Dear Friends,
This week, a report published by the Relationships Foundation estimates the annual cost of family breakdown in this country to be a staggering £41 billion (yes, that’s billion), including the costs of welfare expenditure, legal and care costs, and spending on education, health and justice. Further, research consistently shows that children who suffer family breakdown are at far greater disadvantage in almost every way: more likely to be involved in crime and drugs, less likely to do well in education and health.
There’s every reason to think that God knew what he was doing when he made marriage the basic building block of human society. The first human relationship, between Adam and Eve, was a marriage. There was marriage before there was family, let alone, industry, commerce or government – although there was agriculture! Essentially, although tragically there are some terrible exceptions, marriage is good for parents, good for children, and good for society.
Promoting and supporting marriage need not mean that we fail to care for those who live in other kinds of relationships or whose marriages have gone wrong – they are still neighbours whom we are to love. It is to affirm that our Creator knows what is best for the people he has made.
Chris Hobbs
Vicar