Is the Christian Men’s Marriage Movement Covering Up the "Dying Pains?"

Religion is part of society and as near as anyone can tell, has been part of any given human society since we realized we were alive. That said, it will likely always be around, at least until, if it ever happens, the "true nature of reality" is somehow made known to all of us in no uncertain, arguable terms. Religion tries to address this concern but does so in uncertain, arguable terms. That is why there is more than one of them.

Any given religion (one big enough to have a good number of people devoted to it) constitutes an institution of the society it exists in. A person can have religious views of one kind or another, or be 'spiritual' and still not count him or herself as a participant in that institution. In some places one is required to participate or else face persecution, penalties of various kinds, etc., but here in the US of A, such is not the case. But nonetheless, it is there.

Institutions have this way of buttressing each other, which is one of the ways they get established as such. If a rising institution of some kind was too incompatible with the existing ones, it would likely be stopped by them. So if there is a given number of institutions in a given society, chances are, they buttress each other due to similar goals/interests. Religion, marriage, and government are all institutions, among others. Not all their interests and goals will dovetail and sometimes they will come into out and out conflict (eg: a communist gov'ts vs. any religion) but for the most part, they tend to cooperate.

Religion likes marriage-- a lot. That is because as an institution it helps produce adherents. One of the first things religions address as soon as they emerge as institutions is how to arrange affairs between the sexes. All of them, without exception, will insist that reproduction and domestic association (cohabitation) is a paramount virtue, provided it is done within the context of the religion (ie, marriage). Even Buddhism, a religion that teaches that life is suffering, encourages marriage and reproduction-- contrary to the advice of its own founder! How to explain this? Buddhism is a religion, but Buddha was a man. Same thing for Christianity and Christ, Mohamed and Islam, etc., etc.

There is no way in heck :) that a religious organization or institution will get behind a "marriage strike" for any reason. It may insist its representatives be unmarried, such as with the Catholic church. It may insist that divorce is permissible and in some cases the best thing for people to do, though it will not encourage it. It may even assert that to reproduce can itself be an act that is not to be desired (ie, out of wedlock, bad parental health, or for some other specific reason). It will never say "On the whole, people shouldn't marry or have kids." It will always say, "On the whole, people should marry and have kids." That is because the institution's interests lie overwhelmingly in that direction. It really is that simple.

Most intelligent young men today are refusing marriage. Even more shun religion.

There is no benefit in either, seeing as both institutions are about enslaving men.

To quote Christopher Hitchens in his excellent book - God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything --

"As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all hard-won human attainments..."

IMHO most westernized cultures seem to be doing the typical head in the sand routine while marriage dies on the vine. the inability of the churches to deal w/ the problem underlies a deep structural flaw. those who live their entire lives in a democracy either don't understand or tend to forget that the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom, not a democracy. Christians are to live in the world, but not to be of the world. this concept takes wisdom to fully understand. men and women of God are instructed to serve God, not women. seizing Churches and standing w/ a robe on while proclaiming you have authority before God, because you say so, don't make it so. defiling marriage, enslaving men w/ corrupt laws only destroys marriage, the family and eventually society itself. remember, the Kingdom of God cannot be taken by force.

just my humble opinion.

Men do. The Bonnie & Clyde's of male oppression are chivalry and female greed/vanity.

"the most outrageous aspect is the total and i mean TOTAL silence from women. hell, they could care less. makes me sick." ~ donnieboy5

"Feminism: The most organized form of nagging" ~ Peter Zohrab

*E-Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/No_Feminazis

It's true that religion does not force men to serve women.

But once an ideology of submission to superstitions has been implanted, typically during childhood, then force is unnecessary, because the subject has already colonized his/her own thinking.

So, once indoctrinated to believe in such idiotic concepts like "everlasting life in the hereafter,", "sin," and "god," -- accepting the illogic of such a simple lie like feminism is just an ordinary, natural, unquestioned submission to the regime of magical thinking.

The return of the repressed is always a bitch, however...

Women and chivalrous men are. I know plenty of religious people that don't take any shit from women and plenty of people that claim they are not religious and rail against it -- like you are doing -- while espousing feminist ideals such as made-up goddess history, pro-black WOMAN rhetoric and claimed affiliation with so-called ancient secret societies.

As a matter of fact I have seen more non-religious people bash men than those with a religion personally. So, as I said that's not the problem in a nut shell. The MAIN problem is women and men that want to protect women at any cost...even at the expense of another man. Eliminate those two negative(i.e. female greed and vanity and male chivalry) and we will be on our way to becoming a great nation.

Sit around and attack religion and you're just wasting time and sounding like a Da Vinci Code reader.

I'm not religious but I know that some religious people do well. It's not religion that's bringing us down it is greed and vanity from women, greed from corporations and chivalry from men.

"the most outrageous aspect is the total and i mean TOTAL silence from women. hell, they could care less. makes me sick." ~ donnieboy5

"Feminism: The most organized form of nagging" ~ Peter Zohrab

*E-Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/No_Feminazis

We need to redefine "chivalry" because every time we read it, it comes across as a positive thing. How can you castigate an idea while complimenting it?

It would be like claiming a man is evil by saying he's strong and powerful. Oh wait, the feminists have already gotten halfway there.

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http://petepatriarch.wordpress.com - Current.

mcc99 excellent prose and analysis.

It is obvious that all religious institutions encourage the propogation of future adherents.

But in our contemporary times, it seems that more and more, the "religious" sentiment is all about blowing yourself up, or blowing up the faithful adversary to your particular creed, i.e. superstition.

The majority of Christian evangelicals favor the death penalty. Did they refuse to read the New Testament? Or was its message simply over their heads?

Islam obviously has its hands full with the zealotry of self-immolation.

Which of course reminds one of the Buddhist monk who torched himself in protest during the Vietnam war. (He did no harm to anyone other than himself...)

So, among the believers of whatever faith, there is no lack of willing and fatal incredulity.

"We first have to transcend our prehistory, and escape the gnarled hands which reach out to drag us back to the catacombs and the reeking altars and the guilty pleasures of subjection and abjection. "Know yourself," said the Greeks, gently suggesting the consolations of philosophy. To clear the mind for this project, it has become necessary to know the enemy, and to prepare to fight it."

(Christopher Hitchens -- God Is Not Great, 2007)

All religious faith depends upon the human vulnerability to seek meaning beyond the here and now.

In other words, a propensity for projection, denial, and illogic.

Like any ordinary animal.

I find religion strongly related to marriage but how can a person Stop Divorce when his/her partner is so stubborn ?