177
The pamphlet is/was real; the claim "a guide to welfare" is false
The pamphlet is/was real and caused a stir in the Swedish news, for example: Aftonbladet (in Swedish)
The pamphlet was published on Socialstyrelsens website on this link (in Swedish), but was quickly retracted (in Swedish) when the criticism poured in. The main objections were that the ...
143
For completeness, here is the full 4 page pamphlet together with an English translation:
Information to you who are married to a child
Child marriage is illegal in Sweden
In Sweden it is illegal to marry anyone under the age of 18.
There are many reasons for this.
Children have a right to be children and to not have the
...
51
There is an aspect of this that is overlooked by the question and the existing answers. In most US states, there are no laws regarding people living as if they were married without being legally married. (Such laws are on the books in a few states, but they are not enforced, and would likely be struck down as unconstitutional if challenged in court.) It ...
49
Bigamy - marrying another person while still being married - is illegal in the United States. You can receive fines and / or prison time, depending on the state. For example, in Utah, Bigamy is a "Felony of Third Degree", meaning you can have between 2 and 10 years in prison (see Sec. 12.34.). Child bigamy second degree, and so is 2 to 20 years (see Sec. 12....
43
Is Idaho forcing pastors to conduct same-sex weddings or face penalties?
Yes and no:
Yes:
It's a real (albeit recent) story
There is a lawsuit, and it is in Idaho
The people involved are "ordained Christian ministers"
No:
It's a city (Coeur D'Alene) ordinance, not the state's (Idaho)
That the city "would" enforce the bylaw is the opinion of the Deputy ...
29
I messaged the creator of the video, asking:
In one of your videos you write "The FDA estimates that 93% of meat worker marriages are in shambles". is that just a joke or do you have a source for this?
Today he replied to me. I quote his reply in full:
Combine this with the facts that the happiness of a relationship is pretty difficult to quantify, and ...
23
Some of Obama's actions as President were instrumental in ensuring that DeGeneres and her wife are considered to be married under US federal law and the laws of all 50 US states. This is a reasonable interpretation of the phrase "legally married".
DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were married in California in August 2008. The marriage was valid under ...
22
Update:
As of this week (written on September 1st, 2013), Domestic Abuse has officially been outlawed in Saudi Arabia.
Huffington post:
In a historic move, Saudi Arabia banned domestic abuse this week, outlawing any form of abuse at home or in the workplace.
The Council of Ministers' approval of the law Monday marks the first time the country has ...
22
StraightDope has this one dissected pretty thoroughly.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/546/are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea
TL;DR: No, there's nothing special about ship's captain job that lets them officiate a marriage, at least in the US Law.
In other words, a ship's Captain can officiate a marriage only in the same ...
16
Actually, it is a federal crime to open another person's mail, regardless of whether you are related to them.
The relevant statute is 18 U.S. Code § 1703 - Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers, section (b), paragraph 2:
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this ...
16
The premise of this question is incorrect; there has been no increase in divorce rates in recent years, and in fact they have been decreasing since 1996. (raw data here if you want to look through it - but it's really raw, pdf table ew).
Edit: oh right and infidelity has been basically flat. (that article is trying to say it's gone down, but honestly their ...
15
Additional information to Mohammad's answer, too long for a comment:
Article 1041 - Marriage before the age, of majority is prohibited.
Note - Marriage before puberty by the permission of the Guardian and on condition of taking into consideration the ward’s interest is proper.
And
Iran's 2012 Penal Code stipulates the age of maturity as 9 ...
14
Maybe but very unlikely as that estimate is dependent upon the what data you are using to make the estimate. Based upon newer data that number is likely invalid though.
The United States Census Bureau can help us in answering this question as they provide a break out of data on same-sex couples. In the 2010 ACS Brief on Same-sex couple households reported ...
13
Yes, married people seem to live longer
The apparent pattern that marriage seems to be good for you was first noted in the 19th century. But it has been confirmed in many studies since, though many of those suffer because they don't adequately adjust for other risk factors and, therefore, failt to isolate the effect of being married.
But there are several ...
13
As Samuel said, the particular version shown in the OP is from 02 September 1865 Harpers.
However, the story had been circulating and distorting for at least a month by this time.
The earliest version that I see so far is in the Wheeling daily intelligencer, July 27, 1865
This version instead begins:
A fellow in Aroostook County, Me., answered a ...
12
There is at least one very public case.
Mohammed al-Fallatta had been sentenced to six months and 300 lashes after repeatedly hitting TV presenter Rania al-Baz's head against the floor.
It is quite difficult to find information on this topic. The sources I have found that confirm or deny that you may or may not beat your wife are less than respectable. ...
10
No it isn't.
Your first source states by itself that in the state of California any two people can get married, as long as they are of the opposite sex, even if they can't bring forth children, such as elderly couples and even prisoners.
More over, the Jewish law, on which the Judeo-Christian marriage is based says the following things:
Inability to bring ...
10
Yes, if you accept as correct the recent English translation of the Quran. However, one has to keep in mind that translation of 1500 years old Arabic into English is not clear-cut (as outlined by dave) and thus the answer greatly depends on that assumption and the question here.
Even though it seems that the basic laws of Saudi Arabia are unclear about that....
10
No, except for some subcommunities.
PLoS Biology published an article reviewing the evidence:
Paul DB, Spencer HG (2008) “It's Ok, We're Not Cousins by Blood”: The Cousin Marriage Controversy in Historical Perspective. PLoS Biol 6(12): e320. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060320
Until recently, good data on which to base an answer were lacking. As a result, ...
9
It's True, or a more balanced response is needed
The above legal references are not the full interpretations neither of the legality or the commonality of the force marriage practice in Iran. Not only is it acceptable; it's on the rise and has been condemned by the UN and other Human Rights groups.
Newsweek found Link
A United Nations panel warned on ...
8
They are not a myth, no.
Wife selling in England was a way of ending an unsatisfactory marriage
by mutual agreement that probably began in the late 17th century, when
divorce was a practical impossibility for all but the very wealthiest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_selling_(English_custom) -(I know, wikipedia isn't 100%)
It was simply due to ...
7
An article from Pew Research in April 8, 2011 disputes the idea that cohabitation before marriage leads to divorce:
On the topic of cohabitation, everybody knows that couples who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce than couples who do not, because that is what much research has found. But some recent work disputes that conclusion. Now ...
7
The answer is no as of 2016 with reference to the policies of the Government of Netherlands.
What is the government’s policy on child brides and forced marriages?:
If a married asylum seeker turns out to be under 18, they are placed under a guardianship order by a court. The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) can also call in the agencies ...
7
To answer the quote,
The key reason that marriage has existed at all in any society and at any time is that sexual relationships between men and women naturally produce children.
I read that as true as far as it goes, if you mean "key biological reason" and not "key legal reason":
I think we can agree than "men and women producing children" is a sine ...
6
The share of young men (ages 18 to 34) who say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in their lives has dropped six percentage points since 1997, from 35% to 29%. For women, the opposite effect occurred, as the share voicing this opinion rose from 28% to 37%. (Pew Research).
Note that is is age-limited, and "expect a ...
6
Based on my research, I have not shown that there are 40,000 children living with same-sex couples in California.
However, I am able to show that figure is consistent with US census data.
According to the 2010 US Census:
0.1% of 116,716,292 households have a same-sex partner with their own children. [Table 3]
(Also, this is an estimate to account for ...
6
Actually it might be the opposite for USA in contrast to Australia.
Immigration and Status Exchange in Australia and the United States
Kate H. Choi,* Marta Tienda, Deborah Cobb-Clark, and Mathias Sinning
Princeton University
Shows, in USA: Homogamy > Hypogamy > Hypergamy
in Australia: Homogamy > Hypergamy > Hypogamy
6
In this case A husband was sentenced 10 days in prison and 30 lashes just for slapping his wife. The wife is allowed to be present to see his husband go through the punishments.
Manama: A man in Saudi Arabia charged with slapping his wife was sentenced to 10 days in prison and 30 lashes.
The court in Al Qateef in the Eastern Province said that the ...
5
As others have pointed out, there are problems with the original questions, but that does not invalidate the original idea.
A primary usage of contraceptives is to prevent children, and we know they are rather effective at this.
And apparently "The divorce rate among couples with children is 40 percent lower than couples without children" [1]. I have been ...
5
The main article I could find on this is a 2008 article. 1 This study actually measures "self-rated health" which is then used by news agencies as a surrogate for life expectancy.
So the link between life expectancy and being married depends on the quality of this surrogate variable. (I can't find the sample size anywhere, which makes interpreting that a ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
