Or should I say, sex is a biological imperative for the reproduction of the species.....marriage is more like a social imperative (?) for the support of offspring.

Poirot,
A marriage has not taken place until there has been a sexual union between a man and a woman. Ask the the 800,000 Muslims in Australia: what constitutes a marriage? Forget the 20,000 gays what they think marriage is, they do not marry they just engage in homosexual acts.

Philo,

So you're saying that the social institution of marriage is not validated until the biological act of sexual union has been undertaken....oksy.
But marriage is still not a biological act. It is a social mechanism for the validation of a sexual union.

I'm not interested in replying to your prejudice regarding homosexuals.

Poirot, I think Philo is only referring to a Muslim act-of-marriage.

There was no mention of Christians or 'others' in the post where you were advised of the thinking of some 800,000 Muslims in Oz.

Odd, but there you go.

Learn something every day here.

I don’t know how the so called Christians can take the high moral ground on anything, including marriage. Their record speaks for itself. All religions have failed; they should stick to their superstitious and oppressive bigotry and leave the rest of us alone.

Quite so Paul 1405. Just watched Compass last night. Yet another round of Roman Catholic 'buggers' in denial of what their church encourages every day.

Not just the sexual abuse but also the lies from Bishops and higher.

To Hell with the Vatican.