Want passion? Think tradition

Passion has many meanings. If we interpret it as romantic love, the love between a man and a woman, then it must be put right because too many people have been trying to put it wrong. Here are a few basics. No sex before marriage, fidelity to your partner after marriage, no divorce, and a commitment to raising a family.

What is extraordinary is the reception that last sentence will most likely have. Many people will exclaim incredulously, even angrily: “I don’t believe he could have written such a thing, I mean, is this guy for real? Why doesn’t he change with the times?”

First of all, take the sex before marriage myth. A line as tired as a sleepwalker on a treadmill. We’ve all heard it. Unless you experiment with one another and find out if you’re sexually compatible, the marriage will never work. You might not click.

Nonsense. Pre-marital sex became particularly common in the last 40 years. Which, strangely enough, is precisely when divorce became so common. Far from guaranteeing that we were happy together, sex before marriage made it far more likely that marriages would fail.

In fact, all promiscuity achieves is a need for more promiscuity. Which is pretty much common sense. The really important factors in keeping a marriage together involve time spent outside of the bed.

Actually, sexual incompatibility is incredibly rare. When physical attraction and love are combined, the result is sexual pleasure. Add to this the dignity of saving yourself for the person you love and joy is certain. All the arguments about the desperate need to behave like rabbits in rebellion are based not on logic but on lust. “I don’t want to wait, why should I?” is a statement that sums up 'The Me Generation'.

Which brings us to the rates of sexually transmitted diseases and so-called unwanted pregnancies. They have risen every year since the universal availability of contraceptives and the advent of that great feminist pharmaceutical, The Pill. It would all be okay now, we were told, the sexual revolution will save our souls. Not quite. As some pointed out at the time, rather than save our souls it would sink our ship.

In most countries where contraceptives are introduced, the rate of sexual diseases and abortions multiply. Replace love with latex and we encourage irresponsibility.

Then we have divorce. Without a doubt, past marriages sometimes held together when they should have broken up. But these were relatively few. Ignore the social revisionists – divorce is never positive.

We hear the argument that divorce is sometimes the best thing that can happen to children because Mum and Dad fight so much. No. The best thing that could have happened would have been for Mum and Dad to stop fighting! Divorce hurts kids and even sociological liberals now admit that single-parent families are never ideal.

We’re not animals. We’re not beyond self-control. There is glory in commitment, love involves sacrifice. And I’m tired of the sordid types thinking they’re the clever ones. Because they’re not. There’s passion for you.

Join friends of Michael Coren at Facebook. His website is www.michaelcoren.com.