By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors
(CNN)–For the next four days, the eyes of the political world will be on Tampa, Florida, the site of the Republican National Convention (which will now get started Tuesday, after Tropical Storm Isaac cancelled Monday's events).
Though politics will be the name of the game, it's a safe bet that religion will also play a major role. The convention opens with a prayer from a Hispanic evangelical leader and closes with a benediction from a Catholic cleric who's sometimes called "America's pope."
In between, balloons will drop on the first Mormon to be nominated by a major political party to be president of the United States. Here are eight ways faith will matter this week. What did we leave out? Let us know in comments and we'll expand our list as warranted.
1. The ghost of Todd Akin
Most people couldn't pick him out of lineup and he won't be attending the convention this week. But the Missouri Senate candidate who claimed that women could prevent conception in cases of "legitimate rape" opened a rift in the Republican Party, with GOP chieftains pressuring him to drop out while some powerful conservative Christian activists rally to his defense. Those activists are using the Akin episode to allege that the Republican Party wants quash their socially conservative agenda even as it happily accepts their votes. If the infighting continues into this week, there could be a battle for GOP's soul at a moment when the GOP wants to project unity.
2. The M word
Even now that he's talking more about his religious faith, Mitt Romney almost never refers specifically to Mormonism or to his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And yet Romney has held a series leadership positions in his church. Will the Republican Party continue to studiously avoid one of its presidential candidate's defining characteristics? Or will some convention speaker make a case for why Romney's Mormonism is an asset? Will Romney himself mention his religion as he accepts his party's nomination?
3. Ladies night (or week)?
For months, the GOP has been on the defensive, as Democrats say Republicans are waging a "war on women," a theme the Dems began sounding when the American bishops blasted the White House for its contraception mandate for insurance companies earlier this year. This week, Republicans face a delicate balancing act in trying to assuage the concerns of moderate women voters while also satisfying its religiously conservative base. (See ghost of Todd Akin, above). A big part of that mission falls to Ann Romney, the Republican nominee's wife, and to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, both of whom have choice speaking slots.
4. The possibility of a culture war speech
"There is a religious war going on in this country," former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan told the 1992 Republican convention in a primetime address. "It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as the Cold War itself. For this war is for the soul of America." There are still debates over whether the speech, which provoked a media frenzy, helped or hurt President George H.W. Bush, who would go on to lose to Bill Clinton. But the Republican Party is keen on avoiding such moments as it tries to win over independents this fall. There's some nervousness about what Rick Santorum will say in his convention address.
5. Religious liberty
Many conservatives are livid over the Obama administration's requirement that health insurers offer free contraceptive coverage, even for employees of Catholic institutions. Plus, talking up religious liberty is likely less of a turnoff for moderate voters than is talk about bans on abortion and gay marriage, traditionally the top concerns of religious conservatives. Catholics and evangelicals, two key voting blocs, have been buzzing about religious liberty for months, with mega-pastor Rick Warren recently canceling plans for a presidential forum with Obama and Romney and announcing plans for one on religious liberty instead.
6. Israel
When it comes to foreign policy, look for convention speakers to try outdo one another in pledging support for the Jewish State - and in railing against Obama for what they'll allege are his administration's shabby treatment of a key American ally. Israel is especially important to the GOP's evangelical base, some of whom see a biblical bond with the Jewish people and some who believe Israel must be in Jewish control before the Second Coming can happen. Mitt Romney included Israel as one of his marquee stops on his recent foreign trip, including a photo-op at Jerusalem's Western Wall.
7. Hurricane theology
Will some televangelist claim that Tropical Storm Isaac, which is headed toward the Gulf Coast, is God's way of punishing the GOP for insufficient piety? It wouldn't be the first time a prominent preacher blamed severe weather on American insubordinance.
8. "America's pope"
The convention's closing prayer will be delivered by Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who leads the American Catholic bishops and is sometimes referred to as America's pope. It's a good indication of just how important the Catholic vote is thought to be this year, with Catholics accounting for 1 in 4 Americans and considered to be the quintessential swing bloc. Whoever wins these voters will likely win the White House.
@Peteyroo
I see you have the thirst for Jesus' truth because you are so thirsty for truth. My potty tray is stuck between the cushions of the couch and spilled. Stop that kitty. Keep trying to see the great light of the Almighty God which is lit for lighting your path to heaven.
Amen.
Heaving Scent, get a grip! You can't sit in a biker bar all day swilling beer and playing pool. You've got to get up and face the world. If you need help, you can turn to any atheist for guidance. We're here to help.
@Peteyroo
You athiests are doing the work of satan, the great liar and deciever. That is how he gets his minions to do his evil by being evil. My mumu is so far up my enourmous butt I need a screwdriver to dig it out. I hope you like worms because I will laughing laughs when your own personal worm is eating your fat drippings in hell which has worms.
Amen.
Not my post. The phony heavensent (Scotty the webmaster on this blog) IS a control freak and now, obviously a pervert who destroys every site he works on.
Boy...sounds like someone did some bad weed last night.
Phony HeavenSent. *cough Scotty, *cough tommie tom. You got thrown off the last web site you worked on. You keep stealing my handle and following the lies of satan even though I have told you God's truth. I pee in the cat's litter box because I can't find my bathroom due to hoarding issues. It is time for you to start your walk with Jesus and accept his forgiveness.
Amen.
HeavenSent:
" The phony heavensent (Scotty the webmaster on this blog) IS a control freak and now, obviously a pervert who destroys every site he works on."
Please provide evidence for your claim. Do you have CNN certified emails from "Scotty" as "webmaster"? Do you have weblogs showing "Scotty" as a screen name hijacker? Do you have anything besides your paranoid delusions?
Heaving Scent, didn't I see you, Satan, your pastor, and your mother sitting in a seedy tavern this morning before church? You were all guzzling beer and using your Bibles as coasters. Satan had his hand in your mother's drawers while he was kissing your pastor.
what about respecting line Church and state. There is no place for religion in State matters either in canada, usa or Europe.
Tell me where separation of church and state is listed in the first amendment?
Heaving Scent, it's a clear delineation expressly noted in the addendum to the First Amendment.
Absolutly right. That's why we're all free in America to think and worship ( or not!) as we choose. Religion and politics DO NOT MIX. We should all be so grateful that we're not told by our government what to think or how to worship. If you must quote scripture...how's this... Jesus said...."hide your light under a bushel" Do not believe for one minute that you can be the judge of others...you will be the first to be judged in the end.
After 2000 plus years , the POPE may now be able to have HIS man inside the Oval office, replacing the aging Billy Graham 😉
The family values of Brigham Young “I don't care how you bring'em, just bring'em young.”
Ha! Good one.
Religion IS the way to win political POWER. If that fails, spreade the fear of GOd to incite the fearful, uneducated mass to do the dirty deed for you 😉
The fear of God means the beginning of learning wisdom. The rest of us are waiting for you to get off your lazy butt and learn Jesus' wisdom too.
There are more fake HeavenSents on this blog than their are fake preachers/evangelists who are only in the jjeessuuss business for the money, or maybe not.
fake HS, the phony HeavenSent is tommie tom spewing lies and babble to try to disguise Jesus' truth. My breath smells of puke and cigarettes. Athiests get mad when the hear the word of the Lord because they are jealous that they can't be mini gods.
Amen.
Heaving Scent, can we be demigods?
@HeavenSent
Don't you just love squeezing the skulls of christards on Sunday to see if any grey matter will ooze out of their ears?
Phony HeavenSent,
Now you have folks arguing with you as if you were the real HS!
(hint: many people unfortunately only read the first and last sentences of posts)
You are giving HS way too much attention.
I think that you need to find a new strategy in dealing with HS.
The fake heavensent is the webmaster on this blog and obviously an atheist that hates Christians.
HeavenSent
"The fake heavensent is the webmaster on this blog"
Proof?
The real HS is obviously paranoid with delusions of grandeur.
Real Heavensent,
BTW why did the heavens send you down? Did they not like you or something? You must have been so annoying that they must have said – go and troll the CNN blog.
The great Irony of the GOP: They don't believe in evolution, yet they strongly support social Darwinism.
Cosmos42 – "The great Irony of the GOP: They don't believe in evolution, yet they strongly support social Darwinism."
Well that's because they want to win a Darwin Award (but don't know what they are yet).
Religion matters at the RNC? Me thinks over half of them will be getting drunk, going to strip clubs, hiring escorts and then endorsing family values the next day.
Of course religion will be important to them. They want to inflict some sort of "morality" on everyone else, while practicing hypocricy to its highest degree for themselves.
Just to be clear we have cancelled the str*ip billiard competi*tion just because and the str*ip dart competi*tion was considered too dangerous, rebounds and ricochets. The open bars are restricted to 21 year olds and up that are accredited delagates or media.
The Good News (Gospel) is that all are ugly, guilty, and unworthy, but that He loves each of us as an abusive father loves his children and longs for us to see him as understanding, loving, and forgiving so much that threatens us with eternal heII if we don't. If he beats us it's because we deserve it, and we are lucky to have him.
For God so LOVED the WORLD (everyone) that he decided the best thing to do was to send a historically equivocal figure to an obscure part of the Middle East to have himself sacrificed in a bloody, hateful, and counter-intuitive way to prove so that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life. Just to make everything perfectly clear, he also provided a convoluted book of various and dubious origins that contradicts itself and requires endless translation, interpretation, and outright cognitive dissonance if you try to take it seriously. Following this and his other books has lead to an endless series of wars, crimes, and suicides across not only the Middle East, but much of the world. Oh, but he loves us so much! Amen.
Sorry, that was intended as a reply to JM below. But I guess it was the Lord's will for everyone to see it.
@Rufus T. Firefly –
Testify, Rufus! I think I'm going to put on my Sunday best and head down to my local church for some grovelling and self-flagellation. Hallelujah!
Firefly, look back at these blogs for the past few months, you will see that I have been teaching Jesus' truth. Jesus wrote his truth in his loving letter to us, the Bible which he loves. If I remove the mold, this cheese will be fine for both me and the cats. He loves you and cares for you and wants you to join him in heaven to sit by his side in the chair next to his side.
Amen.
Yes, the story is so convoluted, that most religions have a different twist on it. It's hard to know if Jesus was god. One verse says my father and I are one, another says "he is greater than I". Something along those lines. Anyway, the concept that something, or someone, has to be tortured to death, so someone else can forgive something they knew would happen anyway... IS APALLING to anyone with any decency.
Heaving Scent, I see you're still full of crap.
You would know Peteyroo, your dummy handle is just as ridiculous as Scott, the webmaster, control freak, pervert on this site.
I'm guessing that HS used the generic foil when she made her hat instead of the good stuff. Remember: You get what you pay for!
tallulah described in the Bible.... Job 39 :17
hey, TBT. Be a grown up and use your own words. If you have any.
And I love how the word was ONLY given to certain people in a tiny geographical location, with no mass transit or communication available, and those folks lucky enough to be right there got lucky. Tough luck for the rest of civilization, right? It's just makes no sense to me that their loving god and savior would be so cruel. hmmmmmm?
Heavensent
I will believe in you god if you give me one answer. I agree that god created everything, and that includes everything. But why did he create Satan?
@Simran
The Devil is a fallen angel, you should read your scriptures on the on-line Bible study web sites. Lucifer is the dragon "who is called the devil and Satan. Is it normal for pubic hair to grow out of you belly button? God loves satan but satan is the great deceiver of telling lies against God's truth.
Amen.
Since god knows "everything", he is the alpha and the omega, he created a horrible monster; that will torture his creations. He knew dam and good and well, what lucifer would do when he created him. He knew every human being that would burn in hell, yet he created them too. So, Xtians worship a monster creating deity, that knew that MOST of his creations would suffer throughout eternity. Fit for worship? I don't think so!
If God loves Satan, then why did he let the angel fall in the first place? He could have shown him the light and saved the world from such Satanistic misery.
SATAN is very convenient tool for the religious extrmist right to cover their rears everytime they do their hipocrispy deeds 😉
"you should read your scriptures"
Now they aren't my scriptures dlg. How did you come to that conclusion?
Simran,
God gave us all free will. Satan was jealous of God's great goodness to be good and yearned to be powerful. The heavenly Father stills loves him but he must be punished. My urine soaked granny panties are so stiff I use them as a door stop. Like all sinners, if satan can stop being prideful and love God, Jesus will walk with him too.
Amen.
Heaving Scent, are you still a drunken swineherd?
Peteyroo, you should know, you wrote the fake heavensent post.
Not you fake HS. Go take care of your panties.
So, pervert Scott, are you the only atheist on this site? I know that you drove most of the Christians off that used to post. I've been trying to leave for over a year, but you keep stealing my handle to post your nonsense.
Ok, God is Jesus, Jesus is God. God wanted (needed?) to have a physical manifestation of himself on Earth and though he created the heavens and the Earth, Adam and Eve, he couldn't manage a “Jesus” so he knocked up a virgin by proxy who then gave birth to Himself and then he waited for himself to grow up so that he could preach the "truth" to those who would listen.
Then he set up his own death (suicide) so that he could suffer on a pole to "die" (even thought he can't die) for the sins of all the many billions of people who would be born who had not yet committed any sins but for whom he has a plan and that plan includes sinning for some unknown reason so he needed to die for them. Then he becomes a ghost, takes a little trip to Hades to hang with the red guy and then he "rises" and walks about frightening people and then disappears after telling everyone he would return (an apparent lie) and never shows his face again.
So my question would be, why?
And I would offer up this counter possibility. Mary got knocked up by the blacksmith. Jesus was a cult leader. Jesus broke the law and was punished and died.
Mingle, the Bible is true and is the word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You are being lied to by the Devil. I thought roaches only came out in the dark but they are in my shirt. You should learn that God loves you so much he is willing to let your burn burn burn for all eternity.
Amen.
TheLord to Jesus:
Jesus Jesus,
Yes papa,
Being naughty,
No papa,
Spreading hatred,
No papa,
Telling a lie,
No papa,
Open your mouth... Ha ha ha
Don't forget the epipany. The guys got together to figure out what to do once their meal ticket, jesus, got snuffed and came up with the holy spirit crap. I can imagine Luke looking out the window and seeing a bull deficating and coming up with the idea of making up stories about the life of jesus, I mean if they buy the resurection story they might believe anything. So they came up with these gospels except for Simon who way to close to close to jesus, you know, really, really close and HeavenSent is the prime example of someone that will believe these BS stories. I prefer the "Life of Brian" by Monty Python", they happily admit it is BS.
Heaving Scent, you say God loves us so much that he's going to have us burn in hell for eternity? What does he do to people he doesn't like?
Peteyroo should learn to read.
Peteyroo, you send yourself to eternal damnation. Jesus just obliges you of what you work for.
Scott, don't you know this is pathetic? Posting other dummy handles, answering yourself, day in and day out, week in and week out ... all because you drive people away by stealing their handle and trashing them. Must be the same reason your Christian wife left you.
Can someone please explain to me who this Scott person is, and why does HS think he's after her?
Everyone is cordially invited to visit... thestarofkaduri.com
Everyone is cordially invited to visit: fukjesusfukhiminhisstupidazz.com
Scott, Tommie Tom, Reality, and multiple other dummy handles and the phony heavensent has issues he refuses to deal with. Oh, that would be narcissism. Sorry, even the shrinks you list say there is no cure.
I like the "hurricane" tact. God is showing his displeasure at the GOP by using the storm to part the Red States.
If God could find one righteous man among them he would spare them.
Good article. I thought it was going to be another right-based article glorifying their own self-deluded piety/righteousness while condemning the 'wicked' (the Democrats).
Very interesting. Jesus condemned the Pharisees (who pretty much walk and talk like modern-day Republicans) and was loved by the 'world' because he loved them and didn't condemn them.
The Pharisees oversaw the synagogues and churches. Stop changing Jesus' truth to what you want Him to have written.
There's not much that suggests that Jesus loved the Pharisees. He certainly condemned them.
You obviously haven't read the scriptures lately. Jesus' teaching sounds exactly what's going on in America today. He warns 'us' to be on our guard against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees...so, I will.
Phone HeavenSent is hijacking my handle again, I did not sent that. Athiests always trying to twist the Bible to fit their world view. I can't find my toilet so my feces is in plastic bags and the dogs won't even come in now. Keep walking with satan and you will find yourself on the otherside of the thing.
Amen.
That's a new typo phony heavensent. Phone? Ring, ring. Who's there. Nothing. Nothing who??
You athiests and cult type people need to read the Bible and understand it's truth, the truth of Jesus' truth. I pick my blackened teeth with the bones of my dead cats. Jesus said he would give you reprobate minds. Put your pride and arrogance in your pocket and enjoy the cloud that is God's cushion.
Amen.
Nuts
@JM
You can make your threats to God's truth, the Holy Bible, but he knows you have snakes in your belly. My lady parts are glued shut from the humidity. I hope you enjoy your own personal worm eating your fat drippings in satan's kitchen, which is hell.
Amen.
Not my post. Phony atheist heavensent hijacking my handle to write your babble all the time, make the democratic party look bad.
I believe that British nannies can fly with umbrellas, because it says so in "Mary Poppins".
Nice try HeavenSent, cough* Scotty / tommie tom. You athiests can keep stealing my handle but I will stay on these blogs to tell you God's word which is the truth of God. My camel-toe can stretch enough to keep all the kittens warm. Keep walking with your father satan in his house which is hot because of the fire and I will laugh from my place in heaven.
Amen.
Heaving Scent, why would anyone steal your handle. It's so far up your backside, no one could get it out!
Peteyroo, you tell me why no one posts on this site any longer but, the dummy handles you hide behind.
"the Few" who both exoterically and esoterically understand the organic universe and how it works do not need faith ....to them faith is a lack understanding. Ta Eso'
Another sick article by the biased press. Many references do not relate to faith but try to equate it to bias, bigotry and hate. Let good be good, and keep tinged reporting relegated to the gutter where it belongs.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Old Testament, Genesis, Chapter 2.
Marriage is ordaned of God and is good and holy. Husband and wife are meant to be one and celebacy is unnatural and weird. If anyone reading this is sick and tired of all the weirdness and silliness in the churches of the day and all the perverted doctrine, maybe it is time to check out the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and get the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ which is simple and beautiful. Mormon.org.
sorry old dude, I have read the book of morman and many other religious text and all of it is man made creation written in a time where instruction was in favor with the status quo ... if you had a god ...you would not find him hiding in a book.
Origen: "Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of se.xual passion."
St. Jerome: "The primary purpose of a man of God was to "cut down with an ax of Virginity the wood of Marriage."
St. Ambrose: "Marriage was a crime against God, because it changed the state of virgi.nity that God gave every man and woman at birth. Marriage was prosti.tution of the members of Christ."
Tertullian: "Marriage was a moral crime, more dreadful than any punishment or any death." It was "obscenity," or "filth."
St. Augustine: "Marriage is a sin." Augustine also expressed disgust at feminine se.xual and maternal functions. He coined the saying that birth is demonstrably accursed because every child emerges "between feces and urine."
St. Paul: Dammed marriage with faint praise, remarking that to marry was only better than to burn.
St. Jerome: "Every man who loves his wife passionately was guilty of adu.ltery."
No thank you. Not buying any thin air today.
The Good News (Gospel) is that all have fallen short of the glory of God (i.e., everyone has sinned and no one is perfect/holy like God) but that He loves each of us as a father loves his children (despite their transgressions) and longs for us to know/understand/accept his love and forgiveness. Love. Not hate. Love. Not prejudice and meanness. Love. Not condemnation. Love. Not punishment.
For God so LOVED the WORLD (everyone) that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life. (This isn't the end of the story. One day, after death, we will be reunited with our loved ones and there will be no more pain, suffering, loss, death, sickness, fear, loneliness, etc.)
@JM
Serious question for you: Do you love your kids enough that you would murder another child if yours did something wrong?
God created life and death and eternity.
God told us not to murder. Jesus said that even having anger in our hearts against another is murder because we are murdering them in our hearts. The Bible says that to Him (God) all are alive (because, while here on earth, we die, our spirits are not dead).
My point is that God didn't murder his Son; Jesus went to the cross willingly because he loved his father. There's a justice system. If there is a crime, there needs to be a punishment. If someone murdered your kid, you wouldn't just say "that's okay. no problem". You'd want justice; you'd want the perpetrator to pay. If we are breaking God's laws constantly, we have to pay. But, He chose to once and for all allow His son to die for our sins. That's nice. That's true love.
If your child does something wrong (outside the home), you are going to make it right with whomever he hurt (e.g., stealing something from a store) but make him understand that what he did was wrong. You aren't going to kick the (small) kid out of the house and condemn him to 'hell' if you can provide a way out.
The New Testament is not the crap fest of hate-mongering that the right likes to make people thinks. It's nice, which is why people like Mother Teresa, Obama, etc. follow Jesus' teaching.
@JM
Ok so your deity created death. Can we say thats a form of deific premeditated murder? I wasnt talking of the death of jesus actually, I was thinking about all those innocent children that would have died in that flood. Unless they were all guilty of something?
JM, I appreciate you quoting John 3: 16. I love that scripture too, but please quote it correctly: 16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only BEGOTTEN Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (New Testament, John, Chapter 3). Taking begotten out of that scripture totally changes the original meaning and precipitates false doctrine.
Ain't no way I gonna believe that junk about this Joe Smith dude. I think he found a little gold and tried to eat the stuff. No wonder he started seeing an angel from some macaroni grill in the sky. my goodness.
Obviously Abinadi, you are clueless to what these scriptures mean.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (KJV)
Amen.
HS, you are the ones who changed and perverted the scripture, not us. Don't be a hypocrite.
And, HS, that scripture refers to you!
I just spray the mormons with the hose when they approach my house. EVIL CULT
All religeons are cults.
True that all religions are cults.
And if any pigeons are religious, then they are most definitely in a cult too.
All the little foot soldiers, being lead to slaughter. Hey, focusing on hating Christians who gave you freedom ...so the ones that call you friend, smile, wrap their arms around you ... as they corner you as cattle. That too is written. Not in the Bible, but, their man made lies.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (KJV)
Amen.
A few excerpts from an article called: Marriage by Barbara G. Walker
=======================================================
The word marriage came from the Latin maritare, union under the ausp.ices of the Goddess Aphrodite-Mari. Because the Goddess's patronage was constantly invoked in every aspect of marriage, Christian fathers were opposed to the insti.tution. Origen declared, "Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of se.xual passion." St. Jerome said the primary purpose of a man of God was "to cut down with an ax of Virginity the wood of Marriage".(1) St. Ambrose said marriage was a crime against god, because it changed the state of virginity that God gave every man and woman at birth.(2)
St. Augustine flatly stated that marriage is a sin and St. Paul damned marriage with faint praise, remarking that to marry was only better than to burn( 1 cor. 7:9).
Saturninus said God made only two kinds of people, good men and evil women. Marriage perpetuated the deviltry of women, who dominated men through the magic of se.x(8). Centuries later, St. Bernard still proclaimed that it was easier of a man to bring back the dead to life than to live with a woman without endangering ones soul.(9)
Priests abandoned the churches' rule of celibacy and began to take wives during the 5th and 6th centuries. This continued to the 11th century, when papal decretals commanded married clergymen to turn their wives out of their homes and sell their children as slaves. (5)
The church displayed remarkable reluctance to deal with the mater of marriage at all. During the Middle Ages there was no ecclesiastical definition of a valid marriage nor of any contract to validate one. Churchmen seemed to have no ideas at all on the subject(6)
The earliest form of Christian marriage was a simple blessing of the newly wedded, "in facie ecclesiae" –outside the churches closed doors– to keep the pollution of lust out of God's house. This blessing was a technical violation of canon law, but it became popular and gradually won status.(7).
There was no sacrament of marriage until the 16th century (3). Catholic scholars say the wedding ceremony was "imposed on" a reluctant church, and "nothing is more remarkable that the tardiness with which liturgical forms for the marriage ceremony were evolved." It is perhaps not remarkable to find that these liturgical forms were not evolved by the church at all, but borrowed from pagan common law (4).
1-William Fielding, Customs of Courtship and Marriage, 82, 114
2-Robert Briffault, The Mothers, Vol 3, 373
3-William Fielding, Customs of Courtship and Marriage, 233
4-Robert Briffault, The Mothers, Vol 3, 248-249
5-Jacobus de. Voragine, The Golden Legend 90-91
6-Ronald Pearsall, The Worm in the Bud , 162-63
7-Encyclopedia Britannica, "Marriage"
8-Vern Bullough,The Subordinate se.x, 103, 112
9-Joseph Cambell, Myths to Live By, 95