The Changing Face of Marriage

This has been around the blogosphere, so perhaps you’ve seen the recent news that the number of married households has fallen below 50%. Meaning just slightly more than half the households in the U.S. are long term dating relationships, domestic/life partners, single mothers/fathers, or other types of families. It’s a hint at the changing face and structure of the marriage institution.

The falling rates of marriage are merely a current snapshot, and not a sign that marriage is becoming passe.

Pamela J. Smock, a researcher at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center, said her research — unaffiliated with the Census Bureau — found that the desire for strong family bonds, and especially marriage, was constant. “Even cohabiting young adults tell us that they are doing so because it would be unwise to marry without first living together in a society marked by high levels of divorce.”

We could all debate the morality of what was once called “living in sin” ‘til we’re blue in the face. But the fact remains that culture moves in evolutionary patterns, and its up to the Christians to show what proper relationship looks like in the Kingdom of God present on earth today.

On a somewhat side note, I was somewhat surprised to find the AgapePress stance be less focused on blaming the gays for the shift than I expected. The evangelundamists, rather than considering a modified strategy, believe that people are merely delaying marriage and not “rejecting the institution.” They’re quick to point out that gays and alternative families gravitate towards dens of urban sin like New York, San Francisco (gay-land), Chicago and L.A. They leave out, of course, that the greatest downward trend was found in their own Southern Baptist base, the south (see graphic from New York Times below). Of course, it’s all the Demopublicans’ fault, says Family Research Council. Oy … Fundamentalists: making up life as we go along.

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10/16/06 11:09 PM
by The Blogger
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