California overturns ban on same-sex marriage

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Skie

Sean, it's not that your point has been "run into the ground", it's that I think marriage as an institution has. The number of people who are "flippant" about marriage is increasing and while this could suddenly change, I don't see it coming without some significant changes to society. On top of that, there seems to be a trend where couples aren't even bothering getting married. It appears to me that marriage is being taken less and less seriously every day.

It seems to me that the value isn't in marriage, but in the character of the people who maintain their vows.

But you're still missing my point. For the sake of argument, let's assume your assertion is correct. Well, simply because more people are taking marriage less seriously today does not inherently mean marriage is less important in helping maintain and advance a healthy society. Consider this as a parallel example - more people today have decided not to take maintaining a healthy diet seriously, and yet maintaining a healthy diet remains inherently important regardless.

And to address your final sentence, the value of marriage is that it plays a significant role in building the character you speak of when taken seriously - just as a healthy diet helps make your body stronger in most cases. In fact, next to becoming a parent, I'd say marriage is probably the biggest character building institution you can enter into. The level of commitment, understanding, compromise, responsibility and selflessness involved in publicly and legally binding your entire life to another person is simply unparalleled. You have yet to counter this fact in any serious way.