FRC's MARRI Unveils Fifth Index of Family Belonging and Report on State of the Black Family

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Feb 12, 2015, 12:36 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Family Research Council's Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) today issued its fifth annual "Index of Family Belonging and Rejection."

Study highlights include:

The Index of Family Belonging: The percentage of U.S. teenagers aged 15 to 17 who have grown up with both biological parents always married is 46 percent. The biological parents of the remaining 54 percent are either no longer married, or never did marry.
The Index of Belonging is 17 percent for black teenagers compared to 54 percent for white teenagers. This marks a 21 percent decrease in family belongingness for black teenagers since 1950, and a 13 percent decrease for white teenagers.

On the state of the family today, Dr. Pat Fagan, Director and Senior Fellow at MARRI, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Family and Social Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, commented:

"Marriage continues to produce as many benefits as ever. The immutable good of marriage is rooted in the created complementarity of male and female. Through the sexual act man and woman populate the world, but only within marriage will the sexual act produce a stable society.

"During the last century many worked to change this by severing sexual intercourse and the begetting of children from marriage. This social experiment has failed and nowhere is it more visible than in the black family and particularly in the plight of many young black men without the prospect of a good job, a stable marriage and a family they can call their own. What deprived them was the absence of a loving father married to their mother. Modern social policy and experiments have deprived them of such a father. Modern social policy is fatally flawed in its premises, principles and programs. On matters social it is not only a failure but a contributor to the decline of the family and especially of young black men."

FRC's Senior Fellow of Church Ministries and President of S.T.A.N.D. Bishop E. W. Jackson made the following comments on the state of the black family:

"There is a profound crisis in the black community, one which has resulted in a devastating impact on the black family. The crisis, one related directly to marriage and the role of the church, has social and moral dimensions which have created an accelerating downward spiral - children raising children; young men looking for affirmation of manhood through gangs, violence and fathering children without taking responsibility for them. The black church, still a major influence in the lives of many, has failed to address this downward spiral. Only God, prayer and a good church led by a good pastor can lead people toward chastity, life-long marriage and a stable family. The black church must lead in this area," Jackson concluded.

The fifth Index of Family Belonging and Rejection: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF15B28.pdf

The companion report on the State of the Black Family: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF15B29.pdf

SOURCE Family Research Council