Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

For the past few decades now, marriage rates have been plummeting. Those who are getting married are doing so much later in life.

The entire Western world, including the United States, is facing an unprecedented birth dearth.

And yet, many Christians and many churches, including those who believe marriage is a created gift of God and a pillar of civilization,

are doing nothing different to elevate marriage and family

and the hearts and minds of young people. This is an example of what Einstein called insanity.

Perhaps we could learn from a group of Chinese retirees who were recently covered in the Wall Street

Journal. Apparently, each weekend, in an ongoing effort to play matchmaker for their older children,

these parents meet at a park known as the marriage market with photos and achievement stats of their kids.

The goal is to help them find a spouse.

Now, the kids do not seem as concerned as their parents do.

A 33-year-old single said, quote, my parents are more anxious than I am.

But the problem is, the parents should be. According to the article in this country of over

one billion people, only six million couples registered their marriages in 2024. This is a

record low number, down 21% from just the previous year.

And it's another consequence of the one-child policy that China enforced for decades.

Now, America is likely not ready for arranged marriages.

Most people will not find marrying to save the economy a romantic enough notion.

However, our young adults still need help in the relationship department too.

First and foremost, they need help understanding what marriage is.

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