Then it’s not an assumption. It’s a conclusion. You can disagree with that conclusion if you want to, although data suggests they have a point.
No, it's an assumption. When I went somewhere with my partner and our son, the assumption was
always that she was my wife. 100% of the time. The very idea of an unmarried couple having children was scandalous even within living memory. I don't know if you're old enough, but do you remember the TV show
Murphy Brown? Do you remember the outrage when the titular character decided to have a child out of wedlock? The shock? The
scandal? The calls for the show to be cancelled?
You have a problem with a contract that pledges relationship commitment - which, if maintained, would be a strong foundation for child rearing?
Yes I do. Because in the end, that "contract" means absolutely nothing. If people are committed to a relationship, then they don't need a "contract", and if they're not, the "contract" will be meaningless. My partners and I reared two healthy and happy children to adulthood quite nicely thank you without being married, not that it would even have been possible. But once again we're getting personal.
Let's say the quiet part out loud, shall we? Traditional marriage is a patriarchal arrangement to ensure financial and legal succession that was very quickly taken over by the religions in deep history. It does not, and never has, had anything to do with "commitment". It has everything to do with patriarchy and control. Ephesians 5:22-24. Anything different is a
very recent innovation, historically speaking.
That having been said, I have attended many weddings, including my son's, which is over now (so much for commitment), and have even been Best Man at one, which also only lasted a few years (ain't no-fault divorce great?). And at every one I was very happy for the couple, both of whom entered into the "contract" of their own free will. I have never been a person who yucks someone's yum, and if that is their choice, then who the ◊◊◊◊ am I to tell them they shouldn't?