Again, you are describing 'mating rituals' and 'life-long pairing of mates'. Neither of those is a marriage. Animals that mate and pair for life don't go through a ceremony first, wherein other animals acknowledge and accept that pairing, with a justice-of-the-flock giving its blessing.
You're so funny. I love the way you pretend you can't comprehend details of what people write.
I can't wait to see more of your work. It's a hoot.
I'm finding it hard to believe that there was a legal structure developed 5,000 years ago that included marriage, yet that was completely separate from any religious or spiritual basis. Not just separate, but not even evolved from a religious or spiritual basis.
Church and state were tightly coupled in early human history (and many parts later too). That you don't find a legal framework completely detached from spirituality isn't evidence that there is causation between marriage and spiritual (Correlation does not imply causation). It's just evidence that church and state were tightly coupled.
That wasn't ledow's argument though. He stated "Marriage pre-dates religion."
For that to be true, it would require a legal framework (since marriage has to come from some authority higher than the couple getting married) that came into existence among a group of people, before that same group started to have religious or spiritual beliefs. And since it seems all groups developed religious or spiritual beliefs very early, his argument would require the date of creation of a purely civil government to be pushed back thousands of years.
Maybe ledow interprets 'marriage' as two people mating, or even forming a life-long bond, without any authority sanctioning it. But that isn't marriage, by any definition in common use.
Please don't give them any ideas.
It's impossible to prove, but even Judaism admits that before Judaism there was marriage.
And before Judaism started, people believed in gods.
I'm finding it hard to believe that there was a legal structure developed 5,000 years ago that included marriage, yet that was completely separate from any religious or spiritual basis. Not just separate, but not even evolved from a religious or spiritual basis.
If any such legal system existed in the time before Judaism, or in any of the surrounding concurrent cultures, I'm sure there are academic sources outlining them.
Let me point out, I think that government should be out of marriage completely, since it is a personal issue. Two people don't declare their undying love because the government allows it. But declaring their undying love shouldn't change any legal status they have. What does a declaration of undying love have to do with anything in secular law?
???
You think vi and emacs are only 20 years old?
Noob.
What if he works for a company other than IBM?
Wait, wait, wait.
Does the carpet match the drapes? That's all I care about.
I would love to hear a rational explanation for that one.
I just installed Server 2012 for a client, and it was my first view of it. Also, I don't use Windows 8, so am not used to the Metro crap either.
Trying to find the usual server configuration tools is ridiculous now. It's not that they are completely hidden like it Win8 (move mouse to random corner, something useful may appear), but trying to use them without having to escape from the metro tile field first is a nightmare.
... I have replaced half a dozen SSD's that weren't really used for much other than OS data. What does that tell you?
OS data is poisonous?
Marriage was invented by the religious leaders, of all ancient civilizations, as a way to control their people. I say do away with all marriage as a horrible offense against humanity.
By the way, my wife doesn't (necessarily) agree with me.
How about something I will comprehend? You haven't managed to do that in your response.
I am not religious. I am not atheist. I am not agnostic. I don't care if God exists, or Zeus, or Vishnu, or Atius Tirawa, or any other deity.
So, for this non-religious person's sake, explain how religious people can't talk about "right and wrong". How do non-religious people define "right and wrong"? Is something "right" because the law says it is OK? Are all illegal activities "wrong"? I mention the law because if you don't use a church's definition of "right and wrong" do you use the government's definition instead?
As for marriage having nothing to do with a man and a woman, only with two people in love, how do you explain the marriages of royalty that ended wars between European countries not so long ago? Those marriages weren't valid in your eyes because they weren't for love?
Marriage pre-dates religion.
Proof?
Or do you define religion as "the Catholic Church"?
That's why I use Speed Dial addon. I get to choose which sites are shown, and their placement.
First row: Google, Google Image, Google Maps, Google Translate (for all we hate Google, they are useful as hell)
Second: three sites that outsource jobs to me, then Yahoo
Third row: my bank, customer portal, Ebay, webmail portal
Why would any serious user let the browser pick the sites shown on a new tab?
Have you checked your system time?
Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
