School’s out for the summer and my rising 2nd and 5th graders are working diligently on their “summer bridge” curriculum. My recent high school graduate is looking for work and trying to get his mind around paying for college. Seasons change. One school year ends and, as any child can attest, the new one comes around quick — bringing new teachers, classrooms, textbooks, and…brand new federal student aid forms?
From one year to the next, you may not expect there to be much change in a U.S. Department of Education form which collects basic information about students.
Think again. The ever-changing realities of what constitutes a “family” in the U.S. will now be reflected on forms which ask for generic data, such as “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” rather than “mother” and “father.”
As The Washington Times reports:
The U.S. Department of Education has announced that beginning with the 2014-2015 federal student aid form [the FAFSA form], the Department will — for the first time — collect income “from a dependent student’s legal parents regardless of the parents’ marital status or gender, if those parents live together.”
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, an advocate of same-sex marriage (WSJ), explained the necessity of the new forms with this statement:
“All students should be able to apply for federal student aid within a system that incorporates their unique family dynamics. These changes will allow us to more precisely calculate federal student aid eligibility based on what a student’s whole family is able to contribute and ensure taxpayer dollars are better targeted toward those students who have the most need, as well as provide an inclusive form that reflects the diversity of American families.”
Shrewd. This statement calculates to appeal to everyone — folks concerned about “taxpayer dollars” and people concerned about “diversity” and “unique family dynamics.”
In other words, Duncan argues that Federal forms should reflect the reality that families are made up of: a mom and dad, two dads, two moms, one dad, one mom, etc. — and therefore, should not simply assume a “mom and dad” worldview as the default setting for the family unit in America.
This post is not partisan, for both sides of the political aisle are muddled on marriage. Washington didn’t break marriage, nor can it fix it. Nor is this a simpleton whine against what gets printed on Federal forms. Do these new forms push a social agenda, or do they merely reflect the social landscape already before us? Or, perhaps both?
For Christians, news items like this provide us with a steady stream of descriptive data about the reality of our culture. What is the state of marriage in the U.S.? What percentage of homes are single-parent, or same-sex, or cohabitation? Knowledge of that data helps guide our prayers, evangelism, discipleship, and pastoral ministry to families.
As Presbyterian Panel survey results reveal, PCUSA household data is far different than the average American household reality. According to the Panel’s Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians 2011, 75% of PCUSA members, 80% of Ruling Elders and 83% of pastors are married and live with their spouse. Many of them (28%, 26% and 38% respectively) with children in the home. Only 2-3% of all PCUSA Presbyterians live in single-parent households.
Contrast that to the numbers reported in the 2010 US Census that “Family households maintained by a female householder with no spouse present numbered 15.3 million…and the number maintained by a male householder with no spouse present is 5.8 million.” Another 31.2 Americans live alone. That means that of the 116.7 million households in America, 18% are either single or single parent households.
Presbyterians are not living the same reality as our unchurched neighbors. On one hand that is a good thing – we do not mirror the culture into which God sends us as witnesses. However, if our evangelism, outreach and service fails to take into account how our neighbors define family then we may be ineffective in communicating the vertical love of God in Christ horizontally to those around us.
Statistics matter because people matter. These statistics represent real lives. Since Genesis 3 (the Fall), the God-designed institution of the family has been under constant attack. Even Christian families have not always held up well under the assault. I say this as a woman who is married to a man who has been married before; the step-mother of six great kids for whom we are now trying to redeem marriage. It is a daily opportunity and an exercise in great grace.
I am not surprised that the cultural realities of “how things are” have become so apparent that even Federal forms have been re-written and “mother” is replaced with “Parent 1” and “father” is replaced with “Parent 2”. Not surprised, but none the less grieved.
What is the Christian response? Should we demand the FAFSA forms go back to the printer? Of course not. But, neither should we be apathetic to such milestones. Even The Washington Times used this language — “for the first time” — in reporting the news. That is, the “first time” aspect of the story is the story. Historical cultural indicators provide reason for pause.
But, let’s respond like Christ-followers, not Christendom-upholders. Jesus remains the King who offers pardon from sin through faith in His own shed blood. Federal forms give evidence of sin-brokenness (and maybe even encourage it), but they are not ultimate in determining reality. They provide a blank space for people to describe what their life is like, but they offer no hope for their life to be anything different.
Only the Gospel of Jesus can take the “what is” of our lives and transform it into “what we were meant to be.” We are no longer orphans nor are we under the care of a generic “Parent 1.” As it says in First John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”