The Case for Covenant Marriage
by Ryan McCann

Marriage = Contract

Before no-fault divorce, marriage licenses were enforceable contracts between husband and wife. In the no-fault divorce era we still have the contract; it's just not sufficiently enforceable. If I signed a contract with you promising that I would never write another article again if you would pay me $1,000 per week, you would expect that contract enforced. In other words, you would want me to lay down my pen and step away from the computer if you were paying me to do so. If the contract stated that I would not write another article, unless I felt like it, and you would still pay me $1,000 per week, you probably wouldn’t sign the contract-- it would be worthless. Essentially, I could write an article whenever I desired; therefore, the contract would not accomplish the goal of stopping me from writing articles.

The same concept is true with marriage licenses today. You sign an agreement binding you to your spouse. The husband, wife and the government enter into this agreement in order to make the relationship between the husband and the wife permanent. The husband and the wife enter into the contract out of love for one another. The government issues the license and agrees to enforce it out of an interest in creating and maintaining a stable society that only lasting heterosexual relationships can produce.

However, today if "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage" comes up, married couples can break that which was supposed to be a permanent, enforceable contract. Marriage contracts as issued by the government today are not worth the paper they are written on because "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage" can mean anything. I'm bored with my spouse – irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. I wish to leave my spouse for someone younger and more attractive – irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. Fill in the blank and that is a viable reason to break the marriage "contract" as issued by government due to "irretrievable breakdown of the marraige."

One of the great things about Covenant Marriage is that it takes "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage" out of the picture. Covenant Marriage would not be a contract so easily entered into or broken. Marriage counseling would have to precede the covenant marriage and only a few actions on the part of the couple could break the contract, such as adultery. Covenant Marriage is one large step towards reclaiming the respect that the marriage contract has lost due to no-fault divorce. For too long government has allowed a marriage license to represent a meaningless promise and an unenforceable contract. We could change that by passing Covenant Marriage legislation into law.

I can't wait for the day when the Indiana Family Institute can promote Covenant Marriage across the Hoosier state! We all need the bar set high in life so we don’t submit to our selfish desires in times of weakness. Covenant Marriage will push that bar back up where it used to be, helping us stay accountable to God, ourselves, our spouses and our community.

For more on Covenant Marriage click here.