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Should adultery be a criminal offense punishable by jailtime?

Should adultery be a criminal offense punishable by jailtime?

  • Obviously! It should carry MMS and strict for 2nd++ offense..

    Votes: 2 3.1%

  • Yes, jailtime.

    Votes: 2 3.1%

  • Yah, first fine, then jail, mild jail time.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hmm.. Perhaps..

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No..

    Votes: 57 87.7%

  • Something else(explain).

    Votes: 4 6.2%
  • Total voters
    65
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Bodhisattva said:
Pluralism, in cases of adutlery, is not a particularly valid or constructive point
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why is that? You think adultery is such a heinous crime it deserves. State punishment, I do not. Why is your opinion more valid? Because yours came from a religion?

but it is for a society to choose,
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assuming its constitutional, yes it is.

but to the same degree, it is a societies choice to make bad choices, so that is not much of an argument either...
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once again, the government has NO compelling reason it needs to punish my or my spouses decisions within our relationship just to satisfy others opinions on how relationships should be.




For the same reason that government is involved in legalizing marriage in the first place.
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Which is? What is that reason? Personally I don't think they should be. But states can pass such laws if they wish to regulate such things. but a positive right is different from punishment.

Why should they be involved in any aspect of how people conduct relationships? If it is OK or logical for them to be in one aspect, then the same can be said for the other...
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oh I see. Your logic is that since they are already doing it for one thing and another thing is similiar then it must be ok. Is that what you are saying?

You can't have a provision calling for jailtime if your spouse cheats on you, so I'm not sure why you even brought that up.
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I know, but you can outline monetary or property for such injuries. Which is what I was trying to say.
 
Captain Obvious said:
As if our jails and prisons aren't clogged up enough as it is.

Religion and politics (laws) should be completely separate, though much of common law is based on some religious belief in one way or another.

IMO - we need to be reducing our legislation and enforcing the laws that we have in place now.
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I certainly agree on this part but the laws are way out of balance...adultery should have always had severe consequenses...other laws are too strict
 
creativedreams said:
I certainly agree on this part but the laws are way out of balance...adultery should have always had severe consequenses...other laws are too strict
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Like jail time?

I'm trying to go with the flow here, but suggesting jailtime (or any criminal prosecution) for adulterers is absurd.

First, I'm all for the civil legal system. Commit adultery and subject yourself to the short end of divorce proceedings.

Second, I'm all for sexual freedom. It's one of the things that separates western civilization from the cave dwelling, Islamic whackos. What's next - public stoning for adultery?

Third, we live in a very polygamous society. What is the percentage of adultery committed by US citizens? It's probably high - in the 10's of millions I would suspect. We're going to add this caseload to our legal system?

I don't disagree with this because of the hit on our legal and penile system, but because it's just wrong IMO. It's a civil issue, and where would it go from here? If I hit on someone who's married (though I don't realize it), will I be arrested? If I'm caught kissing my gal on a park bench, will I get incarcerated? Premarital sex = prosecution from the religious vice squad?

No thanks.
 
Captain Obvious said:
Like jail time?

I'm trying to go with the flow here, but suggesting jailtime (or any criminal prosecution) for adulterers is absurd.

First, I'm all for the civil legal system. Commit adultery and subject yourself to the short end of divorce proceedings.

Second, I'm all for sexual freedom. It's one of the things that separates western civilization from the cave dwelling, Islamic whackos. What's next - public stoning for adultery?

Third, we live in a very polygamous society. What is the percentage of adultery committed by US citizens? It's probably high - in the 10's of millions I would suspect. We're going to add this caseload to our legal system?

I don't disagree with this because of the hit on our legal and penile system, but because it's just wrong IMO. It's a civil issue, and where would it go from here? If I hit on someone who's married (though I don't realize it), will I be arrested? If I'm caught kissing my gal on a park bench, will I get incarcerated? Premarital sex = prosecution from the religious vice squad?

No thanks.
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A married adult should have the decency to divorce before deceiving their spouse and children...yes I said children because they equally suffer mentally like the parent does. Adultery has many adverse effects on our society not at first noticed but in ways the entire family foundation is veiwed etc. The list of damage can go on and on. No I don't think we should be as strict as some of the middle east countries but it needs a lot of fixing
 
creativedreams said:
A married adult should have the decency to divorce before deceiving their spouse and children...yes I said children because they equally suffer mentally like the parent does. Adultery has many adverse effects on our society not at first noticed but in ways the entire family foundation is veiwed etc. The list of damage can go on and on. No I don't think we should be as strict as some of the middle east countries but it needs a lot of fixing
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I agree, adultery has a huge impact on the family structure. So does monogamous divorce, are we going to start jailing people for simply getting divorces?

Suggesting jailtime for adulterers is reactionary when considering this and criminalizing this act adds a religious aspect to our legal system. This is my opinion only (though the writers of our Constitution had this idea in mind) but we need to keep religious based ideology out of our political and legal system. The religious right is not much better than the Islamic whackos IMO - they're simply trying to force their beliefs down the throats of those who don't agree with them.

Single parenting has negative consequences on children, so do parents who are just nuts. That's the way of the world. A bleeding-heart reaction to one of many factors in the decay of our family structure isn't the answer. I don't know what the answer is, but I have thoughts.
 
Captain Obvious said:
I agree, adultery has a huge impact on the family structure. So does monogamous divorce, are we going to start jailing people for simply getting divorces?

Suggesting jailtime for adulterers is reactionary when considering this and criminalizing this act adds a religious aspect to our legal system. This is my opinion only (though the writers of our Constitution had this idea in mind) but we need to keep religious based ideology out of our political and legal system. The religious right is not much better than the Islamic whackos IMO - they're simply trying to force their beliefs down the throats of those who don't agree with them.

Single parenting has negative consequences on children, so do parents who are just nuts. That's the way of the world. A bleeding-heart reaction to one of many factors in the decay of our family structure isn't the answer. I don't know what the answer is, but I have thoughts.
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No I don't believe monogamous divorces should be a crime in any way..but perhaps an equal divorce tax to help deter and compensate certain issues affected in society and courts. Plus maybe the divorse tax would help americans to take marriage more seriously and not trade in their spouses every five years for a new one.

I am not very religious at all but I still think adultery should be a very serious crime.
 
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After thinking it over a bit...

Making adultery a crime punishable by jailtime will only result in far, FAR fewer people getting married. Which will likely eventually mean the state would have no more interest in it at all and get out of the marriage business altogether since no one would bother doing it (no need for it anyway). I see this as a good thing, thus I think I will support life in prison punishments for adultery. That should nip the whole marriage thing in the bud immediately.
 
creativedreams said:
No I don't believe monogamous divorces should be a crime in any way..but perhaps an equal divorce tax to help deter and compensate certain issues affected in society and courts. Plus maybe the divorse tax would help americans to take marriage more seriously and not trade in their spouses every five years for a new one.

I am not very religious at all but I still think adultery should be a very serious crime.
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I'm ok with the civil aspects you suggest, but divorce and adultery don't belong in the criminal court system. It smacks of religious intolerance.
 
rivrrat said:
After thinking it over a bit...

Making adultery a crime punishable by jailtime will only result in far, FAR fewer people getting married. Which will likely eventually mean the state would have no more interest in it at all and get out of the marriage business altogether since no one would bother doing it (no need for it anyway). I see this as a good thing, thus I think I will support life in prison punishments for adultery. That should nip the whole marriage thing in the bud immediately.
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No it would eventually lead to marriage being a more humanly sacred bond again and help society properly raise children...in turn having a lot less confused children growing up criminals with tainted morals.

People in generaly will give it a more serious thought to make sure they are marrying the right person instead of having it in the back of their mind to just give it a half hearted try and if it doesn't work I'll just upgrade later.
 
Religion is kooky.

At a young age, we start getting this **** force-fed to us. It starts with Santa Clause - lies to us to keep us happy and content. Then the "Jesus is God" stuff right after that. Then "you can't have sex before you get married" and all that other junk - right at the time when we're essentially sexually peaking and would do anything for it during the same time when your biggest priority is getting a high score on Guitar Hero.

Even get married.

Want to blame someone for the high adultery and divorce rate? Look to your local church. Instead of teaching our kids about this religious garbage that you can't have sex before marriage and that you have to get married to be considered "proper" - give them options. Tell them that marriage should be considered permanent and they should only do so when they're ready - ie: after 30 for most kids.

Until then, have at it. Make no excuse for what you're doing and do it responsibly. Use protection, make no commitments.

Be honest.

I have been monogamous for my entire marriage. 17 years and we had kids in our early 20's. I wasn't ready then and if I had been given better advice, I would have not done either until I was at least 30. I expect that too many are in this predicament, I just happened to be in the minority that kept faithful and toughed it out even though I wasn't ready.
 
Captain Obvious said:
As if our jails and prisons aren't clogged up enough as it is.
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We need to execute more of the hard core criminals in order to make room for lesser criminals...


Religion and politics (laws) should be completely separate, though much of common law is based on some religious belief in one way or another.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but laws regarding marriage have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with contracts...


IMO - we need to be reducing our legislation and enforcing the laws that we have in place now.
Click to expand...

Or enacting harsher penalties for existing laws...
 
Captain Obvious said:
Religion is kooky.

At a young age, we start getting this **** force-fed to us. It starts with Santa Clause - lies to us to keep us happy and content. Then the "Jesus is God" stuff right after that. Then "you can't have sex before you get married" and all that other junk - right at the time when we're essentially sexually peaking and would do anything for it during the same time when your biggest priority is getting a high score on Guitar Hero.

Even get married.

Want to blame someone for the high adultery and divorce rate? Look to your local church. Instead of teaching our kids about this religious garbage that you can't have sex before marriage and that you have to get married to be considered "proper" - give them options. Tell them that marriage should be considered permanent and they should only do so when they're ready - ie: after 30 for most kids.

Until then, have at it. Make no excuse for what you're doing and do it responsibly. Use protection, make no commitments.

Be honest.

I have been monogamous for my entire marriage. 17 years and we had kids in our early 20's. I wasn't ready then and if I had been given better advice, I would have not done either until I was at least 30. I expect that too many are in this predicament, I just happened to be in the minority that kept faithful and toughed it out even though I wasn't ready.
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I believe that when humans first started to evolve socially religion was simply the earliest form of a law. Religion inspired laws to help the majority bond together and keep individuals from getting bullied by people or groups.

That being said I also believe that all religion was the same at one early time but through time got twisted to the liking of many little groups or clicks around the planet.

That being said I also believe that the universe is full of life but I cannot rule out the possibility of there being a God in some form because life had to start somewhere.

Sorry if I got a little deep...:)
 
creativedreams said:
I believe that when humans first started to evolve socially religion was simply the earliest form of a law. Religion inspired laws to help the majority bond together and keep individuals from getting bullied by people or groups.
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Well said... religion existed to protect the tribe. To make it strong.
To make it united and have a vision of the future....
 
creativedreams said:
I believe that when humans first started to evolve socially religion was simply the earliest form of a law. Religion inspired laws to help the majority bond together and keep individuals from getting bullied by people or groups.

That being said I also believe that all religion was the same at one early time but through time got twisted to the liking of many little groups or clicks around the planet.

That being said I also believe that the universe is full of life but I cannot rule out the possibility of there being a God in some form because life had to start somewhere.

Sorry if I got a little deep...:)
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It's cool, and I'll go deeper.

I'm clearly an agnostic. Not sure if I'm Christian, but I'll lean that way.

I think religion is what it was once coined - "opiate of the masses". Human nature dictates that we need to believe that there's something beyond death - that we just don't decay into unconsciousness. Hence religion and gods aplenty. Every culture has their gods, we have Christianity for the most part and some other related religions.

So who's right? Christians? Jews? Islam? Buddhists? Should we hang the 10 commandments in the courthouse? If so, should we also put a Koran there? Maybe a Tanakh? A KKK burning cross?

My point is keep it all out of our politics. Keep it segregated - free for those to join and practice, but not to politically influence.

Same goes for (going back on topic) adultery. Yes it's a social issue, but marriage is essentially religious in nature, and to take it as something otherwise would make it a civil matter like someone earlier suggested. Contractually based.
 
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Captain Obvious said:
It's cool, and I'll go deeper.

I'm clearly an agnostic. Not sure if I'm Christian, but I'll lean that way.

I think religion is what it was once coined - "opiate of the masses". Human nature dictates that we need to believe that there's something beyond death - that we just don't decay into unconsciousness. Hence religion and gods aplenty. Every culture has their gods, we have Christianity for the most part and some other related religions.

So who's right? Christians? Jews? Islam? Buddhists? Should we hang the 10 commandments in the courthouse? If so, should we also put a Koran there? Maybe a Tanakh? A KKK burning cross?

My point is keep it all out of our politics. Keep it segregated - free for those to join and practice, but not to politically influence.

Same goes for (going back on topic) adultery. Yes it's a social issue, but marriage is essentially religious in nature, and to take it as something otherwise would make it a civil matter like someone earlier suggested. Contractually based.
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Just like some of the other species on the planet like the monarch butterfly, etc. humans are naturally programmed to be monogamous. (there are always exceptions to everything) So marriage I believe is a human procreation issue with rearing our young, and not a religion issue.
 
creativedreams said:
Just like some of the other species on the planet like the monarch butterfly, etc. humans are naturally programmed to be monogamous. (there are always exceptions to everything) So marriage I believe is a human procreation issue with rearing our young, and not a religion issue.
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Says who?

We've been "programmed" by religious norms to be monogamous, but I'm not sure humans are such. I'm a guy, I'm monogamous - faithfully. Do I have the urges to nail every femme that crosses my street? Absolutely, and if I had my way I'd be doing so. I don't think I'm the oddball in this case.

My point is that the suggestion that you have with humans being "monogamous" is slighted. Looking at the divorce and adultery rate, I'd say I have a pretty good case even though historically we've been pretty much a monogamous species - but that was heavily influenced by religious doctrine that we would burn in everlasting fire if we boinked more than 1.

Take that religious aspect out and we're pretty much 50/50 IMO. Half of us are monogamous, half are sacking anything we can get our hands on.

You can't really compare our neural design to those of butterflies or whales or lions for that matter - we're clearly beyond those species. Our "programming" isn't designed by instinct alone, but by reason, understanding and knowledge. It's what separates us from the rest and I challenge the suggestion that we're a monogamous bunch.
 
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Captain Obvious said:
Says who?

We've been "programmed" by religious norms to be monogamous, but I'm not sure humans are such. I'm a guy, I'm monogamous - faithfully. Do I have the urges to nail every femme that crosses my street? Absolutely, and if I had my way I'd be doing so. I don't think I'm the oddball in this case.

My point is that the suggestion that you have with humans being "monogamous" is slighted. Looking at the divorce and adultery rate, I'd say I have a pretty good case even though historically we've been pretty much a monogamous species - but that was heavily influenced by religious doctrine that we would burn in everlasting fire if we boinked more than 1.

Take that religious aspect out and we're pretty much 50/50 IMO. Half of us are monogamous, half are sacking anything we can get our hands on.

You can't really compare our neural design to those of butterflies or whales or lions fpr that matter - we're clearly beyond those species. Our "programming" isn't designed by instinct alone, but by reason, understanding and knowledge. It's what separates us from the rest and I challenge the suggestion that we're a monogamous bunch.
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Perhaps I am reaching a little...:)

I would like to see more info on how our earlier ancesters approached this

and especially how it was approached by the majority common folk during early Rome, England etc.
 
creativedreams said:
Just like some of the other species on the planet like the monarch butterfly, etc. humans are naturally programmed to be monogamous. (there are always exceptions to everything) So marriage I believe is a human procreation issue with rearing our young, and not a religion issue.
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If I remember correctly, I've heard arguments that the opposite is true based on human teste size.
 
creativedreams said:
Perhaps I am reaching a little...:)

I would like to see more info on how our earlier ancesters approached this

and especially how it was approached by the majority common folk during early Rome, England etc.
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Rome? From what I've read, Rome was the epicenter of moral decay. Later years of course, I'm not a historian and I'm not sure about the earlier years. England? Yeah, I plead ignorance here also, but don't forget - England (and Spain and other chivalry based societies) were heavily influenced by the Catholic church so that throws them out as outliers IMO.

Same for the orient. They were influenced by their beliefs along with an oppressive dictate that also makes them subject for dismissal from this theory.

Africa? Now there's possibly a point to look toward when considering what human nature dictates, though I'm also not scribed in African customs.

Either way, breaking it down suggests that maybe I'm not right and maybe you are not wrong simply by considering that we as a species are fluent - not like whales who were whales 1,000 years ago and are whales now. We are still evolving and because of our understanding we haven't tapped our true identity. Our social customs are still developing and our influences are ever present.
 
Bodhisattva said:
We need to execute more of the hard core criminals in order to make room for lesser criminals...
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The ends justify the means?

Bodhisattva said:
Agreed, but laws regarding marriage have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with contracts...
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And since a marriage contract mentions nothing about fidelity.....
 
Bodhisattva said:
We need to execute more of the hard core criminals in order to make room for lesser criminals...




Agreed, but laws regarding marriage have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with contracts...




Or enacting harsher penalties for existing laws...
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Tell me thought, I don't recall signing anything when I got married.

What "contract" governs my devotion to my wife?
 
Captain Obvious said:
Tell me thought, I don't recall signing anything when I got married.

What "contract" governs my devotion to my wife?
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Your state does. If you have a state recognized marriage--which is required to receive tax deductions and certain exemptions and beneifts--then you do sign a contract in the form of a marriage with your state as the overseer.

You don't have to do this but then I don't believe you can receive federals and state benefits by claiming yourself as married.
 
creativedreams said:
No it would eventually lead to marriage being a more humanly sacred bond again and help society properly raise children...in turn having a lot less confused children growing up criminals with tainted morals.

People in generaly will give it a more serious thought to make sure they are marrying the right person instead of having it in the back of their mind to just give it a half hearted try and if it doesn't work I'll just upgrade later.
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No, I seriously doubt it. It will mean far, FAR fewer marriages. One need not be married to have a bond and raise children "properly". There are a ****load of reasons NOT to get married already. Add infidelity = jailtime to the mix and you pretty much make it so that there is NO reason to get married at all. Why risk jailtime when you can do all the same things, accomplish the same goals without risking it?

creativedreams said:
Just like some of the other species on the planet like the monarch butterfly, etc. humans are naturally programmed to be monogamous. (there are always exceptions to everything) So marriage I believe is a human procreation issue with rearing our young, and not a religion issue.
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:rofl:rofl

According to most studies, at LEAST 30+% of married folks have cheated or will cheat. That's a bit more than an "exception", doncha think? 1/3? And that's only MARRIED people, that's not counting those that cheat that aren't married. Or all the people that date more than one person quite openly, and/or bounce from one person to another throughout their lives.

Humans are not meant to be monogamous, nor are we meant to mate for life. Biology is against us. When we're talking about biology, it pays for a woman to have sex with many men in order to ensure pregnancy. And, it pays for the man to have sex with many women in order to ensure the wide spread of his seed.
 
I didn't sign a marriage contract. I signed a marriage license.
 
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