Article September 17, 1979 Issue

Family integrity

BRYAN G. POPE

The Soviet Union and the United States, different in so many ways, share a common statistic—one in three of today's marriages is predicted to end in divorce. How to build and preserve the integrity of families should, therefore, be a vital question for society.

A happy home may seem something of a miracle. Looked at more closely, it can be seen for what it is, the natural effect of mutual love, unselfish motives, and moral and spiritual values in the lives of its members. Such values are cohesive. Reverse them to hate, selfishness, and immoral and unspiritual values—the stuff of which incompatibility is often made—and one can see how the explosion of divorce is triggered.

Today many are rejecting marriage in the belief that vows are useless—as, indeed, they are if they are unaccompanied by mutual honesty and real affection. But to throw away the institution of marriage on the plea that many marriages fail is as unwise as building all brick walls without cement because some apparently well-cemented walls have fallen down. What is required is stronger "cement" for marriages.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Through Spirit's lens