MARRIAGE’S STORMY FUTURE
Ironically, in the wake of the gay marriage debate, it appears marriage actually does need saving. Untying the Knot: For Better or Worse: Marriage’s Stormy Future is a feature article in the NYT’s Sunday Magazine.
Since the 1960’s, marriage rates have declined, while unmarried births, cohabitation and divorce all increased, along with criticism of marriage as a flawed institution. Cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births are not going away.
In fact, there is evidence that the United States is becoming a post-marital society. Americans living alone made up 26 percent of all households in the 2000 census, the first in which single-member households outnumbered married-couple households with children.
That’s a stat that I’ve never seen quoted before. Quite startling if true.
The rest of the piece talks about challenges to the institution and the basic debates about the purpose and historical origins of the institution, all of which are rather familiar to those who have been paying attention to the gay marriage debate over the last few months.
It’s clear there is a marital breakdown in our society, which is why it’s maddening to see Instapundit claim that gay marriages would strengthen traditional values. Huh? I wrote a short piece refuting the great blog-god HERE.
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