A teaching of Jesus' during The Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus teaches that the only reason that a couple should get divorced is unfaithfulness.

Again, I have trouble accepting this blindly. It's common sense that people can make the wrong decision about a relationship, that even years into a marriage people change, or circumstances force people apart. I don't accept that all relationships are salvageable - however much I want the world to be perfect and happy.

My parent divorced when I was 8 years old. This destroyed the happy confident child that was me, but it changed my Mother from a nervous, scared, weak, submissive woman whom people said would be on welfare within a year. It changed her into a happy, confident, silly (in the best possible way), independent woman with her own house and good qualifications. I can't accept that my Mum is somehow doomed in God's eyes; I can't fathom someone thinking that my Mum will somehow be turned away from Heaven


It's really a shame that divorce is so common these days. When my dad left home, around the time I was 14, it was a very big deal. I don't think I had one other friend at school who was the product of a broken marriage. This phenomenon has a nuclear effect on kids; those who think it doesn't are just kidding themselves. It changed my life in ways that are so profound that, all these years later, I still reel when I think about what might have been.

It did make me promise myself that when or if I ever got married, there would be no divorce. So far so good. But I can tell you, it's a lot of hard work.

When Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh in Mississippi in 1942 - died April 6, 1998) came out with this song in December of 1967, it meant quite a lot to a whole slew of white trash parents. It was written by Bobby Braddock and Curley Putman.






D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Our little boy is four years old and quite a little man
So we spell out the words we don't want him to understand
Like T-O-Y or maybe S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E
But the words we're hiding from him now
Tear the heart right out of me.

Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final today
Me and little J-O-E will be goin' away
I love you both and it will be pure H-E-double-L for me
Oh, I wish that we could stop this D-I-V-O-R-C-E.


(Second verse removed for © compliance.)

Divorce, the disruption, by the act of law, of the conjugal tie, made by a competent court on due cause shown. In the United States, jurisdiction in divorce cases is usually conferred on the law courts by the statutes in the different States, there being no ecclesiastical courts in the English sense of that term. The causes of divorce enumerated in these statutes are by no means uniform in relation to the various States; South Carolina allows no divorce under any circumstances, but in most of the States divorce may be granted on any of the following grounds: Adultery, conviction of felony, cruel and inhuman treatment, willful desertion for periods varying from one to three years, habitual drunkenness, impotency, or neglect to support the wife.

The want of harmony in the legislation of the different States on this subject has led to very great confusion and conflict in regard to the rights and liabilities growing out of divorce against non-residents of the State where granted, and some uniform system of laws on the subject is greatly needed. As the jurisdiction of Congress over the subject is very doubtful, uniformity can apparently be secured only by an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, or by the concurrent action of the various State Legislatures.


Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

Divorce in the UK prior to 1857 was legally impossible - unless you were extremely wealthy and could afford to have a private Act of Parliament passed, or a decree made by the church. From 1857 onwards, courts could grant divorce, adultery being the only grounds. Neither party could remarry.

Similar laws were introduced in Australia. Eventually, the fact that adultery was often staged to obtain a divorce was acknowledged, and other reasons could be given, such as desertion, cruelty, insanity and imprisonment. In 1959, the State's forfeited their respective legislation regarding divorce to the Federal Government, so one law applied everywhere. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 (Cwlth) was widely criticised because all grounds for divorce required one spouse to prove fault against the other. Of course, this may not have been the case at all but nobody wanted to be the party at fault, even if it expediated the process, because being at fault would affect custody and property issues.

The Family Law Act 1975

The Family Law Act 1975 (Cwlth) removed all the previous grounds for divorce, eliminated the concept of fault and introduced the single ground of 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage,' to be shown by the parties living 'separately and apart' for twelve months. This was seen as fairer and more dignified than assigning blame to one party. There have been many reforms to the Act, and ideally it is still a 'no fault' proceeding, but domestic violence can affect property allocation, custody and access in a big way.

Reforms made to this Act 20 years since its introduction make the divorce process even simpler. An application to the Family Court for a divorce can be made by filling out a two page form, which is processed in six weeks. A court will recommend that all parties should undergo counselling, where settlements can be made without resorting to a full-blown court process; 90% of disputes are settled at this stage. If counselling fails the case goes to court. If there is no opposition, the whole hearing can be over in a matter of minutes. The judge grants a decree nisi, which becomes a decree absolute one month after.

Blood & Shit & Roses

Fucking bloody catastrophe - another chapter closes,
Another fucking episode of blood and shit and roses,
More heartbreak, more soul ache - shrapnel wounds galore,
Everyone's a "winner" in the middle of our war.

Words as weapons, verbal violence with express intent to maim,
Hurt the ones you love the most, then apportion blame.

Neither one giving nor requesting quarter,
Once it was love, now it's marital slaughter,
Where anything goes, no insult too low,
The dirtier the punch, the better the blow.

Last rites were replaced with bitter bile,
Each the accused in our own twisted trial,
Pleading innocence as the vile stench of guilt
Slowly escaped from the house that lies built.

We thought the grass was greener,
but the lawn had fucking died.
Despite it being watered
By all the tears we cried.

Di*vorce" (?), n. [F. divorce, L. divortium, fr. divortere, divertere, to turn different ways, to separate. See Divert.]

1. Law (a)

A legal dissolution of the marriage contract by a court or other body having competent authority. This is properly a divorce, and called, technically, divorce a vinculo matrimonii.

"from the bond of matrimony." (b)

The separation of a married woman from the bed and board of her husband -- divorce a mensa et toro (∨ thoro), "from bed board."

2.

The decree or writing by which marriage is dissolved.

3.

Separation; disunion of things closely united.

To make divorce of their incorporate league. Shak.

4.

That which separates.

[Obs.]

Shak.

Bill of divorce. See under Bill.

 

© Webster 1913.


Di*vorce", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Divorced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Divorcing.] [Cf. F. divorcer. See Divorce, n.]

1.

To dissolve the marriage contract of, either wholly or partially; to separate by divorce.

2.

To separate or disunite; to sunder.

It [a word] was divorced from its old sense. Earle.

3.

To make away; to put away.

Nothing but death Shall e'er divorce my dignities. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.

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