|
Current Column
Column Archives
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
About The Columnist
Email Comments
to Mike
|
July 26,
2006
Column #1,300
25 Years of Writing This Column
by Michael J. McManus
This is my 1,300th weekly column. I have completed 25 years of writing "Ethics &
Religion." Perhaps you'd like to know what my goal is.
I write Ethics & Religion in the midst of a paradox. America is the world's
most religious modern nation - and its least ethical. Gallup says two-thirds of
Americans are members of a congregation, and 43 percent attend services weekly.
That's four times church attendance of Britain, France or Germany.
Yet America's divorce, teen pregnancy and murder rates are the world's highest.
Therefore, my major goal is to suggest how you, your congregation, community or
the nation might move to higher ethical standards.
Last week's column noted that the percentage of couples who believe they "should
stay together for the sake of the children" has plunged from 49% in 1962 to a
meager 19% today. I hope to encourage more parents to be selfless regarding
their children rather than self-absorbed.
Another recent column describes how many churches ignore prayers for healing,
which were central to the ministry of Jesus and his followers for 300 years.
Entire denominations, such as Assemblies of God, feature healing as a part of
their ministry, while it is virtually nonexistent in most churches. "What
seminary teaches how to experience divine healing?" I asked.
I also report and comment on America's major denominations. I noted that the
Episcopal Church is splitting. A majority are ordaining and marrying
homosexuals, while a more orthodox segment are fleeing.
In May, I recounted the story of an ex-gay who became a heterosexual, married
and is now a leader in the movement to limit marriage to one man and one woman.
In a Father's Day column I confessed that I had not thanked my father for his
contribution to my life and urged readers to do so with their father (or mother)
avoiding my mistake.
A February column praised an "Evangelical Call to Action on Climate Change," a
statement by 86 evangelicals such as leaders of a score of denominations and
universities. In contrast to Dr. James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, who don't
believe climate change is a problem, I said the report documented persuasive
evidence.
Certainly, the most important theme of this column has been how to strengthen
marriage. I applauded the first law in generations making divorce harder to
get. Louisiana now requires a couple with children to live apart for a year,
rather than only six months, before a divorce is granted. I noted that Maryland,
which requires a year's separation, has a divorce rate 20% below states with 6
months. Why? More time engenders more reconciliation.
One of my first columns in 1981 spotlighted how some churches require couples
they marry to take a premarital inventory to assess their relational strengths,
and where they had to grow. A tenth of couples who took the inventory decided
not to marry. One study reported that those who break an engagement have the
same scores as those who marry and later divorce. Thus, they avoided a bad
marriage.
I reported how my own marriage grew by attending a Marriage Encounter weekend,
and how Retrouvaille, a similar weekend retreat for troubled marriages, saves
four out of five marriages (retrouvaille.org).
Frankly, I saw no results of these marriage columns until I was asked to speak
to clergy groups in cities publishing the column. In Modesto, CA I noted that
Catholics require a minimum of six months from the time a couple asks to be
married until the wedding. Protestants had no time requirement. I asked, "If
Catholics can require six months, can you Protestants agree to at least a four
month minimum? During that time, every church could require couples to take a
premarital inventory, and they could review it with a mentor couple in a healthy
marriage, who could focus on the couple's unique issues."
"And shouldn't every church hold weekend retreats like Marriage Encounter to
help husbands and wives build deeper, more joyful marriages? I believe if you
agreed to such changes, you could slash your divorce rate in half in five
years."
Modesto created America's first Community Marriage Policy 20 years ago, signed
by 95 pastors, priests and one rabbi. Today its divorce rate is down by 50%. In
1996 my wife and I created Marriage Savers, a non-profit group, to promote this
vision. Today 203 cities have created Marriage Policies that have cut divorce
and cohabitation rates. Marriage rates are now increasing.
I feel privileged to write a column suggesting answers for major moral issues.
Thank you, readers!
|