Agnapostate
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2008
- Messages
- 5,497
- Reaction score
- 912
- Location
- Between Hollywood and Compton.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
What is the basis for inordinate focus on the Islamic prophet Mohammed's betrothal and consummation of his relationship with the girl Aisha while there is no parallel focus on the betrothal and marriage of Mary to Joseph despite the statement in the book of Matthew that Joseph "knew" Mary after the birth of Jesus, which would have occurred in her early teens if traditional customs were being adhered to? While I understand the basis for claims that sexual interactions between older men and young adolescents are less unethical than sexual interactions between older men and (presumably, possibly not) prepubescent girls, I'm certain that there would still be a conclusion that such conduct was still somewhat unethical nonetheless.
There seems to be an attempt to describe child marriage as a practice uniquely supported by Islamic doctrines, which accounts for its nature as a staple of authoritarian marriage arrangements in fundamentalist Islamic society today...despite the fact that there are also regional customs associated with the nature of such marriage arrangements entirely detached from Islam. It should not be forgotten that marriage and sexual relations between older men and young adolescent females was a staple of colonial U.S. history also, and is really only a recently abolished practice. Despite this, there is almost no consideration of the fact that the parents (or mother and "stepfather") of the central figure of the Christian religion seem to have been in an arrangement that would be today described as a "child marriage."
I've never condoned the nature of marriage in any fundamentalist religious society; I'm merely pointing out the inconsistency of those who would condemn that practice (usually as a wider element of expressing absurd geopolitical views regarding Islam), while ignoring the fact that Mary was likely a young teenager at the time of her wedding to Joseph (and younger still at the time of betrothal), while Joseph was likely significantly older and probably also old enough to be her father, as he is not mentioned in the later life of Jesus, indicating that his death occurred some time between Jesus's activity in Jerusalem at the age of 12 and the beginning of his ministry at age 30.
Perhaps we can connect a greater amount of religious influence on a society's public mores with a greater willingness to tolerate authoritarian social arrangements such as coerced marriage, especially the openly hierarchical monotheisms of Christianity and Islam...rather than any specific doctrines or tenets of the latter religion itself?
There seems to be an attempt to describe child marriage as a practice uniquely supported by Islamic doctrines, which accounts for its nature as a staple of authoritarian marriage arrangements in fundamentalist Islamic society today...despite the fact that there are also regional customs associated with the nature of such marriage arrangements entirely detached from Islam. It should not be forgotten that marriage and sexual relations between older men and young adolescent females was a staple of colonial U.S. history also, and is really only a recently abolished practice. Despite this, there is almost no consideration of the fact that the parents (or mother and "stepfather") of the central figure of the Christian religion seem to have been in an arrangement that would be today described as a "child marriage."
I've never condoned the nature of marriage in any fundamentalist religious society; I'm merely pointing out the inconsistency of those who would condemn that practice (usually as a wider element of expressing absurd geopolitical views regarding Islam), while ignoring the fact that Mary was likely a young teenager at the time of her wedding to Joseph (and younger still at the time of betrothal), while Joseph was likely significantly older and probably also old enough to be her father, as he is not mentioned in the later life of Jesus, indicating that his death occurred some time between Jesus's activity in Jerusalem at the age of 12 and the beginning of his ministry at age 30.
Perhaps we can connect a greater amount of religious influence on a society's public mores with a greater willingness to tolerate authoritarian social arrangements such as coerced marriage, especially the openly hierarchical monotheisms of Christianity and Islam...rather than any specific doctrines or tenets of the latter religion itself?