[Mark Bahner]

I wrote, "Do you think you have a civil right to have sexual relations with any consenting adult woman?"

Maximilian replied, "Absolutely not! I am a married man,..."

Suppose you were unmarried? Would you then think you had a civil right to have sexual relations with any consenting adult woman?

If your answer is "no,"...do you think you have a civil right to have sexual relations with the woman to whom you are married?

Or, for example, do you think your state has the legitimate authority to pass a law against married men and women having sex, if those people already a child? (Sort of a Communist Chinese population control law...)

My lunch period is over. I'll have to continue this after work.

[Maximilian]

Suppose you were unmarried? Would you then think you had a civil right to have sexual relations with any consenting adult woman?

Again, no. Like adultery and sodomy, fornication is also illegal in many states, although these laws are rarely prosecuted. And once again, even were fornication legal, it could hardly be considered a "civil right."

do you think you have a civil right to have sexual relations with the woman to whom you are married?

Marriage establishes both a spiritual relationship and a legal relationship. Both civil law and canon law have always recognized that the marriage contract allows unlimited access to one another's bodies for sexual relations. Thus for centuries the common law as well as the written law have supported the basic understanding of the meaning of marriage. This marriage contract is fundamental to the good of society, and any society whose laws contradict the natural law will soon discover that even natural law exacts penalties on those who violate it.