Same-Sex Marriage

Main articles: Same-sex marriage and Same-sex union
Since 2001, five nations have made same-sex marriage legal, namely the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and South Africa. Israel, Aruba, and the Netherlands Antilles recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. In the United States, Massachusetts and Iowa are the only states to recognize same-sex marriage under the name marriage. (The district court in Iowa which struck down the state's Defense of Marriage Act issued a stay on the ruling the next day, only one same sex couple has been married under Iowa law) Civil unions are a separate form of legal union open to couples of the same sex, often carrying the same entailments as opposite-sex marriage under a different name. Denmark was the first country in the world (in 1989) to extend the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples under the name of registered partnership. Civil unions (and registered partnerships) are currently recognized in 24 out of 193 countries worldwide and in some U.S. states. Many U.S. states have adopted referendums or laws that generally restrict marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. Federally, the U.S. Senate has considered, and failed to pass, a Federal Marriage Amendment. In Australia, de facto relationships are legally recognized in many, but not all, ways, with some states having registers of de facto relationships, although the federal government has amended existing legislation to specify that only marriages between a man and a woman will be recognized as 'marriages'. As a result, the Australian Capital Territory's 2006 Bill to give civil unions identical status and processes as registered marriages, was repealed by the federal government before it came into effect.

Civil unions are recognized and accepted in approximately 30 countries. Same-sex marriages have also been recorded in the history of pre-modern Europe. Same-sex marriage remains statistically insignificant worldwide, as it is not legally recognized in most countries.[clarify] However, in countries where it has been adopted, applications for marriage licenses have far exceeded governmental estimates of demand. As homosexuality has become more accepted in Western cultures, more governments are allowing and/or sanctioning unions of same-sex couples.

These developments have created a political and religious reaction in some countries, including in England, where the Church of England, after long debate, officially banned blessings of gay couples by Church of England clergy, and in the United States, where several states have specifically defined marriage as between a man and a woman, often after popular referendums, including the state of Mississippi which passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with 86% of the vote supporting that proposition. [3]PDF (29.9 KiB) Conversely, two states, California and Massachusetts, have sanctioned some form of same-sex unions. In addition, Lutheran churches in Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and some Lutheran churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany allow blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. In other countries, (such as Finland) such ceremonies are discouraged and rarely performed by the church.[citation needed]

Civil unions are a separate form of legal union open to couples of the same sex. Many more countries have legalized civil unions than those which have legalized same-sex marriage. Some religious denominations ceremonially perform civil unions, and recognize them as essentially equivalent to marriage.

What is LOVE ?

For centuries man has tried to define love, to capture its essence, to reach through words and thoughts to its very core. But by and large, love has escaped the clutches of words, cages of definitions. It floats free as an abstraction, as music, as a lyrical lore and continues to claim its victims, innocent young hearts, all through centuries.
None have been able to click on "escape" or "delete" buttons when face to face with power of love.
The dictionary defines love as deep affection and fondness. In a generalized sense, love is a strong attraction or a magnetic pull coupled with intense caring for a thing or an activity or a person.
However, we are talking here about love between man and woman or two persons. It most certainly has a quality that separates it from love one feels for one's child, parents, or love for books, music, sports, nature, or even towards one's own self.
Love between man and woman is the most profound experience, an out of the ordinary occurrence and is often coupled with desire for physical intimacy with the other for its ultimate expression. It has even been said to be a magical or metaphysical experience.
It is rather strange to think when love happens you say 'I have fallen in love". It can not be just a coincidence that this phrase, often used without introspection or speculation, can really give us a clue to how it feels to be in love.
There must be a sense of falling from a great height, like a feather, light weight, there is a feeling of lightness, of happiness, of surrender. In this fall resides a lover's rise. A person who has not fallen in love has never risen in life, as wise men say.
In love you surrender. In love you give. In love you care. In love you accept. In love you cease to matter alone. The other becomes part of you. The object of your love envelopes your soul, your thoughts, your being.
The Beatles stars John Lennon and Paul McCartney created the song "All you need is love". Mahatma Gandhi has said "Love never claims, it only gives". Poet Janos Arany says "In dream and in love, there are no impossibilities".
It seems nature has conspired for us to fall in love. Let's love and let's live.

Marriage and religion

Many religions have broad teachings regarding marriage. Most Christian churches blessing the couple being married; the wedding ceremony sometimes involves a pledge by the community to support the couple's relationship. Religious communities widely hold marriage as a relationship uniquely allegorical to God's relationship with the people; the husband represents God and the bride represents the whole of God's chosen people.[citation needed]
Liturgical Christian communions—notably Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy—consider marriage (sometimes termed holy matrimony) to be an expression of grace, termed a sacrament or mystery. In Western ritual, the sacrament is bestowed upon a husband and wife by the spouses themselves, with a bishop, priest, or deacon normally witnessing the union on behalf of the church. In Eastern ritual churches, the clergyman functions as the minister. Western Christians commonly term marriage a vocation, while Eastern Christians term it an ordination and a martyrdom, though the theological emphases indicated by the various names are not excluded by the teachings of either tradition. Marriage is commonly celebrated in the context of a Eucharistic service (a nuptial Mass or Divine Liturgy). The sacrament of marriage is indicative of the relationship between Christ and the Church, yet most Reformed Christians would deny the elevation of marriage to the status of a sacrament. Nevertheless it is considered a covenant between spouses before God.[citation needed]
In Judaism, marriage is viewed as a contractual bond commanded by God in which a man and a woman come together to create a relationship in which God is directly involved. Though procreation is not the sole purpose, a Jewish marriage is also expected to fulfill the commandment to have children. The main focus centers around the relationship between the husband and wife. Kabbalistically, marriage is understood to mean that the husband and wife are merging together into a single soul. This is why a man is considered "incomplete" if he is not married, as his soul is only one part of a larger whole that remains to be unified.
Islam also recommends marriage highly; among other things, it helps in the pursuit of spiritual perfection. Age of marriage is whenever the individuals feel ready, financially and emotionally, for marriage. It should also be noted that in Islam, marriage is not a religious concept as it is in many religions, but a civil contract between a man and a woman.[citation needed]
Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, recommended that people marry as an assistance to themselves in their well-being, but did not make it obligatory; he explained that it is both a physical and spiritual bond that endures into the afterlife. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the religion, stated that marriage is a foundation for the structure of of human society. A Bahá'í marriage requires the consent of the couple, and then of all living parents, as to strengthen the ties between the families and avoid enmity. Hinduism sees marriage as a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. Old Hindu literature in Sanskrit gives many different types of marriages and their categorization ranging from "Gandharva Vivaha" (instant marriage by mutual consent of participants only, without any need for even a single third person as witness) to normal (present day) marriages, to "Rakshasa Vivaha" (marriage performed by abduction of one participant by the other participant, usually, but not always, with the help of other persons). There are elaborate laws in Manusmriti directing which castes and which varnas can marry which castes, and the penalties for breaking these nuptial laws.[citation needed]
For the most part, religious traditions in the world reserve marriage to heterosexual unions, but there are exceptions including Unitarian Universalist and Metropolitan Community Church.

Just ask for forgiveness

Forgiveness is the mental, and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger against another person for a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. This definition, however, is subject to much philosophical critique. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives, in terms of the person forgiven and/or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, it may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.
Most world religions include teachings on the nature of forgiveness, and many of these teachings provide an underlying basis for many varying modern day traditions and practices of forgiveness. However, throughout the ages, philosophers have studied forgiveness apart from religion. In addition, as in other areas of human inquiry, science is beginning to question religious concepts of forgiveness. Psychology, sociology and medicine are among the scientific disciplines researching forgiveness or aspects of forgiveness. Instances of teachings on forgiveness such as the parable of the Prodigal Son and Mahatma Gandhi's forgiveness of his assassin as he lay dying, are well known instances of such teachings and practices of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings, others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness between one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and/or divine forgiveness.

Love, infatuation, and insanity

"Sacred Love versus Profane Love" by Giovanni Baglione
Studies have shown that brain scans of those in infatuated by love display a resemblance to those with a mental illness. Love creates activity in the same area of the brain that hunger, thirst, and drug cravings create activity in. New love, therefore, could possibly be more physical than emotional. Over time, this reaction to love mellows, and different areas of the brain are activated, primarily ones involving long-term commitments. Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist, suggests that this reaction to love is so similar to that of drugs because without love, humanity would die out.

The word love has different meanings

The word love has many different meanings in English, from something that gives a little pleasure ("I loved that meal") to something one would die for (ideals, family). It can describe an intense feeling of affection, an emotion or an emotional state. In ordinary use, it usually refers to interpersonal love. Probably due to its psychological relevance, love is one of the most common themes in art and music.

Just as there are many types of lovers, there are many kinds of love. Though love is inherent in all human cultures, cultural differences make any universal definition difficult to establish. One definition attempting to be universally applicable is Thomas Jay Oord's: to love is to act intentionally, in sympathetic response to others, to promote overall well-being. This definition applies to the positive connotations of love.

Expressions of love may include the love for a "soul" or mind, the love of laws and organizations, love for a body, love for nature, love of food, love of money, love for learning, love of power, love of fame, love for the respect of others, etcetera. Different people place varying degrees of importance on the kinds of love they receive. According to many philosophers, the only goal of life is to be happy. And there is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved. Love is essentially an abstract concept, much easier to experience than to explain.

No Matter, What Happens

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $500/-note. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this 500 note?". Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this.".

He proceeded to crumple the note up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?". Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?". And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $ 500/-. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don't ever forget it! No Matter, What Happens..."

MORAL of the Story :- "Never Let Yesterday's Disappointments Outshine Tomorrow's Dreams"