In addition to her Mercatornet.com article (here it is on the RuthBlog), Dr J spoke about Tyler Clementi’s suicide in her most recent Issues, Etc. interview.
Some of you may be familiar with our Reel Love Challenge contest for college students. We’ve got some podcasts up for you to check out here. The contest continues until February 14, 2011.
All of the lectures we recorded at this year’s “It Takes a Family” summer student conference are now up for your listening pleasure.
Dr J: Marriage & Freedom in Society
Dr J: Love, Life, & the Divine Plan
Dr J: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village
Dr. Miriam Grossman: Culture, Sex, & the College Student
Dr. Robert Gagnon: Jesus & Sex
Dr. Robert Gagnon: Pauline Teaching
Adam Weinberg: Spreading the Message on Campus
Still more to come on this front, but ITAF’s closing lecture is featured in this week’s newsletter, so it’s up out of order.
Dr J delivers the closing lecture (also entitled “It Takes a Family to Raise a Village”) at Ruth Institute’s summer student conference. She traces the roles of marriage in society and gives examples of how the devaluation of marriage has hurt women and children (particularly among the poor and those in Marxist states).
More from “It Takes a Family”–here’s the podcast of Adam Weinberg’s talk, entitled “Spreading the Message on Campus.” The California regional field coordinator from the Leadership Institute discussed how to recruit and inform on campus and gave an overview of some of the discrimination and other obstacles conservative students face.
Keep checking the podcast page for more lectures from “It Takes a Family.” The most recent one up is Dr. Robert Gagnon’s talk, entitled “Jesus and Sex.” He’s a professor from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and he discussed what Jesus taught about sex–including marriage, homosexuality, and divorce–and how His teachings related to the Mosaic law and the mores of the culture.
There are a few more podcasts up for your listening pleasure–one from our recent “It Takes a Family” conference, and the other two are interviews of Dr J on Issues, Etc.
Dr J gave the opening talk at ITAF 2010; entitled Marriage and Freedom in Society, it discusses what marriage does for society and some of the consequences (especially those relating to children) if we choose to dissolve or weaken it. Some of the areas she covers include divorce law, state intervention, and parenthood.
The two Issues, Etc interviews discuss the response to Judge Walker’s attitude about the Prop 8 case (Shot in the Arm…or the Foot?) and another group of Mama Grizzlies, this one opposed to Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin vs. Mama Grizzlies). Dr J’s exposition on the arrogance of both subjects is excellent.
The first two podcasts of talks given at this year’s summer student conference are up on the podcast page for your listening pleasure. There will be around 10 talks when all of them are podcasted (categorized under “ITAF 2010″). Thanks to everyone who was a part of “It Takes a Family.”
(August 11, 2010) Dr J appears on radio program Point of View, where she and host Penna Dexter discuss Judge Walker’s recent Proposition 8 ruling.
From RealClearPolitics:
But for Judge Walker there is an odor of illegitimacy about merely “moral” views expressed in legislation, especially when morality finds support in religion. Thus he declares that Proposition 8 expresses only a “private moral choice,” not a considered public morality. And thus in his tendentious “findings of fact,” he makes the astonishing claim-purporting to be a fact found at trial, not a judgment of his own-that “religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful . . . harm gays and lesbians.”
Perhaps here, in this nadir of absurdity, we have found the real fundament of the judge’s thinking. Citizens who wish to defend the institution of marriage as they and their families have known it all their lives, and for countless generations, are irrational bigots. Worse still, if they are moved to act because of the union of their faith with their moral opinions, they are crazy religious folk, bent only on harming others whom they merely “dislike” on grounds that cannot possibly be defended before a tribunal of right-thinking people. And those others, the same-sex-couple plaintiffs? They must be rescued from the “harm” to their feelings that results from their exclusion from a historic civil and moral institution that has never hitherto been thought to have been built for them.
The bludgeoning going on here in the name of “tolerance” and “equality” is amazing. Read the whole thing here.
Michael Medved has an opinion piece worth reading over at AOLnews.com on the recent Prop 8 ruling. I think the 7 points he makes are very well-stated and cogent to the discussion.
1. “Proposition 8 was a mean-spirited ban on gay marriage.”
Proposition 8 banned nothing. The ubiquitous headlines describing this voter-mandated change in the California Constitution as a “gay marriage ban” amount to an egregious example of journalistic malpractice. The entire proposition consisted of only 14 words: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” This simple statement imposes no restrictions and issues no commands regarding the behavior of private citizens; it merely demands a change in the actions of government. Proposition 8 did nothing to interfere with gay couples in registering for state-recognized civil unions, participating in church ceremonies consecrating their love, forming lifetime commitments, raising children or concluding comprehensive contractual arrangement to share all aspects of life and property. The proposition simply says that government will not get involved in any of these private or public processes by calling such relationships a marriage.2. “Proposition 8 singled out gays and lesbians for discriminatory treatment.”
The proposition never mentioned gays, lesbians or any other individuals, whatever their sexual orientation. It didn’t discriminate among individuals; it drew distinctions among relationships. Under the proposition, a gay male and a straight male would face exactly the same options in marriage; there is no relationship open to the straight citizen that’s denied to his gay neighbor. The fact that gay people want government sanction for a different sort of relationship, creating radically new forms of marriage, reflects their desire to transform institution, not a demand for equal, long-established rights.
(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).
(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.
(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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Still going on strong, NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour was in Trenton, New Jersey yesterday (July 20). During her 10-minute talk, she addressed the question “Why not privatize marriage?” This is something a lot of libertarians like in principle, but as you’ll hear, Dr J gives examples of why it won’t be sustainable. Listen here or on our podcast page.
Local news coverage of the event available here and here (13:42 or headline “gay marriage”).
Loading ...
