Do you know that the great cause of poverty is the United States? Yes, it is the decline of marriage according to data from the American Community Survey done by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Out-of-wedlock pregnancies have steadily increased from 6.3% in 1963 to 40.6% in 2008. This is at the very core of poverty. Unwed parents are the greatest cause of poverty in America. This is the root of child poverty in the United States. Unwed fathers have to divide their support between his house and their child’s household, and two rents have to be paid. The more children a man has among different women, then the more an unwed father’s attention and financial support are divided. Because of his carelessness, his support can be given to help a home with children who are not his own. At the same time, unwed mothers are also negligent and can have a much harder time taking care of their children when the father’s support and attention is also spread among other children that he had with other women or his own interests. Everyone is at a lost especially the children. They are all in perpetual poverty. Education has neglected addressing this central issue, but education is the parents’ responsibility. Only parents can stop the perpetual continuance of this depravity. Yet those in poverty have to rely on the government to educate their children for which government will not address this issue. The U.S. government would rather spend $300 billion to keep these homes leashed in dependency by welfare.

God had it right in the beginning. There must be a lifelong commit and covenant between a man and a woman. This is the foundation of social order. Jesus said in Mark 10:6-9,

“But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Jesus teachings took the poor state of marriage out of pagan society and anchored marriage in a Christian society. This is just another way that teachings of Christ have changed the world even by those who don’t fully accept Jesus words.

Now, marriage is under fire. Many factors threaten marriage and thus threaten a prosperous society. The lack of parental teaching about the importance of marriage has done great harm and yet parents are not going to teach their children about marriage and the foundations of marriage when they also have a negative perception of marriage. The lack of support for marriage is rooted in either ignorance or a lack of self-control. These have no commitment to the institution of marriage. Parents want to be able to back out of their marriages with no-fault divorces while the government encourages this with destructive welfare and a negligent education system void of parental consent. Add to the list of enemies to marriage the circular support for same-sex marriages. Homosexuals want to be recognized and identified by their sexual urges and have the right to practice sodomy along with other things that are “shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret” (Eph. 5:12). Many people support same-sex marriage because of their own treatment of marriage, their ignorance for marriage and their negligence in educating themselves.

What can we do to fight poverty? We have to fight for marriage. This is the greatest effort that we can make to boast the poor into abundance and revive an economy. Coming into the time of the year for a spirit of giving, rather than just giving and, or volunteering at a food bank, which we need to do, take the time to give some kind and gentle advice and educate others who are already in need or not. Save some few, or hundreds to thousands of children from lacking the necessities of an abundant life that God have given us. Get the word out that unwed parents are the greatest cause of poverty and especially child poverty in America. Educate those you know and pass to them the responsibility to educate their children, their friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Pass this info on through email and social networking sites.

We fight poverty by fighting for marriage, and we support marriage by teaching all of Christ’s words in the Gospel that have given the world the necessary stability and strength to provide for all needs. This is the providence of God in His commands, which are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). Our society must be embedded with teachings of Christ to survive. Remember that when you evangelize then you are fighting poverty. This is true every time that you teach someone how to obey the Gospel to be saved (Rom. 1:16, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, 2 Thess. 1:7-9), and to not only confess your faith that Jesus is the resurrected Lord, but also that one must die to their sins, be buried in water in Jesus’ name, and be raised to live a new life in Christ.

Adolescents must be taught about the importance of marriage and that pre-marital sex is a threat to our very society and their future success. Our freedom of religion has been essential to churches in the United States. These churches conservative church have been the stable support  for the institution of marriage throughout our history. From the data collected from 14,322 married adults, Jeremy E. Uecker reported in the “Journal of Marriage and Family” that,

“Married young adults who attended church services at least weekly during adolescence were eight times more likely to abstain from sexual activity before marriage than peers who never attended and nearly three times as likely to be abstinent until marriage than peers who less frequently attended church services. In addition, they were less likely than non-attenders or less frequent attenders to have sex with someone other than their future spouse” (“Religion, Pledging, and the Premarital Sexual Behavior of Married Young Adults”. Vol. 70. August, 2008. Pg. 728-744).

David Eggebeen and Jeffrey Dew collected data from 13,895 individuals and reported in the “Journal of Marriage and Family” that “Compared with other peers, adolescents with higher levels of church attendance and higher reported salience of religion were more likely to marry and less likely to cohabit” (Vol. 71. February, 2009. Pg. 108-121). In the “Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion”, Mark D. Regnerus found that “Church attendance strengthens the educational progress among children in disadvantaged neighborhoods, no matter how it is measured” (“Staying on Track in School: Religious Influences in High- and Low-Risk Settings”. Vol. 42. 2003. Page(s) 633-649). Children in married households do better in school, commit fewer crimes, and have better marriages, but this is even more so of those who attend church.

Thanks to FamilyFacts.org for the research.