Posted on 11/18/2010 11:29:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Is marriage becoming obsolete in America?
Nearly one in three American children is living with a parent who is divorced, separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that wedding bells aren't needed to have a family.
A study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time magazine, highlights rapidly changing notions of the American family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together.
About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase from 1960, according to the Pew report being released Thursday. Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married.
Indeed, about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming obsolete. And that sentiment follows U.S. census data released in September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent for adults 18 and over.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Wow! Sobering FACTS. Thanks for posing.
It’s a crazy world when the only people getting married are the queers.
I could boost the marriage rate for just about any town on city in a simple way. Create a polite social venue for men and women to mix in a non-threatening manner.
While just hanging out with soft drinks and snacks is okay, it would be best if there was a relaxed, simple, and fairly unimportant activity that they *might* do as well.
A problem that we as a society have today is that there are few such venues. Both school and churches are busy places, with most people dashing about doing something so much that they have little opportunity to mingle and get to know each other.
Otherwise there are bars, businesses, and shopping. None of these are great for mixers, or are wholesome enough to meet a potential mate there.
Ideally, a public venue of this sort would be a great place to hang out from elementary school well in to adulthood. Men and women would be marrying up a storm, if they just had a chance to meet and socialize.
Yes, 50 years of destroying the family and 4 in 10 people think we are better off. You better check a history book not written for the public school system. Better yet, go ask your average prisoner if he came from a two birth parent home or one of these new deviations. I think you know what your answer will be.
Ah yes, marriage is just a total rip off for some young guy. Can’t possibly be a total rip off for some young gal right? I mean, some young gal has these cindrella dreams in her heart and what she gets is a guy who sits at home watching his sport special not paying any attention to the woman in his home. He expects sex but thinks the woman should just put out and never have to take wifey out on the town or buy her some nice flowerers or jewelry sometimes. He expects wifey to do all the cooking and cleaning and treats her more like his momma rather then his wife.
And you think marriage is only a dissapointment for some young guy, lol.
Marriage doesn’t have to be a dissapointment for either if both put the other person ahead of themselves. If they both make it all about the other person it works.
I’ve been married to my husband for 10 years and it’s a daily relationship. He invests. I invest. And vice versa. I certainly wouldn’t trade being married to being single. God created us to have relationships, to have marriage.
One can simply look at communities where marriage is “obsolete” and see why marriage is one of the cornerstones of a safe, functioning, and productive society.
Of course, Democrats don’t care about anything that I’ve written above.
What are you yelling at me for?
Your comments are gross. Look for a respectable woman.
Uh .. the milk don't come free.
Well gee, maybe we should be more accepting of gay marriage then. You know, to help bump up the numbers since they believe in the “sanctity” of marriage. /sarc
“Ah yes, marriage is just a total rip off for some young guy. Can’t possibly be a total rip off for some young gal right? I mean, some young gal has these cindrella dreams in her heart and what she gets is a guy who sits at home watching his sport special not paying any attention to the woman in his home. He expects sex but thinks the woman should just put out and never have to take wifey out on the town or buy her some nice flowerers or jewelry sometimes. He expects wifey to do all the cooking and cleaning and treats her more like his momma rather then his wife.”
LOL! You’ve just proved my point! Most guys get all the above without the need to take the risk of marrying some woman with a Cinderella complex who will be brutally disappointed that her Prince Charming has more than a few Shrek like qualities. The difference is by marrying her he has just put his financial neck on the block. Most women (even church women) are so pickled in these types of feminist fantasies that once their expectations aren’t met or they find a hotter guy they pack up the guys bags and throw him out (easy enough to do with today’s laws so stacked against guys).
Also as I said before, most women, even “church women” have been around the block more times than I’d care to count. Their hearts are harder than granite by the time they decide to hop off the carousel and settle down so there’s not much commitment in them. I’ve seen it over and over again, in the world and in the church, actually in the church is worse because they always seem to want to destroy the poor guy with all sorts of wild stories (he beat me, he made me have weird sex, etc., etc.). I’m amazed at the BS other guys in church buy into all because the ex-wife is shedding a few tears next to her new boyfriend.
Respectable women that are true “wife” material are rare, you have to raise them form the start for that job and I just don’t see that happening all that much any more. Sure you may luck out but from what I’ve seem in life and at work there’s not that many of them and no matter how hard you try you just won’t know until after you’ve tied the knot, but by then it’s too late! Given the fact that over 70% of the divorces are initiated by the wife I really don’t think that there is much hope for turning this around short of rejecting the notion of no fault divorce and allowing jury trials in family court. Until then it’s not worth it, especially given the character of American women.
Yep you’re right. That’s why there was a great thread on FR a while back on “Why White Men Likes to Date Asian Women”.
If I’m proving any point it is that we are all sinners in need of a Savior! Men and Women are both equally flawed. We all need to repent from our sin and choose obediance to Christ.
While I agree that we all need to be saved, that really has nothing to do with the actual reasons WHY marriages are going down in the west. It may be the underlying reason (i.e., part of the curse that God levied against women was that they would desire to usurp mens God given leadership role, which they have at least in the west) but the causes can be traced to what they have done in the west largely through feminist philosophy and the resulting laws and culture that have arisen because of that.
Most Christian churches have been very complacent in this process as they have distorted the biblical view of the woman and placed her on a pedestal with equal or greater authority than men in a lot of cases. Chief among these is the current biblical view that men and women are equal, when the the bible teaches no such thing. The true biblical teaching is that we are all equal in our spiritual standing with God but that men and women have separate roles in both the family and church environment. Paul was quite clear in his teaching that no women where to be ministers or to even speak in church (for very good reasons as I have seen how very gullible women are and how emotions rule their decision making process which has resulted in most mainline churches straying quite far from the Christian faith). Yet show me any churches that teach that or even teach a realistic view of the weakness of women. Or better yet talk to any women about submitting to her husband and what that really means thems fighting words in most churches! Feminism started in the churches and has destroyed not only the church but the rest of western society as well.
The Bible doesn’t teach that women are a weaker sex. It teaches that our roles are different. One is not weaker then the other. We just have different roles.
And yes the reason why marriages fail is because Christ is not the center of the marriage. I agree churches should be teaching truth and if they are teaching one sex is greater then the other it is wrong. Men are not greater then women and women are not greater then men.
I can tell you that if I don’t repent each morning and pray asking God to guide my heart for my husband each and every day my marriage would crumble. My entire day goes bad if I don’t seek God to intervene in my life.
Women aren’t the enemy and the cause of all that’s wrong. Men are equally at fault. But the root of all that is wrong is sin. Christians are suppose to make disciples out of others. So on that note I encourage you to put your faith in Christ and tell others to do the same. And tell others to get into a church that is teaching the Gospel, as that is the answer to everything! :)
Sorry that was just a general rant. I usually just automatically respond to the first poster when I post. It was not personal.
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