“Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an intelligent man in other matters, says that there is
only a ‘theological’ opposition to divorce, and that it is
entirely founded on ‘certain texts’ in the
Bible about marriages. This is exactly as if he said that a belief in the brotherhood of men was only founded
on certain texts in the Bible, about all men being the children of Adam and Eve.
Millions of
peasants and plain people all over the world assume marriage to be static, without having
ever clapped eyes on any text. Numbers of more modern people, especially after the recent
experiments in America, think divorce is a social disease, without having ever bothered about any text. It
may be maintained that even in these, or in any one, the idea of marriage is ultimately mystical; and
the same may be maintained about the idea of brotherhood.” (The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Vol. 4, 230-1.)
