Does it feel like you’ve woken up to yet another day fighting the cultural dumpster fire?

You’re not alone. Many faithful brothers and sisters are fighting alongside you. But it’s not enough to keep monotonously throwing water on the fire—it’s sometimes important to step back and study just how the fire’s progressing.

Only then can you know where best to attack.

Over the last year, I’ve commented on several developments that betray the decay of biblical family values in our contemporary culture. About a year ago, Bloomberg published a piece attempting to prove that husbandless, childless women earn plenty of money and can still live fulfilled lives.

In March of this year, a Wall Street Journal/University of Chicago study found that having children is “very important” to only 30% of Americans. And at the end of May, the California Senate approved a ridiculous bill proposing to expand in vitro fertilization insurance coverage to any kind of couple, thus attempting to erode the natural consequences of biologically unfruitful perversions of the family.

In short, this last year has seen repeated attacks and setbacks to the biblical values of marriage and procreation—in the media, in popular opinion, and in the law.

At times like these, it’s good to step back and examine a comprehensive study of how our culture views the values we stand for. And by the grace of God, one of America’s prominent think tanks just made this a lot easier.

Last month, Pew Research Center published an extensive report titled “Public Has Mixed Views on the Modern American Family.”

The report’s five chapters measure a wide swath of public opinion on various family-related topics, ranging from divorce to fertility rates to the impact of family on life fulfillment. (The report is very thorough but not very long, so if you are interested in getting a brief yet in-depth look at popular opinions on the family, check out the full report here.)

Let’s discuss a few of the highlights, especially as they pertain to IFI’s mission.

Several of the questions Pew asked their respondents can be grouped into three broad questions: what kinds of family are acceptable, whether the family offers a fulfilling life, and how the family will affect or be affected by the future.

Question #1: What kinds of family are acceptable?

According to Pew’s findings, 93% of Americans say that a husband and wife raising children together is completely acceptable. If we take children out of the picture, 81% of Americans still say it’s completely acceptable if the married couple chooses not to procreate.

But what about taking marriage out of the picture? In this case, 52% of respondents think it’s completely acceptable for an unmarried man and woman to raise children together. Now, what about perverting marriage outright?

Brace yourself—a full 47% of Americans think it’s completely acceptable for a “married” gay or lesbian couple to raise children together.

These results can give us some cause for rejoicing: God’s design for the family structure (husband, wife, and children) still towers decisively over the other six non-ideal or outright sinful possibilities that Pew posited to the public.

But these stats should also make us stop in our tracks: about half of Americans think it’s completely acceptable for an unmarried man and woman to shack up and raise kids, and almost the same percentage think the same of a “married” gay or lesbian couple bringing up children.

 Question #2: Does the family offer a fulfilling life?

It’s an enlightening—yet sobering—task to learn what most Americans think will fulfill them. When Pew asked their interviewees how important various priorities are for living a fulfilling life, two responses towered over the rest.

All in all, 71% responded that having a job or a career which they enjoy is “extremely/very” important, and 61% said the same about having close friends.

To be sure, those are both very important things.

But to be sure, we shouldn’t see such a stark contrast with family values. Guess how much of the public said that having children is extremely or very important for living a fulfilling life? Only 26%.

And what about being married? Even less: 23%.

In other words, more than three times as many Americans believe that working the job you love is more important to fulfillment than being married to the spouse you love. Just think about that. I don’t know if I can say much more.

 Question #3: How will the family affect or be affected in the future?

Given the answers to the following two questions, we might not expect these last answers to be very encouraging. But this question is different from the previous two—in a sense, it measures how Americans are reacting to the trends we’ve already discussed.

And it turns out that 40% of Americans are either somewhat or very pessimistic about family and the institution of marriage. Further, when considering the future of the U.S., 49% think that some kind of negative consequences would result from fewer children being raised by married parents. And 36% say the same about fewer people getting married.

On the one hand, this echoes the pessimistic outlook of the previous two topics. But on the other hand, I think it should provide us with a glimmer of hope.

Think about it—40% of Americans recognize that the American family is in trouble. Further, practically half of the country says that the declining numbers of married parents will harm the country, and about a third say the same about declining numbers of marriages.

For those of us doing our best to sound the alarm, it actually should be encouraging when large portions of America seem open to the very alarm we are sounding.

I pray that many in America today will soon begin to realize that “things really shouldn’t be this way.” They may not know precisely what is wrong, or why it is wrong, or how to fix it, but every one of us has some inkling deep down inside that “my two moms” is just not the way it’s supposed to be, and that “my mom and dad” is.

And if people do start to admit this, organizations like IFI are in prime position to be cultural first responders.

We are on the Lord’s side, and we are prepared to destroy lies and share God’s truth with a world that needs it.

Remember that God can redeem even the darkest of times.

Let’s pray not only that a greater and greater percentage of Americans would begin to be (healthily) pessimistic about the family, but that this pessimism would materialize into a wave of reform as we begin to realize that the family was always supposed to be the way God designed it.

Let’s pray that we’ll finally muster up the courage to proclaim that the emperor had no clothes all along.