The Briefing with Albert Mohler - Friday, February 27, 2026

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.On today’s edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses the generation that may never marry, children and Christian joy, and he answers questions about designing missiles as a Christian, if girls should participate in wrestling as a sport, and if children bear responsibility for what they believe.Part I (00:14 – 07:37)A Dark Dating Reality: Younger Generations May Never Even Marry – This is CatastrophicThe generation that may never marry by The Spectator (Aria Schrecker)Part II (07:37 – 13:44)Having Children Won’t Make You Happy? Secularists are Worried About Your Happiness, but the Christian Worldview is More Concerned About JoyThink having children will make you happier? Think again by The Telegraph (Eir Nolsøe)Part III (13:44 – 17:56)Is Designing Missiles Contrary to My Christian Faith? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter From a 19-Year-Old Listener of The BriefingPart IV (17:56 – 21:03)Should My Daughter Participate in Wrestling as a Sport? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingPart V (21:03 – 26:38)Do Children Bear Moral Responsibility For What They Believe? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter From a 16-Year-Old Listener of The BriefingSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

It's Friday, February 27, 2006. I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Well, you know, sometimes you see something, and you know, that looks important. Other times you look at it and you go, oh my, that's just massively important. The Spectator, which is a major periodical in London, ran an article, and it is directed primarily at the British people. But trust me, this is important. Here's the headline, The Generation that may never marry. So in this case, Arya Shrekker, who writes the article, is looking at recent statistics in the United Kingdom, in Britain,

and coming to understand that the young adults alive right now may be the generation least likely to marry during their lifetimes of any recordable British generation. That's how fast marriage, not just as a marriage culture, but marriage itself is disappearing. It's just disappearing, a frightening velocity. She writes, quote, if you were born in 1960, you had an 85% chance of getting married by the time you turned 40. So if you were born in 1960, and I was born a little bit before

that, but that's my generation, 85% chance of getting married by age 40. Quote, this fell by more than 10 percentage points for women born in 1970, by more than 10 percentage points again for women born in 1980 and the numbers aren't yet clear for women born in 1990, but the truth is already visible enough to be devastating. The fact is that an awful lot of young people in Great Britain right now are just never going to get married. They aren't. They're not doing the things that lead to marriage. In many cases, they're not even aiming for marriage. Now, when you look at these to say, how in the world can this happen? Well, number one, the first way it happens is because you have a society that particularly with birth control and contraception separated sex for marriage and also sex

and marriage from procreation from reproduction. And thus, you had a whole new sexual economy that came without the consequence of pregnancy. And of course, Christians understand that is a huge problem going back to a revolt against creation order. But it is coming now with tremendous devastating social effects. Just imagine a generation for which not. being married becomes typical rather than being married. Now here's the other thing, regardless of the fact that, of course, there are all kinds of things in which case you have children born outside of marriage. The reality is that failing to get married in the main

means you also fail to become a mother or a father. And so there are people looking at this and recognizing the birth rate is falling fast. And by the way, I'm talking about this, not just because it's important for Britain, because it's important for the rest of us. This is not a pattern that appears only in the United Kingdom. This isn't safely across the Atlantic. This is a problem appearing to a lesser extent so far, but it is still a pattern by trajectory in the United States as well. By the way, this article points to the fact that a lot of people want to blame a smartphone. You know, you're looking at an awful lot of people just everywhere, looking at their smartphones all the time. That means not talking to another human being.

That means also, you know, not the social connection that might one day lead to marriage and all the rest. But as this article makes clear, the trends began before anyone knew what a smartphone was. These trends are now decades in progression. You go back to the 60s and the 70s. You see this. You also have arguments made in here, which are really interesting. So listen to this. So let's just take the words as they're written.

Quote, despite the fact that the Internet contraception and women's liberation are overall good things, the combination will have devastating consequences for all of society. Most importantly, it means people will be unhappy. Marriage rates have fallen much faster than people's desire to get married. Most Brits, under age 35, still say they want to get married and married people across cultures are consistently happier, end quote. Okay, so this is really interesting. The first part here, we are told that the internet, contraception, and women's liberation are overall good things, but the combination has not been so good. You know, this is what you have to say, right? If you want to even gain an argument in many circles, you have to begin your entire statement by saying,

no, I'm not against the internet, contraception or women's liberation. No, those are good things in and of themselves. It's just the combination of these things that is the problem that tells you about the untouchables in terms of the moral revolution. And that's true on both sides of the Atlantic. You also have an acknowledgement here that married people are measurably happier than I'm married people. And they're healthier too. By the way, this is particularly true for men. Okay. I speak as a man who's so thankful for my wife and thankful for marriage.

And I will just tell you that men live longer when they're married because they have a wife to tell them to take their pills. As a generalization, that's just true. The fact is that men live longer because they have someone watching for them, watching out for them, loving them. And both men and women are happier inside marriage. Now, happiness is not everything, and we're going to talk about that at greater length. Happiness isn't everything, but in this case, it really means lifelong satisfaction. And that's opposed to something else, which is another problem, and that's loneliness. As the article states, quote, people are getting lonelier.

We live in a world in which everyone, but particularly men, have fewer friends. In the United Kingdom, Britain's small families are becoming more common. The proportion of families with just one child has been growing since the turn of the century. After their parents die, these children may have no family left at all without marriage and children. They risk being totally alone, end quote. That is a stark statement. Let's just remind ourselves as Christians. Creation order is about men and women coming together in marriage and then being fruitful and multiplying in

filling the earth with image bearers. And so here you have a situation in which, guess what, you deny, you subvert creation order. What you end up with is unhealth and unhappiness. By the way, credit to the spectator for being honest about what's at stake, quote, it is well documented that we are facing a collapse in birth rates across the developed world, and Britain is no exception. Falling birth rates have many causes, but falling marriage rates are certainly a critical part. without more people, Britain will become bankrupt. We are facing a future in which the elderly outnumber working people, end quote. Okay, so that is a problem.

I mean, again, if you don't understand the morality, well, shame on you. But at the very least, you've got to face the math. And it may be in our society, there's some people who just overtly reject the moral dimension to all of this. But you know what? You can't escape the math. The math is going to get you. fewer marriages, fewer babies, fewer babies, fewer workers, fewer people adding to the society in terms of their work lives, more people drawing from the societies, eventually the bubble

bursts. So all right, I just found that very, very interesting and ominous. I do think it's interesting that even in the secular world, there's a dawning realization that something is not working here. The pattern is turning really dark and it's going to come with consequences. I'm going to stay in Britain for a moment because there's a lot. another development in Britain that has my attention, huge worldview consequences. You have an article that appeared in the telegraph. That's a more center right, a more conservative than liberal daily newspaper there in London. It's a paper with a very long history and it takes on a lot of issues. Here's a headline, think children will make you happier. Think again. The subhead is no

surprise that financially squeezed young people are choosing not to become parents. Now this is written by a woman who is identified as an economics correspondent for the telegraph. And the article begins, quote, getting married and having children has long been considered the cornerstone of a good life or simply the done thing. It's a good English expression. Simply the done thing. Quote, yet around the world, women are choosing to have fewer children and there is no consensus on why.

And we are then told that when you look at this, there's an economic explanation on the one hand and that is because the failure, and that is because the decline in birth rates is disproportionate in socioeconomic matters. It is people with fewer resources who are also more likely to have fewer children. And this paper, just like the spectator, they're in the same country, is pointing to the financial consequences of following birth rates, following marriage rates. It's going to come as a huge economic crisis. And of course, Christians understand before that, it's a creation order crisis. It is a moral crisis. It is a worldview crisis.

It is a spiritual crisis. But then the Telegraph article gets even more interesting. Because the whole point of this article is that apparently many people think that having children will make them happier. And yet actually having children does not make them happier. That's what we're told here. That's what we're told. So let's look at this. Number one, you have to ask the question, how in the world are they defining happiness?

Well, you look pretty quickly the article, and it has to do with the fact that children require a lot. of time. They represent an enormous obligation. Someone's got to take care of them. Someone has to feed them. Someone has to bathe them. Someone has to send them to school. Yes. And you know what? Those of us who have been parents know it. Those of us who are grandparents now watching our children raise our grandchildren. It's an amazing thing to see. It is exhausting. It is total. It is just all encompassing. It takes parents. What a great idea. I love one line in this, by the way, which I can certainly see. Quote, in general, women who opt for children

also experience bigger emotional highs and lows. End the quote. So isn't that interesting? Yeah, I think it's because that's the way life works. That is the way life works. I think sheer exhaustion probably has a lot to do with some of those lows, but the highs, as I think most mothers,

would be keen to say, are very, very high indeed. The article goes on to cite the fact that this is not claiming that parents who have had children regret having children. It's just to say that they're just not as happy as they thought they probably would be. Quote, their expectations and reality might be very different. That's what we know for sure. But all right, there's another part of this which is just as interesting. And that is the statement that came from one of the major figures in this article that when you look throughout social groups, no matter the age, education level or country, quote, people with children generally experience their life as a little bit more

meaningful than those without children, end quote. That's an astounding statement. It's buried in the article. Those who have children experience their life as more meaningful than those without children. You know, isn't that a more important word than happy? And by the way, the Christian worldview, especially using the English language, expressed in the English language, means that the biblical issue is not happiness but joy. And I think meaning here is in many ways a stand-in for the biblical understanding of joy. Or joy is the replacement for meaning. You know, happiness is something that is very contextual and happiness is something that can come very quickly and leave just as quickly. Happiness is context-dependent. And I don't doubt for a moment

that there are some parents, particularly young parents with young children who, you know, quite frankly, just drag themselves into bed for whatever sleep they're going to be able to have, and they are physically exhausted. And, you know, physical exhaustion, that doesn't translate into happiness. But you know what? Physical exhaustion really can't diminish joy. And by the way, after making some of these claims, for example, the author goes back to say in the Nordic countries, quote, parents report both a greater sense of meaning and higher overall happiness than their child free peers. So look at this.

Well, I just think it's interesting the questions being asked. And it's in the context of following birth rates and following marriage rates. Isn't it interesting that some people are now coming back to say, well, you know, maybe this isn't

a source of endless happiness. Well, you know, maybe it isn't. What dimension of life is entirely filled with happiness? You know, again, Christians just have to come back and say, I would not trade happiness for joy. And even as happiness

is extremely context-dependent, moment dependent, joy is not. Joy is based in an objective truth, and that is based in the objective gift of children and the objective goodness of marriage and the objective rightness of the entire picture with the family together. Again, maybe not unbroken happiness. But then again, what in the world can deliver on that promise? Joy in a fallen world is infinitely, more precious than happiness. So to put it another way, I don't know if you think about these things today on the briefing it makes you happy, but I can tell you that talking about them in a biblical context does bring me joy. Okay, now let's turn to questions. And again, I always appreciate

questions on listeners. And just write me at mail at Albertmuller.com. We get to as many as we can. The first one is coming from a 19-year-old young man who is a very proud engineering major at Texas A&M University. And thus he has to end his email with Gigum. Okay, I get it. I receive it. I just want to tell you, I've had tremendous experiences there on the campus of Texas A&M University. It's a remarkable place. But anyway, here's a 19-year-old, and he says, I'm a freshman general engineering major, and he says, I'm a fellow slave to truth. Isn't that encouraging? Quote, my goal was to obtain a degree in aerospace race engineering and work in the national defense sector. A few people close to me have raised moral concerns about my desired field. And I have provided my best answers. He says, I wanted to

ask your opinion on the question of whether or not being a missile designer is contrary to the Christian faith. He says, I don't want my goal to be something displeasing to God. Well, wow, that is really important. Let's understand though what's going on here. So let's take this apart. So let's say that the conversation about a missile is pretty much the same conversation as about a gun, which is pretty much the same conversation as about a sword, which takes us back, oh, I don't know, all the way to the Old Testament. Now, I think the quick answer, and I'm going to get to this first, the quick answer is, I do not believe that it is necessarily in any way displeasing to God that this young man would be a missile. designer. The context here is that in the Christian worldview, it has to be that this weapon, regardless of whether it's a sword or a gun or a cannon or a missile or whatever, that it would be intended for use in order to uphold that which is right, to uphold that which is good, to uphold

the dignity of human life. And that comes back to Christian just war theory that says that war and military action, even with lethal force, is at times in a fallen world not only justified, but necessary in order to restrain evil and to protect human life and human dignity. And thus, war should be defensive rather than offensive. And, you know, I think when you look at the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBMs, or missiles in general, we have to say that's an extension of the same moral logic as will be found with a sword or a knife or a club in the in the whole testament. And so looking at that, yes, I want to say to this young man at Texas A&M University, I think it can be God honoring to be involved in this. And by the way, I would say the same thing as I have.

I've been asked the same question about those who are in the position of having to fire such weapons. I've had the great honor, the humbling experience of being invited into military conversations, very privileged military conversations where deeply committed Christians are struggling with how to about such things as drone warfare and missiles, yes, satellite, eventually other forms of warfare. And my argument has to be consistently that this has to be in a line of continuous development from the scriptures, which does show up, I think, importantly in Christian just war theory, and thus it can be righteous to be involved in making a weapon, whether it's a missile or a bullet or like I say, a sword if it is to be used for honorable defensive purposes to uphold human dignity

in human life rather than to destroy it. Now, here's the sad thing. In a fallen world, that same sword can be used by a murderer or a defender. And so there is no place in a fallen world of absolute moral neutrality and no moral consequence. But I want to tell you, as an American and as an American Christian, I sure hope that the people on the side of, right and justice and freedom and the protection of human dignity. I hope they're working on these weapons because we assuredly know the bad guys are. Okay, so next I'm going to turn to a question that I have received rather repeatedly. That tells me something just in recent weeks. It has to do with girls in wrestling. And so this is sent in by a listener who says,

my question is in regards, and this is a woman listener, by the way, my question is in regards to girls wrestling. I find it unfeminine and appears to be denying the role as male being. the protector, what do you think the biblical guide should be when daughters want to participate in wrestling as a sport? Well, I'll just put it all out there here. I think that wrestling is a very noble sport. I think it's a very male sport. I think no one looks at two boys or two men wrestling in the context of an organized sport and says, boy, that looks weird. But I think there's something that is an appropriate moral reflex when you see the same thing with two girls or two women, or even more problematic, a boy and a girl.

And so, by the way, I've heard from several Christian families. It's usually dads and moms who write in to say, look, my son has had to basically withdraw from competition where he would have to wrestle a girl. He's not going to do it. So he basically has to forfeit. And that's unfair. It shouldn't be that way. I know I'm going to get pushback from some parents who are going to say, look, these arguments have been used for various kinds of sport. You know what?

Yes. But those arguments still, I think. prevail. And so even when you hear about, say, women's football or something like that, I think just about everyone goes, well, you know, I just don't think that's going to work. And it has never worked in terms of a big commercial operation, certainly as compared to the NFL or to collegiate football. There are women sports and there are women athletes. And don't you know it at the Winter Olympic Games just concluded there were some remarkable athletic competitions and remarkable athletic performances by many women, but I still think, and by the way, there was controversy,

and I meant to deal with this on the briefing. We just didn't have the opportunity. One of the lingering controversies from the 2006 Winter Olympics was the fact that there are women who are complaining that standards are still different for men and women in various sports, and the Olympic response has been, well, it pretty much has to be that way. Okay, so let me just go ahead and speak even more specifically about wrestling. Wrestling. Wrestling. is a fascinating sport. It's one of the oldest in the entire history of the world in terms of athletic competitions. And it is very male. And it also involves the fact that certain holds and maneuvers in wrestling require a form of physical contact that just shouldn't take place in that

context between a male and a female. And frankly, are still problematic, you know, even between two females, just in terms of calling out the kind of marshal attitude and all the rest that is involved here. You know, I don't have a clear verse for this. I don't have a verse in scripture that says girls wrestling is wrong. I just want to say that I think this is where moral instinct does prevail, and I think it does reflect creation order, as is revealed in scripture. Okay, next I want to take a question from a 16-year-old young woman. Very kind question. She writes saying she has five younger siblings. Well, how wonderful is that? And she says, quote, we all trust our parents very much.

And then she says, this is a brilliant turn in this question. Quote, knowing how influential my parents are in my own life, I know it must be much more so in my young sister's lives. When children are convinced to things that are not true, such as the LGBTQ agenda, do they bear moral responsibility for what they believe? When parents, teachers, et cetera, tell them things that are evil and not true, are the children guilty? It's a brilliant question.

And I appreciate it coming from a 16-year-old. And, you know, I think that's a crucial issue, by the way. So here's a 16-year-old young woman, and she has five younger siblings. That's so sweet. But she's 16, and here's the thing. As a 16-year-old young woman, she's actually capable of thinking in a way that her younger siblings really are not, or at least the younger of them. And what do I mean by that? Well, one of the transitions of adolescence that comes is the acquisition of what is known as complex analytical reason. And so this means the ability. that a 16-year-old has, whether a boy or a girl, a 16-year-old has the capacity to think about things, which is not just thinking about the thing, but thinking about thinking about the thing.

So does that make sense? So this complex analytical reason is the ability not just to think, but to think about thinking. Okay? So six-year-olds think. But six-year-olds do not so capably think about things. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old is up in the middle of the night thinking about thinking. That's why parents, by the way, really need to lean in that transition and be the conversation partners with their children and speak into their lives and understand how they're thinking.

A 13-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 15-year-old, a 16-year-old needs a lot more detailed explanation than a 5- or a 6-year-old. And I want to say to parents, realize this. It's not wrong that you're 16-year-old or your 14-year-old. year old needs more understanding than a younger sibling. And so, yeah, adolescence gets complicated. And this question coming from this 16 year old young woman, I think it's a brilliant question. She says, when children are misled by parents are the children responsible. And you know, the question is, I think, very honest. And my answer, I want to be just as honest. And that is,

eventually children are. At some point, we are responsible for our ideas. This is a part of what it means to become an adult. It means we're assuming responsibility for our ideas. Now, this does not mean that when you have young people who as children are misled by parents and teachers, that this does not come with consequences. But it does mean that eventually, eventually we have to take responsibility for our own judgments and our own ideas. It really does affirm, though, and I appreciate so much this young woman sending in this. It affirms for Christian parents how important it is to pour truth into your children. And this young woman so sweetly says, we trust our parents very much. And that is the way it should be. And I'm quite confident in this case, very confident, as a matter of fact, that this is

evidence to the fact that these parents are indeed just surrounding their children with biblical truth. And so I'm so thankful for that. This reminds parents of what is at stake? If you mis-teach and mislead children, it's going to come with consequences. It also means that eventually, well, we all have to stand on our own two feet for our own convictions and our own principles, our own ideas, our own moral judgments. By the way, the judgment on parents has seen in the fact that we are told that the sins of fathers can come the consequences for many, many generations. That just reminds Christian parents of how much is at stake. Again, I want to thank this listener for sending the question. Before closing for today, I want to remind you of the Boyce College preview

event coming up March the 26th and 27th right here in Louisville, Kentucky. And that's an invitation for those of you who are facing the college decision, both students and parents, young people and parents, to come and visit Boyce College, March 26 through 27, you'll sit in on classes, you'll meet faculty, you'll worship along with current students. You'll see how a Boyce College education grounded in an unquestioned Christian worldview shapes who the student becomes. Your visit includes two nights of complimentary lodging and meals, and we're also going to waive the registration fee if you just use the promo code, the briefing. That's one word, all caps, just the briefing. I want to tell you that Boyce College is one of the happiest things I've ever been involved with in my life.

And one of my greatest joys is being with Boyce College students and seeing how the Lord is shaping them and using them and seeing their joy and being a part of Boyce College together. come see why so many families leave preview very confident in their college decision. Register now at voicecollege.com slash preview, and I'll hope to see you there. Thanks for listening to The Briefing. For more information, go to my website at Albertmuller.com. You can follow me on X or Twitter by going to X.com forward slash Albert Moller. For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbtsd.u.

For information on Boyce College, just go to voicecollege.com. I'll meet you again on Monday for the briefing.