Is marriage a moral act? Not all acts are moral acts. I am using the term ‘moral act’ not in the sense that it is moral rather than immoral but in the sense that it is subject to moral definitions and is not simply amoral. The distinction is between amoral acts and moral acts. For acts to be moral acts, whether immoral or moral, we have in view moral actions , the moral character of the actors, and the moral consequences . We develop an entire ethic as a society that embraces views on actions, character, and consequences and which expresses them in its laws. When, however, we remove the notion of an act being a moral act and still try to develop a morality around character and consequences, the results are very, very disturbing. This is the case with Western society’s experiment with making marriage a mere act—an amoral act—while still holding to ethics of character and consequences around the issue of marriage. Before examining this point in regard to marriage, let