Marriage on the Skids in U.S.? Not So, Say Family Advocates

by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
October 18, 2006

(AgapePress) - - Pro-family leaders say traditional marriage proponents should not be disheartened by a new study that indicates married couples have become the minority in the U.S.

A new Census Bureau survey of family households shows just under 50 percent of those are married couples. However, the total number of married couples is the highest ever (55.2 million). (See earlier story) Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America says the survey shows more adults are spending less of their lives married. "That means they are getting married later, maybe not staying married as long," she observes.

Wendy Wright

Wright also points out that the study is just looking at households. "What this could also refer to is the fact that there are many more households nowadays than there used to be," she says. "In the past you'd have, say, a single adult would live with their family." For example, an aunt or an uncle might live with a sibling who has a family, she suggests. Wright adds that "this may also refer to the fact that we're just doing better economically, where people can afford to live on their own."

According to Wright, the trend toward a decrease in married households is neither inevitable nor irreversible, but rather should prompt the nation to do more to promote healthy marriages.

"The studies all show that people who are married are healthier, they are more prosperous, they live longer, and a married household is the best environment for children to grow up in," she says. And toward that end, she says, churches should be encouraging married couples to serve as role models by having younger couples or singles in their home.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, also believes that rumors surrounding the report on the supposed "death of marriage" in America are greatly exaggerated. He contends Agence France Presse (AFP) reported inaccurately that the 36.7 million "non-family households" consisted mostly of homosexual or heterosexual couples "cohabiting out of formal wedlock." In actuality, he says, slightly more than five percent of those were "unmarried partner" households -- and more than a quarter were people who live alone.

Tony Perkins

"The change comes mostly from single people delaying marriage, and from elderly people surviving longer after being widowed," Perkins surmises. "A majority of adult Americans are still married .... and over 68 percent of householders raising their own children are married. So don't count marriage out yet."

Marriage on the Ballot
Marriage traditionalists are hoping supporters of one man-one woman marriage are not writing off the long-time institution, particularly in eight states where constitutional amendments defending traditional marriage are on the ballot next month. Since the state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex "marriage," 20 states have chosen the amendment route to preserve traditional marriage. In all cases, the ballot measures have passed by considerable margins.

On November 7 voters in eight states -- Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin -- will be voting whether to amend their state constitutions to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. A half-dozen other states are considering similar measures -- either through their state legislature or through voter initiatives -- in the coming years. Those states are Minnesota (in 2007); California, Florida, Indiana, and Massachusetts (2008); and Pennsylvania (2009).