Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Friday April 25, 2008
Divorce—Yet More Costs to Society
Serious and important studies such as Why Marriage Matters, Twenty-One Conclusions from the Social Sciences (2002) and Hardwired to Connect (2003) have documented the ravages of divorce and single parenthood on children as well as their mothers and fathers. The significantly increased incidence of divorce, unwed parenthood and alcohol and substance abuse among children of divorce is well-known to social scientists.
It is also well documented that boys raised without their fathers are approximately twice as likely to engage in criminal and delinquent behavior as boys raised in homes with their biological mother and father (Why Marriage Matters). One NFL Hall of Fame football player, who now works full-time with a Christian ministry to the incarcerated, has said that for years now he has been asking all the prisoners with whom he is in contact, “Would those of you who had a good relationship with your father please raise you hand?” The Hall of Famer said he has been asking that question for several years and he is still waiting for the first prisoner’s hand to go up.
Now, a study has been published, The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing, which seeks to detail the financial costs to society resulting from the breakdown of marriage in our society. This new study calculates the financial costs alone to be at least $112 billion dollars a year, resulting from expenses associated with healthcare, criminal justice, welfare and lost income-tax revenue. That means that the breakdown of marriage has cost our country almost $1.1 trillion dollars over the past decade.
The report does not call for any reduction of government services to single-parent families. It does argue that the government should invest in strategies that would strengthen marriages and seek to prevent further breakdown of marriage with all its ravaging costs to society, both social and financial. Surely that is an agenda all Americans can support.
Filed Under: casting stones, divorce, Richard Land
posted by Dr. Richard Land @ 4:10pm Permalink 
Email This 
Add to:
Subscribe
RSS Feed
About Casting Stones
Diana Butler Bass is a religion scholar and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. She blogs at God’s Politics.
Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus at Eastern University and author of The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, with Mary Darling. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Rod Dreher is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. He blogs at Crunchy Con.
Bruce Feiler is the author of seven books, including Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. He blogs at Feiler Faster.
Dan Gilgoff is Politics Editor at Beliefnet and author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War. He blogs at God-o-Meter.
David Kuo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and is the author of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He blogs at J-Walking.
Dr. Richard Land is president of The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and author of The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!
Michele McGinty is a mom and a student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She blogs at Reformed Chicks Blabbing.
Brian McLaren is a pastor, musician, and author of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Steven Waldman is co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. His book Founding Faith will be published in March, and he can be reached through the Beliefnet community.
Jim Wallis is executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Comments
The weakness of studies such as this one, however, is that they usually fail to distinguish between causation and correlation. So how do we know,,,is divorce causing these problems...or are people who have these problems also more like to also divorce/have parents who divorce?
Posted by: Heather | April 28, 2008 1:23 PM
Its very upsetting how negative your show can be. It is unfortunate that you are unable to have a conversation instead I hear a monologue from you. Focus on solutions not blaming groups and other people for whats wrong in the world. WWJD?
Posted by: Jennifer | April 28, 2008 11:47 PM
Post a Comment
Are you aware of our Rules of Conduct?