Ruth Institute Blog

Learning from the demographics. (From nationalreview.com.)

Last week, when reviewing some of the family talk on the campaign trail, I mentioned a new study co-authored by Brad Wilcox called The Sustainable Demographic Dividend. As many National Review Online readers know, W. Bradford Wilcox is director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. He is also the president of Demographic Intelligence, the premier provider of U.S. fertility forecasts and fertility analytics for companies in the financial-services, food, household-products, insurance, juvenile-products, medical, and retail sectors. He talks to National Review Online about what exactly fertility and marriage have to do with the economy. –KJL Read more…

What is marriage? Are a man and a woman really essential to marriage? What about the child … and the role of mothers and fathers? Is it discriminatory to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman? What impact does the redefinition of marriage have on religious liberty? Read more…

From the National Center for Policy Analysis:

Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is most often discussed in terms of its effects on health insurance and medical care costs, the ACA will have numerous effects in various facets of American society.  Specifically, its financial and taxing system will create incentives that perhaps the authors of the bill did not foresee, including that the average American worker will be discouraged from marrying and working in a wide range of circumstances, says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute. [emphasis added] Read more…

by Alan F. H. Wisdom

In ancient times, there was an option for a man who desired a regular sex partner but did not wish to marry her. He could take a low-status woman as a concubine. He could enjoy her company as long as it pleased him, and he could dismiss her at any time. The man made no promises and signed no contract; consequently, the concubine had few legal protections. Any children that she bore would have an inferior legal status. Read more…

by Charles Capps, Stanford alumnus and co-founder of the Anscombe Society at Stanford University

November 9, 2011

Last weekend, a group of students and young professionals converged on Provo, Utah, for the second annual Strengthening the Family conference, put on by Students for the Family.  The conference planners selected a timely theme—“Engaging Issues with Courage and Civility.”  Anyone who reads the news knows that, when it comes to current debates about marriage and the family, civility is in short supply.  This makes courage in speaking the truth about these issues difficult but crucial. [Editor's note: The Ruth Institute was one of the sponsors for this conference.] Read more…

Avoid making comparisons, even if you think they are accurate. Statements like, “I would never do a thing like that to you,” will not win you any points. Your spouse won’t believe you. Besides, you are not likely to be making sound judgements when your adrenalin is flowing. Read more…

W. Bradford Wilcox, who consults on U.S. demographics, is the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.

The long-term fortunes of the modern economy depend in part on the strength and sustainability of the family, both in relation to fertility trends and to marriage trends. This basic, but often overlooked, principle is now at work in the current global economic crisis. Read more…

I’m on my way to Provo UT for the Students for the Family Symposium. I will
be leaving San Diego later today, with the top of my convertible down. I
wonder how far north I can go on the I-15 before I have to put the top up! I
can’t wait for this conference!

by Bill May

Repeal of DOMA Hearing Set for Nov. 3 Threatens Marriage Nationally
Call or Write U.S. Senate Committee Members

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has called a hearing for November 3 on California Senator Diane Feinstein’s bill to repeal the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act. It is important to understand the consequences of this bill and its impact on marriage across the country. Read more…

by Jim Tonkowich, Oxford House Research

ene Simmons, lead singer of the rock group KISS, recently married former Playboy model Shannon Tweed. It was billed as “the rock-and-roll wedding of the year” and the climax of the couple’s reality television show, “Gene Simmons Family Jewels.” (Wedding merchandise is available here.) Simmons and Tweed tied the knot and went off on their honeymoon after cohabitating for 28 years and raising two children, Nick (age 22) and Sophie (age 19). Read more…

by Maggie Gallagher

October 20, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/10/4164

The decline of manhood and norms around sex, marriage, and family produces for young women what may in fact have to be endured. But it shouldn’t be celebrated.

In the cover story of the November Atlantic magazine, Kate Bolick declares her liberation from marriage: “It’s time to embrace new ideas about romance and family–and to acknowledge the end of ‘traditional’ marriage as society’s highest ideal.” Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

Divorce, a major contributor to unhappiness and social disorder, is happening much more than it ought to — much more than even the spouses involved even want — according to a new report from the Institute for American Values.

Some 40 per cent of US couples already well into the divorce process say that one or both of them are interested in the possibility of reconciliation. Read more…

by Laurie deRose

Gobal data shows majority support for the traditional family, despite some erosion.

In the last section of the Sustainable Demographic Development report Laurie deRose surveys global statistical evidence on international family strcuture, children’s trends, family culture, and family economic wellbeing. Here MercatorNet reproduces his findings on family culture, which are generally positive. The third and last in this series. Read more…

Advice to incoming freshmen — from someone with experience. Oct. 23 issue feature.

by ASHLEY CROUCH

By Taylor Pettit

A group of individuals have come together on campus with the intent of reminding Eastern of what they said is a forgotten value: marriage between a man and a woman.

The group, Love and Truth, was approved by Student Life two weeks ago and immediately began advertising and recruiting around campus several planned events this year. Read more…

WASHINGTON, September 1, 2011– R&B Pop Superstar Beyonce Knowles’ recently announced pregnancy has ignited lots of interest but also social debate about controversial issues like the high rate of out-of-wedlock births in urban cities. Read more…

Consultants brought to Topeka by Gov. Sam Brownback to help outline a new pro-marriage initiative considered development of a “family preparatory” curriculum for high school students and elimination of financial penalties suffered by couples who marry while on public assistance. Read more…

from Rome Reports

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

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…