'Married' means you're in minority

As America's population reached 300 million, it was revealed that for the first time in our history only a minority of us are married. The decline of marriage has been a long time coming.
Revolutions, like wars, leave victims in their wake. With the advantage of hindsight, it is now clear that a principal victim of the sexual revolution of the 1960s was the institution of marriage. Given the availability of reliable contraception and a hip mantra -- "If it feels good, do it" -- wedlock became a lifestyle option increasingly shunned by couples.
Of course, desire and romance persist in human nature, but personal commitment has long since yielded to casual sex and cohabitation. In 1960 only one couple in a 100 was living together out of wedlock, but by century's end one in 10 American men and women 18-29 were cohabiting.
A sacrament
I was raised in a religious tradition that considers marriage to be a sacrament, a sure call on God's grace to enable men and women to keep their vows to each other "for better for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." Cohabiting couples are not so graced, nor do they profess vows. It's no wonder they are twice as likely as married couples to split up. In fact, instead of strengthening a casual sexual union, the birth of a child makes breaking up even more likely. Despite the easy availability of contraceptives, close to a third of American women still have unintended births. In addition, each year well over a million women have their unplanned pregnancies terminated by abortion.
In the U.S., the extension of employment benefits to domestic partners has provided fairness to gay couples, but it has unwittingly promoted the notion that heterosexual cohabitation is the moral equivalent of marriage. In Britain the government has actually proposed reviving common-law marriage to hallow the practice of sex without commitment. English commentator Melanie Phillips balks, arguing that "the rights of marriage can follow only from accepting its responsibilities."
She asks, "Would people be so relaxed about the rise of unmarriage if they were aware of the toll of loneliness, failed relationships, violence, depression, ill-health, poor educational achievement and poor work motivation that is the result?"
Phillips observes that "people who cohabit choose not to get married because they do not want the responsibilities that come from making a binding commitment."
Divorce is prevalent
Of course, the prevalence of divorce among Americans of all ages is hardly an advertisement for the permanence of marriage. As the playwright Henrik Ibsen argued, "Marriage is a thing you've got to give your whole mind to." No wonder the children of divorce are increasingly wary of marriage.
Cynics smirk that marriage represents the triumph of hope over experience. I prefer Samuel Johnson's appreciation: "Marriage is the best state for man in general, and every man is a worse man in proportion as he is unfit for the married state."
Scripps Howard