Ruth Institute Blog

by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.

“The Liberation of Lifelong Love: Church Teaching on Marriage” is the opening of my contribution to a new book called “Women, Sex & the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching.” I realize that many of my readers are not Catholic. However, I still enthusiastically encourage you to consider purchasing this book. Many of the chapters contain valuable information from the social sciences that will be helpful to anyone from any faith tradition making the case for traditional sexual morality. Read more…

Now here’s a good idea. (Heavy sarcasm)

by Carolyn Moynihan

A high profile British homosexual activist wants the age of sexual consent lowered to 14, on the basis that currently underage sex “is mostly consenting, safe and fun”. Read more…

Interesting.

by Carolyn Moynihan

France, that bastion — if not Bastille — of egalité, has its own debate on single-sex versus co-ed schooling, to judge by a recent opinion piece in Le Monde.

The writer notes that the subject is currently much dicussed in France. He points out that number of British schools have reverted to education organised on single-sex lines, and that a recent report in a French journal (l’Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) concluded that mixed-gender classes were having no discernable effect on recognition of male-female equality. Read more…

from Leo:

Dr. J. has previously pointed out that the theology and defense of marriage is uniting (http://www.ruthblog.org/2010/07/22/christian-unity/) the Orthodox and the Catholic traditions around a subject vital to both.   The same issue has divided the Anglican (Episcopal) community.  I would like to call your attention to some stories in the news about what is happening among the Lutherans.

The welcoming of seven openly gay and transgender pastors back to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received warm attention in these articles in the New York Times and the Ms. Magazine newswire. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

From the halls of academe to the hills of Hollywood the cry of ‘family diversity’ rings out ever more confidently.

Let’s start with a little warm-up exercise. Here are three people who have made pronouncements on the family: a government advisor on families and parenting; a filmstar; an academic. See if you can correctly match them with the following quotations: Read more…

Here’s more from the author of ‘Plan C for Conscience,’ since that post garnered so much attention here and elsewhere. Here’s her take on the reactions her previous article received. Be sure not to miss the last few paragraphs. They’re key.

by Cristina Alarcon

Pharmacists dispense advice to a colleague who will not sell the morning after pill.

I recently wrote an article expressing my delight that Washington State pharmacists will no longer be forced to dispense products or provide services they find morally objectionable. My elation at the Washington victory was quickly numbed, however, when an edited version ran as a “Point of View” on the Canadian Healthcare Network website. It is one thing for the public to oppose our freedom of conscience, quite another for pharmacists to be shooting themselves in the foot. Read more…

It’s a great way to keep your head clear. But does anybody care, I wonder?

by Carolyn Moynihan

It is always gratifying when research coincides with common sense and everyday experience, as in the case of a new study showing that a relationship in which sexual intimacy is delayed is more likely to endure. Read more…

by Bill Bumpas and Jody Brown

he full results of a national study that favors abstinence education is being withheld from researchers and the public.

The taxpayer-supported survey from 2008 found that around 70 percent of parents and their teenagers believed that teens should wait until marriage to have sex. Despite release of the study’s summary and its highlight at two major public health conferences last year, the Department of Health and Human Services is withholding the full results according to Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Foundation. Read more…

More news sent to me by Leo:

Originally I dismissed the idea of recusal by Judge Walker, but this piece makes a strong legal case.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-11/opinion/22213940_1_parties-judge-walker-new-trial
It reads in part

The political philosopher John Locke noted in his Second Treatise on Civil Government that “it is unreasonable for men to be judges in their own cases (because) self-love will make men partial to themselves and their friends.” That sentiment, undoubtedly true, is actually codified in federal law. A judge is required to disqualify himself in any proceeding “in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which: (a) the judge has … personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding; [or] … (c) the judge knows that the judge … has a financial … or any other interest that could be affected substantially by the outcome of the proceeding.” Read more…

Something submitted by one of our blog friends:

Here is an interesting dialog in the electronic world of the NY Times that you might be interested in.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/18/opinion/1247468652263/bloggingheads-gay-marriage-strategy.html

Sorry that you will be subjected to a commercial to watch it.

Two gay strategists are arguing over making a pitch to religious people to alleviate their concerns.  The second strategist says, in effect, we could do that, but that would be a lie.

by Carolyn Moynihan

The contraceptive pill could make women better gossips but no better at reading maps, if research carried out in Austria is anything to go by.

The first ever study of the effect of the pill on women’s brains found that it increased areas linked with memory and conversation skills — parts of the brain already better developed in women than in men, the Daily Mail reports. However, the contraceptive appeared to have little effect on areas more dominant in men, including those associated with spatial skills such as map reading. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

After declaring a California voter initiative wrongly passed because he disagreed with the citizens’ conclusion, Judge Vaughn Walker took it upon himself to declare anyone who disagreed with him ineligible to appeal to a higher court. Case closed, he thought. He was wrong. Read more…

Gotta love the first paragraph.

by Stephen J. Heaney

Re-examining the essential characteristics of marriage.

Abraham Lincoln once asked how many legs a dog has if we call a tail a leg. The answer, he said, is four: calling a tail a leg does not make it so. We chuckle and move on.

But what if people began to argue that a tail really is a leg? They might say that what defines the leg is that it is an appendage of the dog’s body, that it contains bone and muscle covered with skin and fur—just like a tail. Tails just happen to come out of the body at a different angle than other legs. When a tail hangs down low, who can tell the difference? Read more…

Oh boy. Here we go.

by Walter R. Schumm

The evidence shows that gay marriage is equal to or better than traditional marriage, according to a Federal Court judge. But what sort of evidence?

In one sense, Judge Walker can’t be blamed for his decision since he was provided a great deal of inaccurate and incomplete information through the trial process. I hope that future amicus briefs will be able to correct those deficiencies. Read more…

by Mary Rice Hasson

What gays can teach straights about marriage, according to some people.

Of all the things that Tom and Tina Average might want for their marriage, one they have quite likely never thought of is innovation. It is the kind of word they might look for in the home improvement pages of the weekend paper or on their favourite consumer website, but not in a marriage guidance brochure. Read more…

This is a refreshing headline. Family time is important for good mental health, especially family dinners, which would be totally cramped by sports.

By SUE SHELLENBARGER

Mark Breier sees big benefits for his three sons in playing sports. But when his teenage son Travis, dreaming of a pro career, wanted to join an elite traveling basketball team in junior-high school, Mr. Breier said no. Read more…

I admit surprise at this one.

By PAMELA PAUL

THE GIST: Contrary to popular belief, relationship woes bother men more than they bother women.

THE SOURCE: “Nonmarital Romantic Relationships and Mental Health in Early Adulthood: Does the Association Differ for Women and Men?” The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, June 2010. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

As if there were only a couple…

Besides every other issue dividing politicians and the culture, which seem to abound right now, the battle for the legalization of same-sex marriage is throwing more heat than light on the larger issue of human rights.

In the past two weeks, Hawaii’s governor had to pronounce on state legislation that would have permitted gay marriage. She said no. Read more…

My basic summary of this article? “Waaaaaaa!” -Parents

by Carolyn Moynihan

I have never been a fan of Time, so the recent news that the magazine is withdrawing a lot of free content from its online version did not cost me one wink of sleep. But this week’s cover story promoting the one-child family as the new American family model annoyed me — at least, what I read of it from other sources as well as the summary Time published online.

What’s at issue here is not how many children any particular couple have, which is their own business, but the suggestion that society as a whole has outgrown the need for more than one, or at least the ability to afford a bigger family. Read more…

I think this is fair. People who want the pill can simply go to a different pharmacy. Big deal. This reminds me a little of the counseling student issue. Surely they could have worked something out there, too. But perhaps I’m naive about people’s open-mindedness going both ways.

by Cristina Alarcon

One American state has thought better of its policy to browbeat pharmacists into selling the morning after pill. Read more…