American marriages and families may be in danger of falling apart, but three Hillsdale professors offered both explanations and optimism at a recent panel.
Hillsdale College Republicans hosted the event titled “The Dissolution of Marriage and the Family” on Jan. 24. Around 50 students and faculty members attended the discussion. The panel included lecturer of history Dedra Birzer, professor of philosophy and religion Nathan Schlueter, and professor of politics Thomas West.
“The topic isn’t really addressed on campus in an explicit way,” said Rachel Umaña, acting president of the College Republicans. “We wanted to talk about this as a human and a political issue, and tie different disciplines together.”
Freshman Seth Winter said he found the talk surprisingly heartening.
“It’s refreshing to hear people I respect talk about thinks I wonder about,” Winter said. “The talk helped me think about how I want to live in my marriage when the day comes.”
Schlueter began his talk by tracing the history of changing views on marriage and family, from the invention of the first contraceptive pill in the 1960s, to the introduction of no-fault divorce laws in the 1970s, to recent LGBT revolutions.
“We live now in a time of complete sexual anarchy and chaos,” Schlueter said. “The costs are very high.”
He cited statistics showing how children are at a greater risk of being in poverty, being physically abused, commiting crimes, abusing drugs, and performing poorly in schools when their parents are not married, versus when parents have committed to what Schlueter termed “natural marriage.”
“Natural marriage is permanent, exclusive, and monogamous between a man and a woman, and, by right, it includes the biological children from that marriage,” he said. “The social sciences, in their quiet but firm way, have reached a consensus about the effects of the sexual revolution. The gold standard for the welfare of children and human beings is natural marriage.”
He concluded by encouraging listeners to learn the arguments in favor of natural marriage, defend children’s need for a mother and father, and live out the truth in their own lives and marriages.
Birzer said strong marriages are necessary for the good of civilization.
“Marriage has been traditionally understood to rest on the intention of a permanent union,” she said. “If marriage instead becomes a temporary arrangement based on sexual satisfaction and mutual companionship, neither of which lend themselves to permanence, it’s clear that the family loses its social and economic importance and the state will take its place as the guardian and educator of children.”
Birzer referenced the book “Family Cycles: Strength, Decline, and Renewal in American Domestic Life” by Allan Carlson. Carlson notes 50-year cycles throughout American history in which the significance of the family declines and is revived. Birzer said there is hope, because if this historical pattern continues, a revival will come around the year 2020.
West said he feared that Birzer and Schlueter were being too optimistic about the chances of a reversal of current trends. He criticized feminism and laws regarding child support and no-fault divorce as diminishing the importance and permanence of marriage. Nonetheless, he saw some reason for hope.
“Either we reorient ourselves to the understanding of marriage that lasted over 2,500 years and helped make western civilization possible,” he said. “Or we keep going down the anti-rational path of feminism, at the end of which we will find our civilization replaced by something very different and very likely worse. We always have that choice.”
Umaña said that she appreciated how the panel tied in different disciplines to address an important subject.
“I thought it was excellent,” Umaña said. “Doctor West, Doctor Schlueter, and Doctor Birzer have all been published in this field, and all deepened my understanding of how torn our nation is.”
