Divorce

I've never been married, let alone divorced.  But "the war on divorce" bugs me.  It's always seemed to me that blaming failed marriages on divorce is like blaming death on the undertaker.

I recall that the radio advice dispenser Dr. Laura once got a call from a woman married to a religious nut who wouldn't let her wear pants or cut her hair short.  And Dr. Laura told her, "You'll have to stay with him because you have children." Well, it's easy for Dr. Laura to say that when her own husband lets her wear what she wants.

We hear that divorce is bad for children.  Of course if you compare children of divorce to kids with happily-married parents the latter will come out ahead.  What's more relevant is to compare them to kids whose parents were unhappily married but stayed together anyway (often for the children's sake). In that case you'll find that the latter kids are just as badly off.

A new thing they have in the Bible Belt is a "covenant marriage," by which a couple supposedly rule out the divorce option.  Yet happily married couples have no need for this, while unhappy couples need the divorce option.

The only true threat to marriage is unhappy marriages.