I’ll be in Houston
at the end of March. I will be speaking at Houston Baptist University. My topic will be “What happened to the culture of marriage in the West?”
The talk is open to the public. Tell your friends in the Houston area.
at the end of March. I will be speaking at Houston Baptist University. My topic will be “What happened to the culture of marriage in the West?”
The talk is open to the public. Tell your friends in the Houston area.
The winning essays from the Stand for the Family Symposium are already posted! Great job to Jamie and Betsy for getting those 18 essays up so quickly! There were three categories, with separate judging and prizes: Undergraduate essays, Graduate student essays, and Law student essays. They are all posted at the Marriage Library. Students, you can show your parents and friends your essay!
I take up that question in this podcast from Issues Etc, my weekly Lutheran Public Radio program. What kind of legal category is sexual orientation? How does it differ from race? Listen to the whole thing here.
The BYU symposium generated a bit of local publicity. Here is an article about my opening talk that kicked off the conference. The author did a reasonable job of identifying the important points of my talk.
Americans are being taught to believe they’re generic humans, that “we’re not men and woman, we’re generic parents, we’re not moms and dads,” she said. “Ladies and gentlemen, there are no generic people!” Read more…
I have been in the student presentation sessions at the BYU Stand for the Family conference. The Ruth Institute sponsored the Call for Papers. We arranged for the judging and awarding of prizes. We had over 150 papers entered in our essay contest. The first place winner for undergraduate papers was Alyssa Brown. Her paper was a critique of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She won first place from a field of over 100 entries in the undergraduate category.
Steve Francis won first place for the graduate papers with a paper on the New Natural Law and the definition of marriage. Sterling Olander won the first prize for a paper he wrote for a Law and Logic class, “Logical Fallacies Used by the Courts to Justify Same Sex Marriage Validate a Slippery Slope.” All these papers are works in progress, and may be substantially revised before they get published. We will be posting them on the Ruth Institute Marriage Library site, in the meantime.
Thanks to all students for their efforts!
Why just read when you can watch?
Check out Dr. Morse on the Ruth Institute Youtube page.
I’m excited: the Ruth Institute team is busily putting up videos on our new Ruth Institute You Tube channel! Check it out! There are clips from our same sex marriage affects everyone series, as well as from my Fox News program last week.
Check out the podcast page for new talks for your listening pleasure. Recent titles include: Toxic: The Debate over Same-Sex Marriage, Prop 8 Update, and Is Marriage Equality Possible? Feel free to comment. We welcome open debate.
Here is what I got to do while I was stuck due to the snow storm in NYC last week. I got to be a guest on the Fox New web TV program, God Talk. In this short clip, I explain the mission of the Ruth Institute.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Keep an eye out for students doing worthy pro-marriage activities and send them THIS. (Click to download basic info about marriage every college student needs to know!)
***We will be mailing out NEW information soon about the latest at the Ruth Institute and how YOU can help. Sign up now to be a Marriage Champion!
“I just got done listening to the FOX News “Strategy Room” discussion you were recently involved in with Mr. Stetson and others. I wanted to offer my encouragement and say that I am proud of the way that you presented your arguments and information. I thought that you were right on with many of the things you said, and I was very happy that you did not bring your discussion down to the level of some of the other members, one in particular. Read more…
National Marriage Week USA received media coverage that you may want to watch and read:
FOX News ‘Strategy Room’ Watch this provocative one-hour show with National Marriage Week USA Chairman Chuck Stetson, host Lauren Green, and other guest and friend Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse.
The Wall Street Journal Op-ed by David Lapp, associate at the Institute for American Values, entitled: Did I Get Married Too Young?: Marriages of people in their early to mid-20s are not nearly as risky as you think.
FOX Forum Commentary by National Marriage Week USA executive director Sheila Weber, entitled “Why You Should Care About Marriage In America.”
Widespread national radio coverage Brad Wilcox, Ph.D. director of the National Marriage Project at University of Virginia, Dr. Gary Chapman, best-selling author of “The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts,” and National Marriage Week USA executive director Sheila Weber were interviewed by major radio networks resulting in a vast listening audience on hundreds of radio stations all around the country!
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse had a very productive, though snowy, trip to New York last week. One surprise was a FOX NEWS Strategy Room interview along with Chuck Stetson, organizer of National Marriage Week. Click here to watch.
Also, you can listen to a podcast of Dr. J’s debate with Prof. Katherine Franke called “Is Marriage Equality Possible?” Click the POD icon.
My trip to NYC has been very successful, which I will tell about in a future post. However, for now, I have to tell you this: I’m stuck in the blizzard! I was supposed to leave early this morning, fly to St. Louis for an EWTN taping, and then fly home. Instead, I will be lucky to get out of NYC by Friday, and home by Saturday!
On February 2, 2010, I will be at Stanford, debating the topic, “Is Christianity Compatible with Capitalism? Altruism v. Egoism.” My debate opponent will be Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute. The debate is jointly sponsored by the Objectivists of Stanford and the Catholic Community at Stanford. The debate will begin at 7:30, and will be held in Building 320, Room 105.
I hope to see you there!
Here’s something relating to Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse’s big article, also on this blog.
The Case Against Ted Olson [Maggie Gallagher]
In the NYT, Ed Meese strikes back hard against the idea there’s anything conservative about using the federal courts to overturn the free and fair election that produced Prop 8. Read more…
Here is a fantastically put together document on all of the far-reaching negative effects of pornography. I knew the stuff was bad, but, wow.
(This article originally appeared at FamilyResearchCouncil.org.)
by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. and Ruth Institute Academic Advisory Board Member
Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behavior. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability. Read more…
Ruth Institute newsletter subscribers got my New Year’s Resolutions, 8.5 ways you can help marriage in 2010. Hint: if you aren’t a Ruth Institute newsletter subscriber, you can subscribe here. It is totally free.
So here are 8.5 suggested resolutions for the new year of 2010.
1. I will speak up for marriage, and for sexual integrity to my family and friends. If I’m not sure what to say, I’ll find something from the Ruth Institute website or newsletter to send to them. But I will speak up.
2. I will “catch someone doing something right.” When my pastor speaks out for life or for marriage, I will thank him. When a company does the right thing, I will thank them. Read more…