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ISLAM In Islam , divorce is allowed, though discouraged. A commonly mentioned Islamic ruling is that divorce is the least liked of all permissible acts. Islam considers marriage to be a legal contract; and the act of obtaining a divorce is essentially the act of legally dissolving the contract. According to Shariah (Islamic Law), there is a required waiting period before a divorce is considered valid. After three divorces, the man and the women are not allowed to remarry, the man or the woman have to marry another person to test the causes, be it personality conflict or other marital problems which have caused the couple to divorce more than once but three times. If the couple agrees that they were happier with their old spouses they are allowed to remarry. JUDAISM chapters 22 and 24. Judaism generally maintains that it is better for a couple to divorce than to remain together in a state of bitterness and strife. It is said that "''peace in the home''" is a desirable state. In general, it is accepted that for a Jewish divorce to be effective the husband must hand to the wife - and not vice versa - a bill of divorcement, called a , to be avoided at any cost. Also, the woman would be committing Adultery should she remarry while still legally married to another. Since the enactment by rabbis of a ruling called the Herem De-Rabbenu Gershom it became prohibited for the husband to divorce his wife against her will. In Jewish law divorce is an act of the parties to the marriage, which is different to the approach adopted by many other legal systems. That is, a Jewish divorce does not require a decree from a court. The function of the court, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is to decide whether the husband should be compelled to give the ''get'' and/or for the wife to accept the ''get''. But, notwithstanding any such ruling, the parties remain married until such time as the husband actually delivers the ''get''. Jewish law, in effect, does not require proof or even an allegation of moral or other fault by either party. In the first place, as noted above, if both parties agree to a divorce and follow the prescribed procedure, then the court would not need to establish responsibility for the marriage break-down. In the second place, if either party does not wish to continue co-habiting with the other is sufficient grounds for divorce. (Anything else, it is said, would amount to rape of the woman.) In this sense it is a "no-fault" approach to divorce. This approach has been accepted for thousands of years . It was the approach advocated by followers of Hillel , a very influential school of thought in ancient Judea , which predated the current era. This is the approach which is now generally accepted in most, if not all, Jewish communities around the world. On the other hand, the refusal of a husband to give his wife a Get (the document) can be for purely vindictive or even extortion motives. This situation has resulted in numerous social problems in modern times. The rabbis in different communities around the world have devised several solutions to prevent these situations from arising. In Israel, for example, in appropriate cases, a husband can be coerced by incarceration into releasing his wife from the marriage (ie give her a Get ). This tradition existed in Talmudic times and is utilised today in Israel. In other countries, where Jewish authorities do not have such direct coersive powers, other solutions have been adopted. For example, where pre-nuptial agreements are enforceable in civil courts, appropriate provisions may be made to compel the giving of the get by the husband in the event of a civil divorce being obtained. Contrary to popular opinion, a wife can initiate a divorce process on several grounds (including lack of satisfaction in her sexual life). Also see ''Jewish Attitude Toward Divorce''. and Get In The Conflict Of Laws . Furthemore, from the philosophical and mystical point of view, divorce is a unique procedure that spans the time and creates changes in the past. Just like repentance ( Teshuvah ) can change the state of a sin in the past into a virtue, the divorce nullified the state of union of two souls and the state of their being destined to another ''as these states exist in the past''. Because this is an event of such importance and complexity, because it nullifies one the holiest connections that can exist in the Universe (similar to a connection between a person and God), and because of the danger of the birth of illegitimate children ( Mamzerim ) if the process is not performed properly, divorce is subject to many complex laws and is highly regulated. Despite many claims, however, women do not ''de facto'' have an inferior status to men in the divorce, with the exception of the possible problem of Agunah . CHRISTIANITY Most Christian churches treat divorce negatively; however, different Christian Denominations vary in their toleration of it. The Roman Catholic Church treats all Consummated Sacramental marriages as permanent during the life of the spouses, and therefore does not allow remarriage after a divorce if the other spouse still lives and the marriage has not been Annulled . However, divorced Catholics are still welcome to participate fully in the life of the church so long as they have not remarried against church law, and the Catholic Church generally requires civil divorce or annulment procedures to have completed before it will consider annulment cases. Other Christian denominations, including the Eastern Orthodox Church and many Protestant churches, will allow both divorce and remarriage even with a surviving former spouse, at least under certain conditions. Bible commentary on divorce comes primarily from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the epistles of Paul. . He again alludes to his position on divorce in his Epistle To The Romans , albeit an allegory, when he states "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth...So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress" (Romans 7:2-3). In , and , Jesus came into conflict with the . Do Jesus’ answers to the Pharisees also pertain to Christians? Are Christians who adopt these teachings Judaizers ? The differences in opinions about these questions usually arise over whether Jesus Opposed The Law Of Moses or just some of the viewpoints of the Pharisees, and whether Jesus just addressed a Jewish Audience or expanded his audience to include Christians, for example "all nations" as in the Great Commission . Since Deuteronomy 24:1-4 did not give Jewish women the right to directly initiate a divorce (See '' Agunah ''), did Jesus' answers "in the house" to his disciples expand the rights of women or did they merely acknowledge that some Jewish women, such as Herodias who divorced Herod Boethus, were wrongfully taking rights because Jewish women were being assimilated by other cultures? (See , .) In other words, did Jesus confine his remarks to the Pharisaical questions, and did he appeal to his own authority by refuting the oral authority of the Pharisees with the formula "You have heard...But I say to you" in ? Expressions used by Jesus such as "you have heard", "it hath been said", "it is written", "have you never read", "keep the commandments", "why do you break the commandments with your traditions?" and "what did Moses Command you?" seem to indicate that Jesus generally respected the Hebrew Bible and sometimes opposed Pharisaical Opinions . DHARMIC RELIGIONS Dharmic Religions do not have a concept of divorce. However, the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 applicable to Hindu s, Buddhist s, Sikh s, and Jain s in India does have provisions for divorce under some circumstances. REFERENCES http://www.bibleissues.org , http://www.geocities.com/dcheddie/divorce1.html , http://students.eng.fiu.edu/~denver/divorce1.html Also:
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