As a Christian (what I learned as a child), one is to marry and procreate -- in that order.
<ol>
	<li>This means finding someone to live with for the rest of that person's life through whatever protocol (dating, arrangement, etc).</li>
	<li>Within the sanction of marriage, one is supposed to have children.</li>
</ol>
Now it seems that Christians don't want to follow the rules. Statistics show that <em>"unmarried Americans will soon outnumber those who are married"</em> meaning that many men and women prefer to live in sin.

I've always found it interesting when secular group (the <a title="British Broadcasting Corporation" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/" target="_blank">British Broadcasting Corporation</a> in this case) writes an article related to religion in some level or other. In this article the <a title="British Broadcasting Corporation" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/" target="_blank">BBC</a> used <a title="Barely Half of U.S. Adults Are Married -- A Record Low" href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/14/barely-half-of-u-s-adults-are-married-a-record-low/?src=prc-headline" target="_blank">Pew Research Center</a> (<em>a Christian organization</em>, no less) as its source for statistics.
<blockquote><strong>Why is the US marriage rate falling sharply?
</strong><a title="Why is the US marriage rate falling sharply?" href="http://wow.ebb.co.up/news/magazine-16274740" target="_blank">http://wow.ebb.co.up/news/magazine-16274740</a>

Chicago Tribune syndicated advice columnist Amy Dickinson believes the increase in no-fault divorces and tougher child support laws are two reasons behind the falling popularity of married life in America.

"It is no longer necessary to be married to someone in order to pursue financial support and I believe this has had a huge impact on couples who have children together and, let's say, 20 years ago would get married in order to establish legitimacy and then, hence, get financial support."</blockquote>
In some cases, the idea of not getting married makes sense. For example, my friend Ian just moved in with his girlfriend. He goes to church every Sunday and is very active in church, but she goes to a Jewish community center. Religion might cause friction, but then again living in NYC might be much more difficult than <em>living in sin</em>.

Many more argue that getting married in a gamble -- an expectation of failure and divorce. The best example that I can think of is the relationship between <a title="Gene Simmons" href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Simmons" target="_blank">Gene Simmons</a> (bassist of <a title="Kiss (Band)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_%28band%29" target="_blank">KISS</a>) and <a title="Shannon Tweed" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Tweed" target="_blank">Shannon Tweed</a> (former Playboy model) who lived together <em>happily unmarried</em> for almost twenty-eight years. Now they're a happily married couple.