22-02-2025
Covenant marriages will make Tennessee families stronger especially for children
The American family is struggling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-in-5 marriages in the United States fail within five years, ballooning to 1-in-2 within 20 years.
And while year-to-year divorce rates hit a 50-year low – which really isn't saying much in absolute terms – this has come with the side-effect of marriage rates continuing to plummet, down over 50% over the last half-century.
From here, there are many directions I could go to explain why any of this matters.
Marriage and the family are the foundations upon which society rests.
When these foundations are shaken, their effects, to varying degrees, ripple through all aspects of society.
The most immediate of these effects, however, is that on children. A recent journal article in 'World Psychiatry' underscored how divorce has been 'associated with an increased risk' of poor academic performance, behavioral and substance use issues, and depression in youth.
But I don't think we need psychiatrists to tell us this. If you yourself didn't experience the disruptive effect of divorce growing up, you most definitely know some who did. No wonder younger generations are so leery to enter marriages. We are traumatized.
But we must not forget that this understandable reaction itself has beget another problem. More children than ever before are being born out of wedlock either into broken familial situations or into cohabitating situations that, without the security marriage provides, are disproportionately correlated with the same type of issues addressed above. It isn't just that divorce is bad for children, it's that marriage is actively good for them.
For the sake of America's families, we need to Make Marriage Great Again, and Tennessee is poised to do just that with a bill – the Covenant Marriage Act (House Bill 315/Senate Bill 737) – introduced this session by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Franklin, and Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon.
The bill contains two symbiotic elements that I think would help reduce divorce rates in Tennessee, which as of 2023 has the 13th highest rate in the nation.
First, those seeking a covenant marriage would need to undergo marriage counseling and, second, the couple's divorce options after marrying would be limited to extreme situations such as domestic violence or abandonment.
While the latter might seem overly restrictive, it serves to keep the couple accountable. Attraction and a sense of connection to the other – both of which have their highs and lows, with many jumping ship in the low moments – are not the only things marriage is about. It is about making a lifelong commitment to the betterment of the other and fostering a bond so strong that a family, abounding in the love of the parents, can be born.
Committing to this family, a commitment baked into marriage, means working through even some serious problems without giving up, which is not only better, on balance, for children but also good for the parents.
The requirement of marriage counseling, then, can be seen as a favor. For those already prepared for the commitment, it will just serve as a good reminder. For those not prepared, it will either impel them to build a healthier foundation for a lifelong bond or reveal that marriage isn't for them—both of which are better than a messy, costly, and traumatizing divorce down the line.
Honestly, I would make covenant marriages the default option with the ability to opt-out – the current bill does the opposite – as it is just too much of a good to be relegated to the bottom of a form many people won't bother to read. But let's take what we can get. For the good of the spouses and, if for nothing else, the children.
Noah Jenkins is the chairman of the Tennessee and Vanderbilt College Republicans and has been featured in U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek, and Fox News Digital.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee families will benefit from covenant marriages | Opinion
