I read an article in a British newspaper today that argued that fewer people getting married is a GOOD thing for marriage. It means that those who do marry are doing so for the right reasons.

This is in response to the Labour Party's election of a leader who lives with, but is not married to, the mother of his child. This carries hardly any stigma today, and this situation has hardly been commented on in the media.

The argument is that people do not get married because of social pressure, or to have sex, or because the woman is pregnant, or to leave home, or for any of the bogus reasons that they did 40 years and more ago.

Today, they might have a child, but if, like the new Labour leader, they do not marry right away, then if they do it eventually, they do it for love. Thus, the institution of marriage is strengthened by fewer marriages, not weakened. (I wonder if the high divorce rate could be argued to strengthen it too.)

Anyway, what do you think of that argument?