Ruth Institute Blog

By Kevin J. Jones

Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2012 / 05:52 pm (CNA).- A Democratic-leaning Catholic group’s favorable reaction to the Obama administration’s new contraception mandate is being criticized for neglecting the threat to religious freedom and wrongly claiming that contraception lowers the abortion rate.

“This is a real attack on the religious freedom of millions of Americans. People who care about the future of our country should not stand idly by,” said Eric Rassbach, national litigation director of the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Read more…

Delivered January 23, 2012 in Olympia, Washington

by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse

I am here today to address those of you who have already made up your minds to redefine marriage.  History will not be kind to you.  Previous generations of social experimenters have caused unimaginable misery for millions of people.  Particular people advocated the policies that led to today’s 50% divorce rate and 40% out of wedlock childbearing rate. None of these people has ever been held accountable. Read more…

First of all this week, there was a big (about 5,000 observations) sophisticated (University of Chicago Business School) study of bad behavior in little boys. Conclusion: little boys benefit substantially from living with both their biological parents. The second study was a little (78 observations) simplistic (unrepresentative sample, ideologically motivated researchers) of the Quality of Life of the children of lesbian couples. Conclusion: the children of lesbian couples are just as happy and well-adjusted as their peers.  Read more…

by Jennifer Roback Morse

This article was first published at familyinamerica.org on January 10, 2012.

Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men
Mara Hvistendahl
Public Affairs, 2011; 314 pages, $26.99

This brave and timely book has many strengths and one glaring, but understandable, weakness. The strength of this book is the reporting. Mara Hvistendahl, a liberal, pro-choice feminist, painstakingly documents the catastrophic consequences of the worldwide “choice” for male babies: gender imbalance leading to prostitution, sex slavery, and male frustration and aggression. The weakness of this book is the political analysis. She doesn’t understand how deeply Roe v. Wade changed American political culture, particularly within the conservative movement broadly conceived. But both these strengths and weaknesses work together to yield an honest and courageous book that should be read by anyone who considers himself (or herself) well informed. Read more…

Have you ever said this?

• “I know what I believe but I can’t explain it.”
• “It seems like we are losing. Are we on the wrong side of history?”
• “My church teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, but what do I say to people who don’t believe in God?”
• “I can tell that the marriage issue is really important, but I can’t convince my friends that this is urgent. Even my friends who agree with me!”

Then this Defending Marriage CD is just right for you! To read more and to order a copy, click here. As an added bonus, those who donate $100 or more to the Ruth Institute between now and Christmas, will receive this CD for free, as our thank you gift to you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To honor this special day, we’ve collected brief statements from college students and professionals involved in diverse ways in the marriage and life movements, and in the Ruth Institute. Here is what we are thankful for: Read more…

By Nicole Kay

Shortly after arriving Friday night, I was pleased to be able to address the entire conference of 250+ students and tell them about the Ruth Institute’s work supporting young adults. I told them about the mission of the Ruth Institute and about the Emerging Leaders program. Read more…

This article by Dr. Byron Johnson comes from the First Things website. It was published in the August 2011 edition. You have to have a subscription to get the full story, but here is some of it below.

Dr. Morse will be interviewing Dr. Byron Johnson Monday, November 7, from 7-8 pm PST on AM 1000 KCEO, or you can listen live on the Internet at www.catholicradioofsandiego.com. Read more…

Summary: This chapter discusses the importance of marriage and the parent-child relationship on a child’s development and ultimately society. The human connections a child has during the first 18 months of life can affect the development of the child’s conscience which in turn affects his ability to be social. Biological sciences confirm the importance of relationships through the development of the brain. Though modern society tries to persuade us that we should not let having children hinder us from spending our time the way we please, human nature and Christianity urge us to give our time and our love to our children. Social science documents the importance of a complete family, a married mother and father, on a child’s development. In short, children with a conscience are matrimony’s gift to society. Read more…

For a little while longer the Ruth Institute will offer the prologue and forward by Chuck Colson as a free download. You can also get individual chapters for only $1.50 each! OR, download the entire book for just $9. That’s a real deal!

Here’s a summary of what you’ll find in Chapter Two, “The Gift of Sex” Read more…

I’m writing this message from Provo, Utah, where I am spending the week contributing to an academic conference and a student symposium. Many of the Students for the Family Symposium organizers were graduates of Ruth Institute programs. This Symposium is unique in that it features a “Call for Papers” and gives students and young professionals the chance to present their work. As I was moderating one of the sessions, I thought to myself, “I have heard lots of this material before. “ Then I realized: these young people have learned from the Ruth Institute programs. This presentation is their chance to make these ideas their own, so they can feel confident expressing themselves in discussion or argument or debate. I was certainly gratified to see them growing in skill and competence. Your support makes it possible for us to continue educating these young people. Read more…

California Republican Party Votes to Maintain One Man-One Woman Marriage In Party Platform

SAN MARCOS, CA – The Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage Education Fund, commended the California GOP today in response to their vote at the September 16-18 convention to maintain a strong defense of traditional marriage: Read more…

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…

We have just confirmed that Catholic Radio of San Diego will be broadcasting live from the opening event of our ITAF conference. We are very excited about this development. Live broadcasts make the event more fun, and they make for good radio. The host that evening will be Hugh Largey. We expect that I will do a short interview, at least one of our faculty will do an interview, and probably some of our student activists. So come on down to Point Loma, or tune in to Catholic Radio of San Diego, 1000 AM KCEO.

I am pleased to announce the release of my new book Bias Incident: The World’s Most Politically Incorrect Novel.

Here’s the description from the website:

Lured by brochures promising limitless intellectual freedom, Jeff Jackson arrives at picturesque Tinsley College, eager to experience college life to the fullest. He does not know that the freedom he has been promised is in short supply at Tinsley, a college so dedicated to leftist ideals that the administration changed the name of the anthropology department to “anthrogynology” in order to make the name more “gender inclusive.”

Jeff makes the mistake of believing that the renowned Professor Bancroft Tarlton would be willing to debate the left wing politics that the professor advocates in his classes. Not realizing that there are just some questions one does not ask on a college campus, Jeff submits an essay outlining his provocative theories about happiness and human sexuality.

Professor Tarlton is not the only one furious at Jeff for his lack of devotion to left wing norms. Calling himself a “pomosexual” and believing Jeff to be not only a homophobe, but a “pomophobe” as well, Carl Fitzgerald, Jeff’s classmate, begins a feud with Jeff. The battle escalates from insults, to vandalism, to shattered love affairs and a dorm room inhabited by a fainting goat. In a college obsessed with political correctness, a clash between the writer of a “homophobic” essay and the “pomosexual” victim of a college prank can only end one way: with a showdown in a campus courtroom.

I am also pleased to mention that Dr. J was an inspiration for some parts of this book.  Dr. J was the one that called my attention to Friedrich Engels’s views on marriage, views revered by Bancroft Tarlton, the one of the villains.  Dr. J’s words also find their way into a discussion that Jeff Jackson has with a rabbi.  I find it remarkable that Dr. J’s words seemed so natural coming from the mouth of a rabbi.  I guess we have more in common than I first thought.

You can purchase Bias Incident at this link (the ebook is less than a buck).

by Jennifer Roback Morse

Part 1 of 2

Dr. Morse gave this speech April 23, 2011, at Hong Kong Baptist University, at a conference of Western and Chinese scholars, entitled “The Family and Sexual Ethics: Christian Foundations and Public Values.” China is experiencing numerous problems due to family breakdown, including the one child policy, high divorce rates, and an imbalanced sex ratio. This conference was convened because many in China, even in the Academy of Science and in government,  are interested in what Christianity has to say about marriage, family, sexuality and society.  The conference papers will be translated into Chinese and published in book form.

Read more…

By Michelle Laque Johnson

Click here to view a video of Dr. Morse speaking.

People who promote same-sex marriage say the Catholic Church’s stand that marriage is a sacrament that must be between one man and one woman is gay-bashing. Why, they ask, should it matter to you if two people of the same sex get married? Love is love, right? Read more…

by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D

First published at NationalReview.com on June 16, 2006.

Father’s Day is a day for honoring fathers. But I would like to take a step back and honor men as husbands. In our enlightened, liberated era, we have a tendency to overlook men as husbands, since the father is so often not the husband of the mother. But without some kind of connection between the man and the woman, there is quite literally, no child. I’d like to make the case that the most important thing fathers can do for their children is to love their mother. And likewise, among the many things mothers do for their children, one of the most important is that mothers love their children’s father.

As with so many things, our family learned this from our experience with disturbed children. We encountered a gifted therapist named Nancy Thomas who taught us that attachment disordered children need a strong mother figure to whom they can attach. These children don’t really believe that anyone can take care of them, that the universe is fundamentally a hostile place, and that they must take care of themselves. If the child perceives any weakness in the mother, the child cannot entrust himself to her. Read more…

We aim to support a culture of marriage, here on Catholic Radio of San Diego. The fallout from divorce creates some of the deepest wounds that people experience in their lifetimes. In this edition of “From the Front Lines of the Culture Wars,” we’re going to look at the divorce experience up close and
personal, from the man’s point of view. Join Dr. J this Monday, June 6, as she interviews Dr. Warren Farrell, author of numerous books including Father and Child Reunion. Listen to Dr. J and Dr. Warren Farrell as they discuss these crucial questions:

• Are all absent fathers really “deadbeat dads”?

• What are some of the forces making it difficult for fathers to continue being involved in their children’s lives? Read more…