Forward Thinking: What is the purpose of marriage?

Forward Thinking: What is the purpose of marriage? April 1, 2013

It’s that time of the month again! Head on over to Camels with Hammers to see Dan’s roundup of the posts written in response to his prompt on the ethical relevance of pride two weeks ago, and with that said, it’s time to turn to our next Forward Thinking prompt.

The Christian Right is constantly talking about the importance of “traditional marriage” while the recent focus of the LGBTQ rights movement has been on marriage equality. Every few months there is yet another article in a mainstream news outlet about the changing nature, relevance, and future of marriage. The simple reality is that marriage is fluid and changes with the needs of society. Marriage today isn’t the same as marriage two centuries ago, or two millennia ago. So, with that in mind, I give you this month’s Forward Thinking question:

What do you believe should be the purpose of marriage in our society today? What do you personally see as the purpose of marriage for your own life? And finally, what responsibilities, duties, and/or obligations do you believe marriage should entail? 

I want to invite readers to discuss this question in the comment section and to invite bloggers to respond on their own blogs. At the end of two weeks I will post a round-up of links and excerpts to both blog posts elsewhere and especially insightful comments here. Bloggers should email their links to lovejoyfeminism (at) gmail (dot) com with “Forward Thinking” in the subject line if they want to be included in the round-up.

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Note: The above question is revised. The original read as follows: What is the purpose of marriage? Further, what responsibilities, duties, and/or obligations does marriage entail? 

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Forward Thinking: A Values Development Project is an invitation to both readers and fellow bloggers to participate in forming positive values and grappling with thorny questions. Click here to read the project introduction.


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