This is a special three-part series on six leading family trends that every friend of the family should be mindful of. We give a brief explanation of the importance of each for the family and the future. (See Part 1 / Part 3 )

  1. Family Relativism

“Love is Love” and “Love Makes a Family” are the argument-ending mantras of our age when it comes to family formation. Under the new orthodoxy, no one is allowed to make a judgement about another’s personal sexual or relational choice because the Christian ideal of love has been co-opted in service to family relativism and redefinition.

This concept has been driven deep into the psyche of our young people, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for Christians to advocate for God’s ideal of sexuality and family. In fact, those who do so are now the new Worst. Person. Ever.

The sappy sentimentality of “love is love” is winning the day in the very vineyard Focus on the Family labors in. What compounds this is that it is an inherently irrational proposition, the logical fallacy of a tautology. It actually says nothing, literally, but wins the day in this increasingly sentimental culture of simplistic thinking.

  1. Weaponizing Basic Parental Rights and Authority

Parental rights and authority have been under increasingly attack of late. Last year the FBI issued “threat tags” for dozens of concerned parents who spoke up at local school board meetings in defense of their children and what they were being indoctrinated with.

A decisive governor’s race was decided in late 2021 largely on the threat to parental rights in Virginia. These facts spurred the remarkable Mama Bear movement.

Even The New York Times is illustrating how left-leaning parents are growing concerned that school officials are actively circumventing parental authority by transitioning children without their knowledge. They quote Jessica Bradshaw about her 15-year-old daughter,

“There was never any word from anyone to let us know that on paper, and in the classroom, our daughter was our son,” Mrs. Bradshaw said.

When the most natural human bond of parental authority and care for children is presented as toxic and criminal, the value of family ceases to exist. This is happening in dramatic new ways today.

 

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