Families, communities, and
nations are strengthened when individuals realize that society benefits from marriage
and healthy families. Since the family is the basic unit of society, it is good
that the evidence on the importance of marriage and family is so clearly seen.
Even though the data is evident, the way to promote marriage and family has
been politicized.
David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, posted an article about the difficulty of bringing about positive changes in
the nation because of the hostile political environment. He is mainly speaking
of the political divide between conservatives and the never Trumpers. He says
that one can no longer be a conservative and a Republican but must choose one
or the other. Even though there is disunity among the Republicans, there is an
even greater divide between the conservative elements of the nation and the
liberal elements, particularly where marriage and family are concerned.
Brooks writes that conservatives
consider the place where individuals are formed to be a “sacred space” while
liberals are prone to believe that government programs are the most important. He says that “individuals emerge out of
families, communities, faiths, neighborhoods and nations. The order comes
first. Individual freedom is an artifact of that order.” Brooks seems to be
saying that the order found in the environment in which a child lives
determines his/her view of freedom.
Since freedom and the opportunity to
use one’s agency is important to Heavenly Father, is it any wonder that He
places His children in families when He sends them to earth? It is within the
family – headed by a married man and woman – that children receive their first
lessons about the importance of family, love, obedience, unity, and many other
righteous principles.
It is interesting to note that the family
is the only unit of society that will continue beyond the grave. There will be
no government agencies in the next world. The order will be based on family
units. Since the family unit is so crucial to both this world and the next, it
is imperative that all other organizations support the family.
A Deseret News editorial says that conservatives, never Trumpers, and liberals need to learn how to work together to promote the family. It gives
some suggestions on how to do so in its final paragraph.
When it comes to reaping the benefits of
strong families and promoting solutions to increase marriage rates, the real
heroes will be the policymakers who resist the false choice of either-or
policies and draw on the best wisdom of both conservative and liberal ideas.
Social norms will inevitably evolve, but that evolution should not devalue the
desirable pro-social benefits of marriage. Meanwhile, government policies must
create an environment where newly married couples have a credible prospect of
achieving self-reliance and financial security. Either solution alone likely
will leave society worse off.
The two articles quoted above leave
little doubt of the importance of marriage and family to society. Politicians have
the grave responsibility to create policies that will promote marriage and
family life. In 1995 the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
published a document titled “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” It contains much information about the importance of the family unit and closes
with this statement: “We call upon responsible citizens and officers of
government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and
strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”
There are many words that describe
the family as being an important unit of society. Some people use fundamental, while others use basic or core to describe this unit. At any rate, the family is the
foundation of society and must be promoted, protected, and preserved in order
for our society to remain strong. Therefore, we can strengthen our communities
and nations by strengthening the family.
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