IN JUNE 1986 voters in the Irish Republic voted by a margin of 3 to 2 to uphold their ban on divorce. This made the Republic the only country in Western Europe in which divorce is still illegal.

As for the nonreligious and the atheists, who presumably go by the law of the land, the issue is still not a simple one. This is because divorce legislation differs from country to country and even from area to area within the same country. One authority lists some 50 grounds on which a legal divorce may be obtained in various parts of the United States. These include “gross misbehavior and wickedness,” “no reasonable likelihood of marriage being preserved,” and “refusal by wife to move with husband to this state.” In recent times, even the last trace of the sense of right and wrong has been removed by what is commonly called no-fault divorce.

Still a Perplexing Situation

Even though many of these varied and conflicting laws and regulations on divorce are said to be based on the Bible, have they been successful in strengthening the institution of marriage or bolstering human happiness? The rising divorce rate​—one divorce for every two marriages in some countries—​provides a clear answer. Not only have these laws been unsuccessful in strengthening the marriage bond but they have also added to the misery and suffering in the lives of millions.