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…

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…

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…

by Chuck Colson

I have some good news and bad news on the marriage front. First, the good news: According to a new study by the Institute for American Values and the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, the divorce rate for married couples with children has fallen nearly to the rate of the early 1960s, when JFK was president. Read more…

by Rich Lowry

It’s no substitute for marriage.

The great divorce revolution of the 1960s and 1970s has faded. The great cohabitation revolution has begun. Read more…

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Back in May, we did a program about untraditional couples in the United States. Since then there have been some developments. Read more…

By Linda and Richard Eyre

BYU had a news release recently that drew an interesting conclusion: Trying out a potential marriage partner like you might try out a car before buying it is NOT a good idea or a prudent decision.

The “prevailing wisdom” in the world today is that it is a bit foolish and impulsive to just marry someone you have never lived with, hoping you will be compatible. Read more…

Sad. The disease is spreading.

by Carolyn Moynihan

Australia is known as the Lucky Country but a report on child welfare published this week suggests that its luck is running out. Like Britain and the USA, it has an increasing number of fragile families where children are at risk of abuse and neglect, thanks to marriage breakdown, single parenthood and cohabiting relationships which have a high risk of breaking up. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

Well educated liberals like those who run The Washington Post’s Slate blog are highly likely to be married, according to research by the National Marriage Project that we coveredrecently, which suggests that they understand the benefits of commitment. So why don’t they want those a step or two down the social scale — who are increasingly postponing marriage — to enjoy those benefits? Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

With cohabitation replacing marriage, divorce is receding as a cause of family breakdown, but it remains a serious problem. An article in the Washington Times cites US Census Bureau survey figures indicating that there were well over a million divorces in American in 2008 (1,087,920) giving a divorce rate of 8.2 per 1000 population.

The material cost is huge. Read more…

Commenters: Don’t say the solution is to let gays marry. Enh! Wrong answer. That’s not going to solve the problem here. As that Aussie said in that other post, “We can’t even get the heteros to marry.” I say we work on that problem first.

by Carolyn Moynihan

This is the issue that should be top of the political agenda – and not only in the United States. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

You might think from the millions of words spilled on the subject lately that the worst thing to have happened to British society in the past 50 years is the News of the World phone hacking scandal. It’s not. A more serious contender is divorce, according to a senior family court judge. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan (Sorry, nerdygirl.)

During a brief visit to Croatia at the end of last week, Pope Benedict addressed a crowd of over 400,000 people at the country’s first annual family day in the capital, Zagreb.

“Do not give in to that secularized mentality which proposes living together as a preparation, or even a substitute for marriage! Show by the witness of your lives that it is possible, like Christ, to love without reserve, and do not be afraid to make a commitment to another person!” Read more…

By Pat Hagan

It’s a bit of a cliche that women settle down for love, and men for regular sex.

But scientists are claiming it’s true. A study shows that women agree to cohabit because they view it as a stepping stone to marriage.

Yet men move in hoping for more sex and to ‘test drive’ the relationship to see if it is worth sticking around. Read more…

An Arkansas law that allows only a married man and woman to adopt or foster children was up for debate recently before the state Supreme Court.

The measure, designated as Act 1, was approved by 57 percent of voters in November 2008.  It reads: “A minor may not be adopted or placed in a foster home if the individual seeking to adopt or to serve as a foster parent is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage which is valid under the constitution and laws of this state. The prohibition of this section applies equally to cohabiting opposite-sex and same-sex individuals.”

The ACLU, however, challenged the law, claiming it discriminates against homosexuals — and a judge struck it down, ruling that the measure violated constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.  At the recent oral arguments before the Arkansas Supreme Court, Byron Babione — senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) — explained the law is about protecting kids. Read more…

During her visit to Nashville for Aquinas College’s “Love & Life in  the Divine Plan” conference, Dr J spoke to the Nashville Republican Women about her work with the Ruth Institute, the views of the next generation on marriage, and the consequences of abandoning or redefining the institution of marriage.  She has some things to say about where we’ve been, where we’re going, and why we need to stand up for marriage.

We’ve podcasted her talk–listen here.

by Jack Murphree, Tennessee Register

The essential purpose and reason behind both the social and sacramental institution of marriage is threatened by cohabitation, contraception, artificial reproductive technology, divorce and same sex unions, said the speakers at the Love and Life in the Divine Plan Marriage and Family Conference held at Aquinas College Feb. 25-26.

“Contraception has made our culture believe that babies are a burden rather a blessing, that every baby that’s born is a threat to the well-being of the world and to our share of the piece of the pie,” said Dr. Janet Smith, an instructor at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, a widely-published expert on the Catholic teachings on sexuality and bioethics, and one of the conference speakers. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

Britain’s happiest couples are married, but for less than five years, and childless. That’s what the Guardian newspaper headlined from a report released last week — the first results from a 49 million pound research project called Understanding Society.

This bit from the Guardian report contains my favourite factoids, however: Read more…