There are lots of disturbing statistics that get thrown out by every latest study. Phil Lawler identifies the most disturbing of all, the one that has the most devastating implications for our society, our culture, and our people: Fewer than half of our children today, 46%, live with both of their parents.From Phil Lawler, The single most disturbing statistic | Catholic Culture:

America faces a danger every bit as serious as terrorism, and it’s not being discussed by presidential candidates. The Pew Research Center points to it, in a new report, “The American Family Today.”

…in 1960, the height of the post-World War II baby boom, there was one dominant family form. At that time 73% of all children were living in a family with two married parents in their first marriage. By 1980, 61% of children were living in this type of family, and today less than half (46%) are.

The evidence of the social sciences is clear, convincing—in fact overwhelming; study after study shows the same thing. Children who grow up with two married parents enjoy a huge advantage over the children of broken homes. Statistically speaking, a child born in the ghetto to parents who are unemployed—but married—has a better chance of success in life than a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth and parents in the divorce courts.

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