The Center for Marriage Policy was founded in part to promote the theory that marriage equality is a plot cooked up by feminists so they can marry their female friends and extract child support from their male lovers. But this isn’t the only dubious social theory the group promotes. In a series of Facebook posts this year, the Center has blamed various acts of violence – including the Newtown school shooting, the murder of a Massachusetts high school teacher by a student, and Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds’ son’s attempted murder-suicide – on liberal divorce laws.
In a post on Sunday about the recently-released investigative report on Adam Lanza’s Newtown shooting spree, the Center wrote, “The Lanza case emphasizes the tremendous importance of marriage”:
In a post late last month, the Center blamed the murder of the teacher in Massachusetts on no-fault divorce laws, which allow married couples to obtain a divorce without either member of the couple being accused of wrongdoing. (Such laws are on the books in all 50 states and have been credited with decreases in domestic abuse.)
Just a few days earlier, the Center was blaming Sen. Deeds’ “unnecessary” divorce for his son’s violent outburst.
Back in May, the Center for Marriage Policy provided a similar analysis of a case in which an Oregon boy was accused of plotting to blow up his school. “Look no further: the divorce revolution drives domestic violence, child violence, and uncontrollable social spending,” the group wrote. “Are you fed up with this living disaster yet?”
The group argued that the divorce theory negates the need for gun violence prevention laws. “The majority of gun violence begins with marriage-absence,” the group wrote. “Marriage policy IS the key to cutting all types of violence, reducing demand social spending, and balancing budgets.”
The Center for Marriage Policy was founded in 2011 with the blessing of Phyllis Schlafly, and its board includes Schlafly’s niece Suzanne Venker.
