Married and Outnumbered

The 10/15/06 issue of the New York Times featured an article, "To be Married Means to Be Outnumbered." The author, Sam Roberts, writes, "The American Community Survey, released this month by the census Bureau, found that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples--with and without children--just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier." He goes on to say that "The numbers by no means suggests marriage is dead or necessarily that a tipping point has been reached. The total number of married couples is higher than ever, and most Americans eventually marry. But marriage has been facing more competition. A growing number of adults are spending more of their lives single or living unmarried with partners, and the potential social and economic implications are profound."

Profound indeed! Roberts' quotes a number of different people with varying political and religious persuasions as to its meaning, and of course there is no consensus on what it means, and whether this is a good or bad trend. As you filter this information through your own intellectual and spiritual grid, what sense do you make of this trend? How do you think that this will affect our society and childrearing?