Posted: Jan 28, 2012 1:46 pm
dogmadogsh1t wrote:pelfdaddy wrote:Ok, I'm in full agreement with the posting immediately above, in that everything listed that we are supposed to learn from religion is fully subsumed by other (real) disciplines. But at the risk of appearing to share the specific goals of the author in question, might I ask of this forum...
Under what category of life does marriage fall?
I admit it's merely a traditional institution, and shorn of faith-based assertions it is not a religious matter as such; neither do we need to adhere to any formal dogma on what marriage must be, however...
Marriage will probably be with us for a long time, and many of us will confess to being rather fond of it (however we choose to define it). Is it not worthy of a certain degree of ceremony, ritual or pageantry according to long-held custom? Where might future atheists perform such ceremonies, or will they perform them at all?
I was married to my wife at a rather pleasant manor house/hotel, with a civil service - it was great too. No messing getting from church to the reception either. It was get married, and then great food and drinks with family and friends until we had enough. We got married as we decided that was the best option from a legal point of view due to us wanting children, therefore marraige falls in the legal category mixed with recreation.
I have many friends who have decided not to marry, and to pro-create anyway. The only thing that they miss as far as I'm concerned is a great party and some tax/legal benefits should either of them die.
Agreed! We had a civil ceremony in a register office, but a nice, old, pretty register office with stained glass windows and oak furniture and pretty flower arrangements and all nice things an that. There were some readings from Donne and Shakespeare and a nice piece of classical music to accompany me walking in. We walked out and down the outside steps under an arch formed by my other half's teaching colleagues dressed in pretend professor gowns and caps. Then it was off to an inn for foodz and beerz. Hurrah! I'm perfectly happy for other people to never get married, to find it pointless for themselves. I suppose I can understand how they might think I did a stupid thing. But I don't see a need to justify it to them. When people tell me it's pointless and a waste of time, which has happened on this forum a few times, my immediate thought is 'who are you to tell me what's pointless for me?' I'm the only one who gets to decide that.