There's both good news and bad news in a Pew Research Center poll on marriage, parenthood, and other issues involving family and sexuality that was released over the weekend.
A lopsided majority of Americans 69% still believe that a child needs both a mother and a father. Large majorities also still believe that having children out of wedlock is a big problem for society. Americans still oppose same-sex "marriage" by a 57-32% margin, while opposition to the marriage counterfeits called "civil unions" has once again surpassed support for them.
These views reflect the continuing common sense of the American people. However, other study findings were more troubling. The Washington Post chose to emphasize the sharp drop since 1990 in the percentage of people who consider children very important to a successful marriage, from 65% to only 41%, along with the 65% who believe that "mutual happiness and fulfillment" (rather than "bearing and raising children") is the "main purpose of marriage." Yet while an individual couple may not have children as their top priority, there's no question that providing an optimal setting for bearing and raising children is the most important public purpose of marriage one same-sex unions can never fulfill.
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