Attacking the basis of society

http://www.churchnewspaper.com/editorial.php

[The Church of England Newspaper] February 24, 2006--Marriage is on the way out. Statistics released this week show that already 42.3 per cent of children are born out of wedlock, up from 8.4 per cent in 1961, and by 2012 more children will be born outside than inside marriage. This, as Dr Peter Brierley of Christian Research points out, signals a seismic cultural change. Marriage as an institution works. It is good for children. It is good for stable relationships: far fewer marriages break apart than ‘partnerships’. But this most honourable estate of holy matrimony is declining fast as an institution in the UK. This decline is damaging all round. It hurts all age groups, obviously the young, the couple as a stable pairing, and the elderly who become cut adrift from the moorings of children and grandchildren.