“Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) chairman, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 24, ‘Everything comes back to the family. The family is the foundation of our society and, if the institution of marriage is suffering, then everything is suffering. Repairing the institution of marriage should be our top priority.’ ‘Researchers have well established that children raised by married parents do better on a wide array of outcomes. They have stronger relationships with their parents, particularly with their fathers. They are also much less likely to experience physical, emotional or sexual abuse,’ the meticulously documented report states. They have better health, exhibit less aggression, are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior, have greater educational achievement, and earn more as adults. They are also far less likely to live in poverty. Among the effects of the decline is a steep increase in the number of children born to unwed mothers, which climbed to 40 percent of all births in 2018 from 5 percent in 1955, according to the latest available federal data. Moreover, according to the report, ‘over two-thirds of births to black women (69 percent) are to unwed mothers, and over half (52 percent) of births to Hispanic women are.’ The figure for non-Hispanic white women is 28 percent. … With more illegitimate children living with one parent comes steadily worsening quality of life indicators, including higher crime rates, lower educational attainment, more poverty, and less hope for the future, especially among black and Hispanic children trapped in failing inner-city public schools. ‘The means-tested welfare system consists of more than 80 programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor Americans,’ it says. ‘Most all of these programs penalize marriage, such that when household income rises, welfare benefits decrease.’ Removing such disincentives is where Lee hopes to refocus federal policy. ‘I think the first thing the federal government should do is to stop harming the institution of marriage,’ he told The Epoch Times. ‘Marriage was much better in America before the federal government started creating incentives to undermine it. We need to focus on ending those federal disincentives to marriage.’”
“Media Ignores Congressional Report,” The Epoch Times, Aug. 25, 2020
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The welfare state has definitely been destructive to the family. But we must not forget the apostasy and lukewarmness and worldliness of the churches. Examine the spiritual and moral and doctrinal condition of the churches in a community and you will find a fundamental cause of the social ills that predominate in those communities. Add to that the influence of the filthy hip-hop culture and pornography and the godless brainwashing of the public school system and the victimization mentality and you have the top elements in the destruction of the home in America.
(Friday Church News Notes, October 9, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)