For most of human history people married who their parents told them to. Calling what we do now traditional marriage is silly because it's been changing fairly rapidly over time. Look at marriage in nortic countries and you will see a large separation between having kids and getting married yet they are doing better than most of Europe and the US on most measurements of heath, happiness and economic growth.
Looking back it's hard to extrapolate the value of "traditional family values" because we have a lower crime rate, better educated population, and a better economy now than we did back with they where more common.
> because it's been changing fairly rapidly over time
No, it's been changing fairly rapidly for less than 100 years, and usually with serious unforeseen consequences.
> Look at marriage in nortic countries
I'm tired of hearing about nordic countries. First, they aren't nearly as great as the pom-pom crowd thinks. If you do an apples to apples comparison of middle class whites in northern US states to nordic countries, they're really not so fantastic. And there is plenty of hand-wringing about social degradation in Sweden. They're, what, one generation in to their shift away from more conservative arrangements? Give it time and you'll see problems.
No, it's been changing fairly rapidly for less than 100 years, and usually with serious unforeseen consequences.
Woman's rights have been on the rise for much longer than 100 years. (I hear they can vote, own property, and even work in the theater.)
I used to be a crime to have sex outside of marriage but that's been on the decline for a long time.
There used to be limits on who could marrie based on class and or race lines. (Duke's don't get hitched with just anyone you know.)
Dowery's used to be common but now it's mostly just the wives family paying for more of the wedding. (This trend has been going on for a while.)
Divorce was introduced by one of the Henry's (he killed most of his other wives but their was one he liked.)
I could go on but most of these trends are a lot older than 100 years. One of the few things that does not really seem to change is infidelity. Genetic tests have shown that married women tend to have about ~20% of their kids from someone other than their husband. This does not seem to have changed much over time.
PS: Nordic marriage traditions go all the way back to the vikings, but they don't look much like "Christian" family values.
Looking back it's hard to extrapolate the value of "traditional family values" because we have a lower crime rate, better educated population, and a better economy now than we did back with they where more common.