What If Divorce is Outlawed? Could Happen Under A

[MaryH]

theocracy.

I guess Adultery would become a crime again.

The Right-wing doesn't like divorce - especially easy divorce. If they outlawed divorce their numbers would look better. Of course, that number would have no meaning.

If people couldn't get divorced they would just leave their spouse and go live with someone else.

I have a feeling that no divorce would hurt the women the most. Most of their laws are like that.

[candy]

1. When divorce gets outlawed only outlaws will get divorced-like me.

[superconnected]

3. I really believe

that the right wing would want to outlaw divorce because otherwise nobody would stay married to them.

If they really won in this country, it will likely be outlawed, and adultry will be a crime punishable by stoning, as well as teenage pregnancy, abortion, and anything else someone does that shows them acting on their own volition and not the churches.

[pnorman]

2. It'll impact those "RED" states

a lot harder then the rest of us.

pnorman

[Astarho]

4. Fatal household "accidents" will go up

I hope I'm being sarcastic

[roguevalley]

5. I remember when it was outlawed. what a crappy era that was.

[sonicx]

6. less people would get marriage

because only the people who are seriously commited will do it.

RW Christians have the highest divorce rates, BTW.

[ArthurDent]

7. Yes, the Federal Divorce Act will be eradicated

well, that is, if it existed.

Suddenly, federalism is looking like a progressive ideal.

[MaryH]

8. I don't really believe in marriage anyway.

It's not a healthy way to live. Way too confining.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

28. that's just silly

only confining if the partners are controlling, that's more a personal problem than a problem with the institution, it's a problem of how you handled it.

[atreides1]

9. Well If Divorce is Outlawed....

...then maybe some of us can help women married to RW fanatics become widows, to include anyone who would even try to pass such a law.

[buddysmellgood]

10. I wish they would push for banning divorce. The response would be like

trying to ban booze. I think if they want to ban embryonic stem cell research, they should ban organ transplants and fertility clinics as well. The research embryos come from discarded fertility trials.
All this would blow up in their faces.

[TrustingDog]

22. the war on divorce, another unwinnable... but that's not the Idea...

the idea is to get into every personal oriface you own.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

29. ur right, good point

yes, let's have a booze prohibition, it's amazing that a drug so much stronger than marijuana is legal anyway...a drug that you can actually overdose on, kids drink themselves to death on college campuses all the time...(not possible with illegal weed!) If Tommy Chong has to go to jail for selling pipes, these bastards should stop making tax income on booze, which is a thousand times more dangerous. And yes, you're right, if they won't let us heal ourselves with the leftovers from fertility clinics, then, those zygots must be too sacred to be messed with at all. Absolutely a great idea.

[Warpy]

11. No divorce means

no equitable division of property, nor enforcement of child custody and visitation, and no child support for the custodial parent. It means a return to the 19th century when men could just abandon their families at will with no legal consequences. It also means that some men can grab the kids and leave the wife alone and destitute with no legal recourse to either her children or claim to the property accrued during the marriage. It means the partner with the larger income holds all the cards and has all the freedom.

It also means a lot more women will be trapped in alcoholic and/or abusive marriages and that more kids will grow up with violence as the norm since there will be no way to enforce a woman's right to safety for herself and her children and no way for them to escape the violence legally.

This is why we have divorce law, to make sure women have rights when a marriage is dissolved for whatever reason. Divorce laws are constantly being tinkered with, and men have been gaining more rights lately than they've lost, especially concerning their children.

Marriage is a crap shoot. Back when women were killed off by the age of 35 by constant childbearing and overwork, the "til death do you part" bit wasn't such a big deal. Today with longer life expectancies, it is an ideal that is far less likely to be met. Too much can go wrong and does, and divorce laws are there to preserve the safety and financial stability of the custodial parent and the children.

[MaryH]

13. Yea! That is what I meant to say!

I knew there were reasons why divorce hurts women I just couldn't think of any.

[demobabe]

24. They'll never outlaw divorce

It's a huge industry for lawyers, courts, & other professionals - there is NO WAY they'll ever ban divorce. I don't agree that men are gaining more rights - from what I've seen, it's been going the other way in most cases - and kids are losing out big time. Granted there are some real loser men out there, but the way the system is currently set up, it places a disproportionate burden on the non-custodial parent (usually Dads) and falls way short on maintaining the relationship between the kids and non-custodial parent. How often do you see judges putting custodial parents in jail for denial of visitation or filing false reports of abuse? But one missed child support payment, and you can be jailed, have your wages and accounts garnished, professional licenses and drivers license revoked, passport revoked... the system is nothing short of a nightmare that needs severe reform.

[GodHelpUsAll2]

41. There are

arguments to boths sides of what you just said. However, it is not quite as black and white as you paint it to be. As for the disproportionate burden on the non custodial parent. Well... you should meet my ex and take a peek at the history since we divorced. It is NOTHING like what you speak of. However, he does feel the need to drag me back into court on a fairly regular basis to piss and moan about how I am not keeping up with HIS rights good enough to suit him. After all, he's a busy man and can't be bothered with such trivial things as children.

[demobabe]

48. Yeah, you're right... it's never black and white

But the fact that he can drag you into court at will is much what I'm talking about it being a corrupt industry. Here it is, you get divorced and want this person out of your life, and they end up being the one that runs your life. The system promotes vindictiveness.

I'm pretty jaded about the entire family court scene. My husband has been through stuff with his ex you wouldn't believe if I told you; one of our cases ended up making horrible case law in Alabama: minors under 19 years old no longer have the right to have private phone conversations or object to their voice being recorded if their parents want to record them (which flies right in the face of another Alabama decision, see Silas v. Silas).

All we were trying to do was get the kid out of a house where his mom & new husband have been arrested 9 times, both are alcoholics (but had sobered up during the custody trial, but she's now back to being a drunk), and the kid was smoking pot and was unsupervised for most of the time.

The judge blamed us, who live 2000+ miles away from the kid and don't have criminal records.

Despite being current on child support and expenses, she did everything she could to deny every single visitation. We have to go into court every single time we want to see them. It has really clobbered us financially.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

30. well, with on addition, it's not all about the kids

everything you say is very true, but beyond that, divorce laws also protect the parties regarding division of property even in childless marriages.

[colonel odis]

12. too many rich "christian" types enjoy getting trophy wives in middle age.

they'll never ban, or even make it harder to, divorce.

just more talk from a bunch of rightwing religious extremists who think they're quids will get a little pro quo from w.

[trotsky]

14. They might make it harder.

Maybe higher court fees, or approval from a governmental figure (which of course rich white men will have no problem getting).

If they are nothing else, the right wing is a bunch of hypocrites.

[candy]

15. Like Ted Kennedy? There are rich "Christian" types on both sides---

of the fence.

Divorce is here to stay!

[regnaD kciN]

26. The second Mrs. Kennedy is scarcely a "trophy wife"...

...more like someone normal he settled in with after a huge midlife crisis.

In fact, I think one could make a case that his first spouse was the real "trophy wife" -- and somewhat unbalanced, to boot.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. They will also outlaw living together

and children born out of wedlock will be branded as bastards, have no rights, etc, etc. This will give the right wingers a chance to have sex police raid bedrooms. Next they will be checking which positions are being used to beget children.

[peacefreak]

17. maybe the answer is

making it harder to get MARRIED. Any twit with enough money for a blood test & license can do it now.

[Gin]

19. Marriage and children are overrated.

g

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. Drive up weddings

Las Vegas style, don't need a blood test there. Can't you also get a divorce, finalized in thirty days? All you need is a P O Box? Think I heard that was the case. :shrug:

[jmowreader]

23. How many states require a blood test anymore?

I thought they got rid of that requirement in the early 1980s.

[Technowitch]

18. Won't happen, because the hypocrites want to keep the right

Remember, these are the same folks who argue that abortion should be illegal -- but are also for capital punishment.

Or who claim to be good Christians -- but have no problem with torturing or killing innocent people in the name of a 'war of liberation and against terrorism.'

They would NEVER lobby to reduce their rights. They want only to deny rights to others.

[Misinformed01]

33. We have a winner! And typically, DUers would rather

get hysterical rather than THINK.

THINK about WHO gets divorced...fundies have the highest divorce rate...look it up.

[jarab]

34. Look it up "where" ?

I doubt that being a fundie is recorded on one's divorce papers (court order).
Are we talking about a poll taken somewhere?
This would certainly be a true "exit poll".
...O...

[Misinformed01]

35. On edit: Here you go

Have fun reading this one!

The Associated Press 12/30/99 1:31 AM Eastern

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Baptists have the highest divorce rate of any
Christian denomination, and are more likely to get a divorce than
atheists and agnostics, according to a national survey.

The survey conducted by Barna Research Group in Ventura, Calif., found
that 29 percent of all adult Baptists have been through a divorce. Among
Christian groups, only those who attend non-denominational Protestant
churches were more likely to be divorced, with a 34 percent divorce rate.

Alabama, with a population of 4.3 million, has more than one million
Southern Baptists and a majority of evangelical Protestants. The state
ranks fourth nationally in divorce rates, behind Nevada, Tennessee and
Arkansas, according to U.S. government statistics.

http://archives.his.com/smartmarriages/1999-December/msg00033.html

[amazona]

21. well it would be great for reno and DAs

Back in the day, you could only get divorced by pretending to be a resident of Nevada, and Reno made a lot of money off of that. Middle class and rich people could still get divorced, only working class and poor people were forced to forgo legal divorces and just live in sin with their newest, so being legally married was more of a class symbol than it is today. Also, as another poster pointed out, in those days, the person most likely to murder you was your spouse.

[regnaD kciN]

25. Although I'm divorced myself...

...it seems to me that, if the Fundamentalist Hate Brigade is really serious about "defending the institution of marriage," they should immediatly introduce a constitutional amendment outlawing divorce, followed by a federal law making adultery a felony.

After all, heterosexuals who cheat on their partner and then dump them for a better-looking, younger, or richer Spouse 2.0 (or maybe 3.0, or 4.0, or...) are doing a lot more damage to the institution of marriage than a same-sex couple who simply want to live in a pledged, monogamous union.

Of course, the Hate Brigade will never consider such a step, since they're only interested in cracking down on Those Evil Awful People Over There while giving themselves lots of "tolerance" for whatever they want to do. :eyes:

Therefore, I say we call them on it. Put out bumper stickers and similar signs with a message of "Want to 'defend marriage'? Ban divorce first!" Make it a slogan known to all. And watch the Hate Brigade back off at record speed...thus proving to everyone what hypocrites they are.

[Dees]

27. Dobbushwellson cartel. It's all up for grabs.

God fearing judges and fervent evangelicalism are going to getter done by Gawd. Now get down on your knees.

[retread]

31. "The Right-wing doesn't like divorce.." No. They don't like the

"great unwashed" getting divorces. For them, however, it's perfectly ok!

[Swamp Rat]

32. Reading this makes me want to commit adultery even though I'm not married

I'm going to encourage people to commit adultery whenever possible... especially christians.

[Pachamama]

42. Cool....Hope you think of me Swamp'r....

Happy Thanksgiving!

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

44. HAHA! I was inspired by your "let's get drunk and fuck" post.

;)

[Pachamama]

47. Glad I could inspire....

:hi:

[Ms_Mary]

36. No, too many of them get divorced too.

It's the gay people they worry about. They don't care about Brother Bob's divorce. Happy, loving same sex couples are a much bigger threat than a 50% divorce rate among themselves.

[doni_georgia]

37. Evangelical Christians have a divorce rate higher than the general

population. Besides, the Old Testament lays out guidelines for divorce, so it would be allowed but would have to fit the guidelines. Trust me, fundies married to unbelieving spouse would still be able to get a divorce.

[stavka]

43. ...I'd like a source for that.

I would love for it to true from a certain view, but....

[doni_georgia]

46. This from Barna Research - a Christian Research company

"1. Born again adults are more likely to experience a divorce than are non-born again adults (27% vs. 24%). "

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=77

Another Article:

"(AgapePress) - The Barna Research Firm is defending a recent survey which found some disturbing statistics regarding born-again Christians and divorce. The survey found that born-again Christians were just as likely as non-believers to divorce. In fact, the survey found that the divorce rate is higher for Christians when compared with non-believers."

http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/christian-divorce-rate.html

Another study shows that Baptists have the highest divorce rate of any denomination and are more likely to get divorced than atheists and agnostics:

http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/divorce.htm

And in another study - the divorce rate in the US (excluding Nevada) is highest in the Bible Belt:

http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/pd111999g.html

And this:

"Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates.

The Associated Press, using data supplied by the US Census Bureau, found that the highest divorce rates are to be found in the Bible Belt. The AP report stated that "the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average of 4.2 per thousand people." The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. By comparison nine states in the Northeast were among those with the lowest divorce rates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont."

http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archives/002428.html

[SoCalDem]

38. Theocracies are little more than "male-dominated" societies

so "divorce" will never be fully "outlawed". Things would just go back to the way they were/are. Women would be reduced again to "property" status.

The "good-ole-boy" network has a vested interest in this anyway. When women entered the workforce in a big way, starting in the 70's, it "rocked their world". It meant that they could no longer leer and hit on the "girls" at the office..(the ones they hired to do the typing and coffee-making). All of a sudden they had to hire women to actually do the same types of jobs that they had preciously reserved for sons of golfing buddies, and men who needed to "support a family".. The rightwingers see, and have ALWAYS seen women as second class persons, suitable for raising children, cleaning their houses, hosting their dinner-parties, ironing their clothes, cooking, and of course "tending to their sexual needs"..

No-fault divorce, happening around the same time as affirmative action,gave women some power that they had never had before. When you look at the way divorce was handled before affirmative action and no-fault, only rich women could afford to hire detectives to "get the goods" on their cheating spouses. (and even then it was difficult to find a judge(always male) who would see the woman as much more than an ungrateful, nagging wife)...

Divorce, as a tool, in the hands of a man who wants to dump his "old wife" for a newer model,will alwys be seen as acceptable to theocrats. They can just rationalize it as "god's plan" for them to procreate with a younger more fertile companion.

BUT... divorce from a woman's standpoint, in a theocracy would be a different matter.. If a woman is little more than property, and her children are considered property of the man(Master), she will get no favorable treatment if she's the one who wants out.

[OnionPatch]

39. I don't doubt a bit

that the fundies want to outlaw divorce and things like "purposeful childlessness."
But the extreme ones who would do this are only about 30% of the voting population or less. It appears to me that the rest of the Republicans tolerate them just to keep them voting on their side. They think they are harmless, vote-getters but if the fundies start pushing to outlawing divorce, I just can't believe they will go along with them. Most of the LEAST moral people I know are non-fundie righties! I think they will jump ship if the fundies get too scary. The ones I know laugh when I tell them abortion will soon be illegal. They really don't think the fundies will use their power to do this stuff.
Then there are the independents. They aren't fundies, either. I can see them outlawing abortion, but not divorce. Most Americans are not that far gone. At least I hope.

[Red State Rebel]

40. Personally, I think divorces should be harder to get....

Too many people (i.e. young people) make stupid decisions based on the fact that if it doesn't work out, they can get a divorce - stupid logic and very hurtful for any kids involved.

I married at 19 and divorced at 23 with a 1 year old daughter. I know not everyone makes this mistake, but I really think if divorce were more difficult to get I would have stayed and worked things out.

[REP]

45. It Would Make More Sense To Make It Harder To Get Married

than to make divorce more difficult, based on the anecdote you present. Then again, making law for everyone based on what one person might have done if things had been different is not perhaps the wisest thing to do.

[SemperEadem]

49. makes me glad that I am still single and don't have that worry

[erniesam]

50. Not all divorce, just no-fault divorce

read the Texax GOP Party Plank adopted in July 2004

[AuntPatsy]

51. Does that mean no alimony?

[erniesam]

52. no, only palimony