Commitment

“He doesn’t help me at all, and I get nothing from him emotionally, either. So what’s the point? We might as well divorce.”

This sentiment, expressed by 42-year-old Alice, mother of two (Max, six, and Karin, two), is common in today’s secular world. Alice makes a good living and doesn’t need her husband’s financial support. Her husband Bruce adds little to her quality of life; in fact, he just adds to her burden, so she can’t see why she needs to continue to live with him.

Her marriage, in her eyes, is a relationship worthwhile only as long as it’s good. Like so many things in modern life, it’s disposable when it’s broken. And the kids? Alice figures they’ll be just fine. Most of their friends come from divorced homes anyway; it’s a perfectly normal way to grow up.

The secular world is failing at marriage. Stats in 2020 show that around 40 percent of American adults have never been married. Of those who have married, half don’t stay that way, and about 50 percent of children experience their parents’ divorce. Marriage, it seems, is too hard and too disappointing for the average person to tolerate.