Redefining Marriage

First of all, I understand this is a sensitive topic, so I want to direct everyone here. This website, created and supported by the Church does a much better job approaching this topic than I do!

But I want to focus on is the issue of redefining marriage. Historically, there are many examples of the importance of marriage to a society as a whole. (Prepare for a whole lot of quotes, but I promise, they're good!)
~Aristotle said that marriage is "the foundation of the republic and the prototype of friendship."
~The textbook, on page 279 says, "Plato and Aristotle prescribed a set of laws governing the ideal ages, qualities, and duties of husband and wife to each other and to their children 'to ensure that marital couples would remain bonded together for the sake of their children.'"
~St. Augustine said marriage is a "faithful and sincere fellowship... the seedbed of a city... the foundation of domestic peace."
~St. John Chrysostom said, "The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together.... Because when harmony prevails, the children are raised well, the household is kept in order, and neighbors and relatives praise the result. Great benefits, both for families and states, are thus produced."

                                                Still there? Hang with me for just two more!

~David W. Murray, an anthropologist, said, "Marriage is a society's cultural infrastructure." Regarding this, the text states, "All communities are built upon an infrastructure that consists of the basic institutions on which the preservation and functioning of the community are dependent. Marriage and marital families are part of the substructure, the foundation for social relations. Societies and communities with weak and unstable marriages and families have weak and unstable (typically corrupt and dysfunctional) economic, social, and political relations, as well, and concomitantly, significant impediments to growth and development." (p.281) 

~The text also states, "In these times of increasing individualism, isolation, and alienation in post-industrial societies, family bonds and relations are waning... family integrity has declined as centrifugal forces such as child-bearing out of wedlock, nonmarital cohabitation, and divorce have increased, fragmenting families. The decline in family integrity is accompanied by and associated with the decline in civic participation and community life. The relationship between family disintegration and loss of civic commitment is complex, but undeniably there is a significant relationship." (p.280)

Now this is the point I wanted to get to....

"Not all intimate relationships are equal; not all provide the same benefits for adults or the same advantages for children. Marriage, the legal union of a man and a woman, creates a uniquely powerful and positive family relationship that benefits not only those members of the relationship and their family, but all of society. Mere legal positivism in the form of calling other relationships 'marriages' does not magically transform them into real marriages or change their nature, characteristics, or qualities into those of dual-gender marriages." (p. 281)

So, the point I am trying to get at is that same-sex marriage really does effect everyone (as does single parenting). Take religion out of it and get down to the very core. The evidence shows that traditional marriage, between a man and a woman, creates stable homes, stable communities, stable economies, and stable nations. It's hard to deny hundreds of years of history.