Yes, they're incredibly creepy, and grossly patriarchal with incestuous undertones, etc. Okay. But the NYT article today talks about two kids being "promised" to one another -- which sounds an awful lot like an arranged marriage to me. Is this some awful new Christian fundamentalist trend?
It's weird to think who your parents would have picked for you to marry, -WD
Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose By NEELA BANERJEE Published: May 19, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/19purity.html ... "Stephen Clark, 64, came to the ball for the first time with Ashley Avery, 17, who is "promised" to his son, Zane, 16. Mr. Clark brought Ashley, in her white satin gown, to show her that he loved her like a daughter, he said, something he felt he needed to underscore after Ashley's father left her family a year ago." ...