The Christian Institute has called on the Northern Ireland Executive to refrain from further liberalising divorce laws.
The Department of Finance is currently running a consultation on reforming divorce law in such a way that will end fault-based grounds and reduce separation periods.
Such reforms have already taken place in England and Wales, where prior to 2022 divorces could only be granted in cases of adultery or unreasonable behaviour, or if the couple had been separated for 2 years with consent or five years with consent.
Pro-marriage campaigners were divided on the difficulty, with the Marriage Foundation supporting the change as a way of removing blame and acrimony from the system. The group pointed to ONS figures that showed little change in divorce rates following the change, albeit more of the divorces did reap the benefits of the liberalised rules.
The Coalition for Marriage disagreed, nevertheless, arguing that the normalisation of fast track, no-fault divorces was more likely to result in higher divorce rates in future years.
James Kennedy, Northern Ireland Policy Officer at The Christian Institute, warned against following the instance of England and Wales.
“The Executive must be working to strengthen marriage, not speed up its breakdown,” he said.
“Marriage is a lifelong commitment that gives the strongest foundation for youngsters, families, and communities. But making divorce quicker gives the look that wedding vows not matter.
“Our MLAs risk sending the message that marriage is disposable, on the very moment society most needs its stability.
“If the law makes it easier to walk away, more people will walk away. Instead, wherever possible we must always be encouraging couples to work through difficulties and offering support to assist marriages recuperate and grow.”
The Christian Institute pointed to evidence that stable marriage is nice not just for the couple involved, but for youngsters and society as an entire.
“When families are stable, children are safer, outcomes improve, and communities flourish. The Government must be investing in policies that promote marriage, fairly than hasten its breakdown,” Mr Kennedy continued.
“This is about greater than legal process, it’s about what sort of society we would like to be. If we would like to construct a culture that values commitment, responsibility, and long-term care, we’d like laws that uphold those ideals, not weaken them.”
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