How Does Natural Marriage Strengthen Families?

Individuals are stronger when they are part of healthy families, and stronger and healthy families strengthen their communities, states, and nations. Twenty-five years ago on September 23, 1995, a new document titled “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was introduced to the world.

This proclamation on the family begins with these words: 

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of his children.

The counsel contained in this proclamation has strengthened millions of families, inside and outside of the Church of Jesus Christ. The document ends with a warning and an urgent message:

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

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.

Marriages and families have been falling apart for more than sixty years, according to social scientists as well as personal knowledge. In writing about this topic, this site declared, “Fatherless homes are a growing problem in the United States.” 

The site listed several reasons why children are growing up without the presence of their fathers in their homes. Those reasons included events, such as death, divorce, and separation. Other reasons include incarceration of or abandonment by fathers and marriages that never took place.

Single parents, specifically single mothers, accomplish much without the help of the other parents. The site shared these key statistics:

·         24.7 million children (33%) in the United States live in fatherless homes.

·         Children living in fatherless homes have increased by 25% since 1960.

·         45.6% of Black children lived with their mother only in 2021.

·         85% of children with absent fathers get involved in crime.

·         70% of children in fatherless homes have dropped out of high school.

·         Children living in fatherless homes are 4 times more apt to live in poverty.

·         Girls raised in fatherless homes are 8 times more apt to become a teenage mother.

·         85% of all children living without a father experience behavioral disorder.

·         Teenagers with positive and nurturing fathers are 80% less apt to go to prison.

·         20.2% of fathers are considered absent fathers according to 2019 data.

The Heritage Foundation released a new report last week “stressing that marriage must be the foundation of efforts to revive the black family.” 

The report, released during an event at Heritage Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C., featured experts and community members who cast the family as a civil rights issue, described how culture shapes relationships, and emphasized the role institutions play in strengthening marriage in Black America.

Delano Squires, a research fellow at Heritage, authored the report and moderated the event. He said he has been thinking about this issue since he was 15, when he witnessed its impact on his own community.

Squires’ call to action: “Black leaders in religion, politics, media, entertainment, education, culture, and industry must be at the forefront of any effort to revive marriage and breathe new life into the black family.” …

Pastors P.M. Smith and Tommy E. Quick opened the event by emphasizing the church’s role in the solution. Their conversation was grounded in the belief that God created the family, and when His design is corrupted, the consequences are catastrophic. Both pastors have dedicated their lives and their ministries to the restoration of the family.

“Family is the basic building unit of every neighborhood and every nation. Family is the smallest unit of government,” said Smith.

Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, discussed marriage and family success. He described “the success sequence,” a series of decisions that, if followed in order, lead to at least 97% of individuals avoiding poverty and lead to most entering the middle class. The success sequence includes earning at least a high school diploma, securing a job, then marrying and having children.

“These are the decisions within your control,” Rowe said. “You have the ability to execute within your life.”`

A recurring theme throughout the afternoon was that marriage is a cornerstone – not a capstone – of life. Panelists urged attendees to marry, raise children, and model healthy relationships within their communities….

Squires’ report arrives 60 years after the publication of the highly controversial Moynihan Report, which provided an early description of the deterioration of the black family.

Squires highlighted what he says are two indisputable truths: “The family is the foundational institution in every society” and “households built on the foundation of natural marriage – the union of one man and one woman – are the ideal environment for raising children.”

Twenty-five years ago, latter-day prophets and apostles saw the danger coming to families, and now other sources recognize that families are being destroyed to the detriment of children. The “success sequence” of high school diploma, full-time job, marriage, and then children works to keep families out of poverty and even move them to the middle class.

The family proclamation states that the family is “central” to God’s plan for our happiness. Squires called the family “the foundational institution in every society.” I call the family the “core unit” of society.” Whatever the term, we can see that strong families strengthen their communities, states, and nations.