A MERE GLIMPSE: The REAL Proposal For Marriage magazine- Beyond White Lace & Promises

The Real Proposal™ magazine is neither "fluff," nor a "wedding planner." Indeed, The Real Proposal™ explores the spectrum of issues surrounding Marriage, and the resulting relationships that arise from dating, nesting, parenting, divorce, and yes, even sex, while recognizing that there are myriad social and political issues that must also be examined carefully and presented with truth. Often, this will mean daring to go against the prevailing liberal tide of our present pop culture and what may be considered expedient, or even "politically correct". Will we stir up controversy? Undoubtedly. In clear contrast with most newsstand magazines and other forms of media that seemingly abuse such concepts as "tolerance" and "grace" to the point of hypocrisy, The Real Proposal™ is firm in its commitment to present an alternate set of values, values that are appropriate, values that embody wisdom and plain good common sense. Revolutionary, in our day, if you think about it... and worth the fight!

There isn't a doubt in our minds that the timing is right to launch a publication like The Real Proposal™ magazine onto the national newsstands. Currently raging sociopolitical debates on the issues surrounding marriage—including the controversy over the Federal Marriage Amendment Bill, which seeks, constitutionally, to defend "Marriage" as between one man and one woman, thereby settling the issue regarding whether same-sex marriage, or even polygamy, constitutes a civil right—make it imperative for a compelling voice to rise up in the media to present truth, not just journalistic reporting, on the issues. We aim to be that voice. And it remains our steadfast belief that we cannot responsibly publish a magazine predicated on the issues surrounding marriage if we cannot define with any sense of integrity exactly what Marriage is. For us, that means one man, one woman in a covenant relationship... ideally, for life. Clearly, we have fallen a long way from that ideal, but does that mean, as a society, we should stop striving for those ideals and rewrite the rules to give legitimacy to our less-than stellar accomplishments?

What's more, the issues warrant a dedicated format. Why? Because the mere glimpses we present of the chaotic state of "Marriage" and "Family", by way of the alarming statistics (below) and through current newspaper articles and reports ("Marriage" In The News), are just the tip of the iceberg!

¨     Globally, 70% of us still believe marriage is for life, and 75% say it is a lifetime goal (Especially in the USA)
¨      For Catholic southern European countries, however, marriage today Is “Irrelevant, Not for Life, and Not a Lifetime Goal”
¨      77% of Europeans believe a long-term stable relationship is just as good as marriage, but not so for 50% of Americans and
      Russians
¨     Until 2003, sodomy was a criminal offense within most of the United States. Lawrence v. Texas had the effect of invalidating laws
      that criminalized sodomy between consenting same-sex adults acting in private
¨      At June 2009, six states recognize same-sex marriage: New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusetts
¨     In May 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex weddings, yet ruled
       unanimously that the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages performed before the ban remained valid
¨      7,341 same-sex couples married in Massachusetts between May 2004 and December 2005
¨      At June 2009, seven countries — Canada, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, South Africa and Sweden — currently grant
      marriage rights to same-sex couples on an equal footing with heterosexuals
¨      Between 1970 and 2001, the overall marriage rate in the US declined by 17%, but for African-Americans it fell by 34%
¨      Divorce Rate: 4.1 per 1000 population (2000)
¨      Number of divorces annually: 1,135,000 (1998); 1,163,000 (1997)
¨      Number of divorced adults (1998): 19.4 million (9.8% of adult population); Males: 8.3 million, Females: 11.1million
¨      50% of all first marriages end in divorce; 60% of second marriages end in divorce
¨      43% of first marriages end in divorce within 15 years, 33⅓% within 10 years, 20% within 5 years
¨      Average length of first marriages, which end in divorce: 11 years
¨      Median duration of all marriages: 7.2 years
¨      Average age at first divorce: Males: 35 years, Females: 33 years
¨      Eight out of 10 divorced people remarry. 50% do it within three years. 75% of women and 80% of men remarry within 5 years. A
       whopping 60% end up back in divorce court within 7 years.
¨      Average age at second divorce: Males: 42 years, Females: 39 years
¨      People aged 25 to 39 years make up 60% of all divorces (as of 1993)
¨      Black couples are more likely to break up than white couples
¨      More people are part of second marriages than first marriages
¨      34% of married couples today in the United States have been married at least once
¨      For women between the ages of 15-44, domestic violence is the most common cause of injury. Even within the church, 10:60
       women are being abused verbally at home, and 3:10 are being abused physically.
¨      Number of women who are stalked by a husband or ex-husband every year: 380,000
¨      Number of men who are stalked by a wife or ex-wife each year: 52,000
¨      Of Christians who have been divorced, 90% report that their divorce occurred after their conversion
¨      In 2006, for the first time in U.S. history, a majority of all births to women < 30 — 50.4 percent — were out of wedlock
       By comparison, when John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, just 6 percent of all births were to unmarried women < 30
¨      More than a quarter of America’s children—nearly 17 million—do not live with their fathers
¨      Number of children under 18 living with their grandparents (1998): 4 million (6%)
¨      Almost 1:3 children born in the United States today is the child of an unwed mother
¨      Estimated number of children involved in divorce each year: 1,075,000
¨      50% of these children will grow up in families where parents stay angry
¨         More than 50% of all children born in the 1990’s will spend part of childhood in a single-parent home
¨     33% of U.S. ninth graders have had sexual intercourse; 47% of high-school-age teenagers have had sexual intercourse; and 75% of
       black high-school-age boys have had sexual intercourse. In addition, 12% of the 40,000 new HIV cases in the U.S. annually occur
       among people between age 13 and 24
¨     African American women are the least likely in our society to marry
¨       43% of African-American men and 42% of African-American women have never been married,  vis-à-vis 28% and 20%
      respectively for Whites
¨      Only 41% of African-American adults are married, vis-à-vis 62% Whites and 60% Hispanics
¨          In 1998, 69% of African-American births were to unmarried women, vis-à-vis 25% Whites, 42% Hispanics.
        In 2006, 80% of African-American births were to unmarried women, vis-à-vis 33% Whites, 51% Hispanics (< 30 yrs)
¨          55% of African-American children live with single parents, vis-à-vis 23% White and 31% Hispanic children
¨      Children raised by single parents are more likely to drop out of high school than those of two-parent families
¨      Children raised in single parent families have lower grades and school attendance
¨      Children raised in single-parent families are more likely to become single parents
¨      Divorcees exhibit lower levels of psychological well being than married people
¨      Divorcees exhibit more health problems, greater risk of mortality than married people
¨      Divorcees exhibit more social isolation, less satisfying sex lives than married people
¨      Divorcees exhibit greater levels of depression and alcohol use than married people
¨      Households headed by single mothers (2000) have increased 25% since 1990, to more than 7.5 million
¨      Households headed by single fathers (2000) have increased 62% since 1990, to more than 2 million
¨      The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse surveyed hundreds of children between the ages of 12-17 and found
       that only 25% reported living in a home where parents established and enforced rules. That leaves 3 out of 4 children living in
       a home with no rules, no guidelines, no deadlines, and no curfews. Out of that comes every statistic related to dysfunction
       from prolonged therapy to substance abuse to adult criminal activity.
¨      One popular magazine asked its readers, “Which would you rather have: five extra hours a week at home, or ten thousand
       dollars a year?” 83% took the money.