Fatherless Generation

Last night my wife and I sat down to watch the new episode of "American Idol." It was the guys opportunity to audition in Hollywood. I was taken back by the majority of young men who were visibly struggling emotionally with both their practice and performance. Most who were not chosen began sobbing uncontrollably. I know that it is okay for grown men to cry. Even I have done so many times. However, it seemed as though there were very few tough men who were somewhat emotionally stable. Could this be the results of a fatherless generation?

Facts about the Fatherless Generation:

• 43% of US children live without their father [US Department of Census]
• 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]
• 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes. [Criminal Justice & Behaviour, Vol 14, pp. 403-26, 1978]
• 71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father. [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press release, Friday, March 26, 1999]
• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]
• 85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes. [Center for Disease Control]
• 90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother. [Wray Herbert, “Dousing the Kindlers,” Psychology Today, January, 1985, p. 28]
• 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. [National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools]
• 75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. [Rainbows f for all God’s Children]
• 70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father. [US Department of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988]
• 85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. [Fulton County Georgia jail populations, Texas Department of Corrections, 1992]
• Fatherless boys and girls are: twice as likely to drop out of high school; twice as likely to end up in jail; four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems. [US D.H.H.S. news release, March 26, 1999]
• http://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/

 

I lead a Men's Conference each year for our Network. Aproximately 500-700 men show up for a weekend to worship God and connect with other men in Tri-Cities, Washington. This year the theme is "Generations...becoming an intergenerational community."  Men in the church have an incredible opportunity to help shape this generation of young men. They need to see Godly men believing and living with character. They need role models who demonstrate it is okay to be masculine in todays society. Man was made in the image of God, and young men need good role models.

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.