Say Anything Blog

Ed Kaitz

Thought this might be interesting info for those concerned with fatherhood.

By A recent AP news report has concluded, after compiling the results of numerous studies over the years, that there is a strong and disturbing link between severe child abuse and non-traditional family environments. In the article’ words:
“[Scholars and caseworkers] note an ever increasing share of America’s children grow up in homes without both biological parents, and say the risk of child abuse is markedly higher in the nontraditional family structures.” 
Examples of “nontraditional family structures” include:

o Children living in homes with unrelated adults (these children are “50 times more likely to die inflicted injuries as children living with biological parents”); and

o Single parent homes or children living with stepfamiles (these children “have a higher risk of physical or sexual assault than children living with two biological or adoptive parents”). 

Lastly, the studies found that “girls whose parents divorce are at a significantly higher risk of sexual assault, whether they live with their mother or their father.” 

The studies seem to show that even children in adoptive environments seem to be ok with two parents.  The report goes on to tell in painful detail however the brief life stories of little toddlers who were beaten, drowned, thrown across rooms, and buried under cement - all victims of what Plato called “democracy’s insatiable desire for what it defines as the good”: freedom.  In this case, it is our freedom to choose “alternative” family environments and be “affirmed” every step of the way.

I am not sure what is going over at the progressive AP, but the report’s conclusions demonstrate in utterly stark terms a fundamental truth that conservatives have held dear since the time of Aristotle (or, if you are from China, since at least the time of Confucius): Natural Law.  I was told once by a very smart professor that Aristotle was much smarter than I was, and he was right.  He also told me that Aristotle would resurface every now and then, in the form of nature, to remind us in often ugly ways, of our excesses, and of our proper limits.  We know, for example, that study after study demonstrates a link between abortion and depression, and abortion and suicide.  We also know now that there are studies showing strong connections between abortion and breast cancer.  Aristotle’s great Christian interpreter, St. Thomas Aquinas, argued that divorce was also unnatural, and that two parent families were natural:
Now it is clear that in the human species the female is far from sufficing alone for the rearing of the children, since the needs of human life require many things that one person alone cannot provide.
Aquinas goes on to argue that among the “many things” human, as opposed to animal, offspring need are “instruction for the soul” and discipline, responsibilities he places mostly on the father.

Read the whole thing.  When fathers are driven away, society suffers.