A blow to the status of marriage (1)

Labour leader Joseph Muscat has promised that as soon as he is sworn into Parliament, he will present a bill to introduce divorce. Should it go through, it will reduce marriage to little more than a commercial contract, resulting in more broken homes.

Is there nothing but contempt for the institution of marriage that has been the basis of civilised society for centuries?

Of course, it is not possible to turn back the clock. These days, hundreds of couples choose to cohabit without going through any form of ceremony. Many of them are excellent parents.

But cohabitation, by its very nature, involves a reluctance or an inability to accept the bonds of commitment, obligation, duty and sacrifice - the very qualities needed for marriage to survive and which a strong family passes on to its children. That is why marriages - despite the high separation rate - tend to last longer than cohabiting relationships.

Indeed, it is a disturbing fact that a high percentage of children born to unmarried couples end up being raised by a single parent, maybe due to the fact that unmarried parents are financially better off than those who wed. The truth is that for all the stresses to which it is subjected, marriage is a bulwark of society.

It represents a contract between the family and the state, in which the former accepts the upbringing of children as responsible people, and the latter promises to care for those good citizens if they fall on hard times. That is why, until the advent of this age of obsolescence, marriage was given special status and respect.

Why, might we ponder, is there such a wave against marriages? Could it be that a strong family, with its loyalties and self-sufficiency, is the greatest envy of politicians, lawyers and even some of the clergy, all of whom want to manipulate society for their own end?

Divorce is another step in the steady erosion of traditional family values.