ABANDONING THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MARRIAGE

Thousands of years ago – so the story is told in the first book of Kings – Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and challenged his people as to which beliefs they would maintain, which deity they would follow. “How long will you waver between two opinions?” he asked. “If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

Western societies have rather decisively cast off their Christian heritage when it comes to family life. The no-fault divorce revolution was just one of many social changes concerning marriage, family, and sexuality that occurred from the 1960s onward. The notion that marriage was, at least in principle, a lifelong commitment has given way to a practice of free terminability in many, but not all, western countries. Marriage is also just one choice of partnering now; many people choose to live together without marrying either as a life-stage on the way to marriage (perhaps with that partner, perhaps with another) or as an alternative to marriage. Same-sex relationships are recognized in various ways in many jurisdictions, some granting the right to marry, others giving legal effect to same-sex relationships through registered partnerships or civil unions. A plurality of forms of legal recognition has emerged for domestic relationships. In the Netherlands, for example, both heterosexual couples and homosexual couples may enter into either marriages or registered partnerships with almost identical consequences, or live together without formal recognition. There is a smorgasbord of choice.