A life founded on Faith, on a belief that there is either something or someone greater than self for which to live or that the simple fact of existence grants one the capacity, right, and perhaps even obligation to define a meaning or purpose for that existence greater than the self, requires an outlet for the expression of that Faith. Though the opportunities for outlet are many, and the more that are indulged in the more effective and purposeful one’s life will be, the first and strongest outlet is Family.
Family is the basic unit upon which any society is built. The individual is important, but essentially useless without others. Thousands of bricks can be joined together to build a house. A single brick, though, is just a brick. It is important for the brick to be formed, but until that brick is joined with others in a purpose beyond its own single existence it has no reason for being. Once joined it provides a critical element in the creation of a much greater whole.
The individual is that brick. Having accepted the responsibility of Faith to look beyond the self, the individual can join with another and build something far greater than it would be possible to accomplish alone.
The traditional Family is vitally necessary. A man and a woman and their various offspring are necessary for the simple biological imperative of combining existing DNA into new and potentially greater patterns. Without the creation and nurturing of new DNA factories, Faith and all the rest really is meaningless. Is it possible to procreate outside the bonds of a traditional Family unit? Certainly. Biology could care less where it finds its Petri dish. As long as the experiment can be conducted, biology is satisfied. The advantage to the Family is that it provides a secure, stable environment in which new generations of DNA can be protected and nurtured by one parent while needed resources from the outside can be obtained and brought home by the other. It is not the only way to accomplish this, but it is among the most effective methods a long period of trial and error has devised.
Is a traditional Family unit of male, female, and biological offspring the only viable or even sensible structure? Of course not. Two males or two females, while incapable of producing their own biological offspring between themselves, certainly have the capacity to love, nurture, and provide for the growth and development of a new human life. Look around, there are plenty of little people in need of parents to help them along. Those children may be orphans, or the cast-off detritus of the unwanted consequences from biological urges being satisfied, or simply unfortunate enough to have come into a Family unit that was emotionally or financially too unstable to rear them.
This leads to the grand bugaboo of marriage. Marriage, at it core, is a social contract between two beings to be mutually supportive and to provide for the successful generation of offspring to carry the process forward. That contract, when defined by the specific word marriage, exists within the structure of religious teaching. That contract works equally well for many who take part in no formally recognized theological structure. The debate surrounding marriage tends to focus on the religious aspect of the institution and not the social contract element. Society benefits whenever two – or more – people are formally bound to each other in a publicly proclaimed and sanctioned contract of mutual support and obligation. That support includes financial, emotional, physical, and numerous other elements. It also includes caring for the children who will carry that society forward.
As long as those who choose to bond into a non-traditional Family unit respect the choices of those who have a religious and more overtly Faith-based foundation to their unions, they deserve to have that respect returned in kind. No one has to like or agree with the choices of another, but so long as those choices are not inflicted upon unwilling participants then there is no harm. Given its religious foundations, “marriage” is an emotionally charged word. Defenders of the Faith have no choice but to unite! Perhaps it is time to create a “legal union” for purposes of the State sanctioning and bestowal of the benefits and privileges of individuals joining together, and leave it up to the various Faiths of the world to define and confer the blessings of Marriage upon those deemed deserving of that privilege. Two similar but separate institutions for two similar but separate purposes.
Having secured the Family, one is then ready to embark upon the fabrication of a Community.
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