Changing Attitudes

to marriage, divorce, family life and homosexuality in

twenty-first-century Britain and the possible reasons for this.

Divorce

Divorce in Christianity And Other Religions

The Church of England does not encourage divorce, it has the structure to help and sympathise with those who find themselves in such a situation. The Catholic Church has strict guidelines on divorce. The Church considers the bond of marriage to be a sacred bond, one that is based on life-long love, fidelity and family. Marriage is both a legal bond on earth and spiritual bond which God has witnessed. The latter cannot be broken using temporal laws Marriage, as prescribed by Allaah, is the lawful union of a man and woman based on mutual consent. Ideally, the purpose of marriage is to foster a state of tranquillity, love and compassion in Islam, but this is not always the case. Islam discourages divorce but, unlike some religions, does make provisions for divorce by either party

Family life

 Nuclear Family - Mother, father and children living together as a family unit. Re-constituted Family - Where two sets of children become one family when their divorced parents marry each other. Single Parent Family - Where children are brought up living with only one parent. Extended Families - Children, parents and other family members living together as a unit or very close to each other. Cohabiting Parents - Where children are brought up in families where the parents have not married each other.

Attitude in 1950s - Most households would be a nuclear family with the mother, father and children living together. Usually the parents were married. Attitude today More single-parent families as more couples divorce. Increase in re-constituted families a family group has re-formed with stepbrothers and stepsisters, when divorced parents re-marry and bring children from former relationships to the new marriage.
Results in 2006: More children raised by cohabiting families (11% of all families)

Today - most children live with their mother, fewer live with their natural father. Reason: improvements in fertilization techniques IVF made it possible for single women to have children.

How attitudes have changed

much more divorce more single-parent families and re-constituted families. more mothers are in paid employment more extended families more couples divorce many more single-parent families More children are being brought up by cohabiting parents.

Reasons for the Changes

popularity of cohabitation - there are more families where the parents are not married. increase in divorce an increase in re-marriage - so there are now many more re-constituted families. More mothers are in paid employment use retired grandparents or close relatives to look after their children. increase in divorce and the acceptance of unmarried mothers - there are more single-parent families. People believe what matters most is that those in the family are loved and cared for.

Homosexuality

Attitudes towards homosexuality then:

In Lots time there were a lot of homosexual men who demanded to sleep with the two angels who came to visit Lot. He insisted they took his daughters instead but they refused and still looked for the men. Those angels actually came to warn Lot of the upcoming rain of fire to kill all the men and the people of that town because of their actions. This was one of the reasons Christians believed that homosexuality was some sort of evil spirit in the men who had similar preferences. Many people Im sure just found it weird, that they fell for people of the same sex. Nobody really supported it and so people kept their real selves to themselves, which Im pretty sure kept them highly complexed with everything. The teachings of Jesus Christ encouraged a turning away from and forgiveness of sin, including those sins of sexual impurity, although Jesus never referred to homosexuality specifically. Paul used that supposedly refer to homosexuality are disputed amongst scholars. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, however, the relevant words employed in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy are the same words employed in Leviticus 18 to denote male-on-male homosexuals.

Attitudes now:
Attitudes towards homosexuality have shifted from it being a criminal offence before 1967 to the legal recognition of civil partnerships from 5th December 2005. Many people now support homosexuality, also because it is a persons free will to do whatever they want. Some people also feel sympathetic towards the homosexuals because they are treated as weird, disgusting or lets just say outcasts of the world. For example, the I called them homosexuals. People feel like they should try and bring them up so that they can experience life the way they want to. It is still a very unique topic because religion is yet against it but people want to be able to ring out what they feel in the open. It is favoured more than I was before.