Current Events & Trends: The rise in children born outside of marriage
Back in 1992, then-Vice President Dan Quayle was widely ridiculed in the media for denouncing the trend of women having children out of wedlock and taking aim at its affirmation by the TV sitcom Murphy Brown - about a divorced news anchor of that name played by actress Candice Bergen.
He had stated in a family-values speech in the run-up to the year's presidential election: "Bearing babies irresponsibly is simply wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong and we must be unequivocal about this. It doesn't help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice" (Speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, May 19, 1992).
Quayle's contention that single parenthood should be discouraged mushroomed into a significant campaign controversy. But 20 years on, his speech seems prophetic. Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution, wrote recently in The Washington Post: "The number of single parents in America has increased dramatically: The proportion of children born outside marriage has risen from roughly 30 percent in 1992 to 41 percent in 2009. For women under 30, more than half of babies are born out of wedlock. A lifestyle once associated with poverty has become mainstream" ("20 Years Later, It Turns Out Dan Quayle Was Right About Murphy Brown and Unmarried Moms," May 25, 2012).
Sawhill goes on to show that traditional marriage is very good for children in a number of ways. And her research showed that "if individuals do just three things—finish high school, work full time and marry before they have children—their chances of being poor drop from 15 percent to 2 percent."
She concludes: "But in the end, Dan Quayle was right. Unless the media, parents and other influential leaders celebrate marriage as the best environment for raising children, the new trend—bringing up baby alone—may be irreversible."
Those behind The Good News magazine seek to promote strong marriages and families. Our free Bible study aid booklets Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension and Making Life Work highlight biblical practices that result in happy marriages, responsible children and sound family finances. Request or download a free copy of each. (Source: The Washington Post.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: July - August 2012
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
