ABSTRACT
The popular media and the voices of numerous politicians agree strongly that the family is an institution almost beyond repair. According to these voices, marriages are collapsing under the weight of irresponsibility, children are being left on the streets for the state to raise, grandparents are shipped off to nursing homes to be cared for by underpaid illiterates, and middle aged adults have all but abandoned any sense of family values. Although this belief may cause great consternation in all of our minds and may serve to elect those politicians who blame others for the downfall of the family, there is ample evidence to suggest that the family as an institution is as strong as ever and continues to serve our civilization quite well.
