Theologian Albert Mohler says a new report warning of a widespread “epidemic of loneliness” should lead society to renew its commitment to the Biblical doctrines of marriage, family and church.
United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s report labelled loneliness an “under-appreciated public health crisis” that has “harmed individual and societal health.”
“Given the significant health consequences of loneliness and isolation, we must prioritise building social connection in the same way we have prioritised other critical public health issues such as tobacco, obesity, and substance abuse disorders,” the report said.
Dr. Mohler who’s president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said the report’s findings underscored the need to follow God’s Word.
“This is exactly what is inevitable when God’s plan is subverted,” he said on his popular podcast The Briefing.
“We have dismantled the family. It’s not just divorce, it is not just the mobility of so many in society. You have on record [in this report] that an increasing number of Americans actually live in single person households. We’re told that that percentage has doubled over the course of the last 60 years.”
The Surgeon General found that religious groups are far less popular than they were decades ago.
“In 2020, only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque — down from 70% in 1999,” he said, adding that religious groups “can be a source for regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, create a sense of belonging around shared values and beliefs, and are associated with reduced risk-taking behaviours.”
Individuals with poor or insufficient social connection have a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia, according to the report.
It is the responsibility of Christians, Dr. Mohler asserted, to “rebuild in the ruins of what society and sin have torn apart.”
“That starts out with marriage, the union of a man and a woman, and then the children that are added to that union, and then the extended family and what sociologists call kinship structures.”
“The principle of subsidiarity joined with the Christian Biblical understanding of creation order means that if you disrupt marriage, you disrupt family, you disrupt extended family, you’re going to weaken the things that make human beings stronger. You’re going to make loneliness more likely, not less likely.”
Dr. Mohler added, “This should renew our commitment to marriage as the union of a man and a woman before God. It means that for Christians, this should increase our commitment to the family, to rejoicing when couples have children and those children become not only a part of the family, but a part of the community.”
“The bottom line is we have to invest in socialisation, because as human beings, we’ve got to invest in those relationships.”
“There’s a reason why the absence of the family and the breakdown of marriage and the easiness of getting divorced and the ease with which people can now abandon their families, this is not a good thing and predictably it’s going to have a devastating result and impact on human health.”
