The traditional family is the building block of a strong nation. Sadly, America’s capital provides a grim snapshot of a country suffering from a plague of family breakdown.

In a recent article in the Washington Examiner, Liz Farmer reported on the extreme number of single-parent homes in Washington, d.c. In one area of d.c., for example, 65 percent of households are run by women and 9 percent are run by men. Shockingly, only one quarter of homes in the area are run by married couples. That region of d.c. is not an anomaly. As Farmer observes, “More than half of family households in parts of the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County are run by single parents” (emphasis mine throughout).

Farmer quotes Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who notes that minority groups, particularly black and Hispanic families, make up most of the single-parent homes. “About 70 percent of black kids are born outside marriage, and then you have those born in a marriage, about half of them end in divorce,” Haskins states. “And first-generation Hispanics have a relatively low divorce rate … but once you get into the second generation that disappears.”

How tragic. Eighty-five percent of black children in this area grow up not receiving the benefits of having both their father and mother together in the home. Lacking the guidance and example of both parents and a strong marriage, children from single-parent homes, as Farmer wrote, are apt to “follow in the same footsteps.” In other words, children raised by single parents often end up being single parents themselves, perpetuating the problem, and the host of associated problems. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Something more disturbing than these statistics is a statement Mr. Haskins makes regarding the factors contributing to the wave of single-parent homes in d.c., and across the country. “The bottom line,” he said, “is I don’t think anyone really understands why.” Talk about discouraging. Family breakdown is spiraling out of control, and the experts are at a loss as to the cause of the problem. And if the experts can’t identify what is causing the problem, how can they ever find solutions?

Sadly, Washington, d.c., is far from the only place inflicted with family breakdown. Truth is, divorce and single-parent homes hurt every suburb in America and much of the English-speaking world. The divorce rate in America is nearly 50 percent. Single parenthood carries no stigma and has become commonplace. The result? Failing grades, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, child crime, depression, and the list goes on.

Worse still, the so-called experts, the child psychologists, the doctors, the politicians, are studying America’s shattered lives and shattered families and cannot figure out exactly why it’s happening or how to put these marriages and families back together. With ignorance of the cause of family dissolution prevailing, the problem grows worse, with more marriages and families fragmenting by the day.

The Brookings Institution admits that it cannot tell us why there are so many single-parent homes in America and why the problem is so severe. But the Trumpet can and does. Not because we’re smarter, or wiser, than the experts. The Trumpet has answers because we are prepared to consult the true Authority on marriage and family—because we seek direction on this issue from the Being who created marriage, and patterned the institution of family after His own existence.

The reality is, traditional marriage and family is under heated assault daily—from the media, from politicians and intellectuals, and from an increasingly secular culture in which truth and morality are entirely subjective. The more intense this assault becomes, the more desperate becomes our need to understand the purpose of marriage and family. For it is only when a person truly understand this purpose that he will be motivated to fight for its existence.

The Bible clearly reveals that our benevolent Creator designed the family relationship for an important reason. It reveals that it is through the God-ordained roles within the family that we can better understand who God is and what His plan for mankind entails. God did not give us think tanks to offer us help with our family relationships. He gave us the Holy Bible as a guide book to building strong marriages, strong families and a strong nation.

Our booklet Conspiracy Against Fatherhood exposes the ongoing war on family, specifically the role of the father, and how you can withstand the assault. In Why Marriage!—Soon Obsolete? the late Herbert Armstrong explains why God created the marriage relationship and provides practical instruction on how we can build stronger, happier marriages. Lastly, for an inspiring overview of God’s plan for mankind, and how He has already set in motion a strategy to invite all mankind into His Family, request Mystery of the Ages.

When it comes to making marriage and family work, the parents and children of Washington, d.c., and the whole country, desperately need this truth.