The Huffington Post hosts a column by John W. Whitehead on the breakdown of the family. DIvorce has declined from 60% to 40%, but the decline is misleading. Co-habitation is on the increase and marriage rates have declined. Nearly 40% of American children are born out of wedlock and there are nearly 10 million unwed mothers.
The results of this breakdown are not heartening. As Whitehead notes, "Sociologist Paul Amato estimates that if the United States enjoyed the same level of family stability today as it did in 1960, the nation would have 750,000 fewer children repeating grades, 1.2 million fewer school suspensions, approximately 500,000 fewer acts of teenage delinquency, about 600,000 fewer kids receiving therapy, and approximately 70,000 fewer suicides every year."
The evidence seems to indicate that membership in Christian religious organizations (at least) has little impact on the likelihood of divorce. Evangelical divorce rates, for example, are comparable to those of non-Christians. As Whitehead points out, Christian organizations have spent some $40 million to protect the family by attacking same sex marriage. If those organizations took a serious look at the plight of the family, perhaps they could find a more efficient use of their money.
I find this post very informative.
I will pass this along to some of my online friends,
as I find it will relate to them as well.
Thank You for the interesting information.
Posted by: Gabriela Peters | 08/15/2010 at 06:39 PM
I made a similar observation in a comment thread at Mirror of Justice: "Were it that those who vigorously supported Prop. 8 directed some of their ardor to addressing existing social scientific explanations and possible reasons that account for the failure of existing marriages or why individuals no longer want to make the kinds of commitment that marriage entails."
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | 08/12/2010 at 05:37 AM