I
have not written a blog post for a long time; but today’s Wall Street Journal contains
an article titled Marriage Is Becoming More Like a Luxury Good in U.S. I
just could not resist writing one more blog about this subject.
The
first sentence of the article reads, “Middle-class Americans are forsaking
marriage amid financial insecurity, effectively making the institution more of
a luxury good enjoyed by prosperous Americans.”
The
article goes on to say, “Affluent Americans who marry are more likely to pool
six-figure incomes, buy homes, and watch their assets grow. Among people aged
25 to 34, the median wealth of married couples is four times that of couples
who live together but aren’t married.”
Even
though many people on the lower levels of income are not marrying, most high
school seniors in the U.S. still say that they expect to marry. Three quarters
of them have claimed that ambition since 1976. Notwithstanding that fact, by
the time a few years elapse, their attitudes seem to change; and they begin to
feel that they must first start careers or land secure jobs and have some money
in their pockets. Then, some of them decide to marry; but many maintain that
marriage holds a lesser draw on their goals.
Half
of middle earners were married in 2018, a drop of 16% since 1980. In the highest
earners in the U.S. 60% were married, but even in that income level, the
marriage rate had dropped 4% since 1980.
One
may wonder why that drop in marriage rate has occurred. One reason is that many
young people have seen their parents divorcing at an alarming rate; and they
have become cynical about the prospect of establishing a stable home. Another reason
is that women without a college degree have closed the earnings gap with their
male peers even faster than women with higher levels of education. That earnings shift has reduced the economic
motivation for these women to marry. I think that another pertinent reason for
the drop in the marriage rate is the falling away from meaningful religious
experience. Young people are just not going to church and experience the love
and the grace of Christ in their lives. For that reason, I believe they do not
feel the necessity of marriage in compliance with the church’s traditional
teachings.
Government
regulations are not helping the situation, either. Nancy and I have a housekeeper
who is in her 50’s. Her husband died, and she began drawing Social Security
benefits from his Social Security income. Now she is living with a man she
would like to marry, but if she marries him, her income will drop by $1000+. That
is a strong incentive for her to remain unmarried! Housekeepers don’t make much
money.
All
the above being said, I think that Americans who shun marriage should be aware
of biblical admonitions warning against adultery. “The wages of sin is death.”
That means that despite the apparent benefits of living together without
marriage, eternal punishments for that kind of behavior will hurt far more than the “rewards” of living in
an adulterous relationship will ever counter.
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