Carolyn Moynihan
The marriage movement is making itself felt in Australia and New Zealand with the publication of a report, 21 Reasons Why Marriage Matters, this week. A coalition of marriage and family advocacy groups is backing the report, which is based on local and international research showing the benefits of marriage over alternative arrangements for family life.
“This edition has 146 researched footnotes including NZ-based research and presents strong evidence that marriage is more than a private emotional relationship. It is a social good and we should develop policies, laws, and family and community interventions to help strengthen marriages. The weakening of marriage is one of the most important social issues we are facing in NZ,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.
http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/marriage_movement_makes_waves_in_new_zealand/
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Where did the idea that marriage is a private emotional relationship come from anyway? Anyone who thinks two seconds about marriages and weddings realizes what a public affair it is.
People often announce their engagement to friends and relatives months in advance. They make their marital or engaged status known even to strangers by wearing special rings. Women change their title from Miss to Mrs. and change their last name. Those who can afford it shell out thousands of dollars on a big ceremony and reception. Wedding announcements are placed in the local paper. Spouses take on legal rights and responsibilities towards each other and any children born to them that they didn't have when they were two single people. You just can't get more public than that.
It's great that this organization doing what it can to promote marriage, but I doubt that any report will change the minds of those who insist that marriage is a private relationship in the face of all these commonly known facts. Such ignorance is willful and not curable by information.
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