Would you agree with the statement: that “it’s okay for a couple to live together without intending to get married?” Currently, 46% of the population of the United States apparently does and in Europe, more than 80% agree with it.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) met this weekend to discuss the primary message that they want to send to the world about marriage. Their message, though a simple and obvious one, is one that needs to be repeated often. So what was the message they were sending?
Marriage is good for society
Is Marriage Good For Society?
President Johnson called ‘marriage the cornerstone of our society.’ This argument is also used against the deadbeat dads out there who abandoned their families. The growth of single-parent family homes is also a testament to the decline of marriage and some would say the need for more emphasis to be put onto marriage.
I was raised by two parents, but they were not the traditional mom and dad. In fact, when I was conceived, both of my parents were married – to other people. My father didn’t leave his wife and my mother was already getting a divorce from her first husband. My mother and my grandmother were my parents. Would my mother in a marriage have made the situation different? It’s possible.
But according to sociologist Brad Wilcox from the University of Virginia, there is more proof out there that marriage is declining.
In the last 40 years, marriage rates have plummeted, illegitimacy and divorce have surged and cohabitation has become fashionable. Poverty, crime, depression, suicide, et cetera are just some of the consequences that follow when marriage is weakened.
Common Belief or Common Myth?
There are indications that children of divorce are twice as likely to repeat those same mistakes. Yet other studies that were published recently indicate that this may not be so true. The divorce rate is falling and whether you attribute that to cohabitation or that the fact that children of divorce are investing more into seeing their marriages succeed and the final theory that people are waiting longer to get married.
So while I appreciate that the World Congress on Families is dedicated to supporting marriage and want to continue to promote their agenda to support marriage in nations around the world, I think we know that marriage is good for society and good marriages are good for the people who are in them.