Religion and divorce

Many countries in Europe had prohibited divorce, as it is not allowed by the Catholic Church. Sometimes citizens travelled to other jurisdictions to obtain a divorce. No Catholic Church will remarry divorced persons, unless they previously have their marriage annulled, which is only possible in some circumstances. In Islam it is permissible to divorce, in the Islamic law and marital jurisprudence, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq. Indian religions do not accept divorce.

Christianity

Cartoon parodying the 1906 divorce proceedings of Anna Gould (an American heiress and socialite) and Boni de Castellane (a French nobleman) in Paris, France. Boni de Castellane then sought an annulment from the Vatican so that he could be free to remarry in the Church. The annulment case was not finally settled until 1924, when the highest Vatican tribunal upheld the validity of the marriage and denied the annulment.

All Christian denominations affirm that marriage is intended as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, but vary in their response to its dissolubility through divorce. The Roman Catholic Church treats all consummated sacramental marriages as permanent during the life of the spouses, and therefore does not allow remarriage after a divorce if the other spouse still lives and the marriage has not been annulled. However, divorced Catholics are still welcome to participate fully in the life of the church so long as they have not remarried against church law, and the Catholic Church generally requires civil divorce or annulment procedures to have been completed before it will consider annulment cases. Annulment is not the same as divorce - it is a declaration that the marriage was never valid to begin with.^[1] Other Christian denominations, including the Eastern Orthodox Church and many Protestant churches, will allow both divorce and remarriage even with a surviving former spouse, at least under certain conditions. In societies that practised Puritanism, divorce was allowed if one partner in the marriage was not completely satisfied with the other, and remarriage was also allowed. The Church of England also took an indissolublist line until 2002, when it agreed to allow a divorced person to remarry in church under exceptional circumstances.^[1]

Bible commentary on divorce comes primarily from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the epistles of Paul. Jesus taught on the subject of divorce in three of the Gospels, and Paul gives a rather extensive treatment of the subject in his First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 7: "Let not the wife depart from her husband...let not the husband put away his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), but he also includes the Pauline privilege. He again alludes to his position on divorce in his Epistle to the Romans, albeit an allegory, when he states "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. . . . So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress" (Romans 7:2-3).

In Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:1-10 and Mark 10:1-5, Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees over divorce concerning their well-known controversy between Hillel and Shammai about Deuteronomy 24:1-4—as evidenced in Nashim Gittin 9:10 of the Mishnah. Do Jesus’ answers to the Pharisees also pertain to Christians? Are Christians who adopt these teachings Judaizers? The differences in opinions about these questions usually arise over whether Jesus opposed the Law of Moses or just some of the viewpoints of the Pharisees, and whether Jesus just addressed a Jewish audience or expanded his audience to include Christians, for example "all nations" as in the Great Commission. Since Deuteronomy 24:1-4 did not give Jewish women the right to directly initiate a divorce (See Agunah), did Jesus' answers "in the house" to his disciples expand the rights of women or did they merely acknowledge that some Jewish women, such as Herodias who divorced Herod Boethus, were wrongfully taking rights because Jewish women were being assimilated by other cultures? (See Matthew 14:3-4, Mark 10:10-12.) In other words, did Jesus confine his remarks to the Pharisaical questions, and did he appeal to his own authority by refuting the oral authority of the Pharisees with the formula "You have heard...But I say to you" in Matthew 5:20-48? Expressions used by Jesus such as "you have heard", "it hath been said", "it is written", "have you never read", "keep the commandments", "why do you break the commandments with your traditions?" and "what did Moses Command you?" seem to indicate that Jesus generally respected the Hebrew Bible and sometimes opposed Pharisaical Opinions. He was critical of the Pharisees.

Indian religions

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, applicable to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains in India, makes provision for divorce under some circumstances.

Buddhism has no religious concept of marriage (see Buddhist view of marriage). In Buddhism, marriage is a secular affair, subject to local customs.

Islam

In Islam, divorce is permitted. Islam considers marriage to be a legal contract; and the act of obtaining a divorce is essentially the act of legally dissolving the contract. One of key verses defining the right of divorce of man and woman states

"Divorced women remain in waiting for three [menstrual] periods, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs if they believe in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands have more right to take them back in this [period] if they want reconciliation. And due to the wives is similar to what is expected of them, according to what is reasonable. But the men have a degree over them [in responsibility and authority]. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.

Divorce is twice. Then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment. And it is not lawful for you to take anything of what you have given them unless both fear that they will not be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah. But if you fear that they will not keep [within] the limits of Allah , then there is no blame upon either of them concerning that by which she ransoms herself. These are the limits of Allah, so do not transgress them. And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah - it is those who are the wrongdoers." (Al-Quran: 2:228-229)

In Islamic law and marital jurisprudence, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq.^[2] However, divorce is considered the most hated of all lawful things in the sight of Allah.^[3]

In the medieval Islamic world and the Ottoman Empire, the rate of divorce was higher than it is today in the modern Middle East, which now has generally low rates of divorce.^[4] In 15th century Egypt, Al-Sakhawi recorded the marital history of 500 women, the largest sample on marriage in the Middle Ages, and found that at least a third of all women in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria married more than once, with many marrying three or more times. According to Al-Sakhawi, as many as three out of ten marriages in 15th century Cairo ended in divorce.^[5] In the early 20th century, some villages in western Java and the Malay peninsula had divorce rates as high as 70%.^[4]

According to Sharia law, if a man initiates the divorce, there is a required waiting period of three menstrual periods for a normal woman; for a woman who has problems with her periods and cannot be examined, then the time is 3 months. A man must announce his intentions, in the presence of two qualified witnesses, effectively "divorcing", but still honour his obligations towards his wife (i.e. feed and clothe her) - during which time the couple can reconcile. If the woman is pregnant by that man, she can only leave his house after she has given birth. This period of stay is called the idaat period. If he completes the three-month period, and still wishes to divorce his wife, then the marriage no longer exists.

According to Shariah Law, woman also has right to divorce called hulu. According to Shariah Law, a woman may ask a court for a divorce, she has to forfeit her right to receive mehir, which is a good or money determined before the marriage and given to the woman by the man in case of divorce. However, a woman can still receive her alimony still because in Shariah Law, a woman receives both mehir and nafaka (alimony) after divorce. In addition, a woman may pay more or less than the cost of the mehir to divorce depending on conditions.

Remarriage is allowed in Islam but there is a condition: after three court stated divorces between a man and a woman, the woman may marry any man except her previous husband before remarrying. Yet, this should be a real marriage. Marrying in order to remarry and then to divorce is not allowed in Islam. Under natural conditions of divorce or death of recent husband, the woman may remarry her previous husband all following the regulations permitted by Qur'an and Shariah.

Judaism

Judaism has always accepted divorce as a fact of life, though an unfortunate one: e.g., see Deuteronomy chapters 22 and 24. Judaism generally maintains that it is better for a couple to divorce than to remain together in a state of bitterness and strife. It is said that shalom bayit (domestic harmony) is a desirable state.^[6]

In general, it is accepted that for a Jewish divorce to be effective the husband must hand to the wife, and not vice versa, a bill of divorcement, called a get, which also acts as proof of the divorce. From ancient times, the get was considered to be very important to show all those who needed to have proof that the woman was in fact free from the previous marriage and free to remarry. In Jewish law, besides other things, the consequences of a woman remarrying and having a child while still legally married to another is profound: the child would be a mamzer, to be avoided at any cost. Also, the woman would be committing adultery should she remarry while still legally married to another. An enactment called Herem de-Rabbenu Gershom (literally, the proscription of Rabbenu Gershom)--accepted universally throughout European Jewish communities—prohibited a husband from divorcing his wife against her will.^[7]

In Jewish law divorce is an act of the parties to the marriage, which is different from the approach adopted by many other legal systems. That is, a Jewish divorce does not require a decree from a court. The function of the court, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is to decide whether the husband should be compelled to give the get or for the wife to accept the get. But, notwithstanding any such ruling, the parties remain married until such time as the husband actually delivers the get.

Jewish law, in effect, does not require proof or even an allegation of moral or other fault by either party. In the first place, as noted above, if both parties agree to a divorce and follow the prescribed procedure, then the court would not need to establish responsibility for the marriage break-down. In the second place, if either party does not wish to continue co-habiting with the other is sufficient grounds for divorce. (Anything else, it is said, would amount to rape of the woman.) In this sense it is a "no-fault" approach to divorce. This approach has been accepted for thousands of years . It was the approach advocated by followers of Hillel, a very influential school of thought in ancient Judea, which predated the current era. This is the approach which is now generally accepted in most, if not all, Jewish communities around the world.

On the other hand, the refusal of a husband to give his wife a get (the document) can be for purely vindictive or even extortion motives. This situation has resulted in numerous social problems in modern times. For example, where pre-nuptial agreements are enforceable in civil courts, appropriate provisions may be made to compel the giving of the get by the husband in the event of a civil divorce being obtained. A woman who has been refused a get is typically referred to as an "agunah".

A wife can initiate a divorce process on several grounds (including lack of satisfaction in her sexual life). However, this right extends only so far as petitioning a court to force her husband to divorce her. Also see Jewish Attitude Toward Divorce.^[8] and Get in the Conflict of Laws.

Furthermore, from the philosophical and mystical point of view, divorce is a unique procedure of tremendous importance and complexity, because it nullifies the holiest of connections that can exist in the Universe (similar to a connection between a person and God). Because of the danger of the birth of illegitimate children (mamzerim) if the process is not performed properly, and because divorce law is extraordinarily complex, the process is generally supervised by experts.

In some Jewish mythologies, Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith who left him. The earliest historically documentation of this legend appears in the 8th-10th centuries Alphabet of Ben Sira. Whether this particular tradition is older is not known.

Others

Greek mythology

After finding he intended to marry Glauce; for what Jason said was political ties; Medea murdered Glauce and her father with a burning dress; than proceeded to kill her own children Tisander and Alcimenes fearing they would be imprisoned. Afterwords she left to Athens on a chariot of dragons given to her by her grandfather Helios.^[9]

Wicca

The Wiccan equivalent of a divorce is described as a handparting. Wiccans traditionally see either a high priest or high priestess to discuss things out before a divorce.^[10] However a handfasting (marriage) that falls apart peacefully does not necessarily need a handparting.^[11]

Unitarian Universalism

In Unitarian Universalism, divorce is allowed and should be a decision by the individual person and is seen as ending a rite of passage. Such divorces have sometimes taken the form of divorce rituals as far back as the 1960s. Divorces are largely seen as a life choice.^[12]

See also

• 2013 New York divorce torture plot

References

Also:

• Amato, Paul R. and Alan Booth. A Generation at Risk: Growing Up in an Era of Family Upheaval. Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-674-29283-9 and ISBN 0-674-00398-5. Reviews and information at
• Gallagher, Maggie. "The Abolition of Marriage." Regnery Publishing, 1996. ISBN 0-89526-464-1.
• Lester, David. "Time-Series Versus Regional Correlates of Rates of Personal Violence." Death Studies 1993: 529-534.
• McLanahan, Sara and Gary Sandefur. Growing Up with a Single Parent; What Hurts, What Helps. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994: 82.
• Morowitz, Harold J. "Hiding in the Hammond Report." Hospital Practice August 1975; 39.
• Office for National Statistics (UK). Mortality Statistics: Childhood, Infant and Perinatal, Review of the Registrar General on Deaths in England and Wales, 2000, Series DH3 33, 2002.
• U.S. Bureau of the Census. Marriage and Divorce. General US survey information.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Survey of Divorce (link obsolete).