The World Congress of Families hosted a key conference on 29 June 2011. The conference, “The Future of the Family in Coalition Britain”, was held to help identify the causes of family breakdown in the UK and present possible solutions.
The event was sponsored by Christian Concern and was attended by a range of speakers including Stewart Jackson MP, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Nadine Dorries MP, Professor Julian Rivers and Peter Hitchens from the Mail on Sunday.
The conference opened with Bishop Michael Nazir Ali emphasising the need to restore the “public doctrine of marriage”, stating that the nuclear family was both a “natural” and “normative” form of family, not only beneficial to children but to society as a whole.
Stewart Jackson MP quoted statistics from the Centre of Social Justice in May of this year which found that 48 per cent of children born in Britain experience the breakdown of their parents’ relationship by the age of sixteen.
He also highlighted research from UNICEF which demonstrated that, from a list of 21 Western nations, Britain was “the worst place in which to be a child”. He proposed that the government should do more to support marriage and mentioned a number of factors which have contributed to family breakdown. These include:
“No-fault” divorces - The introduction of, effectively, no-fault divorce has helped lead Britain to having the highest divorce rate in Europe. Divorce accounts for 20% of family breakups.
Cohabitation - The growth in cohabitation has also contributed to soaring rates of family breakdown since cohabiting couples account for 80% of family break-ups. Mr. Jackson highlighted statistics published by the British Household Panel Survey show that the average length of cohabitation is just over three years, leading to the conclusion that “compared to marriage, cohabitation is a significantly more fragile and temporary form of family.... cohabitations are generally brief [and] a less stable form of relationship.” Just one in 11 married couples split before their child’s fifth birthday compared to 1 in 3 unmarried couples.
Failure to recognise marriage as distinct in the tax system - Since married couples are not recognised in the tax system, if one spouse decides to stay at home to look after a child, that spouse loses out on personal tax allowance. This means that lone-parents are financially better off than married couples.
Sexualisation of teenagers - Sex education programmes in schools normalise early sex and promiscuity, and have no moral basis. Data published by the Office for National Statistics in 2007 shows that Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.
Mr. Jackson emphasised that public policy should strengthen as oppose to weaken marriage, and should be driven by evidence rather than “the fashionable trends of political orthodoxy”. In order to support marriage, Mr. Jackson suggested that:
- Marriage should be supported by the tax system in recognition of the fact that not all relationships were equal in their outcomes.
- Marriage should be preserved as being solely between a man and a woman.
- Sex education should be re-designed so as not to encourage promiscuity.
- Conscious opt-outs should be provided in the workplace for those who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.
On the issue of the early sexualisation of children, Nadine Dorries MP stated that children should be taught that sex is illegal under the age of 16, and that it should be emphasised that early pregnancy leads to the loss of a place at school, poverty and fewer life opportunities. Mrs Dorries has been campaigning to see abstinence taught as an option in sexual education classes.
Peter Hitchens finished the day and proposed that we should all push to promote and establish marriage.
Links
Christian Concern: Nadine Dorries MP: Ten Minute Rule Bill on Sex Education
Peter Hitchens Blog: How I found God and peace with my athiest brother