Yet another of the seeds of secularization sown in the 19th century that bloomed and bore much bitter fruit in the 20th century was the war waged by the sexual revolution against appropriate God-ordained sexual relations within the sanctity of marriage. Quite simply, our culture has reduced the exalted idea of procreation — that is, co-creation with God — to the very base and simple idea of sex as recreation. The principle weapon of the sexual revolution — indeed, the symbol of that revolution from the mid-'60s — has been the pill or other means of artificial contraception.

Many observers date the beginning of the sexual revolution to the U. S. Supreme Court decision, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). This landmark Supreme Court case struck down a Connecticut law that prohibited the sale of contraceptives. Importantly it is in this case the Supreme Court, after much searching, found the "right of privacy" embedded in supposed "penumbras" and "emanations" of various constitutional provisions. It was Griswold that became the foundation for later Supreme Court decisions striking down state abortion laws (Roe v. Wade) and sodomy statutes (Lawrence v. Texas). Some blame the sexual revolution on the Supreme Court. A better reading is that the Supreme Court, as it almost always has, follows the culture not leads it.

What is absolutely clear, however, is the enormous suffering that is the consequence of this interference in the divine institution of marriage. Since the 1960s there has been staggering deterioration in all relevant social indicators, such as abortions, out-of-wedlock births, divorce, spouse abuse, birth rates, premarital and extramarital sexual activity.

In her defense of Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, Mary Eberstadt notes, "Just about everyone in possession of the evidence acknowledges that the sexual revolution has weakened family ties, and that family ties (the presence of a biologically related mother and father in the home) have turned out to be important indicators of child well-being — and more that the broken home is not just a problem for individuals but also for society."

Joseph A. Cannon is editor of the Deseret News.