ABSTRACT
The heart and soul of the natural family are those sections telling "the story of the family" and offering "a vision" for our common future. Still, the authors also ground this story and this vision in the natural world, where their truths are open to study and confirmation by the physical and social sciences. Being "natural" means that the family rests within the created order. It is open to honest investigation, to fair scrutiny. The natural family welcomes scientific inquiry, with the confidence of welcoming a friend. Evolutionary anthropologists identify "the two-parent family household" as a defining characteristic of the species. Tracing the course of human evolution, these scientists highlight the importance of the "sex-based division of labor" that established itself within the "productive pair bond," so creating a "dual economy specific to hominids." Two sociologists conclude that government policy has made children an artificial economic asset in the "mother-state-child" family, a family form that multiplies because of state subsidies.
