Anti-divorce movement drowns debate in sea of statistics and religion

A slew of ‘statistics’ clouded out the real reason for the anti-divorce movement’s opposition to the remarriage of separated couples, in a debate held this evening on Church radio RTK in which former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami drew upon his faith to argue that divorce was contrary to “the truth”.

Fenech Adami was answering calls from listeners when he said he needed “no form of social impact assessment to see that divorce was wrong.”

“I am a Catholic and it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who told us divorce breaks down society,” he said in a passionate moment during the radio debate.

“We’re living in complete relativism where everyone wants to show us how clever they are, and they are ignoring the truth. The reason we in Malta have not yet introduced divorce is because we’re still a Christian society.

“I’m not trying to be ‘religious’, I’m saying that what Jesus Christ is saying is the truth, but today the truth doesn’t seem to even matter. Everyone wants to reach their own conclusions by searching for the truth themselves.”

LISTEN to the programme on RTK

Deborah Schembri, the chairperson of the pro-divorce movement IVA, was quick to point out the contradiction in Fenech Adami’s argument, calling for the respect of individuals whose life choices were not “solely a matter of faith.” "You say you don't want to bring religion into it, by you are clearly putting forward a religious argument."

Throughout the debate, Fenech Adami argued that marriage was a lifelong bond that could not be allowed to be dissolved by a divorce contract. “The common good depends on the strength of the family, and logically should be in favour of permanent marriage. Undoubtedly, divorce would have a strong social effect on the family.”

Schembri explained that the divorce legislation being proposed in a private members’ bill was to have marriages that have irretrievably broken down to be recognised “as a state of fact.”

“Separations already exist in our society, and they take place when marriages break down. What doesn’t happen is a termination of that marriage, and divorce is a recognition of this state of fact. The State is forcing people who are separated to cohabit – I think people prefer to be married than cohabiting while separated.”

Andre Camilleri, chairperson of the anti-divorce movement, claimed Ireland – the country upon which the divorce bill was based – had seen a 400% increase in cohabitation after the introduction of divorce. “So how will Malta see less cohabitation with a divorce law?”

Schembri replied that the divorce bill’s aim was not to reduce cohabitation. “Divorce is for people whose marriages break down… in this case after four years of marriage separation and after reconciliation efforts have failed.”

Fenech Adami pushed the argument that this was “just a quick-fix divorce” claiming separated couples only had to sign a contract and have the courts grant them divorce.

On his part, Camilleri appeared to rest on statistics provided by RTK presenter Cynthia Zerafa, who used data from the United States to illustrate how second marriages after divorce were more prone to breakdown.

Schembri argued that cohabitation was already allowing people to enter into multiple relationships and walking away from them without no obligations whatsoever to children or their partners.

“But why should the State be roped in to sanction this then?” Camilleri interjected. “Why shouldn’t the State explore the reason cohabitation is increasing”, he said, citing a total of 1,190 marriage separation proceedings currently ongoing in the family court. “This number is not the grave situation being portrayed by some people and the media,” Camilleri said.

In a roundabout argument, Fenech Adami claimed people who compared marriage as a better social status than cohabitation were mistaken in juxtaposing the two situations. “Perhaps marriage offers a better legal standing, but it doesn’t follow that remarriage after divorce is better then cohabitation.”

Schembri rebutted, saying that everybody always chooses marriage over cohabitation in the first place. “Marriage is everybody’s first choice… where is the permanence in a broken-down marriage whose spouses are separated?”

At this point Camilleri interjected with unspecified statistics from the United States citing people who describe their marriages as “good enough”. “It’s a mentality that shows marriages are not permanent bonds.”

Camilleri shrugged off claims by Schembri that “the plague of broken families” was increasing, by demanding “statistics” to back her argument.

Listeners calling in to the radio programme were steadfastly against divorce, arguing that statistics from countries that had divorce could not be ignored.

One listener, who remained unanswered, called into question Fenech Adami’s appellation as ‘father of European Malta’, saying that it was “not European that even the choices of the majority are imposed upon a minority”. The same listener also pointed out that Fenech Adami’s own family had had its own problems with marital breakdown.