Ruth Institute Blog

A US judge granted political asylum to a German homeschooling family that is in danger of losing their children to the state.

Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, of Memphis, Tennessee, said: “We can’t expect every country to follow our constitution. The world might be a better place if it did. However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate.” He observed: “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution… therefore, they are eligible for asylum…” Read more…

Richard John Neuhaus, late editor of First Things, claimed authorship of this law, “When Orthodoxy becomes optional, orthodoxy eventually becomes prohibited.”  The ever-fractious Church of England gives us a glimpse at the next step after Neuhaus’ Law: When Orthodoxy becomes optional, heterodoxy becomes subsidized:

Bishops and senior clergy will debate at next month’s General Synod whether the Church should provide same-sex couples with the same financial benefits Read more…

So, basically Britain has given up on the traditional family. The Family and Parenting Institute’s new chief executive might as well resign and disband the institute then.

Carolyn Moynihan

Golly, it’s hard to keep up with the Brits and their reports on families and parenting. You would think that government and academics actually understood something about those subjects, but more often than not they add to the confusion.

The latest “major report” to pronounce on the fate of the family advises the government not to try to preserve the “traditional family” as it crumbles under the impact of marital breakdown and workplace pressures. The Family and Parenting Institute says the family as we knew it is no longer “the norm” and government efforts to rescue it are futile; members of the extended family — grandparents, uncles and aunts, even siblings and cousins — can make up for absent parents, says the FPI. Read more…

Carolyn Moynihan Mercatornet.com

British family researchers seem to be working overtime to keep up with trends that have won the UK the label, Breakdown Britain. A new report from the relationship support organisation One Plus One reviews the evidence on the effects of marital or partnership breakdown on the wellbeing of both adults and children. It finds a definite negative impact and argues that better interventions to support parents could prevent some family ruptures. Read more…

Britons who want to help ill or dying loved-ones commit suicide find it easier now. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has clarified when he will prosecute for assisted suicide. However, he insists that this move in no way supports euthanasia. Read more…

William West

Britain is bracing itself for the ageing of its population with the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that the proportion of people aged over 65 is set to rise dramatically. The release of the latest figures come at a time when Britain is already struggling to fund its benefits and health care systems moving commentators to warn that too little is being done to prepare for the ageing of the population. Read more…