It will be urged that to decide such a question is beyond the power of any human judgment; but I submit that in fact such decisions are being given every day.  A judge who grants a judicial separation is deciding that a marriage has ceased to be real or valid, and he divorces the couple a mensa et thoro, though leaving them without the power to marry again.  He actually “puts them asunder” more rigidly than a divorced couple.  Since this is possible, it cannot be impossible for him to decide that the marriage must be wholly dissolved, with freedom of re-marriage to other partners; though such a decision, being even more grave, should not be reached without certain safeguards.

These safeguards should include that teaching about marriage on which I have insisted throughout the whole of this book.  Young people should know what sex is and involves:  what marriage is:  how necessary to the welfare of the race, their children and themselves are fidelity and love.  They should know that unless they believe that their love is indeed for life they ought not to marry.  They should understand that to fail here is to fail most tragically.

If, nevertheless, a man and woman believe that their marriage is a complete and hopeless failure, their claim to be released from it should not be granted in haste.  A period of years should in any case elapse before divorce can be obtained, and every effort should be used to reconcile the two, to remove any removable cause of difficulty, to convince them of the possibility of making good, by loyalty, unselfishness and a deep sense of responsibility, even an incomplete and desecrated bond.

If, however, it is clear that for no worthy consideration can they be induced to take up again the duties and responsibilities of marriage—­if they remain immovably and rationally convinced that their marriage is not a real marriage—­they should be released.  And this because it is not moral but immoral, not Christian, but unChristian, to pretend that a marriage is real and sacred when it is not.

If there is one quality more striking than another in the teaching of Christ, it is His emphasis on reality.  It is in this that the height and depth of His morality stand revealed.  We do no service—­we do a profound dis-service—­to morals when we admit that a marriage is so utterly devoid of reality that the best thing we can do for a “married couple” is to separate them from each other altogether—­set them apart—­free them from each other’s “rights”—­break up their home—­and yet maintain the legal lie that they are still a married couple.

It will be asked how the interests of the children can be safeguarded.  The interests of children are best safeguarded by the education and enlightenment of parents.  They cannot be wholly saved if, after all, their parents have ceased to love or respect one another, for nothing the law can do will make up to them for that which is every child’s right—­a home ruled by love and full of happiness.  The best that can then be done is to rescue them from the misery of a home full of unhappiness and hatred, and to assign them to the parent who, in the judgment of the court, is best fitted to care for them.