It's National Marriage Week

This is "National Marriage Week." United Families International, based in Mesa, provides this statement on the great value of marriage as the union on one man and one woman to society, in its book "The Marriage Advantage," authored by Marcia Barlow:

Marriage is a unique, opposite-sex union with legal, social, economic and spiritual dimensions.

It is a fundamental and universal social institution and the mechanism bywhich every known society seeks to obtain for each child the love, attention and resources of a mother and a father. The happiness, development and productivity of a new generation are bound to the marriage and the family unit. The successful development of children is critical to the success and preservation of nations. Because of marriage’s essential role, states and nations have chosen to provide unique benefits and incentives to those who choose to be married.

There is now broad bipartisan recognition that healthy marriage affords substantial benefits for adults and their children. Stable marriage has a positive effect on the economic, emotional and psychological well-being of men and women and dramatically benefits the well-being of children. A wealth of social science research attests to this conclusion.

Efforts to uphold marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation for the family – the fundamental unit of society – should be supported and strengthened.

Families, communities and responsible governments should use all prudent means to encourage healthy, lawful marriage and to discourage pre-marital sex, out-of-wedlock childbearing, adultery, divorce and alternative family forms.

Marriage Leads to:

• Better health and greater longevity

• Less crime, less violence

• Safer homes

• Safer communities

• Less poverty, more wealth

• Healthier society

• Better intimate relations

• Less substance abuse and addiction

• Less hardship and better outcomes for children

• Less government, lower taxes

• More happiness