josephs@ttidcb.UUCP (Bill Josephs) (03/22/85)
This may not be directly responsive to recent discussion on this net, but
here goes...
At the risk of putting my foot in my mouth, let me dust off my "amateur
anthropology" degree and add my two cents to the discussion on marriage. It
seems to me that it is the purpose of a society, any society (both human and
non-human) to make sure that it survives. I'm hesitant to say that this goal
is the most important, but it certainly is very important. One of the better
ways of doing this is to institute policies that insure the quality of the
society's offspring. [good sanitation and good health practices are other
ways]. To do this various rules, regulations, institutions, etc., may be
instituted both to control (or at least influence) marriage partner selection
criteria and to make sure that their issue is healthy, happy, well educated
(propagandized), and are motivated, in turn, to continue the society to the
next generation. A very basic and primative part of societies, then, are rules
which govern who can marry, who can divorce, how children are born, what kind
of birth control may be practiced, what kind of abortion is legal, etc. etc.
The goal always being to insure continuance of the society.
In this light, many of the laws about Isreal that have been discussed here
recently, make a good deal of sense.
Bill Josephs
TTI
Santa Monica