The monsters of sectarianism and civil marriage

     Samir Sadek, George Banna

    To the sword, you monsters of sectarianism, to slaughter the dove of integration! Civil marriage is a “predatory beast” that wants to integrate people with each other, removing the borders and obstacles that separate them, It wants to allow mixed marriages and eliminate polygamy, God forbid! God supposedly commanded polygamy with a fabricated verse that contradicts itself, assuming that God knows what is best for people, What is the proof that God knows what is best for humanity? Is the life of those who abide by His laws good? If it is good, why do millions flee from it and seek refuge in societies that manage their affairs civilly? “Integration” wants to devour backwardness, racism, and social injustice, which nest in the hearts and minds of four-legged creatures—and the four legs are an expression for animals!

One of the benefits of civil marriage is that it has united the warring sectarian groups into a single front against it, Now, the warring groups stand united in a trench of resistance and opposition to the monster of integration in civil marriage, which threatens the interests of the sectarian groups, especially the interests of the religious men, who do not let the golden egg fly from their hands,Profiting through marriage, divorce, and their related matters constitutes a very important pillar of material benefit, which they will lose if integration manages to take hold of them.

The monster of sectarianism was not content with turning religious affiliation into a matter of birth, since the child is born with his religion, but he wanted marriage to be born with its religion as well, From the sectarian perspective, man is deficient in qualification. Sectarianism bestowed upon him a religion on the day of his birth, and bestowed upon his marriage the blessing of religion, so his marriage is religious, The ungrateful for the blessings now wants to evade the blessing of religious marriage and the blessing of religion, which he breathed on the day of his birth and will breathe until the day of his death. In truth, the monster of sectarianism died on the day of his birth.

 It is not surprising that someone who marries civilly is considered an apostate, a heretic, and an infidel, What the heretic wants is nothing less than the abolition of religions, What remains of religions when they stop interfering in marriage and determining a person’s religion from birth to death? Indeed, nothing remains of religions worth mentioning, especially after failing to be a source of morality, after they have failed the state and society by interfering in the state and politics, after the birth of formal religiosity and its transformation into religious obsession, and after the birth of collective action terrorism with a sectarian background.

They insist on religious marriage and reject civil marriage, and they have the right to their stance and viewpoint, On the other hand, any viewpoint should interact with other viewpoints, learn from them, and be familiar with them, The strange thing is that some people’s viewpoints completely disregard the views of the overwhelming majority of societies around the world, which have decided to regulate marriage civilly, Why did they make this decision? And how have they progressed since making it? Clearly, they have progressed for the better! Isn’t it rational to benefit from their experience and lessons learned? Is it honest or true to oneself to allow the registration of civil marriages in the personal status records in Lebanon, for example, on the condition that the marriage takes place outside the country, in Cyprus, for instance? This would mean that Cypriot civil marriages are legal, while Lebanese civil marriages are not. Is this even comprehensible?

 Civil marriage represents a system of equality between citizens in personal status matters without discrimination based on religion or gender, The system gives women the right to equality with men, All of this is stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represents international law that is not bound by “particularities.” It is “universal” in terms of particularity, not regional or sectarian. There is no such thing as the particularity of the best nation in human life, It is not permissible to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then evade it or try to circumvent it for any reason whatsoever, It is an expression of the human path for all of humanity, and civil marriage is a matter related to the essence of human freedom and free choice, It is a guarantee for liberating the human being from sectarianism and religious extremism, Everyone who signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by consenting must abide by the content of Article 18, which states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” “Alone or with a group”

In comparison, it can be said that most or even all societies that have implemented civil marriage represent the highest degrees of political, social, cultural, economic and human progress, One of the reasons for the superiority of these societies was their distancing from tribalism, sectarianism, clanism, then factionalism, family and religious affiliation,These societies enshrined citizenship, equality and civility, so they progressed, and those who remained imprisoned by religious sectarianism, clanism and racism lagged behind.