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Taken
into Custody: The War Against Fatherhood, Marriage, and the Family
Jesus says: "What
therefore God hath joind together, let not man put asunder." Mt. 19:6.
Apostle Paul teaches:
"And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the
wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain
unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put
away his wife." 1. Cor. 7:11,12.
Whatever
the Bible affirmatively teaches, modern society effectively opposes.
This grievous vice causes untold suffering and enormous cost. That is
why I recommend to everyone this book, so we can put on the whole
armour of God and stand against the whiles of the devil.
The
following book review is from John Horvat II at tfp.org
There is a war that is very little noted in the
media. Like all modern wars, civil liberties and the lives of innocent
bystanders, often small children, are at stake.
However, this war is not in some faraway land. It takes place inside
America itself and is a war upon the family, especially fathers. In a
well-documented 352-page book, Taken into Custody: The War Against
Fathers, Marriage, and the Family, author Dr. Stephen Baskerville
argues that a "divorce industry" favors America's epidemic of divorce,
family breakdown, and fatherlessness. Many factors enter into this war.
One driving force is the infiltration of feminist ideas that have
become institutionalized in modern family law. This makes possible a
penal apparatus that has proven an "effective instrument for waging
gender warfare on the most personal level." Because they represent the
hated "patriarchy," fathers are often demonized and automatically
labeled as official villains by many social workers.
Equally important is the psychological climate that has been created
around the "crisis in the family." Dr. Baskerville claims the media has
created certain myths that predispose people to accept these policies
that supposedly looked after the welfare of children often caught in
the middle of divorce or abuse.
One of the greatest myths is that of the "deadbeat dad" which is not
only a myth but a hoax, the creation of government officials and
lawyers plundering parents whose children they have taken away. In
fact, no evidence indicates that large numbers of fathers are
abandoning their children. The author further documents the "hysterical
propaganda" about domestic violence is destroying families, endangering
children, and making criminals of innocent parents.
The result of feminist ideology, media myths and no-fault divorce
policies is a government-run system tearing apart families, separating
children from fit and loving parents, confiscating the wealth of
families, and turning law-abiding citizens into criminals in ways they
are powerless to avoid. The evidence is overwhelming, and the author
takes great pains to cite tragic real life cases. Family courts and
feminist-influenced bureaucracies trample basic civil liberties,
entering homes uninvited and taking away people's children at will,
then throwing the parents into jail without any form of due process or
trial.
Worst of all, parents and especially fathers accused of abuse or
domestic abuse are themselves victims that are seemingly guilty until
proven innocent. Raising a family in these modern times is hard enough
in today's hostile culture. Dr. Baskerville's devastating indictment of
the divorce industry only highlights just how difficult, if not
miraculous, it is that families survive at all in the crossfire of a
brutal yet unacknowledged war on the family.
STEPHEN BASKERVILLE,
Ph.D., is assistant professor of government at Patrick Henry College.
He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and is a Fellow at
the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society.
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