges. When human beings demand rights in such a world, they believe themselves to be above God.
So the short answer is that marriage is a privilege, not a right, but if you are seeking to get the self-worshipping or the more wider human-worshipping to accept that....it's not going to happen unless they come to recognise both the existence and supremecy of God.
So the short answer is that marriage is a privilege, not a right, but if you are seeking to get the self-worshipping or the more wider human-worshipping to accept that....it's not going to happen unless they come to recognise both the existence and supremecy of God.
Upvote
0
Similar threads
