How to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D. We’ve all seen shocking divorces: those where the couple had everything going for them and seemed to be perfectly matched. From the outside, such couples seem fine and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.  On the other side, we’ve seen couples who shock us by staying together when they seem […]

Marriage is Not Dead – And Our Fascination With the Royal Wedding Proves It

By Beverly Willett I thought marriage was supposed to be dead in the United States. So what’s up with the lovefest over the Royal Wedding? After all, the marriage rate is barely at 50%, down from 72% in 1960. Since all 50 states adopted no-fault divorce, the divorce rate skyrocketed, too. It’s now at 40-50%, […]

Cohabitation: A Growing Problem

By Mike McManus Cohabiting couples believe they are testing their relationships. According to research, many cohabitating couples believe that if their relationship is not strong, they will break up short of marriage, with no harm done, and that cohabitation will enhance the quality of a future marriage. Sadly, both notions are incorrect. However a growing […]

Is Marriage Obsolete? No! It’s More Needed Than Ever

By Mike McManus Marriage is declining in America.  There were only 2,077,000 marriages in 2015 – fewer than the 2,159,000 in 1970 when the population was only 203 million.  If the same percentage were getting married today, there would have been 1.3 million more marriages last year! Sadly, a large minority of the population – […]

Why Aren’t Millennials Marrying?

By Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse Neil Clark Warren, the Internet matchmaking guru, interviewed 500 college students and found that over half of them had never observed a happy marriage. Is it any wonder that millennials are rejecting marriage in favor of serial cohabitation in record numbers? Ironically, in his numerous studies, W. Bradford Wilcox, director […]

A Lenten Challenge to Pastors to Cut the Divorce Rate

By Mike McManus After hearing a Lenten sermon on the need to repent from sins and make a new commitment to amend our lives, I asked my pastor to consider calling upon area churches this Lent to create a Community Marriage Covenant.  Scripture is clear: “`I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel.”   We have plenty […]

Giving Hope to a Relationship Third-World Country

By Sage Erickson Picture a third world country: desperate poverty, a daily struggle to survive, widespread suffering, minimal sanitation, and diminished economic opportunities. Now picture the United States. Although the United States has long been known as a first-world country politically and economically, has it become a third world country when it comes to romantic […]

Marry First

By Julie Baumgardner Remember the rhyme, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage”? Not so anymore. Over the past decade there has been a shift in the sequence of marriage and having babies. New research indicates 57 percent of mothers between the age of 26 and 31 are unmarried when […]

Why the American Family is Falling Apart

By Mike McManus The American family is falling apart.  Consider two grim trends. The U.S. marriage rate has plunged 57% since 1970, according to “The State of Our Unions” for 2012.  Two-thirds of Americans over age 15 used to be married.  Now it is only 48%. The unwed birth rate was only 5% in 1960 […]

The Supreme Court’s Decision To Punt On Marriage

By Beverly Willett Each year, the Supreme Court of the United States officially begins a new term on the first Monday in October. For lawyers, this start of a new season is filled with excitement and anticipation as the Court hears oral arguments, delivers opinions and decides whether to grant certiorari on some of the […]