Restoring Fatherhood in America
There is an excellent article posted on NewsWithViews.com this weekend by Carey Roberts entitled, “Father Knows Best.” Carey notes that the 1950's TV show starring Robert Young “played to a romanticized image of middle-class Americana. But that beats the modern-day alternative of a raging epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases, safe havens for abandoned infants, and 11-year-old girls wearing thong underwear.” I grew up in the 50s and 60s right on the cusp of the change from Father Knows Best to No Father is Best .
Carey describes how that notion of fatherhood was destroyed beginning in the 1960s primarily due to radical feminists who demanded “equality” even if it led the destruction of the traditional family. He quotes feminist Robin Morgan who accurately predicted, “We can’t destroy the inequalities between men and women until we destroy marriage.” Well, she and her ilk have done a great job with the help of such laws as no-fault divorce, using the media to depict husbands as bumbling fools and entirely optional.
Carey recited additional factors that helped to destroy the American family most notably government intervention through “A series of legal opinions, laws, and government programs came along, all claiming to “empower” women: Roe v. Wade, Violence Against Women Act, welfare programs, maternal custody preference, draconian child support programs. . .”
As evidence of the destruction of the family unit, he cites the statistic that the number of kids living with their biological fathers plummeted from 82% to 62% in the 30 years following 1960. This fact shows that not only is the family hurt, but society is weakened and is badly damaged as well.
In his article Carey offers several websites for several organizations who are trying to restore fatherhood in America.
Being a parent, being a father or a mother is a high calling. If it is done right it takes a lot of love and resolve, especially when so many factors in our troubled society work against effective parenting. Instead of supporting parents and family our government agencies, courts and schools work in opposition to parents. It is also a proven fact that intact families where the father and mother are present is the ideal situation to raise a child.
There is an excellent article posted on NewsWithViews.com this weekend by Carey Roberts entitled, “Father Knows Best.” Carey notes that the 1950's TV show starring Robert Young “played to a romanticized image of middle-class Americana. But that beats the modern-day alternative of a raging epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases, safe havens for abandoned infants, and 11-year-old girls wearing thong underwear.” I grew up in the 50s and 60s right on the cusp of the change from Father Knows Best to No Father is Best .
Carey describes how that notion of fatherhood was destroyed beginning in the 1960s primarily due to radical feminists who demanded “equality” even if it led the destruction of the traditional family. He quotes feminist Robin Morgan who accurately predicted, “We can’t destroy the inequalities between men and women until we destroy marriage.” Well, she and her ilk have done a great job with the help of such laws as no-fault divorce, using the media to depict husbands as bumbling fools and entirely optional.
Carey recited additional factors that helped to destroy the American family most notably government intervention through “A series of legal opinions, laws, and government programs came along, all claiming to “empower” women: Roe v. Wade, Violence Against Women Act, welfare programs, maternal custody preference, draconian child support programs. . .”
As evidence of the destruction of the family unit, he cites the statistic that the number of kids living with their biological fathers plummeted from 82% to 62% in the 30 years following 1960. This fact shows that not only is the family hurt, but society is weakened and is badly damaged as well.
In his article Carey offers several websites for several organizations who are trying to restore fatherhood in America.
Being a parent, being a father or a mother is a high calling. If it is done right it takes a lot of love and resolve, especially when so many factors in our troubled society work against effective parenting. Instead of supporting parents and family our government agencies, courts and schools work in opposition to parents. It is also a proven fact that intact families where the father and mother are present is the ideal situation to raise a child.
The Pharisees questioned Jesus as to whether the Law (of Moses) permitted them to have divorces for any reason. Matthew 19:9 clearly indicates that it is immoral to divorce except in cases of fornication. However, this is different than saying that “no-fault” divorce should be illegal. After the disciples replied, “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry”, Jesus responded, “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given… He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” (Matthew 19:11-12) This clearly indicates that Jesus is not advocating banning “no-fault” divorce (the hearts of people then and now are just as hard as they were back in the days of Moses), but is rather, holding His followers to a higher standard than the Law. The Pharisees were correct in assuming that a man may legally divorce his wife for any reason (or virtually any reason, read Deuteronomy 24:1) as far as the Law goes, but the point is that if one does this for a reason other than fornication, he is essentially committing adultery in God’s eyes. Jesus consistently advocates keeping the Law the same, and this is no exception. (In all of this we should keep in mind that there is an exception which we discussed earlier, which is when there is consensual sex between a man and an unmarried woman, they should be forced to marry [but the father of the woman has the right to disallow it] and never be allowed to divorce. But other than that all “no-fault” divorces should be legal.)
ReplyDeleteRather than focusing the attention of the legal system on the issue of divorce, we should be focusing on the church’s role in it. The leaders of a congregation should not allow its members to have unjustifiable divorces or remarriages, and should expel them and treat them like tax collectors if they do.
I agree with the other points mentioned in this post, except “maternal custody preference” is an interesting question that I have yet considered. It would be worthwhile trying find out what the Bible says about this.