Marriage and the poor

In the Fall 2013 issue of Comment magazine, editor James KA Smith argues that we need to defend marriage precisely to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The negative effects of no-fault divorce and other legal changes hurt “the poor most of all.”

Drawing on the argument of Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George in What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense , Smith notes that the central problem is a redefinition that “reduced marriage from a creational institution to a romantic expression”: “If marriage is just a way for us to say, ‘I really feel like I love you,’ why on earth would the state have any investment in it? Why would there by any laws about marriage? The state came to recognize (not invent) marriage precisely because it is a foundational institution for society, not least because it is the institution that produces and cares for children. That’s why marriage was between a man and a woman, and why it was to be permanent.” He points to Brad Wilcox’s research that shows that “children flourish in homes with a mom and a dad.”

This issue is entitled “We Believe in Institutions,” a rare statement of faith in contemporary Christianity. Further evidence that Comment is one of today’s most interesting journals of public theology.