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05/10/12(Thu)12:57 No.3068046>>3067795
Actually,
this is not entirely true. The concept of 'civil' marriages, with
ceremonies and the like, is generally regarded to have first been
practiced in a widespread manner in Ancient Greece. As is well-known,
same-sex unions were not only tolerated in Greece, but were encouraged
and viewed as preferable to heterosexual relationships.
Men were
able to marry men, and women were able to marry women in Ancient Greece.
A much more widespread practice, however, was for a man to marry a
woman, and then have a sort of 'concubine', a male who they had an open
relationship with, and that was accepted by the wife. This generally
occurred the most within the military.
Indeed, even as late as 50
A.D. marriage wasn't viewed as a religious matter, it was a private
matter between individuals. People were generally able to marry whomever
they wanted within Roman society, be it a heterosexual or homosexual
relationship.
So, while marriage did exist in a primarily
heterosexual capacity prior to the Greeks, that form of marriage is not
the same definition as marriage as the one we have today. In practice,
it was generally just a male claiming a female to be his, and making her
his exclusive domain.
In conclusion, the concept of formalized,
civil unions that we think of as marriage today pretty much originated
with the Greeks, and thus, with pagans. So, like many things that
Christians celebrate as their own, it is an invention that belongs to
people that three hundred years ago they would have burned at the stake.
I imagine this would make many Christians angry to know, and most of
them would deny it, just like they usually deny that all of their
holidays are based on pagan tradition. |
