Cohabitation vs. Marriage - Term Paper Example

These reasons and several more like them have encouraged people to cohabit in large numbers. This paper aims at drawing a comparison between cohabitation and marriage with a view to determining which of the two is better and in what ways. Marriage is superior to cohabitation. An individual that is accustomed to cohabitation declines his/her ability to be satisfied in a marital relationship. In marriage, the partners are there for each other for the whole life unlike cohabitation, in which the partners live with each other as long as their individualistic needs are being satisfied.

In marriage, partners tend to compromise and do all to make sure the relationship sustains whereas in cohabitation, people hardly care to sustain the relationship when either of the two partners has to compromise. This is fundamentally so because the relationship has got no religious, social or ethical significance, so it is not worth compromising for. People know that they would not lose anything if they do not compromise because in practical terms, the relationship is not giving them anything.

Cohabiting is essentially a means by which people satisfy their sexual cravings without influence or interference of other people. When two people cohabit, they are sex partners. There is no respect whatsoever of religious teachings or limitations. The two are in a world with no constraints. This is fundamentally against the type of lifestyle most religions instruct about. Thus, cohabitation is violation of religious teachings. On the other hand, marriage is one of the most sacred and pious things to do in view of most religions.

Religion defines marriage as a contract according to which, the marital partners are entitled to take care of each other and satisfy each other’s needs. From the religious perspective, marriage completes an individual by providing him/her with his/her better half. In the marital contract, the partners can make love without having to be sinful or disobey God. Marriage allows the individuals to enjoy sex and yet be chaste. In light of the teachings of religions, cohabitation does not stand any chance in front of marriage.

People marry to form new family. When two people marry each other, they commit to their respective roles and responsibilities in making the new family and taking care of it. There is responsibility and respect. Children born to married parents can proudly relate to their biological parents and know where their roots are. This feeling of relationship, association and the knowledge of roots is fundamental to good up-bringing of the children and their healthy psychological development. On the other hand, it may sound harsh but children born to unmarried parents are “bastards”.

Bastard is essentially considered as an abusive word in most cultures. When a person abhors another, he calls him a bastard. It so happens in a vast majority of cultures. Unfortunately, children born to cohabiting couples have no escape from this disgusting label because they actually fit into the definition of this word. There may be no problem in modern societies but in conservative societies, such children grow under psychological pressure and stress offered to them by the society. They may be looked at from the corner of the eyes of their friends.

Even if there is nobody to say anything, they have to fight with an intrinsic guilt of having born to parents with no marital contract. This is not all. Children have to live with