No, the problem is that they ARE seperate things, but have failed to be recognized as such. A "marriage license" in not, in fact, the legal right to marry religiously, it's the right to form a civil union. Also, marriage has never considered women to be property. The vows and expectations of society, however, have in the past done so. I agree, however, with your point: people don't see that. People see the peer pressure, the tradition, and the benefits of the resulting civil union (though they may not recognize that tidbit). This is why legal divorce and divorce by religion are also two seperate things. Legal divorce means breaking the civil union (and thereby distributing goods, and, unfortunately, children), while a religious divorce has no legal impact (the Pope annuling a marriage doesn't change the legal fact). So, somewhere along the way, the two terms become one term...and they NEED to be seperated again in the public view for this "issue" to have any hope of being properly resolved. Which seems to have about a snowball's chance in hell...
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