WASHINGTON, D.C., DEC. 15, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A report recently released by the Family Research Council found that only 45% of American children are growing up in intact families.
The "Index of Family Belonging and Rejection," publicized today by the council, defined the intact family as a "biological mother and father remaining legally married to one another since before or around the time of their child's birth."
The council's press release noted, therefore, that 55% of American teenagers' parents "have rejected each other, either through divorce, separation, or choosing not to marry."
Pat Fagan, director of the council's Marriage and Religion Research Institute, who produced the index, underlined the "dysfunctional" aspect of American society, marked by a "faulty understanding of the male-female relationship."
"Our culture needs a compass correction, learning again how to belong to each other when we have begotten children together," he stated.
Fagan affirmed, "The merging again of the realities of father and mother with those of husband and wife will strengthen our children and lead to immeasurable benefits for children, adults and society."
Consequences
"Individual children, communities, and the nation as a whole suffer the consequences of the culture of rejection in American homes," he said.
Fagan continued: "Children in broken homes are more likely to be poor or welfare-dependent.
"They enjoy less academic achievement and less social development, have more accidents and injuries, and have worse mental health and more behavioral
problems. These children also have worse relationships with their parents and are more likely to reject their own spouses later."
"Our future as a country depends on the strength of our families," he affirmed.
"Such strength is waning," Fagan warned, "which should give every American pause for concern and
motivation for action."
The report noted that the root of the problem is that "gender dysfunction leads to rejection and injustice."
It added that the majority of American adults "do not understand how to think about their sexuality holistically, understanding it as a part of who they are, not merely something they do."
Societal burden
The report pointed out: "When rejection triumphs and a father and mother reject one another, they are prohibited from living in harmony in a setting of belonging, a necessity for raising the children they bring into the world.
"This rejection is now the dominant feature of American family life and the children of these families, and society as a whole, must bear the burden."
It noted that the "lack of belonging" fosters a "pattern of injustice."
The report explained, "Disproportionately affecting blacks and minority groups, the rejection by parents has become the new delivery system of disparities by race: high school graduation rates are lower, and crime rates, incarceration rates, addiction rates, and even mortality rates are higher for children whose parents walk away from each other."
As a solution, it pointed to "reforming the relationship between men and women" as the "foundation for all other reforms to follow."
"American men and women need to learn anew how to belong to each other, so that they can not only beget but also raise the next generation together," the report affirmed.
This task, it stated, is "the work of the family itself, led primarily by the institution of religion (church, synagogue, mosque and temple) and aided by the institution of education (schools, universities and media)."
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On the Net:
Full report: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF10L25.pdf
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