{"id":29286,"date":"2020-09-22T09:56:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T14:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=29286"},"modified":"2020-09-22T09:56:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T14:56:28","slug":"the-future-of-marriage-is-the-future-of-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-future-of-marriage-is-the-future-of-society","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Marriage is the Future of Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A lot has happened since 2003 when University of Chicago professor Don Browning wrote in Marriage and Modernization<\/em> that \u201cmarriage is not a popular topic\u201d and \u201cis often referred to as the \u2018M\u2019 word, almost in the same category as other dirty words.\u201d Today among much of the population, marriage is simply ignored or avoided, while for many others it incites bitter contention over its very nature and meaning. It is time to go back to the beginning and review how marriage came to the human race.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book of Genesis recounts that after creating all other forms of life, \u201cGod created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them\u201d (1:27). Only then did God behold that his creation was \u201cvery<\/em> good\u201d (1:31), even though it would not be complete until the newly created male and female were brought together into a family unit to become \u201cone flesh\u201d (2:24). It was what Pope Francis described as \u201cthe summit of divine creation\u201d based on \u201cthe complementarity between man and woman,\u201d or, in the words of biblical scholar Bruce Vawter, \u201ca union of persons who together make up a new person.\u201d It was also to be the pattern for all time, notes Harvard professor Gary Anderson: \u201cThe joining of Eve and Adam will be a model for every subsequent human marriage.\u201d That unique complementarity would not only produce children but provide them with the ideal refuge, as recognized by the UN\u2019s Declaration of the Rights of the Child<\/a>: \u201cThe child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding,\u201d and \u201cshall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents,\u201d for \u201cmankind owes to the child the best it has to give.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what occurs when mankind fails to do so? In his newly released book, The Future of Christian Marriage<\/em>, sociologist Mark Regnerus points to the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution as \u201cwhat happens when a nation seeks to unravel not just marriage, but a host of sexual norms.\u201d Among the sweeping societal changes wrought by the Soviets was their radically lax social legislation whereunder, as one writer described, \u201cmen and women would come together and separate as they wished.\u201d It was a step towards what Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had advocated in their 1848 Communist Manifesto<\/em> when they called for the \u201cabolition of the family\u201d (appallingly echoed in March 2020 by the Soros-funded organization OpenDemocracy: \u201cWe deserve better than the family. And the time of corona is an excellent time to practice abolishing it\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was unexpected in the wake of the Soviet laws was the extreme \u201cdisillusionment\u201d and \u201csocial and relational chaos that\u2026 emerged in the form of homeless children, abortions, envy fostered by polyamorous mates, and even problems in the workplace.\u201d Society was unraveling to the point that Stalin was forced not only to abandon the radical legislation but to reverse it and actually provide incentives for the natural family. In retrospect, marvels Regnerus, \u201cit\u2019s hard to imagine such profound upheaval legally foisted upon the family\u2014one of the oldest and most primal of institutions\u2014only to be reversed in a decade\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Soviet marriage debacle does not augur well for what lies ahead in the United States since the Supreme Court handed down its Obergefell<\/em> decision\u2014over scathing dissents such as that of Chief Justice Roberts, who denounced it as \u201can act of will, not legal judgment\u201d in which \u201cthe Court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the States and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia\u2026 Just who do we think we are?\u201d Justice Alito foresaw that the decision \u201cwill be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy\u201d and \u201cwill be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent,\u201d while Justice Thomas warned of \u201cinestimable consequences for our Constitution and our society.\u201d Such red flags hoisted by some of our brightest minds suggest a question: Can human beings distort the divine order of marriage without bringing disaster upon themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal machination is not, of course, the only threat. As Regnerus and others point out, there is widespread retreat from marriage out of sheer neglect or unwillingness to commit, with severe consequences for children and adults alike. The situation calls to mind another observation of professor Browning: \u201cLaw cannot stop family decline by itself. It must be part of a larger work of culture where law joins with religion, the human sciences, the market, public policy, and the arts to once again honor the natural family and equip persons to have the skills, commitment, supports, and rewards necessary to form and maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major stride in promoting pro-family culture was taken by the Vatican in 2014 in its Humanum Conference in which Pope Francis explained<\/a> that \u201cevery man and every woman brings their personal contribution\u2014personal richness, their own charisma\u2014to the marriage and to the upbringing of their children. Thus, complementarity becomes a great treasure\u201d and \u201calso a thing of beauty.\u201d Among the other participants was President Henry B. Eyring, who spoke<\/a> of the beauty he and wife had experienced: \u201cWe have been complementary beyond anything I could have imagined\u2026. I realize now that we grow together into one\u2014slowly lifting and shaping each other, year by year\u2026. Above all, our unique abilities allowed us to become partners with God in creating human life. The happiness that came from our becoming one built faith in our children and grandchildren that marriage could be a continuing source of satisfaction for them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Regnerus\u2019s concluding chapter, he writes, \u201cMarriage is where love creates, is demonstrated, and learned. Why should we be surprised that communities and countries are fragmenting when their common experience of matrimony is becoming rarer?… Can Christianity still thrive if marriage retreats? Can civil society? We will find out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, we already know the answer, and we therefore reiterate our invitation from a recent World Congress of Families declaration<\/a>: \u201cWe call for a culture that honors and enables faithful, fulfilling, and resilient marriages; that recognizes and protects the uniquely valuable contributions of both mothers and fathers to the lives of their children; and that encourages the values and vision necessary for young people to look forward to and prepare for successful marriage and parenting. We call upon officials and policymakers, internationally, nationally, and at all levels of government, to immediately establish policies and implement measures to preserve and strengthen marriage and family.\u201d Truly, the future of marriage is the future of society, and we must act now to save both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recovering the meaning and beauty of “the ‘M’ word.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":29415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"Recovering the meaning and beauty of \"the 'M' word.\"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"510"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,695],"tags":[428,427,5712],"class_list":["post-29286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-opinion","tag-children","tag-marriage","tag-obergefell-3"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Future of Marriage is the Future of Society - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-future-of-marriage-is-the-future-of-society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Future of Marriage is the Future of Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recovering the meaning and beauty of "the 'M' word."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/the-future-of-marriage-is-the-future-of-society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-22T14:56:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-22T14:56:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/marriage-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"E. 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Douglas Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"E. Douglas Clark"},"description":"E. Douglas Clark is an attorney and Director of UN and International Policy at the International Organization for the Family. For two decades Doug has been on the forefront of defending the family at the United Nations as a lobbyist and strategist, leading teams and consulting with policymakers in New York and around the world. His writings include the World Family Declaration and articles in The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy and Ave Maria International Law Journal. After earning MBA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University, he practiced banking law and served as director of content of the original Law.com.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/dclarkifamnews-com"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29423,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29286\/revisions\/29423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}