The False Narrative of Gay Marriage: It Is Not Inevitable

Eric Metaxas

Eric Metaxas

Two excellent articles regarding marriage by Eric Metaxas.

Time to Reverse a Trend: Marriage Rates in the U.S.

A recent report shows that marriage rates are at their lowest point in more than 100 years.

The study, conducted by Demographic Intelligence of Charlottesville, Virginia, found that between 2007 and 2013—that’s six years—the marriage rate fell from 7.3 per 1,000 people to 6.8. While that may not sound like a lot, it represents a more than 5 percent decline from a rate that was already low by historical standards. Since 1970, the marriage rate has declined by more than one-third.

Just as troubling as the overall numbers is the breakdown of who is and who is not getting married. The study found that “marriage numbers are stagnant or declining among those with a high school education or less, younger Americans, and the less affluent.” In other words, the kind of folks who can benefit most from the stability that marriage and family life can provide are getting married in fewer numbers.

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The False Narrative of Gay Marriage: It Is Not Inevitable

In his book, “The Black Swan,” Nicholas Nassim Taleb discussed what he calls the “narrative fallacy.” This refers to our “limited ability” to look at a sequence of facts “without weaving an explanation into them.”

While this tendency helps us make sense of the world around us, it can and often does mislead us. It creates a mistaken impression that we understand things better than we really do. And, it often causes us to view the facts in ways that are consistent with the narrative we ourselves have created.

Case in point: the recent news – or in this case, news blackout – out of Illinois.

A few weeks ago the state legislature took up the issue of same-sex marriage. The outcome was regarded as a foregone conclusion. Illinois is President Obama’s home state, and his party enjoys commanding majorities in both houses. Same-sex marriage enjoyed the support of both the governor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The president had even personally lobbied state legislators.

Given all that, the vote in favor of gay “marriage” in Illinois was inevitable, right?

Well, no one bothered to tell the state’s African-American pastors. As Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage wrote in the National Review, the pastors “worked hard to reach and convince African-American legislators to stand tall for the truth of marriage.”

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