> The goal of the state (and the church) in promoting and supporting good marriages has historically and traditionally been to foster stable societies, strong h

> The goal of the state (and the church) in promoting and supporting good marriages has historically and traditionally been to foster stable societies, strong homes, and obviously, population growth and replacement for the aging, infirm and dying. The goal for whom? When the benefits of a vast pool of human labor are concentrated to a teeny group of people on top of the pyramid (whether they be kings, aristocrats, bishops, or billionaires), it's not surprising that leaders want to foster "strong societies". Leaders want to foster systems that maintain their power. But it's appropriate to look at history for cases where this hasn't happened. Many historians argue that the Black Death, while obviously horrible in human terms, lead to a fundamental (and I'd argue beneficial) restructuring of European society. Labor was tight with fewer people, so peasant income went up in real terms. The power of the church went down drastically as people questioned why the church wasn't able to protect them from so much death. My point is that societies favor systems that maintain existing power structures, but that doesn't mean those power structures are inherently good (or, for that matter, bad).