By Will Hall, Message Executive Editor SUITLAND, Md. (LBM)—The U.S. Census Bureau has released data showing that the number of married couples with children under the age of 18 hit a 56-year low of 23,651,000 in 2017, indicating a decline in the traditional family. The drop is even more serious when viewed in terms of population totals then and now. In 1961, there were 23,514,000 married couple families with children under age 18, among a total population of 183,691,481 – a ratio of one married couple with kids for every 8 people in the country. Now the ratio is one married couple with children under 18 for every 14 people, based on 23,651,000 married couples and a total U.S. population of 325,719,178 people. The decline in married couples with children coincides with a rise in single parent families, with that number climbing from 2,375 million in 1961 to 10,641,000 in 2017, the latest data that has been released. Meanwhile, the number of children under age 18 as a percentage of the U.S. population has continued to decline from a high of 36 percent in 1960 to an estimated 22.2 percent for 2020. The implications for U.S. social institutions appear dire with fewer people as a percentage of the population … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Executive Editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) --After years of struggle within the United Methodist Church regarding the ordination of LGBT clergy and performing same-sex marriages, world leaders of the denomination have proposed a split that would allow conservative congregations to form a separate body. The Book of Discipline that guides UMC churches regarding such matters now states that “the practice of homosexuality is in compatible with Christian teaching” and declares that “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.” Once the conservatives separate from the present denomination, it will open the door for the existing United Methodist Church to repeal these bans. The proposed separation will be voted on at the UMC General Conference in May. The United Methodist Church has about 6.8 million members in the United States and 12.7 million members worldwide. Although overseas congregations are considered more conservative than those in the United States, surveys indicate that 55 percent of U.S. congregants are conservative in their beliefs. The United Methodist Church is the second-largest evangelical body in the … [Read more...]