Editorial

LEGISLATED PREMARITAL COUNSELING IS TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE

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When most of the churches in Cape Girardeau agreed a little more than a year ago to require counseling sessions before a wedding, the move was generally applauded as a model of a community's spiritual effort to prevent divorce and the resulting social upheaval, particularly when children are involved.

But an effort currently under way in the Missouri Legislature to mandate premarital counseling, whether or not the wedding will be in a church, goes to far. This sort of government intrusion goes beyond the role of the state in licensing marriages, which is a legal matter, not a religious one.

The Marriage Savers program here has strengthened the resolve of most churches to take responsibility for the blessing they are about to bestow on a couple. Michael McManus, a national newspaper columnist who was instrumental in getting the program started in Cape Girardeau, is right when he says counseling can prevent a great deal of marital heartache.

But it doesn't take an organized program -- and certainly not a state law -- for ministers, rabbis and priests to hold couples accountable as they seek religious sanction for their marriages. As for those who perform civil ceremonies, they too could require counseling, if they wanted to, without a law.

Among the problems with government interference in the area of premarital counseling is the fact that a law would do little more than create an industry for enterprising businesses to comply with the letter of the law without really providing any worthwhile advice and guidance to those who want to tie the knot. Just look at the poor quality of most safe-driving "seminars" to which many miscreant motorists are sent by judges. These tend to be high-priced with little in return except an outdated video that doesn't make better drivers.

Missouri isn't alone in the effort to require premarital counseling by legislative fiat. Michigan, Arizona and Florida also have bills pending. Arizona's proposal even turns the whole idea into a revenue-producing scheme: While counseling wouldn't be required, marriage licenses for couples without it would be $65 higher.

Let churches maintain their roles as moral regulators of the state of matrimony. Couples who want a license and a two-minute ceremony performed by a judge would be just as likely to drive out of state as to submit to the folly of state-required premarital instruction.