He makes several incorrect assumptions.
For example, the Catholic church has long held that Catholic marriage are indivisible, except through annulment. And if Catholics divorce anyway, the church does not have to recognize that divorce so far as to permit them to remarry in a Catholic church.
That is, church rules apply within a church; but if you break those rules, the church is no longer obligated to treat you equally with those who obey the rules. But all, still, within the territory of the church.
So it is not an unreasonable proposition for the Orthodox and conservative churches to reach a “moral agreement” about marriage, if not divorce.
This moral agreement would say that they all agree on the minimum standards for marriage, to which individual religions could add criteria but not remove criteria. And as such, they would recognize only their own marriages and those of other Orthodox churches.
So “Mr. and Mrs.” would be honored terms within all of them, and mutually recognized. But important, all other marriages would be rejected as legitimate.
This would mean secular as well as liberal marriages not following the rules would *not* be recognized as “real” marriages.
There would be no problem with a religiously married couple to *also* have a secular marriage, but as far as the churches were concerned, only their “real” marriage would be recognized.
Otherwise, divorce, whether or not recognized today, would still be up to each religions’ rules. It could be done ecclesiastically, or secular, but it would be up to each religion to accept it or not.
This moral agreement would say that they all agree on the minimum standards for marriage, to which individual religions could add criteria but not remove criteria. And as such, they would recognize only their own marriages and those of other Orthodox churches.
We already have a problem with the Orthodox Church in that they recognize 3 divorces vs 0 for the Catholic Church.
Did you read this article through in its entirety? Picking up from here ....
Imagine, for example, as one of my former doctoral students once suggested in a dissertation that defended this idea of privatization, that marriage becomes exclusively the domain of “the church.” Suppose Bob and Mary, both devout Catholics, marry in the Church under the authority of canon law. Over the next decade, they have three children. Mary decides to leave the Church, however, to become a Unitarian and seeks to dissolve the marriage. Because the Church maintains that marriage is indissoluble, and Mary has no grounds for an annulment, the Church refuses her request.
... the author continues to describe the issues the would surface. You are proposing individual agreements between churches. How does that work with the 20,000 and growing independent churches?