Tuesday, September 8, 2009

No-fault Divorce

Michael Craven of Center for Christ and Culture wrote a good article about the evil of no-fault divorce. I will share a few clips here, but encourage you to read the whole thing.

No-fault divorce is much more than just divorce; it is a legal tyranny that denies the fundamental right of due process to a defendant. Prior to no-fault divorce, the party seeking divorce (plaintiff) was required, by law, to demonstrate cause on the part of the other party (defendant) prior to dissolving the marriage, dividing the family’s assets, and destroying the two-parent structure essential for children. These measures provided strong legal protections—primarily to women and children who might otherwise find themselves abandoned by husbands and fathers who simply sought “greener pastures.” (You might think me overly hard on men here. Granted, both men and women can be guilty of abandoning marriages; however, statistically speaking, women and children are most often the victims.)

Under the system prior to no-fault divorce, the state was limited in its actions and intrusion into the private affairs of the family except in those cases in which one of the parties committed a legally recognized offense against the other. In the wake of no-fault divorce, the state has been given unprecedented access into and unconstitutional authority over what was previously sacrosanct: the family. Historically, the law regarded the family as a preserve of privacy that was largely off-limits to the government. It was what Supreme Court Justice Byron White (1962–1993) called the “realm of family life, which the state cannot enter.”



No-fault divorce is a social and legal atrocity that needs to be abolished both for the sake of families and children that have, for too long, been subjected to the tyrannical actions of family courts, and because it has encouraged, through law, radical selfishness on the part of narcissistic, self-indulgent spouses. What must be understood by Christians is that no-fault divorce functions as a direct enemy of the gospel of the kingdom by opposing the in-breaking reign of God and his desires for the family.

You can also learn about the myths surrounding no-fault divorce here.

2 comments:

WKen said...

I agree with you completely.

My ex-wife committed all kinds of offenses against me, and faced no consequences. The court isn't particularly interested in emotional and verbal abuse (unless it's directed to the kids) or adultery. Therefore, I was wiped out in our divorce despite being the one who had been faithful to our wedding vows.

As a friend of mine said, even if the law doesn't recognize marriage as sacred, it should at least view it as a contract ... the one committing the breach of a contract wouldn't be able to roll over the honest one so easily.

Frances Clements said...

I am so sorry that you went through all of that.

You make a good point with "it should at least view it as a contract".