Torch, Fall/Winter 2009

groupings might appear to contemporary sensitivities, but how their justification proceeds logically from an evolutionary starting point. In Genesis, God places marriage first, as the foundation upon which the family is established. As children mature into adulthood, they leave their parents and join their partners in lifelong unions that continue the propagation of the race. From a biblical perspective, marriage is permanent and parenting is temporary. On the other hand, the evolutionary sequence of “family first, marriage second” facilitates the permanence of family relationships, while marriages become increasingly temporary. Today in the United States, 39 percent of children are born to an unmarried mother. Many of these women believe it is unnecessary to marry the child’s father. As a result, the mother-child relationship begins before marriage — if marriage occurs at all — and is often the most permanent relationship in the household. Additionally, men often marry women who are already mothers, meaning the new husband becomes an instant father with a steep learning curve. He must acquaint himself with family operations in order to determine what his role might be. When that role is relegated to bringing home the paycheck, the cultivation of the marriage receives lower priority. Such is the current state of family evolution. We have “progressed” beyond the traditional intact family into what frequently becomes temporary, fragile arrangements. Private Property In the evolutionary mind-set, the concept of private property is also outdated. Property ownership ushers inequality into the evolution of the race, and this unequal distribution of society’s resources lies at the heart of societal injustice. Evolutionists then conclude that the accumulation of wealth and power leads to wars, oppression, and the exploitation of millions of people. Ultimately, this kind of thinking ignores the depravity of the human heart and removes all responsibility from individuals. Although social Darwinists believe societies will progress and improve over time, they take an interesting turn at this point and reverse their own theory. They argue that peaceful, unified relationships between people who respected the environment and bonded with nature characterized the pre- agricultural phase of human development. Fall–Winter 2009 | TORCH 21 A teen mother holds her baby while the father stands outside. Evolutionary principles often undermine the concept of the nuclear family and introduce increased complexity in parent-child relationships. KEVIN HESLIN / GETTY IMAGES