Thus far we have
established that monogamy is central to the health and prosperity of a given
civilization, and that marriage has proven the only effective means for
regulating monogamy. Additionally, we countered the charge that homosexual
monogamy would prove equally beneficial by demonstrating that procreative acts
are essential to defining marriage and that it is only marriage defined by such
essentials that proves efficacious to society.
Now let’s examine
the historical findings relative to those cultures that once held to a strong
sexual ethic—in which monogamy is strictly reinforced through marriage—but
later compromised that ethic, as we are now doing. According to Unwin’s
thorough survey of history, any and every culture that embraces a philosophy of
sexual freedom for a period of at least three generations will inevitably
experience cultural decline (Unwin, Sexual Regulations and Cultural
Behavior, 1935).
There is not one
single example in all of human history where this cultural pattern appears and
there does not follow cultural demise consistent with Unwin’s conclusions. (I
would estimate that we are in the latter stages of the second generation.)
History is replete
with examples that testify to this fact. The Greek, Roman, Babylonian, and
Sumerian empires are just a few examples of cultures that began with a strong
marriage-centered monogamy and later degenerated into liberal sexual practices
(including homosexuality), which, according to the sociological and anthropological
evidence, was central to their downfall. Of course, our own culture has
suffered enormously in the wake of the American sexual revolution; the societal
costs of paternal absence, divorce, and out-of-wedlock births have been
staggering.
Pitirim A. Sorokin,
the renowned Russian-born sociologist who founded the sociology department at
Harvard, describes the basis for this degenerative pattern:
If more and more individuals are brought up in this sex-saturated
atmosphere, then without deep interiorization of religious, moral, and legal
norms of behavior, they will become rudderless boats controlled only by the
winds of their environment. (Sorokin, The
American Sex Revolution, Boston, MA: Porter Sargent, 1956, p. 55.)
Sorokin conducted
his own study of history and likewise stressed that marriage is “the most
decisive factor in the survival and well-being” of society (Sorokin, p. 6).
Based on his sociological study of historical civilizations, Dr. Sorokin warned
that “any change in marriage behavior, any increase in sexual promiscuity, and
illicit sexual relations is pregnant with momentous consequences,” adding that
a “sex revolution drastically affects the lives of millions, deeply disturbs
the community and decisively influences the future of society” (p.7). We have
already seen changes in marriage behavior with the extension of sexual
opportunities outside marriage beginning in the 1960s. Predictably promiscuity
increased exponentially within the subsequent generation, as manifested in
today’s “hook-up” culture; now a revolution of unprecedented proportions
threatens in the form of legalizing same-sex marriage (SSM), a first in human
history.
It is the height of
arrogance, ignorance, or both that argues against the unique nature of marriage
and its necessity to social stability and well-being. However, with more than
four decades following the American sexual revolution, this should not be
surprising because, as Sorokin pointed out, “in the conditions of spiritual,
moral, and mental anarchy … it is difficult to maintain sexual sanity”
(Sorokin, p. 55).
The imposition of
sexual morality and the restraint of that morality to marriage between one man
and one woman serves to mature men and women into adulthood, which properly
understood occurs when their narcissism is subdued. Marriage, unlike any other
relationship, serves this purpose. As I said earlier, it is the one
relationship that properly prepares and conditions us for living in community
with others. Conversely, a sexually hedonistic society grows increasingly
selfish and narcissistic. Sorokin makes the point that “illicit sexual
relations rarely go beyond a shortlived ‘copulational’ union. Each partner
remains a mere sex apparatus for the satisfaction of lust of the other. The
partners remain largely unknown to each other; their egos are not merged into
one ‘we’ nor is their selfishness tempered by mutual devotion and love” (p. 6).
Sorokin concludes, “In the long run, such a society would be increasingly
composed of self-centered egoists incapable of acting altruistically and of
being true good neighbors” (p. 12).
This might help
explain the motivation of SSM advocates, so driven to redefine marriage to suit
their own selfish interests regardless of the larger effects upon the family,
children, and society. They only care about what they want—and what they want is not marriage but social affirmation
of a perverse and illicit lifestyle. They hope that calling it marriage will
both legitimize their conduct and assuage their sense of degradation and
shame.
Civilization and
social order are directly related to the ideal of marriage as perceived by a
given society. When society allows the extension of sexual opportunity outside
the exclusive relationship of marriage, or in our present case redefines what
is essential to marriage, the value and necessity of marriage is diminished.
Once sex is separated from marriage, society’s expectations of procreative
couples decrease. With a decreased expectation upon potential parents, the
family is gradually redefined to accommodate different structures as being
equal. These alternative family structures are devoid of the same societal
expectations of traditional marriage, i.e., commitment, fidelity, and
selflessness. Once the social reinforcement to lifelong marriage and parenting
are removed, history demonstrates that family dissolution and infertility rates
increase, thus producing the inevitable negative impact on civilization and
social order.
The proposal of redefining marriage to accommodate persons of the same
sex is an unprecedented social experiment that all available evidence
demonstrates will only further erode, if not destroy, an already weakened
institution that is vital to our very survival.
© 2008 by S. Michael Craven
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S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. Michael is the author of the groundbreaking book, Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity, published by Navpress and scheduled for release January 2009. Michael's ministry is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit: www.battlefortruth.org
Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.
