Each year, more than a million American children "suffer the divorces of their parents," according to David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, and the parents of 50 percent of babies born today will not be married when those children reach age 18.
And in Tennessee, thanks to no-fault divorce laws, getting a divorce is extremely easy, the FACT president told members of the Kiwanis Club of Chattanooga.
Just as marriage should not be entered into lightly, he said, "divorce should not be entered into lightly, especially where children are involved .
. . You should not be able to walk away from a marriage in 90 days."
In nature and in society, Mr. Fowler said, children traditionally are the products of strong two-parent families.
Modern sociological studies reinforce the importance of that arrangement, he noted.
For example, children raised in two-parent families are significantly less likely to indulge in substance abuse.
In school, children from single-parent families make lower grades and are more likely to become drop-outs.
That should come as no surprise, he said, since "if marriage is part of the natural order, like gravity, we should expect negative consequences (when it is disrupted)."
Divorce has become commonplace, he said, and few members of modern American society have not been touched by it in one way or another.
But that does not mean it does not have consequences, he said.
"Divorce may seem to be a relief, at least temporarily," he concluded. "But it takes a toll . . . especially when children are involved . . . There are children (of divorce) who make it, against great odds, but there are also many who don't."