God has compassion on all people, and at the same time he focuses on specific people at times. “Widows and orphans” are one such category. They are mentioned 26 times in the Bible as a group worthy of God’s aid. Actually, in the King James Version the term for “orphan” is “fatherless” and for anecdotal reasons, this might be one time where the more inclusive translation may not be as helpful.
Take America, for instance. What is the most vulnerable people group in terms of poverty? Children raised with no married father in the home. According to the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, developed jointly by Princeton University’s Center for Research on Child Well-Being and Columbia University’s Social Indicators Survey Center, if women and men are married or marry when they have a child, the rate of poverty drops 70%. It is not as if the guys are just fly-by-night lovers either. 75% of the mothers are in stable romantic relationships with the father-to-be at the time of birth, and are quite marriageable.
The latest Health and Human Services Department study shows non-marital childbearing in America is at 35% of all births. To break it down even more is:
Asian 15%
Anglo (white) 35%
Latino 45%
African-American 70%
Think on all of this and I will make some observations tomorrow.
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