Folks, did you know that child marriage is legal and occurs in the Dominican Republic, (a majority Catholic nation btw)

Rank/ Country/Percentage of girls married before 18

1 Niger 75
2 Chad 68
3 Central African Republic 68----> Majority Christian
4 Bangladesh 66
5 Guinea 63
6 Mozambique 56
7 Mali 55
8 Burkina Faso 52
9 South Sudan 52-----> Majority Christian
10 Malawi 50
11 Madagascar 48
12 Eritrea 47
13 India 47 <-------Majority Hindu
14 Somalia 45
15 Sierra Leone 44
16 Zambia 42
17 Dominican Republic<----majority Catholic
18 Ethiopia 41 <-----majority Christian
19 Nepal 41 <----- Majority Hindu
20 Nicaragua 41 <----majority Catholic

source- International center for Research on women

http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures
No one religious affiliation was associated with child marriage, according to a 2007 ICRW study. Rather, a variety of religions are associated with child marriage in countries throughout the world.

In a few threads on this forum, at times, any one religion may be attributed to a world problem, yet, as we see with the ICRW study, the issue of Child Marriage is one that is indifferent to any religion.

thoughts?

Keep it all in one thread - you are essentially defending Islam correct?

This doesn't say that child marriage is "indifferent to any religion", it says the opposite. It says that child marriage is linked directly to many religions.

Should we excuse burglars because burglaries are not unique to one religion?

This doesn't say that child marriage is "indifferent to any religion", it says the opposite. It says that child marriage is linked directly to many religions.

You didn't include the bolded above. Why not?

Child marriage is probably linked more closely with economics than with religion (though religion can also have an influence). Did someone claim otherwise somewhere? And if so, why aren't you posting this in that thread?

I figured most folks would know some of the countries I didn't highlight are Muslim majority, but that they may not have known some(the ones I highlighted) are Christian/Catholic majority. But, I could see how it would have been easier had I included the information of which you highlighted.

I forgot to mention the demographics of Zambia as well <--- Majority Protestant and only 15%(at most) non-Christian.


I didn't want to enter another thread which may highlight one specific religion. This is a topic which deserves its own thread, IMO. As the OP of this thread argues child marriage is an issue related to many types of belief systems.

This thread is about how child marriage is seen all around the world, and not limited to one specific religion. Child marriage is currently noted within many belief systems.




This thread is not about excusing child marriage, rather my intentions were to show Child marriage occurs all over the world, within many personal belief systems. You know what indifferent means, so my viewpoint is that the term Child Marriage, or the act of Child Marriage is indifferent to religious beliefs.

In addition, we know of course, that Atheists or Non-thesits are prone to child marriage as well. I would imagine at least some( how many could be debated) Atheists are getting married in another part of the world to a person under the age of 18. Other nations in the world may include a Atheist adult marrying a person under the age of 18.

And so what? Two wrongs don't make a right.

The implicit claim that some trait must be unique to a group to be seen as symptomatic of that groups seems extremely weak.

Child marriage isn't random.

If people were telling you that the Central African Republic is a great country, great for a holiday, and safer for women than America, then all the ****ty things you keep telling me about it might become relevant.

Edit: and 13 out of the top 20 are Islamic and the other half are split between all the other religions, and yet again you expect me to be impressed.

Marriage at what age? Few people find it particuarly egregious if a 17 year old marries another 17 year old. It's when girls are married off to mature men that our reaction runs the range between "ick" and "that should be a criminal offense".

Ok well just my 2 c. - I don't think this is necessary as this is basically just an effort to deflect charges against Islam.

I don't think anyone thinks child marriage is primarily associated with Islam. As others have mentioned it is mostly related to economics and historical cultural norms.

Never gets old. And its true. - keep using this one liner TD

Can you provide a source and either way what about the other 7?

Are you now saying Zambia is not 85% +Christian?

The point is we see numerous belief systems within these 20 nations, therefore you cant blame this issue on (specifically) Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, etc , etc.

In the end, IMO human error can be blamed for the current issue of child marriage around the world.


If 17 is acceptable(it seems like this is your view, correct me if I'm wrong) in your view for a legal age of marriage, why not 16 or 15?

I came across the article and felt it would be appropriate to create a thread on the issue of Child Marriage in RGT, many of the mentioned countries in the top 20 ICRW study hold significant populations which adhere to numerous religious beliefs.

Did anyone claim otherwise? (And by "related to" in the first statement, I'm assuming you mean something like "can be found in" as opposed to something like "is caused by".)

Their work shows that one of the best ways to solve the problem of child marriage is to lift the education standards of women.

Clearly we should prefer those religions which encourage education of girls.

The definition of child marriage may need more detail. The stats shown seem to consider under 18 but marriage is legal in the UK at 16 (with the parents consent and obviously both parties have to be at least 16)

As TD already referenced, two wrongs don't make a right. This is one of your most common habits, to compare something bad to something else bad and say 'see, they do it too, so it's ok after all'.

Mmm... no.

Education for women is a top priority in many GCC countries(if not all) as well as the United States. The issue of Child Marriage is significant in poverty stricken areas. We don't see the USA or the GCC countries on the list so these are examples of countries which provide a quality outlet of education of women. The last point is interesting because religion is part of everyday life in both the USA and GCC countries.

And because its a decent example of an invalid argument.

This. You do this constantly. "They do it too" is not a defense.

You said,

I then correctly(according to statistics) stated that both the USA and GCC nations (who don't appear on the child marriage list as outlined in the op) countries provide a strong opportunity for the education of women.

After that, you said:

And that's where things break down. It's not that interesting because religion is part of everyday life in almost every country at this moment in time.

Kind of. What you said was:
"We don't see the USA or the GCC countries on the list so these are examples of countries which provide a quality outlet of education of women. "

An argument is invalid if the truth of the conclusion is not guaranteed by the truth of the premises (it's irrelevant whether the premises are actually true).

Your claim is that if a country is not on the list then it provides a quality outlet of education of women. There are, in fact, other reasons for not being on the list - the most obvious being wealth. We can't conclude that the US or the GCC countries are providing decent education for girls just because they're not on the list of countries with a high proportion of childhood marriages. Especially if they are rich.

You then made a comment about religion which wasnt particularly relevant. Religion is everywhere. Wealth is much more unevenly distributed. A poor country with a low rate of childhood marriages would be worth investigating.