=(3) The Need for Family Religion=

As family life is vital in this inquiry something must be said about religion in the home.  It is clear that, other things being equal, a home with a real religious atmosphere is a good safeguard against immorality, and a sound background for moral teaching, particularly for the development of knowledge about sex.

The practice of family religion is to be strongly endorsed.

XIII.  The Family, Religion, and Morality

=(1) The Importance of the Family=

From all that has been above written it will be seen that there is not any one cause of the sexual delinquency among children which has provoked this inquiry.  There are many predisposing and precipitating causes.  If there be any common denominator in the majority of cases studied by the Committee it is lack of appreciation by parents of their personal responsibility for the upbringing and behaviour of their children or, if they do appreciate their responsibility, they are unable to guide them correctly and to maintain control of them.  This finding is in harmony with the current of public opinion expressed in the statements that “it all comes back to the parents” or “the parents are to blame”.  That much cannot be gainsaid.

But what is the root cause of this failure or inability on the part of present-day parents?  This is an aspect of its assignment to which the Committee has paid great attention.

It should be made quite plain that the Committee does not subscribe to the view that the sexual immorality which has recently been brought to notice is entirely of the pattern which prevailed in former generations.  Nor can the Committee be content with platitudinous recommendations as to how this immorality among young persons may be kept in check within the existing processes of the law.  It is the view of the Committee that during the past few decades there have been changes in certain aspects of family life throughout the English-speaking world leading to a decline in morality as it has generally been understood.  A remedy must be found before this decline leads to the decay of the family itself as the centre and core of our national life and culture.

=(2) The Place of the Family in the Legal System=

The emphasis which the Committee places upon this section of its report calls for a statement of the place of the family in English law.

The family (meaning thereby the father, mother, and children) from time immemorial has had a definite and recognized status in our national life—­a place which it has not always occupied or enjoyed in other cultures and other systems of law.  There is in our culture an air of sanctity about the home where parents and children dwell.  The rights of a parent against any intrusion into his family affairs have been expressed in such statements as “A man’s house is his castle”.