Some conservatives want to make it a lot harder to dissolve a marriage.

Before the 1960s, it was really hard to get divorced in America.

Typically, the only way to do it was to convince a judge that your spouse had committed some form of wrongdoing, like adultery, abandonment, or “cruelty” (that is, abuse). This could be difficult: “Even if you could prove you had been hit, that didn’t necessarily mean it rose to the level of cruelty that justified a divorce,” said Marcia Zug, a family law professor at the University of South Carolina.

Then came a revolution: In 1969, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California (who was himself divorced) signed the nation’s first no-fault divorce law, allowing people to end their marriages without proving they’d been wronged. The move was a recognition that “people were going to get out of marriages,” Zug said, and gave them a way to do that without resorting to subterfuge. Similar laws soon swept the country, and rates of domestic violence and spousal murder began to drop as people — especially women — gained more freedom to leave dangerous situations.

Today, however, a counter-revolution is brewing: Conservative commentators and lawmakers are calling for an end to no-fault divorce, arguing that it has harmed men and even destroyed the fabric of society. Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, for example, introduced a bill in January to ban his state’s version of no-fault divorce. The Texas Republican Party added a call to end the practice to its 2022 platform (the plank is preserved in the 2024 version). Federal lawmakers like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, have spoken out in favor of tightening divorce laws.

  • morphballganon@lemmy.world
    131·
    3 months ago

    usually

    Please cite your source for that. The religious nutters who are adults now were once kids of religious families themselves.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
      131·
      3 months ago

      Christianity in the U.S. is quickly shrinking and may no longer be the majority religion within just a few decades, research finds

      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christianity-us-shrinking-pew-research/

      Losing their religion: why US churches are on the decline

      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/us-churches-closing-religion-covid-christianity

      In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

      https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

      Pick a study we are in a decline for a reason. The craziest ones are the most motivated but they are the few.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        81·
        3 months ago

        The xtian activists definitely are aware of this overall trend (even if many of them will outright lie about it and many of the flock probably still think they are some kind of supermajority even if they have been losing adherents at about 1% every year for year after year) and it’s exactly why they are agitating to fundamentally change this country to a xtian one.

        They want to be able to COMPEL people to join/stay in their little book club. The only difference between xtian radicals and Islamists is where the retconning leaves off is different. Both of them worship the same god of “the” bible - Allah/Yahweh/Jehovah and both of them have the same dim view of unbelievers and women and outsiders, etc…

        • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
          2·
          3 months ago

          Both of them worship the same god of “the” bible - Allah/Yahweh/Jehovah and both of them have the same dim view of unbelievers and women and outsiders, etc…

          I agree, all religion is backwards. There’s always a group they don’t like. It just changes depending on your “God’s” region of authority.

        • Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          3 months ago

          Man - I know most folks feel the best thing to do is get rid of religion all together - but at this stage I’d settle for and support a new, loud, and active Christian sect denouncing xtian radicals and the churches that support them as Satanic corruptions.

          Believe Old Testament and its edicts mean a damn practical thing in today’s world? Satan.

          Insisting on not rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s? Satan.

          Treating your fellow humans as lesser for anything whatsoever? Satan.

          Corrupting Bible verses to justify creating suffering and not rendering aid to anyone who needs it? 100% Satan.

          Forcing means to reduce anyone’s capacity to exercise free will, the one key thing their creator deity granted all humans? Sounds like Satan to me.

          And so on. I realize this is deeply naive. But part of the reason I like The Louvin Brother’s song Satan is Real is whenever I hear the guy’s testimony on Satan, I think about about people in the offending churches:

          I grew selfish, and un-neighbourly
          My friends turned against me
          And finally, my home was broken apart

          The Louvin Brothers themselves would likely vehemently disagree, but - does this sound like anyone you know?

          /end of vaguely spiritualist rant.

        • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
          1·
          3 months ago

          Small group grabbed a huge piece. They didn’t do that quietly. People stopped caring, became more self centered, and we lost sight of communities. We allowed this shit and we need to start voting like it.