Lesson video

Hi, there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marks and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be doing about divorce and remarriage and thinking about some of the ethical considerations of this.

And we'll start to think about different ethical theories that we can apply to it.

So we will be using our minds as philosophers with these ethical discussions and using a bit of social science, looking at statistics around divorce and remarriage figures because we're talking about divorce, we will also talk about some of the reasons why people might choose to get a divorce, which means we will cover some sensitive content.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to explain reasons for divorce and remarriage and ethical arguments related to them.

So let's start with our keywords.

Divorce, the legal ending of a marriage.

Remarriage, another marriage after a previous marriage has ended.

Sanctity, something that is holy or sacred.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today will have three sections.

Divorce, remarriage, and ethical arguments.

So let's start with our first section, divorce.

So there are many different reasons why people may want a divorce and it can include one or both of the couple.

So for marriage is where a couple have made an agreement, a legal agreement to be to together.

A divorce is when that legal agreement is dissolved and that couple are separated.

So can you think of any reasons why people might want to have a divorce after they're married? Pause the video and have a thing and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

All I've got here, they might fall out of love.

They might have a change in their circumstances that moves them apart.

They might have committed adultery, which is when you're married but you have sex with somebody else.

They might have had unreasonable behaviour.

They might have been deserted, so one of the spouses left the other, so they're just alone.

Or it might be abuse, physical and mental, et cetera.

Well, you can legally get divorced in England or Wales if all of the following are true.

You've been married for over a year.

Your relationship has permanently broken down.

Your marriage is legally recognised in the UK.

And the application could be done from one or both of the couple depending on the circumstances.

And the minimum cost to divorce is approximately 600 pounds.

So perhaps sometimes the cost comes into it and people are deciding if they should get divorce or not or when to do it.

So why might an application for divorce be from only one of the spouses? So a spouse is a person who's in a married relationship.

So there's two spouses in a marriage.

So why might only one of them be applying for divorce? Pause the video and have a think.

Let's do a quick check.

You can divorce after any length of marriage in England or Wales.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? Because you can only legally divorce if you've married for over a year in England and Wales.

Well, let's have a think about how the law around divorce has changed.

So remember it's a legal document when a couple get married, so it's a legal action when people get divorced.

So how has that law changed over time then? And we're looking specifically at England.

Well, the first divorce was in England in 1670 and it was given to Lord Roos by an Act of Parliament.

So it was a special case that he had and he was able to have a divorce.

And divorce is only available to people like Lord Roos, who had positions of power and had money.

And so that meant the numbers remain quite low.

Not everyone had access to being able to have a divorce.

And then if we go almost 200 years later, we've gotten 1857, things start to change and this made it easier for couples to divorce when the Matrimonial Causes Act came in in 1857.

So men just had to prove that their wife had committed adultery.

Women had to prove her husband had committed adultery and another factor such as cruelty or desertion.

So this made divorce women almost impossible.

So it was more available to more people, but more for men than women when this act came in in 1857.

And then this changed again in 1923 in the Matrimonial Causes Act in 1923 came in and this allowed men and women to apply for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

Previously only men could do this.

So the sense that adultery was the grounds for divorce because you are in a couple but you've had sex with somebody else.

Then this changes again in 1937 with the Matrimonial Causes Act coming in in 1937.

This changed the law to allow more grounds for divorce, including desertion, cruelty and insanity.

And now women could get a divorce for the same reasons.

So if you could say that you had been deserted or your partner spouse had been treating you cruelly or that your spouse was insane, then you could get a divorce and it could be for men and women.

So it's become much more equal by 1937.

But in 1969, the Divorce Reform Act came in and this brought a new grounds for divorce irretrievable breakdown.

So this means you didn't have to say that there'd been desertion or cruelty or adultery, it's just that it's completely broken down between the couple perhaps linked to falling out of love, changing, growing apart.

And that meant that you could get a divorce for that reason.

It meant that the marriage had broken down and couldn't continue any further.

And then even more changes have happened between 1923 and 2022.

But generally in that century, in the 20th century, changes meant the divorce became cheaper and easier too.

So if you remember now the minimum cost is around 600 pounds.

That is an amount of money, but it's not unachievable for a couple.

So it made it slightly easier and cheaper for couples to be able to get divorced.

Then in 2020, the most recent law, we've got the Divorce, Dissolution, and Separation Act 2020 came into force.

And this changed divorce by removing the five previous grounds for divorce.

If you remember, it was adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, separation for two years with consent, separation for five years without consent and replaced it with irretrievable breakdown.

And this allowed couples to end their marriage jointly.

So all you needed to say was that the couple had broken down completely and didn't have to state a reason or lay blame.

And it also allowed couples to end their divorce jointly.

It wasn't one bringing a claim against the other, like together they could make this decision to get a divorce.

And I wonder if you can think of why these different changes came into place.

Why would it be important that a couple could apply to end their marriage jointly rather than it just being one person? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see you come up with in a moment.

Well, perhaps that would help the couple to remain friends and to remain amicable after a divorce when one spouse was laying the blame on another and blaming them for the breakdown of the marriage, then that make it harder to remain friends and in contact afterwards, especially if we think there might have been children involved.

So I said we'd be social scientists today and here we are thinking about some statistics and the government record the number of official divorces in England and Wales.

Remember, it's a legal action that happens when a couple get married and it's a legal action when they're divorced.

So we have the statistics for this and you can see them here.

We've got the number of divorces on the side and then the year so we can see how it's changed between 1858 and 2022 in England and Wales.

So can you see the pattern here, why there might be certain troughs and dips in the data there? Let's have a look at it.

Why was there a sharp increase in divorces in 1948? If you could see here, we've got a little peak here in 1948.

Why was there a sudden increase there? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Yes, so I gave you a tip here of world events.

What world event ended in 1948 that might have influenced people to want to get a divorce? Well, that was when World War II ended and life really changed hugely for people.

And some decided they didn't wanna stay married.

Maybe they would've been married pre-war, but during the war, after the war something happened to make them feel that they couldn't be married anymore.

So why was there a sharp increase in divorces in 1969? So we've got here another little peak in 1969 where more divorces are happening.

Why do you think that might be the case? Pause the video again, have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

And I gave you a tip here to look at divorce law.

What law was brought in in 1969 that might have made a difference? Well, the Divorce Reform Bill meant that divorce was allowed for marital breakdown, which would mean more people might divorce.

So before then, it had to be a blame on adultery or cruelty or desertion.

And this was a way of saying, "It's just broken down between us." So that meant more people might have felt able to get a divorce.

And why might divorce numbers be on a downward trend in the last 25 years? So here we can see for the last 25 years it's continually going down, sometimes up, but on a downward trend, why might that be the case? Pause the video and have a think.

No tip this time.

Have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

While fewer people are actually marrying, if we looked at statistics showing how many people are marrying, we would see a similar trend.

So a fewer people are marrying, then there's going to be less opportunities for divorce 'cause the couples won't be married in the first place.

However, we can see a little peak there around 2020, which may be related to when that divorce law was brought in in 2020.

So let's hear from Warren and Brandon, who are discussing their views on divorce now.

Warren, who's an atheist says, "Divorce is legal in the UK, so if a couple want to divorce, they should.

They need to think carefully about the impact on any children, but should do what makes them happy.

Life is too short to be in an unhappy marriage." So here Warren is saying that divorce is there as a way to obviously think about what's happening with your children in a couple.

And that life is too short to be in an unhappy marriage and maybe thinking about an unhappy home for those children.

And Brandon, who's a humanist says, "I think that divorce should be considered carefully.

There was a reason why the couple married and they need to consider the possible negative consequences of a divorce.

However, marriage doesn't have to be for life." So again, Brandon here is thinking about the consequences of any divorce that happens and sort of weighing up whether that makes it worth it or not, but not actually thinking that marriage has to be for life no matter what.

So let's do another check.

Which one of the following did the Divorce, Dissolution, and Separation Act of 2020 remove? Adultery, restrictions on women divorcing, the cost, or the five previous grounds for divorce? Which one of those is correct? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, it actually removed all the other grounds for divorce and just put it as one irretrievable breakdown, which both spouses could apply for.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned then.

For each point, add information, evidence, or data to develop it.

And we've got a point here.

Divorce numbers are affected by worldwide events.

Divorce has become more accessible to people.

Divorce is legal in England and Wales.

And divorce laws have changed over time.

So develop this with a piece of information, evidence, or data.

Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Lots of social scientists thinking there.

So we've got divorce numbers are affected by worldwide events could be developed by, for example, divorce increased after World War II.

Divorces become more accessible to people.

For example, divorce laws have changed to make them easier and cheaper.

Divorce is legal in England or Wales.

The law uses irretrievable breakdown as the ground for divorces.

Divorce laws have changed over time and the Divorce Reform Act made divorces easier.

Well done.

So on to our second section then, remarriage.

So remarriage can occur for two reasons really, after a divorce, but also after the death of a spouse when someone has been widowed.

So after the spouse has died, they can remarry.

In the UK, it's legal to remarry as long as one of these two things has happened.

So if you're married, then you can marry again.

If either you've divorced from the first person or the first person has passed away.

So it's illegal in the UK to be married to more than one person at one time.

So you cannot be married and marry another person and still be married to the original person.

However, there are religious attitudes to remarriage, particularly after divorce, which can limit where the couple can marry.

Some religious groups are happy to remarry people after a divorce and others are not.

So can you think of reasons why people might choose to remarry then? Pause the video and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So Alex says, "Some people remarry 'cause they're in love with a different person to their first marriage." The first marriage might have ended in divorce or the person might be widowed.

That's why they might fall in love with someone else and decided to remarry.

Aisha says, "Some people remarry for financial stability." So the same reasons why people might get married in the first place.

They may be a point of their life where they want to have that stability with another person.

Izzy says, "Sometimes people remarry as they want a life of happiness with a new spouse." So they want to have another opportunity at married life with somebody new.

Again, it could be after a divorce or after the death of a spouse.

And Sam says, "Some widows and widowers remarry for companionship." So they want to be with another person.

They've had their marriage and their spouse has passed away and now they want to have companionship so they remarry.

Can you think of any other reasons why people might remarry? Were these the ones that you thought of earlier? Pause the video and have a think.

Well, there are many different reasons for remarriage like we've just spoken about.

So let's together give one reason a person may remarry.

Hmm, because they love a different person following their first marriage, which might have been ended in divorce or the death of a spouse.

So over to you then, give a reason why a person may remarry.

Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

I've got here for companionship.

You might have also said for financial stability or happiness with a new spouse.

Well done.

Well, let's, again, think like social scientists and consider some data around a number of people who have remarried after a divorce in England and Wales.

And so here we've got data stretching from 1860 to now showing us the number of people who have had a remarriage following a divorce.

So this isn't following the death of a spouse, it's not because they're widowed.

They've had a divorce and now remarried.

And you can see the different colours here.

With the pink, it is showing us men.

And with the green, it is showing us women.

So you can see it follows a sort of similar pattern with some differences.

How would you describe the numbers of remarriage for men and women then? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well, we could say there's a relationship between the numbers of men and women that are remarried.

The increases and decreases in numbers are very similar 'cause often it's going to be men and women that are involved in these remarriages.

Why might there have been a spike of remarriages in 1947? Look, you can see here in 1947 we've got a spike.

Why might that be the case? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well, it might be that following the second World War, when people were divorcing 'cause they no longer wanted to be with that person, they were choosing to get remarried.

Maybe their life had changed, they'd met someone different during the war.

Someone had been away or life had changed so drastically they decided to break up.

So now they wanted to remarry with a new spouse.

Why might there have been a sharp decline in remarriages in 2020? Why might that have been a sharp decline? Have a think about that and maybe if there's some world events that could have impacted that.

Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well, we had the COVID restrictions, didn't we? That was right in the middle of lockdown.

So that meant people couldn't remarry or they didn't want to have remarriage ceremonies.

So that led to a decrease in those marriages happening.

So let's do a quick check using this data then.

According to the data, approximately, what's the highest number of remarriages in one year for men? So what number on here would be the highest number of remarriages in one year for men? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, well, we can look here is the highest point, and along here we can see which year it was.

And we've got the answer was 85,000 approximately, and it was in 1988 was the greatest number of remarriages in one year for men.

Well done.

So Diane and Zoe are discussing their views on remarriage now.

And Diane, who's a humanist says, "I believe it's up to individuals to decide how to live their life.

As long as a couple love and respect each other, then remarriage is okay.

It must be their own choice." And Zoe, who's an atheist says, "I don't have any issues of remarriage.

If a person wants to have a commitment with a new partner, then they can marry if that's what makes them happy.

Equally, they can be committed without marriage." So now let's do another task to see what we've learned.

Use the graph to decide if each statement is true or false.

If it's false, give a correct statement.

So we've got our graph here showing the number of remarriages for men and women.

And we're going to say if these statements are true or false, if it's false, we're gonna change it.

The statements are remarriage sharply declined after World War II.

Remarriage is more popular now than ever before.

Remarriage is affected by world events.

And remarriage numbers are very different between men and women.

Which of these are true or false? And if it's false, correct it.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done In a moment.

Well done, so actually only one of those was true, so we need to correct the other three.

Remarriage did not sharply decline after World War II.

Remarriage numbers sharply increased after World War II.

Remarriage is more popular than ever before.

No, that was false.

Remarriage was most popular in the 1980s.

And remarriage is affected by world events.

Yes, we said that's true.

And we looked at that with COVID as well, didn't we in 2020? And remarriage numbers are very different between men and women is false because there's a relationship between the remarriage numbers between men and women.

Well done.

So onto our third and final section then, ethical arguments related to divorce and remarriage.

While Alex, Aisha, Izzy, and Sam are practising asking ethical questions on the topic of divorce and remarriage, I wonder if you know what questions they might be asking.

Alex asks, "Is happiness from divorce more important than an unhappy marriage?" So is it more important to be happy once you're divorced or is it more important to stay in a marriage but be unhappy? Aisha asks, "Should a person be able to divorce for any reason or should there be a limit?" So especially thinking about those divorce laws, should there be specific reasons given or should it be any reason that somebody gives? And Izzy asks, "Is divorce the most compassionate and loving thing to do?" So maybe in some circumstances, situations is divorce the most loving and kind thing to do? And Sam asks, "Should we accept remarriage if someone has already made marriage vows?" So someone's made those vows originally till death do us part and now they're remarrying and making those vows to a new person after a divorce.

Should that be acceptable or not? All of these can be answered using ethical arguments.

And I wonder what some of your answers might be to these questions.

Have a read of them and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So ethical arguments and approaches can help us explore all of these questions.

And we're going to look at one in particular now.

Some people use the ethical argument that divorce should be allowed as it's the most compassionate thing to do.

So it's kind of the most kind and caring thing to do.

Thinking about the person going through their situation.

And Jun and Laura are gonna discuss what this might mean.

Jun says, "Divorce might be the most compassionate thing to do if there's a problem in a marriage that's causing serious unhappiness for one or both of the spouses.

For example, physical, mental abuse." And Laura says, "Divorce might also be compassionate for any children involved.

If they're living with unhappy or arguing parents, it might upset them.

So divorce could be compassionate for children as well." A situation ethics is an ethical theory that focuses on this sense of what is compassionate and caring to do in each situation.

And it's an ethical theory that argues the most loving action should guide decisions in each situation rather than following fixed rules or laws.

Jun and Laura are discussing how this could apply to divorce and remarriage here.

Jun says, "I think it supports divorce because everyone's marriage is different so looking at each situation seems fair.

Being loving is a nice way to treat people, no one wants to be unhappy, so it may support divorce." So even if a religious teaching or a person's view is that you shouldn't get divorced, situation ethics would look at each situation and say, "Well, maybe sometimes that view needs to be challenged or that law or rule needs to be rethought in that situation." And Laura says, "If we apply situation ethics to remarriage, it would seem to be the most loving action to allow someone to remarry again.

If it makes someone happy, then it's acceptable." Even if someone thought they didn't really agree with remarriage in principle, perhaps when you look at each situation, you would think it's the most loving and kind thing to allow somebody to remarry.

So let's do a quick check to see what we've learned.

Situation ethics argues the most loving action should guide decisions in each situation.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

That is true.

So marriage ceremonies mainly include wedding vows.

So these are solemn promises that are made between the two people that they will make to one another.

And they might have been religious or non-religious vows.

Either way, they are promises made to each other.

So sometimes those religious vows will also involve God and something in relation to religion, but they can be non-religious vows.

Those promises that are made between those two people for that life they're going to have together.

So either way, these promises have been made as part of a marriage.

And another ethical argument is that these promises should be kept no matter what through good and bad.

So divorce would be going against the sanctity of marriage vows 'cause if you've made this promise till death to us part or for in sickness and in health, and richer for poorer, these commitments that people make to one another for their life, they're going to have together as married couple.

Is that then being broken by a divorce? And is it going against the sanctity, the specialness of those marriage vows? So Warren shares his views on the sanctity of marriage vows now.

Warren whose an atheist says, "I don't think it's possible to say that marriage vows can never be broken.

When a couple marry, they should mean the vows they say, but so many things can happen during the marriage that it might mean these vows become void.

People's feelings can change towards each other and circumstances can change to make the marriage impossible to carry on." So Warren's saying, yes, you might make these vowels and these promises when you marry, but things happen in life and something might happen in the marriage, which means that they're no longer applicable anymore.

Let's do another check.

Is this true or false? The ethical argument of the sanctity of marriage vows suggest a couple should not divorce.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

That is true, isn't it? But why? Well, because those marriage vows often include promises that mean a couple should stay together through good and bad no matter what the circumstance or the situation.

So divorce would be breaking those vows.

Let's do another practise task to see what we've learned then.

Here's a full evaluation question using a statement about marriage vows.

Marriage vows should never be broken and a full answer would evaluate this, but what we are going to do is give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view and refer to non-religious arguments.

So you're gonna write a paragraph to support a different point of view using non-religious arguments.

So if the statement is marriage vows should never be broken, what could we say that is different to that? That perhaps sometimes they can be broken or they should be broken? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great work there.

So the statement was, marriage vows should never be broken.

And I asked you to write a paragraph to support a different point of view using non-religious arguments.

And your answer may include, "Some people say it's possible for marriage vows to never be broken.

Whilst people may believe in the sanctity of marriage vows when they say them, unexpected events in life might change their relationship.

They might argue that we should be compassionate towards those who no longer want to be married.

It would be unfair to make a couple stay together to fulfil their vows if they're very unhappy.

Situation ethics might also support breaking the vows as the most loving thing might be to separate and divorce." Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today then.

Divorce, remarriage, and related ethical arguments.

There are many reasons why a couple may want a divorce.

The divorce law in England and Wales has changed over the past 150 years, which has made it cheaper and easier to divorce.

Government statistics show that world events and divorce laws affect divorce rates.

There are many reasons why people may want to remarry.

Government statistics show a correlation between the rates of remarriage for men and women and that remarriage is affected by worldwide events and divorce laws.

Ethical arguments regarding divorce include situation ethics for compassionate reasons and the sanctity of marriage vows.

Well done.

So well done for your hard work today and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.