Not that I agree with it, but here’s an editorial by some lady entitled: Why plural marriages make sense
I do think conservative Christians idolize the traditional, nuclear family, which results in ostracizing singles, the childless, and the divorced and that is wrong and bad, but I’m not fully on board with this view proposed in this piece by Janet Hardy that say, two lions, a panda, two lesbians, a transgender and a scooter all equals to “family.”
(Link): Why plural marriages make sense
- By Janet W. Hardy
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
– Janet Hardy: It is tempting to think of nuclear family as an ideal and universal norm
– Hardy: Plural marriage and “alternative families” based on love and mutual consent work
– She says nuclear family is an uncomfortable fit for many, an impossible dream for others
– Hardy: We should not expect all to conform to an unrealistic standard for the rest of history
I grew up in the early 1960s in an affluent suburb on the East Coast. Every child I knew went home to a family that looked like mine: a mom at home waiting for us, and a dad who showed up a few hours later in time for dinner.
How tempting it is to remember such households as an ideal and universal norm. But they were rarely ideal, and they were never universal.
Let’s not discuss the stresses that affected those nuclear families. Let’s just talk about the innumerable people who, by virtue of race, background, health or circumstance, could not — or did not want to — live in such families.
Instead, they lived in single-parent households, in households with two men or two women, in extended families of grandparents and aunts and grown siblings, in households where multiple adults pooled money and skills to make ends meet, and in many other configurations.
Back then, it never occurred to the people I knew to call those configurations “families.”
Today, in a more tolerant era, that old standard of the nuclear family is still encoded in our laws and our tax code, as well as in the antiquated and judgmental phrase “family values.”
Among my own circle of acquaintances, I hold many “alternative families” close to my heart:
— A man and two women who have been raising their two children together from infancy through high school.
— Three men who have shared a loving household for nearly 20 years.
— A “core couple,” married for many decades, who have consistently surrounded themselves with long-term, live-in lovers.
Click the link at the top to read the rest.
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Related posts this blog:
(Link): Conservative Christianity Stuck in 1950s Leave it To Beaver-ville
(Link): Study: Couples Without Children Have Happier Marriages / Study: Having Kids Ruins Your Life
(Link): Do You Rate Your Family Too High? (Christians Who Idolize the Family) (article)
(Link): Family as “The” Backbone of Society? – It’s Not In The Bible
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