I recently read two different reports from UK - 1) 22% rise in Out of wedlock babies 2) Marriage rate falls to lowest level. The connection between the two are obvious.

People do not want to get married, yet want to have babies. Marital commitment is hard to come by, but people are quick to get into the act. In a sex-saturated and instant gratification culture, people desure sexual pleasure without any long term relational commitments.

Last year, marriage rate fell to the lowest ever since record were kept and 43.7 per cent of babies had unmarried mothers in UK. Almost half of next generation is growing up in single parent homes or co-habitating parents. Some would not even see their biological dads. Many of them would not have both their parents involved in their lives. Children growing up in an environment with low or no relationship commitment between parents affects their sense of self, security and development.

One generation’s obession with self and pleasure seeking attitude sabotages the next generation and future of the world. Society is growing weaker by the day and its faultlines are increasingly become evident. The trends of decline in marriages also exposes ineffectiveness of social or political or economic program to contain the destructive influences on society.

Liberal morality and worldview have no solution to offer for this growing social problem. Unless we reclaim moral framework for relationship and shape a high view of marriage and life, we are headed to a social implosion. We probably need to return to God and divine instructions on familial and social norms. That is not easy in a highly secularized, pluaralistic society like ours?

Coconut Generation