Ruth Institute Blog

by Simcha Fisher

by Carolyn Moynihan

Programmes in the United States that promote marriage or fatherhood have received a new round of funding from the federal government — nearly $120 million, all up. The funding was begun by President George W Bush. Read more…

by Christopher White 

Based on projections from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), world population will reach seven billion by the end of this month. According to Hania Zlotnik, director of DESA’s Population Division, “It is very important for the future of humanity that the young people of today have on average fewer children than their parents did.” Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

Most couples who marry, even today, probably intend to have one or two children at least. Marriage and the baby carriage (as family scholar Brad Wilcox likes to pair them) have always gone together. But this is not what is meant by the new catch-phrase “intentional parenthood”. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

Have you read the latest on the Greek bailout? Last I heard people who were lucky enough to have government jobs are on strike because they are about to lose them, thanks to austerity measures being forced on the country by the EU and the IMF. Read more…

An urban high school teacher in Connecticut talks about unwed motherhood, fatherlessness, and how it affects the kids in his classroom.

by Gerry Garibaldi

…Here’s my prediction: the money, the reforms, the gleaming porcelain, the hopeful rhetoric about saving our children—all of it will have a limited impact, at best, on most city schoolchildren. Urban teachers face an intractable problem, one that we cannot spend or even teach our way out of: teen pregnancy. This year, all of my favorite girls are pregnant, four in all, future unwed mothers every one. There will be no innovation in this quarter, no race to the top. Personal moral accountability is the electrified rail that no politician wants to touch… Read more…

Back in July, the California legislature passed SB 48.  It mandates that all public schools must include positive discussions of the sexual orientations of transgender, bisexual, and gay Americans when teaching their contributions to history.  This includes rewriting text books and using supplemental discussion materials. Read more…

by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. and Scott Talkington, Ph.D.
Dr. Fagan is senior fellow and director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) at Family Research Council.

The 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows that students who now worship weekly and who grew up with two married parents are most likely to have received a high school degree. Read more…

The State should support families and better enable them to survive and thrive.  California, however, is once again making it difficult-to-impossible for families to care for their own members in their own homes.  AB 889 is expected to soon be on Governor Brown‘s desk.

If you hire someone to care for your children in your home while you work, or care for an elderly parent, or care for someone who is sick or handicapped, AB 889 (Domestic Work Employees) would require you to provide rest breaks every two hours, carry Workers’ Comp insurance, issue paychecks with itemized pay stubs, etc.  It also allows for lawsuits and penalties if “employers” (aka Mom and Dad) fail to know and follow all of the labyrinthine requirements:

AB 889: “Adventures in Babysitting” Bill Is Making Its Way to the Governor’s Desk

 

How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers’ compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for…babysitters? Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated.

 

Assembly Bill 889 (authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano of San Francisco) will require these protections for all “domestic employees,” including nannies, housekeepers and caregivers. The bill has already passed the Assembly and is quickly moving through the Senate with blanket support from the Democrat members that control both houses of the Legislature – and without the support of a single Republican member. Assuming the bill will easily clear its last couple of legislative hurdles, AB 889 will soon be on its way to the Governor’s desk. Read more…

Commenters: Please, for the love of God, let’s not make this about gay parents, okay? (Where was this blog before SSM became a national issue?)

by Francis Phillips

An odd mix of common sense and gullibility from an American economist projects a positive message about large families.

Living in a society where children are often seen as a burden rather than a blessing, I was drawn to Bryan Caplan’s title. After all, the received wisdom is that selfish people have fewer rather than more children. The book’s dedication seemed to promise further proof of the author’s wisdom:  “To my parents who gave me life – and to my children who give me joy”. Read more…

At what point are people going to realize that this hedonistic anything goes mentality is destroying society?

by Zac Alstin

He’s 34 years old, has 15 children, 13 lovers and no job. What Jamie Cumming’s serial polygamy tells us about the state of the family in Britain. Read more…

…don’t forget to thank the single mothers, the welfare state, and the culture of fatherlessness that helped make these riots possible.

Here’s Theodore Dalrymple:

British youth leads the Western world in almost all aspects of social pathology, from teenage pregnancy to drug taking, from drunkenness to violent criminality. There is no form of bad behaviour that our version of the welfare state has not sought out and subsidised. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

For those who can find time to read longer articles that analyse the factors underlying continuing economic woes — in particular those of the United States — there are some excellent essays on the Family in America website. Read more…

by William Jeynes

by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse

How science is consistent with the ancient Christian teachings

Now after all this theology and philosophy, you may be astonished by my next move. I am going to show that science now substantiates many of the important claims that Christianity has been making since the beginning.  Let me begin with the most basic. The human person is meant for love. Read more…

by William Jeynes

Research shows the positive economic effect of two-biological-parent families on our society. Single parenthood and other alternative family structures not only hurt our economy, they hurt our children, those who care for them, and those for whom our children will care later in life. The first in a two-part series. Read more…

by Sal Gaglio, Jr.

In an era of expanding globalization and international governance, many Americans have espoused serious concerns about various treaties which could be ratified in the near future.  A prime example is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).    Read more…

a speech by Don Feder to the Moscow Demographic Summit, June 29, 2011

Imagine that you’re walking in the forest. There’s a layer of fresh snow on the ground. Suddenly you realize that you’re lost. You’re cold. You’re tired. You’re hungry. If that weren’t enough, there are wolves howling in the distance. This is beginning to sound like a Russian novel. Read more…

“The Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and The Future of Humankind” concluded with the adoption of a Declaration demanding that governments everywhere adopt pro-family demographic policies.  The Declaration was adopted by participants at the June 29-30 Summit held at the Russian State Social University, Russia’s largest university.

Translated from Russian, The Declaration states in part: Read more…

by Michael Cook

The legalisation of same-sex marriage in the state of New York is not altogether bad news. It could wake up voters in other states – and other countries – to the strengths of the push for “marriage equality” and to the weaknesses of the defence of traditional marriage. Read more…