The decline of the family puts unbearable pressure on the state.
At the recommendation of Justin Taylor, I am reading with great profit, How the West Really Lost God by Mary Eberstadt in which the author considers the relationship between the decline of the family and the decline of Christianity. Eberstadt argues that the fortunes and momentum of Christianity and the family depend on one another.
In terms of the decline of the family Eberstadt observes that countries are now expected to fill roles once assumed to be the responsibility of the family.
The decline of the family has also put more pressure on the same welfare states that are already stretched beyond their fiscal limits –because more people now expect their governments to perform tasks once assumed by sons, daughters, maiden aunts, and the like. As families have shrunk, disbanded, re-formed, and otherwise come to reflect the reality that what were once permanent ties are now increasingly optional and fungible, Western men and women have ratcheted up the pressure on the state to operate as a family substitute–in particular, as a father substitute. This point was demonstrated perfectly if once more unwittingly in the United States in 2012, when a video was made by President Barack Obama’s reelection team chronicled by a fictitious young woman named “Julia” benefiting from government assistance at each major stage of her life–every one of which forms assistance, from day care to retirement, are government substitutes for what the extended family was once competent to do and often is no more.
And, sadly, Christians are often no different. How many of us, when are parents age, first consider where we can move them so that they can be cared for by others? Most of us are unwilling to sacrifice our own comfort and resources, even for our own parents.
“Our” parents.
We pastors need to do a better job teaching and talking about this.