In Brief... World News Review: Anglo-American Trends Against Marriage
Marriage rates decrease.
According to the latest issue of British Population Trends, married couples will constitute a minority of the population before 2010. Back in 1981, 65 percent of adults were married. By 1997, 23 percent fewer marriages were contracted. By contrast the rates of growth in cohabitation and illegitimate children have been enormous.
Most Western governments have either knowingly or unknowingly conspired against the divine institution of marriage. Over the last 50 years and more their legislation has periodically weakened the marriage bond. While giving lip service to marriage, their philosophy has produced the legal loopholes that have made divorce far easier and alternative relationships more economically viable.
The words of Jack Straw, Britain's Home Secretary, are an example of this philosophy. "While marriages should be supported and strengthened, there are other kinds of families, including single-parent families, that do equally well for children."
Do they? Juvenile crime figures tend to show otherwise.
Mr. Straw continued: "The government cannot pressure people into one type of relationship or force them to stay together. We are not in the business of moralising, preaching or nagging people on how they should live their lives."
Across the Atlantic the situation in the United States sounds very similar. Wrote Cheryl Weltzein of The Washington Times: "Marriage in America has gone from better to worse, with fewer couples marrying and fewer still saying their lives together are wedded bliss according to a report released on July 1.… As marriage has faltered, rates of divorce, cohabitation and bearing children out of wedlock have soared to record levels" (Financial Times, March 17, 1999; Daily Mail, June 21, 1999; Washington Times, July 12-18, 1999).
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: August 1999
Course Content
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
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.
Peter Eddington
Peter serves at the home office as Interim Manager of Media and Communications Services.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
