Ruth Institute Blog

Recently a petition called the “Statement of Principles” has gone around the Orthodox Jewish community about the status of homosexual members of Jewish congregations.  The petition makes a number of good points.  For instance, it reaffirms the obligation to treat one’s fellow with dignity and respect.  It also reaffirms the impossibility of marriage redefinition according to Jewish Law.

Rabbi Reuven Spolter responds to that petition.  He correctly points to some of the flaws in its reasoning.

First and foremost, I agree with the vast majority of the statement. I take issue with some of the language in the section about the children of openly gay couples which states that,

…communities should display sensitivity, acceptance and full embrace of the adopted or biological children of homosexually active Jews in the synagogue and school setting. Read more…

Science has been abused for political purposes for centuries.  However, it seems that the abuse of science for political ends is lately on the rise.

This article discuses the matter:

To see if our suspicions were correct, we decided to do a bit of informal research, checking Lexis Nexis for growth in the use of what we would categorize as “authoritarian” phrasing when it comes to scientific findings. We searched Nexis for the following phrases to see how their use has changed over the last 30 years: “science says we must,” “science says we should,” “science tells us we must,” “science tells us we should,” “science commands,” “science requires,” “science dictates,” and “science compels.” Read more…

Welcome readers from the Good As You site. I just wanted to clarify for all of you the fact that I have indeed read the Iowa decision, Varnum v Brien. I believe it was wrongly decided and poorly argued. I have written about it in two separate places, which are now posted on the Ruth Institute article archive. The Institution Formerly Known as Marriage argued that the Iowa court ignored the essential public purpose of marriage, namely to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another, and replaced that essential public purpose with inessential private purposes. I made that argument in my talk in Augusta ME on the bus tour.

In How Iowa Happened, I reviewed some of the behavior of the Court that undermine their own credibility. Read more…

Dr Ken Howell has been reinstated to his adjunct positiion at the University of Illinois. I have not been posting on this story, but I think it is significant because it shows that people’s protests can be effective. The facebook group supporting Dr Ken had 2,600 members. That is not a huge number in this day and age. I dont’ know how many calls and e-mails the university received on this case. But it does show that making your reasoned voice heard can be effective.

Washington Times Columnist Cheryl Wetzstein interviewed me for this article on the new book Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. Cheryl ably summarizes the basic premise of the book:

In blue states, families tend to be well-educated, have high-paying jobs, be tolerant of diversity and be politically liberal. They marry later in life, have children in wedlock and are dedicated co-parents….

Red-state families, however, seem to be stuck in a time warp — Read more…

(July 21, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop Harry Jackson and Pastor Derek McCoy both discussed the importance of the vote in the defense of traditional marriage.

To date, 31 states have voted to define marriage as occurring between one man and one woman.  Maine overturned same-sex marriage by People’s Veto, and all the states that have enacted same-sex marriage have done so through the courts (Vermont used its legislature as well).

Bishop Harry Jackson

Pastor Derek McCoy

In the comments of this blog, people have accused me of being “cruel,” “heartless,” and “the kind of guy who would repeatedly pound a burlap bag full of cute and fuzzy puppies with a rubber mallet” on account my opinions about romantic love, especially how it relates to marriage redefinition.

Rather than bask in the warm glow of such heartfelt and fulsome praise, I’m going to set out to earn it still further by pointing out some recent scientific findings.

If my posts have a general theme it is this:  love is not what you think it is.  Happiness is not what you think it is.  Without knowing the nature of love and happiness, we cannot have a meaningful discussion about love, marriage, and marriage redefinition.  To discuss these things without this knowledge is to fail to engage the real world.  Unfortunately, the real world is a lot less enchanting than sappy love songs and the movies that populate the “Romantic Comedy” section of Netflix.

So, what’s romantic love?  Essentially, it’s an addiction.  (I guess Huey Lewis was on to something).

The team of researchers, which included Arthur Aron, Ph.D., professor of social and health psychology in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University, and former graduate students Greg Strong and Debra Mashek looked at subjects who had a recent break-up and found that the pain and anguish they were experiencing may be linked to activation of parts of the brain associated with motivation, reward and addiction cravings. The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology. Read more…

(July 20, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “Why Not Privatize Marriage?“  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop John Smith, the ninth bishop of Trenton, discussed how marriage compliments the uniqueness of men and women.  Jim White, former Supreme Director of the Knights of Columbus, encouraged civic participation and accountability of government officials.

Bishop John Smith

Jim White

(July 21, 2010) This podcast is a rebroadcast of Family New in Focus’s coverage of NOM’s bus stops in Rhode Island and Annapolis.  The original is available here; listen below or on our podcast page.

NOM Summer Marriage Tour

(July 21, 2010) Though NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour continues through August 15, Annapolis, Maryland is Dr J’s last stop.  Her final talk is entitled “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  Listen below or at our podcast page.

Annapolis, Maryland

People with wrong ideas

Participating in the same sex marriage debate has forced me to confront this question: what shall I call the people on the opposite side of this issue? I try not to call people my opponents or my enemies. When I am writing, I can put in the whole description: “those who oppose natural marriage” or “people who advocate same sex marriage,” or depending on the issue, “sex law radicals.” But these are long and awkward locutions, not easy to use in ordinary conversation.

While I was on the Summer for Marriage Bus Tour, I encountered some of these folks who came to oppose us. As I was watching the counter-rallies marching toward us in Albany, NY and especially in Providence, RI, the term that came to mind was simply: The Bad Guys. But that’s a term from a grade B Hollywood movie, unworthy of a Christian mind. Read more…

In the beginning, there was patriarchy.  And it was EEEEEEEEEVIL.  Under patriarchy, men were expected to get married.  And they were expected to have children soon after getting married.  You know why they had children?  Because patriarchy was oppressive and forced them to marry women.

There was not a lot of choice built into the system.  Men not only had to marry women, but they had to marry women of the appropriate station.

If Henry wanted to get married, he could marry Katherine or Anne or Jane.  That was it.

Now that the enlightened Baby Boomers have overthrown the dreaded Patriarchy, people have more choice in matters marital and sexual.  Henry does not have to confine his choices to Katherine, Anne or Jane.  He can now also marry Tiffany, Barbara, Aiko, Taliqua, or Fatima.  Not only that, in some states Henry can even “marry” James, Edward or Robert.  Or he can even forget about marriage altogether and play the field for the rest of his life.

It seems that Henry is spoiled for choice.  He must constantly frolic and rejoice to celebrate all that choice.  That’s how things work, right?  The more choices people have, the happier they are.  Right?  Right? Read more…

I have had the misfortune to overhear conversations between women bashing their husbands.  Few types of conversations make me feel more ill.

In my religion, conversations about the misdeeds of others is called “Lashon Horah.”  It is one of the more serious sins.  As it turns out, such conversations that women have about their husbands are not only sinful but they’re also deeply detrimental to marriage.

For instance, see this article.

At first, Layna was comforted by the fact that she wasn’t alone. It wasn’t exactly like “misery loves company,” but in her heart, the camaraderie of the complaining was nice. She sort of thought they were providing a nice service to each other. Complain to each other, spare your man the nagging. That said, she also knew none of the men were being spared any nagging. In her case at least, the more she complained to the girls, the more fire she had to take it to Josh. Read more…

Dr J updates Todd’s listeners at Issues, Etc. on the progress of NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour–especially the intolerance they experienced in Providence, Rhode Island when a well-organized group of same-sex “marriage” supporters tried to shout them down (as well as intimidating and threatening the listeners).  They also discuss a settlement in Mississippi, where a school student wants to bring a same-sex date to prom.

[In]tolerance

Chris Plante, president of NOM’s Rhode Island Chapter, and Brian Brown, president of NOM, were also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is on our blog, too.

Plante & Brown

I have been saying that the Reformation is coming to an end: the orthodox believers of all denominations have more in common with each other than with the more “progressive” members of their own traditions. The need to work together for life and natural marriage is breaking down 500 years worth of historic mistrust and hostilities.
Now, comes this report, that maybe even the 1,000 year old separation between the Eastern and Western Churches may be healing.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, praised Pope Benedict and blasted Protestant bodies that have accepted women’s ordination and caved in to the secular culture on homosexuality. Read more…

Father John Codega, priest in the diocese of Providence and advisory board member to Rhode Island’s chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, was also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally on July 18 with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is also on our blog.

Father John Codega

Scott Spear, advisory board member to Rhode Island’s chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, was also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally on July 18 with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is also on our blog.

Scott Spear

A commenter here on the blog made the ridiculous statement that Feminism is about choice.

But feminism has little, if anything to do with choice.  For instance, Feminism has been dead set against the choice to be a stay at home mother.  It has derided that particular choice ever since the author of The Feminine Mystique condemned the homes of housewives as “comfortable concentration camps.”

This article discusses the stunning success that feminism has had in stigmatizing housewives.

STOCKHOLM — When the Swedish journalist Peter Letmark tried to track down a housewife for a series on 21st-century parents in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter recently, he failed.

“Housewives,” he explained, “are a near-extinct species in Sweden. And the few who still do exist don’t really dare to go public with it.” Read more…

This is the gist of what I said in annapolis on Wednesday:

The gay lobby and their sex radical friends want you to believe that the only issue in the same sex marriage debate is equality. That is all they talk about. That is all they want you to think about. All the shouting, and the heated-up rhetoric is designed to keep you from thinking, from asking any questions, indeed, from even forming any questions in your mind.

But there are other issues. Same sex marriage undermines 4 key principles:

1. Biology is the ordinary basis for parenthood. Read more…