Something that does not
exist, yet the
religious right calls it
threatened, in their
efforts to prevent
same-sex marriages.
Exactly what marriage entails has changed many times through history. For a long time, it was arranged by parents - in fact, it's been this way far longer then the idea of marriage for love. There were times were marriage between people of different religion was considered immoral, and until very recently (especially in certain states) in the US, interracial marriage was also this same way.
Perhaps next time they whine about the destruction of it, we should decide to reinstate it in it's form that lasted longest, by banning anything but arranged marriages among the same religion and race, instead of the form that it is today thanks to liberal activists in the past. You think they'd go for that?
Someone pointed out to me that the divorce rates for arranged marriages are much lower. Interesting, but I would wonder if there are other cultural attitudes that lead to that, such as not considering divorce an option or such - if you don't think you have a way "out" of the marriage, so to speak, you're more likely to work on it, true?