Is Cohabitation Immoral?

[afleitch]

If they're having sex, then yes. If not, then it depends.

So they should rush into marriage to make it all right?

[afleitch]

I agree with General Mung Beans and realisticidealist in principle but I recognize that many people's lives don't actually work that way and it's often not really their fault.

I think most people's lives work that way and never would have but for the veneer of a marriage as being the only way in which sexual relationships could be established. I think marrying prior to establishing sexual compatibility or even establishing a personal space can be quite dangerous.

[afleitch]

If they're having sex, then yes. If not, then it depends.

Sex can be immoral, but whether that's the case has little to do with whether or not the people having sex have a marriage license.

I don't think it's the civil aspect of marriage that people who believe this generally find important.

I certainly hope not. But it appears to me that they value the status of marriage more highly than mutual feelings.

And such thinking undoutedly leads to the preservation of the marriage even if the feelings within the institution are no longer mutual.