Ruth Institute Blog

by Patrick F. Fagan

Family, church, and school are the three basic people-forming institutions, and they produce the best results when they cooperate.

Even if all the market reforms of the Washington think tanks, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes Magazine were enacted, we’d still need to kiss the Great American Economy goodbye. Below the level of economic policy lies a society that is producing fewer people capable of hard work, especially married men with children. As the retreat from marriage continues apace, there are fewer and fewer of these men, resulting in a slowly, permanently decelerating economy. Read more…

by Tamara Rajakariar

Quite often when we think of divorce, the blame seems to lie with the man. He has been unfaithful, unloving, or has taken to drinking too much. But interestingly, according to recent reports, it seems that over the last five years there has been a huge increase in marriages that have broken down because of the woman drinking too much. Read more…

‘Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?’ –Uh, that’s a no.

by Shane Vander Hart

A bill has been filed in the Iowa House that would prevent no-fault divorce between parents with minor children was debated yesterday in subcommittee. The bill, House File 338, that sponsored by State Representative Ted Gassman (R-Scarville) and co-sponsored by State Representatives Greg Heartsill (R-Melcher-Dallas), Tom Shaw (R-Laurens), Dwayne Alons (R-Hull), Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig), Cecil Dolecheck (R-Mount Ayr), and Sandy Salmon (R-Denver) could be debated in the House Judiciary Committee this week. Read more…

by Carolyn Moynihan

The religious lives of young people are being damaged by family breakdown, a new report shows. How will churches respond?

Christians throughout the West are dismayed at plummeting church attendance figures. They blame video games, or left-wing teachers, or Richard Dawkins. But perhaps the real answer is closer to home — their own families. Read more…

by Patrick Fagan

February 6th, 2013 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/02/7821/

Family, church, and school are the three basic people-forming institutions, and it is no wonder that they produce the best results–including economic and political ones–when they cooperate.

Even if all the market reforms of the Washington think tanks, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes Magazine were enacted, we’d still need to kiss the Great American Economy goodbye. Below the level of economic policy lies a society that is producing fewer people capable of hard work, especially married men with children. As the retreat from marriage continues apace, there are fewer and fewer of these men, resulting in a slowly, permanently decelerating economy. Read more…

by Michael Cook

Why are so many rampage killers the sons of divorce?

Sunday marked the fourth time that President Obama has visited a shell-shocked community after a rampage killer had mowed down innocent people. In 2009 the comforter-in-chief offered words of consolation after 13 servicemen died at Fort Hood; in 2011 after six died in Tucson; in July, after 12 died in a Denver movie theatre. And now in Newtown, Connecticut after 28 died in an elementary school. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza massacred his mother, six school staff, 20 students, all of them aged only 6 and 7, and finally himself. Read more…

by Christine Proulx and Teresa Cooney

As millions of divorced baby boomers age, some are rediscovering the meaning of their marriage vows.

You may know one of them, or even be one. They are divorced people, mainly women, who have taken on the care of their estranged spouse when he or she is facing serious illness or death. It is a surprising and, to some, a baffling development, but one that is significant enough for two researchers from the University of Missouri to look into. Alerted to their study by a recent feature article in The Australian (“The ex factor” by Kath Legge, November 3, 2012) MercatorNet asked Drs. Teresa Cooney and Christine Proulx about their findings so far. Read more…