According to a 2014 report from the Pew Research Center, "the share of adults who are married has been steadily declining for decades. In 2014, just half of Americans were married, down from 57 percent in 2000. In 1960, 72 percent of U.S. adults were married."

Too many observers see nothing at all worrisome about plummeting marriage rates. Indeed, the conventional wisdom of many is that marriage is an infinitely malleable institution that is but one way, and maybe not even the best way, to organize familial relationships. That point of view effectively removes marriage from a moral context and places it solely in an economic one. Career pursuits and financial interests take precedence over everything else, and spouses and children begin to look like unnecessary and expensive diversions.

Pew issued a separate 2014 report that demonstrated the practical impact of the new marital conventional wisdom. "The dramatic rise in the share of never-married adults and the emerging gender gap are related to a variety of factors," the report found. "Adults are marrying later in life, and the shares of adults cohabiting and raising children outside of marriage have increased significantly. The median age at first marriage is now 27 for women and 29 for men, up from 20 for women and 23 for men in 1960."

These statistics are troubling less for what they mean for adults who choose to put marriage on the back burner and more for the impact they have on the children who are being raised without the benefit of a married mother and father in the home. They have no say in the matter, even though they are the ones most likely to suffer a negative impact from the choices of their parents. W. Bradford Wilcox, a family scholar who writes for an Institute for Family Studies blog, noted that “for children, marriage provides a unique level of emotional security and stability. That means they’re more likely to flourish.” When children are part of the equation, surely parents need to recognize the moral dimensions of marriage, not just the economic ones.

It's certainly true that circumstances beyond both a child and a parent's control can result in family situations that depart from the ideal. Our purpose here is not to make judgments but rather to uphold the ideal, even if that ideal may be placed out of reach. The fact that marriage has been the bedrock institution of civilization ought to give pause to those who think it outdated or unnecessary, especially when children are forced to pay the price for their indifference.