Though the pain due to divorce would be the same, the attitude of different religions towards divorce is different. As the customs, beliefs and habits change from religion to religion, the attitude towards the social issues also differs. Divorce is one of the major issues seriously discussed by the people of the UK in various forums. Let us analyse the different attitudes of different religions towards divorce. Though all the religions encourage people to live together forever, modernity compels them to accept the reality of the contemporary world i.e. divorce is inevitable in certain circumstances.
Christian ideal preaches that marriage is a lifelong commitment and so it never accepts separation. Rather it insists on the human beings not to separate, as God has joined them to live together. Christian religion is viewing divorce as a failure. Over a period of time, church admitted that certain relationship cannot be pulled along for a long time, and it has to be broken down for various good reasons. However, the Roman Catholic Church never admits this view, and it does not accept that the religious marriages could reach an end. They somehow accept that the marriages can be annulled if it has not been consummated, or if one of the partners had been forced to marry the other, or if one partner was not baptized. The other churches do not put a hurdle for the persons to get remarried, though they may be reluctant to conduct it.
The Catholic Church never accepts a civil divorce as a proof for separation. If the person wants to get remarried only with the approval of the Church, then he must obtain ecclesiastical dissolution of the prior marriage, or must have got annulment of the marriage. Otherwise, the church will not recognise their marriage. Islam admits divorce reluctantly neither liking nor recommending it. The Prophet of Islam says that Allah dislikes divorce the most. Islam is not for publicizing the grounds for divorce, but it should be genuine. It will not encourage the private affairs to be discussed in the public places or especially in the courts. In the Islamic method of separation, the court will be considered as a last resort.
A Muslim male has to say ‘Talaq’ three times to divorce his wife. The pronouncement should be on different occasions and should also be pronounced only when the wife is not in her menstrual cyclic period. As per Islamic belief, it is said that women are not pure during the period and so husbands will not come closer to her. If she is not in her cyclic period, then the husband might approach her and they both could get along once again by forgetting the past bitterness. That is why it insists the husband to pronounce divorce during non-menstrual period.
‘Talaq’ has to be pronounced two times during an intervening period, which would allow the couples to rethink their decision, and also helps to reconcile. During the period, there will be mediators from both the parties to try to reunite them. Even after the second ‘Talaq’, the intervening period would be there. The husband might rethink the decision, and can decide to rejoin or else can pronounce the third ‘Talaq’. At the end of the third interval, he must allow the wife to leave home without taking anything, which he had given her.
After the pronouncement of the third ‘Talaq’, the woman cannot remarry the same person even with mutual agreement. This can happen only if the second husband of the woman divorces her or dies; then the wife can go back to her first husband by getting remarried to him.
Though in ancient days, divorce was never approved by the religion, the Hindu civil code permits it on certain grounds. According to Hinduism, marriage is a sacred relationship, so it should not be dissolved. However, the modern Hindu civil code accepts divorce on the grounds such as desertion for two years, physical separation, venereal disease, adultery, religious conversion, worldly renunciation, and absence of communication for more than seven years. A woman can also seek divorce, if her husband is guilty of rape and bestiality. The custody of the children would invariably be offered to the mother, but the courts will decide the issue based on the individual cases.
If the person has no belief in religion, it would make the process simpler, as it does not require fulfilling any religious obligations, before proceeding with the divorce. If he or she had not performed any religious rituals, while getting married, the dissolution would happen without any religious interference.
