Join me as Fox News religion reporter Lauren Green and I talk about our new report, Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?, on FoxNews.com LIVE today at 1 pm eastern. Wish me luck as I drive into the Chicago studio–it’s 2 degrees out there!
Categories: Children of Divorce, Faith and Families, General
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Good luck. I’ll be watching. I pray that your appearance reaches people with the message who might not otherwise have heard it – and that you stay warm!
Hey Wayne! Thanks so much for watching and calling in! My goodness that five minutes just flew by.
No problem. Thought you did a great job. I didn’t realize when I was in there chat room that they might use that online. That said, I wish they had asked my question rather than read my comment.
As you were talking about children of divorce ending up spiritual but not religious, I wondered if part of that may be the result of these kids losing faith in all institutions (marriage, church, government, etc.) as a result of seeing the institution of their parents’ marriage fall apart. That may over-complicate the issue though because it may just be a result of trust issues stemming from the divorce. Sorry, thinking out loud.
No, I think you’re definitely on to something and you’re not alone wondering that.
I don’t know…..how many people think of their parents’ marriage as an institution? Their own marriage as an institution? I think it’s really hard to relate to something so intensely personal as being an institution—-because institutions are almost by definition impersonal.
And maybe that’s generational thinking (I’m Gen X) as well. My generation has never known institutions to be anything but impersonal, corrupt, abusive, self-serving and unaccountable.
La Lubu:
I don’t know if that’s true. One definition of institution absolutely is:
, but another definition is
It is this second definition that I am referring to, and one which I think is legitimate whether or not we actually think of the word “institution” when we think of marriage, church, goverment etc. The fact is that there are certain relationships/establishments (which I call institutions) which help to define our world.
Studies are clear that children thrive within the context of of two-parent marriage. Part of the reason for that is because marriage is an institution. It provides clarity and stability and meaning and security and many other things. When that most fundamental relationship/structure/institution is destroyed during childhood, it is no wonder then that those children will have trouble trusting other relationships/structures/institutions like church and government to do what they are designed to do.
You also indicated that your generation (something I share with you),
I believe that to be an over-generalization, as I have not found that to be true in my own life, and while true of some institutions, it is certainly not true of all institutions. That said, I would agree that our generation is more jaded and distrustful when it comes to institutions. My point, really my question, is that I wonder if part of this distrust results from having grown up in an age where divorce is so prevalent. We have seen our parents destroy, or forgo, the institution closest to us, or we have lived through it with cousins or friends. If that can happen, how can we be predisposed to trust any other institution.
I hope that helps to clarify.