The Church is the most critical sign of contradiction in the world - including and especially about these exact issues. The empirical record since the 1960s shows that the simultaneous and related breakdowns of family and community have generated massive human suffering of different kinds, particularly among the most vulnerable. That record has been part of my work now through several books, including How the West Really Lost God and Adam and Eve after the Pill, in addition to Primal Screams.

That ledger is inadvertent but profound testimony to the truth of Catholic teachings about human nature. Those teachings go all the way back to the earliest of days, when new and stricter rules served both to set Christians apart from pagans, and helped them to construct a tight and enduring community. The Church can’t afford mixed signals about those teachings, especially when so many people are suffering because attempts to throw out the rulebook have left so many post-1960s souls atomized and unprotected.