Letter - Different types of marriage over thousands of years

In the past two weeks, you have printed letters by Paul Yeulett claiming that politicians do not have the right to change the definition of marriage using an argument drawn entirely from the myth of Genesis – a myth that was falsified over 150 years ago, not in small part through the work of Shrewsbury's most famous son, Charles Darwin.

Beings recognisably homo sapiens were living in Africa some 200,000 years ago; whereas the myths depicted in Genesis are attributed even by believers in Judeo-Christian mythology to but a few short millennia ago.

A study of anthropology suggests that something akin to marriage existed prior to recorded history, and certainly predates the relatively modern belief in a single creator.

Most early cultures had something akin to marriage, with the form differing from culture to culture (the Brazilian Kaingang, for instance, sanctioning group marriage). There is even evidence to suggest that same-sex marriages were celebrated in ancient Greece and Rome, parts of China, and maybe Fiji. Indeed, in 342AD severe penalties were introduced for same-sex marriages in Rome.

Even if we limit ourselves to a study of marriage within Judeo-Christian mythology, the Old Testament gives us a very different form of the institution from that which most British churches would advocate today. There are several examples of polygamy among the patriarchs, for instance, Abraham with Sarah, Hagar and Keturah (itself described in Genesis), and David having at least 18 wives and uncountable concubines.

The reality is that human societies have always defined marriage according to their own requirements. When we are considering the definition of an institution that is recognised by the state, it is entirely up to the state to define the parameters of marriage, and is therefore absolutely within the purview of politicians.

Steve Parker, Shrewsbury