Marriage has been in the news a lot lately, as it should be. In two decisions last week, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially tossed out the definition of marriage as it's been understood and practiced for centuries, including long before the United States existed as a nation.

In one decision the court declared unconstitutional the core of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, in which the U.S. Congress defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. As one analyst described the absurdity of the situation, the U.S. Congress now can, will and does write laws about marriage, but it can no longer define what marriage is or what it means!

In a second decision, the court concluded that citizens of California—who by popular vote had approved marriage as being between one man and one woman—had voted incorrectly and had no legal standing to object when a judge overruled the voters and declared that homosexuals could marry there after all.

By the reasoning of the Supreme Court, if marriage cannot be defined as being between one man and one woman, then it can be whatever people choose it to be—man and man, woman and woman, brother and sister, parent and child, one man and two women, two men and one woman, two men and two women, or any other combination enough people can convince others is their "right."

And make no mistake, already people are advocating for these and other combinations to be legalized as their right—and the Supreme Court ruling eliminates grounds for disallowing these kinds of relationships as marriages.

These are merely the latest in a long string of assaults on marriage, but they are likely the most far-reaching to date.

Why do we see marriage under attack as we do?

Marriage is the building block of families. Families are the building blocks of communities. Communities are the building blocks of societies. And societies are the building blocks of civilizations. Once those building blocks start to crumble, everything starts to fall apart—which is exactly what we're seeing around us today.

What's behind the assault of marriage, and why? What can you do to reverse the trend and strengthen your own marriage? You need to read the latest issue of The Good News, especially the articles "Five Keys to a Happy Marriage" and "The Ultimate Purpose of Marriage" to understand why marriage is important and why God gave us this wonderful gift!