Religious Resistance to Family Law Reform in the US

Abstract

This article traces the religious roots of American family law and the way that those roots still impact possibilities for and reaction to reform of law and the ways in which they shape contemporary politics in the United States. Traditional or fundamentalist religious conceptions of the family are incompatible with the three significant revolutions in social and cultural attitudes about women and gender equality that occurred in the United States during the latter part of the 20th century: the gender equality revolution; the sexual revolution; and the no-fault divorce revolution. As the changes in attitudes and behavior associated with these social movements were codified into laws governing the family, opposition and backlash have emerged. Today there are two ways in which this resistance is mobilized: the Value Voter, whose influence in politics has greatly increased, particularly in the 2004 elections, and the social and academic movement known as the Marriage Movement. The Marriage Movement is made up of religious conservatives, but also includes secular advocates for bringing back a more stable, less divorce friendly family.