The Superstition of DivorceChesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
Religion
The Superstition of Divorce
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
Divorce
Thus, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an intelligent man in other matters, says
that there is only a “theological” opposition to divorce, and that it is
entirely founded on “certain texts” in the Bible about marriages. This
is exactly as if he said that a belief in the brotherhood of men was
only founded on certain texts in the Bible, about all men being the
children of Adam and Eve. Millions of peasants and plain people all over
the world assume marriage to be static, without having ever clapped eyes
on any text. Numbers of more modern people, especially after the recent
experiments in America, think divorce is a social disease, without
having ever bothered about any text. It may be maintained that even in
these, or in any one, the idea of marriage is ultimately mystical; and
the same may be maintained about the idea of brotherhood. It is obvious
that a husband and wife are not visibly one flesh, in the sense of
being one quadruped. It is equally obvious that Paderewski and Jack
Johnson are not twins, and probably have not played together at their
mother’s knee. There is indeed a very important admission, or addition,
to be realised here. What is true is this: that if the nonsense of
Nietzsche or some such sophist submerged current culture, so that it was
the fashion to deny the duties of fraternity; then indeed it might be
found that the group which still affirmed fraternity was the original
group in whose sacred books was the text about Adam and Eve. Suppose
some Prussian professor has opportunely discovered that Germans and
lesser men are respectively descended from two such very different
monkeys that they are in no sense brothers, but barely cousins (German)
any number of times removed. And suppose he proceeds to remove them even
further with a hatchet; suppose he bases on this a repetition of the
conduct of Cain, saying not so much “Am I my brother’s keeper?” as “Is
he really my brother?” And suppose this higher philosophy of the
hatchet becomes prevalent in colleges and cultivated circles, as even
more foolish philosophies have done. Then I agree it probably will be
the Christian, the man who preserves the text about Cain, who will
continue to assert that he is still the professor’s brother; that he is
still the professor’s keeper. He may possibly add that, in his opinion,
the professor seems to require a keeper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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