A generation of followers

 

What do you think?

It's a video from The Atlantic from this article about the effects of the recession. It's full of many insightful angles on sociological impacts that come with unemployment, and in particular on how families are affected. One point of interest was that, in the wake of financial turmoil, marriage rates are down but out-of-wedlock pregnancies are on the rise with alarming effects:

"For both men and women in [poor] communities, children are commonly seen as a highly desirable, relatively low-cost way to achieve meaning and bolster identity—especially when other opportunities are closed off...But a large body of research shows that one of the worst things for children, in the long run, is an unstable family. By the time the average out-of-wedlock child has reached the age of 5, his or her mother will have had two or three significant relationships with men other than the father, and the child will typically have at least one half sibling. This kind of churning is terrible for children—heightening the risks of mental-health problems, troubles at school, teenage delinquency, and so on—and we’re likely to see more and more of it, the longer this malaise stretches on."

While this might seem like novel conclusions to some, to us and other church-going folks it's just more validation of living by correct principles. It seems every Sunday you hear some sort of comment about Satan's attack on the family. It's always reassuring, and of course at the same time extremely concerning, to hear analysts from outside sources confirm that modern trends are in accordance with prophetic warnings.