The Church Of England Wants You To Be Happy And Successful

... and that's horrible.

Charles Murray described the widening class divide in America in his excellent book, Coming Apart. His biggest finding, of no surprise to people who have been around a while, is that marriage is important. In fact, it's the primary thing that separates happy, successful people from unhappy, unsuccessful people.

Now check out what that hate-filled C of E has done.

Sex is for married heterosexual couples only, says Church of England https://t.co/jDxAA96mQU

— The Guardian (@guardian) January 23, 2020

Objections to this all come from the same, basic angle: "Don't tell me what to do, you irrelevant prudes!" Supporters have replied with, "It is the will of God, you infidels!"

What if that's the wrong approach?

It's well-documented to the point of being irrefutably proven that, on average, traditional families do better in every respect. Rich people get married, poor people don't. Poor people who get married typically escape poverty. Hunter Biden aside, rich people who live wastrel lives become poor. The mechanisms are simple and the consequences all around us. The reactions above are emotional, not logical.

Let's break down the C of E's proscription a different way. I see three approaches to the question of sexual propriety.

There Should Be Hard Limits On Sexual Behaviors Sourced From The Bible

This gives you an authority from which to derive your assertions and a clear set of rules to apply. If you apply them to your life, you are more likely to live a happy and successful life. On the minus side, you will have to deal with self-denial, temptation, sin and guilt.

There Should Be Some Limits Which We Will Figure Out As We Go Along

Perhaps we make pedophilia and bestiality off-limits, but we accept pornography, sex outside of marriage and homosexuality. We'll derive our limits from semi-trustworthy social science studies which are subject to political pressure. We've been trying this one for decades now and the results are mixed, to say the least. On the plus side, we have a cool rainbow flag we can wave around. On the minus side, our jails are full of kids born outside of marriage.

There Should Be No Limits At All

With this one, it's every man, woman and otherkin for themselves. All guardrails are torn down and speed limits are a thing of the past. If your behavior leads to ruin, we'll ignore the crash scene and zip right past your burning wreck as we download videos of goaty threesomes on our way to Lucinda's Bondage Dungeon. And wrecks aplenty there will be, but don't worry, the news won't report any of them.

Life Has Trade Offs

In all seriousness, what's missing in the reactions to the C of E's latest pronouncements is the acknowledgement that there are any downsides to modern, secular, sexual morality. Much of life is making choices where the outcomes are murky and mixed. Denying that these trade offs exist by screaming "Prudes!" at the C of  E doesn't make them go away.

Chelsea Clinton is a seriously woke Social Justice chick and completely cool with you doing whatever floats your boat.

Her children were born within marriage because she's not a dummy.