Politics
Thursday October 7, 2004
Former Rocker Geldof says Two Parents Ideal Way to Raise Children
"We have confused freedom with the idea of choice"
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LONDON, October 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bob Geldof, rock star from the hit 70s and 80s band, the Boomtown Rats, featured in a BBC Channel 4 documentary series, Geldof on Marriage, laments the breakdown of the family as a cause of societal disintegration. "I know it's uncool, and I truly have no desire to cause upset or offence by saying this, but the truth of every study is clear: dual-parent upbringing produces healthier, better educated children. That's it," he said, as reported by the UK Times.
"Children of divorced parents are much more likely to do worse at school, commit crimes, go to prison and more likely to commit suicide," he warned. "Divorced men live shorter lives than married men and are more likely to get cancer."
Geldof blames a self-centred perception of reality as a major factor in marriage breakdown. "We hop from product to product, channel to channel, station to station and, most damagingly, lover to lover, trading each one in for a new model as soon as passion fades," he said.
"Perhaps a lot of it is down to an overblown sense of self. We imagine ourselves to be free people, but we should not be free to destroy others, especially children. We have confused freedom with the idea of choice, we have become voracious consumers, not just of stuff, but of the soul."
Geldof is a proponent of government intervention to make marriage dissolution much more difficult. "This marriage stuff is a serious thing. It is not to be entered into and dissolved on a whim and to make light of it is a profound mistake. Yet that is precisely what the law allows us and encourages us to do."
He suggested a return to traditional values along with a renewed appreciation of the value of family life. Geldof asked. "We're all encouraged to put work first and domestic matters such as our families and our relationships second -- and those who don't are regarded with suspicion . . . have we completely lost the idea of home being important?"
Geldof on Marriage will be broadcast on UK Channel 4 October 11, with Geldof on Fathers the day following.
Statistics released in August reveal that divorce rates continue to escalate in the UK, with an increase of 4% last year to 150,000.
Read UK Times coverage: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1291389,00.html
See related Telegraph coverage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/03/ngeld03.xml
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