In a day when marriage as an institution is coming progressively under fire and counter-culture groups are attempting to change social mores, there is an ever-increasing need for a clear understanding of marriage. This article seeks to determine whether marriage is a social arrangement, a legal contract or a religious rite. Three things which are believed to be interrelated and constitute the primary ingredients of marriage are posited: (a) a commitment on the part of two people to live together in a unique and abiding relationship; (b) sexual union; and (c) the need for children as a natural consequence of this union.
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