Ruth Institute Blog

Keep checking the podcast page for more lectures from “It Takes a Family.”  The most recent one up is Dr. Robert Gagnon’s talk, entitled “Jesus and Sex.”  He’s a professor from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and he discussed what Jesus taught about sex–including marriage, homosexuality, and divorce–and how His teachings related to the Mosaic law and the mores of the culture.

Jesus and Sex @ ITAF

by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.

“The Liberation of Lifelong Love: Church Teaching on Marriage” is the opening of my contribution to a new book called “Women, Sex & the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching.” I realize that many of my readers are not Catholic. However, I still enthusiastically encourage you to consider purchasing this book. Many of the chapters contain valuable information from the social sciences that will be helpful to anyone from any faith tradition making the case for traditional sexual morality. Read more…

There are a few more podcasts up for your listening pleasure–one from our recent “It Takes a Family” conference, and the other two are interviews of Dr J on Issues, Etc.

Dr J gave the opening talk at ITAF 2010; entitled Marriage and Freedom in Society, it discusses what marriage does for society and some of the consequences (especially those relating to children) if we choose to dissolve or weaken it.  Some of the areas she covers include divorce law, state intervention, and parenthood.

The two Issues, Etc interviews discuss the response to Judge Walker’s attitude about the Prop 8 case (Shot in the Arm…or the Foot?) and another group of Mama Grizzlies, this one opposed to Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin vs. Mama Grizzlies).  Dr J’s exposition on the arrogance of both subjects is excellent.

Today, I discovered a blog called “[Expletive] Feelings.”  Considering my stoic, unsentimental and unromantic outlook, I knew that I found kindred spirits in the writers of this blog.  Sure enough, I found this post.  It’s every kind of awesome I can think of.  And more.

In it, he says just about exactly what I’ve been saying on these pages.  But he says it without as much cheeky sarcasm and obscure cultural references randomly hidden among the hyperlinks.  He also says it with the authority of a psychiatrist.

But, dude, check this post out:

I love my wife, and I have since we met in college. She’s also been very devoted to me, supporting my fledgling career as an artist and even taking a part-time job as my manager (on top of her full-time job, which supports us both). The problem is that, as much as I love her and as much as I’ve tried to ignore my feelings for other men, I’m pretty sure I’m actually gay. To admit that I’m gay would mean divorcing her, which would not only break her heart when all she’s ever done is sacrifice everything for me, but throw every aspect of my life, personally and professionally, into chaos. I don’t want to hurt her or lose her, and, well, I don’t want to go on welfare. My goal is to be true to both of us. Read more…

Considering the posts I have written on romantic love and on sentimentality, some readers of this blog may have the mistaken impression that I am unromantic.

This is not so.

Recently, I saw a movie, the movie featured the recitation of some poetry.  That got me to thinking about my wife’s upcoming birthday.  So, to honor this blessed event, I have written a poem in my wife’s honor.   I hope you enjoy. Read more…

(August 11, 2010) Dr J appears on radio program Point of View, where she and host Penna Dexter discuss Judge Walker’s recent Proposition 8 ruling.

Point of View

Book outlines stark divisions

By Cheryl Wetzstein, The Washington Times

Young parents Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston may have gotten engaged again recently, but they are still a quintessential “red” family trying to swim against the tide of family change, say two family law professors who have launched a debate about “red” and “blue” American families.

The 2004 and 2008 elections showed a divided America — and that division extends even to families, Naomi Cahn and June Carbone write in their book, “Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture.” Read more…

From RealClearPolitics:

But for Judge Walker there is an odor of illegitimacy about merely “moral” views expressed in legislation, especially when morality finds support in religion. Thus he declares that Proposition 8 expresses only a “private moral choice,” not a considered public morality. And thus in his tendentious “findings of fact,” he makes the astonishing claim-purporting to be a fact found at trial, not a judgment of his own-that “religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful . . . harm gays and lesbians.”

Perhaps here, in this nadir of absurdity, we have found the real fundament of the judge’s thinking. Citizens who wish to defend the institution of marriage as they and their families have known it all their lives, and for countless generations, are irrational bigots. Worse still, if they are moved to act because of the union of their faith with their moral opinions, they are crazy religious folk, bent only on harming others whom they merely “dislike” on grounds that cannot possibly be defended before a tribunal of right-thinking people. And those others, the same-sex-couple plaintiffs? They must be rescued from the “harm” to their feelings that results from their exclusion from a historic civil and moral institution that has never hitherto been thought to have been built for them.

The bludgeoning going on here in the name of “tolerance” and “equality” is amazing.  Read the whole thing here.

Michael Medved has an opinion piece worth reading over at AOLnews.com on the recent Prop 8 ruling.  I think the 7 points he makes are very well-stated and cogent to the discussion.

1. “Proposition 8 was a mean-spirited ban on gay marriage.”
Proposition 8 banned nothing. The ubiquitous headlines describing this voter-mandated change in the California Constitution as a “gay marriage ban” amount to an egregious example of journalistic malpractice. The entire proposition consisted of only 14 words: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” This simple statement imposes no restrictions and issues no commands regarding the behavior of private citizens; it merely demands a change in the actions of government. Proposition 8 did nothing to interfere with gay couples in registering for state-recognized civil unions, participating in church ceremonies consecrating their love, forming lifetime commitments, raising children or concluding comprehensive contractual arrangement to share all aspects of life and property. The proposition simply says that government will not get involved in any of these private or public processes by calling such relationships a marriage.

2. “Proposition 8 singled out gays and lesbians for discriminatory treatment.”
The proposition never mentioned gays, lesbians or any other individuals, whatever their sexual orientation. It didn’t discriminate among individuals; it drew distinctions among relationships. Under the proposition, a gay male and a straight male would face exactly the same options in marriage; there is no relationship open to the straight citizen that’s denied to his gay neighbor. The fact that gay people want government sanction for a different sort of relationship, creating radically new forms of marriage, reflects their desire to transform institution, not a demand for equal, long-established rights.

Read more…

You will recall that I claimed in my AOL News article that the Essential Public Purpose of Marriage is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. Some people dispute this by pointing to alternative purposes of marriage, or by discovering groups of individuals who seem not to be participating in this public purpose. I deal with some (but admittedly not all) of those cases in this podcast.
Here is the purpose of marriage as outlined in Judge Walker’s opinion. He quotes a Harvard historian, with approval, who offers this alternative understanding of the purpose of marriage:

marriage is “a couple’s choice to live with each other, to remain committed to one another, and to form a household based on their own feelings about one another, and their agreement to join in an economic partnership and support one another in terms of the material needs of life.”

I would issue this challenge to those who take issue with my characterization of the Essential Public Purpose of Marriage. How would this definition exclude college roommates? Read more…

My Acton Institute friend Anthony Bradley has this in World magazine today, on the Black Marriage Crisis. Read it and weep.

In the black community, the institution of marriage is essentially dead. While marriage in Western developed nations is declining in general, the black community and black women are being disproportionately affected. Unless marriage and family issues receive a higher priority, tackling other major problems, like declining high school graduation rates, will be like treading water in the Mississippi River 10 feet above a strong undercurrent.

ABC News recently cited a Yale University study reporting that 42 percent of African-American women have yet to be married, compared to only 23 percent of white women. By their early 40s, 31 percent of black women have never been wives compared to 9 percent of white women. An alarming 70 percent of professional black women are single. ABC also reported, citing the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, that at least 60 percent of black students who receive college degrees are women. Black women also make up 71 percent of black graduate students. According to the most recent data, only 43.3 percent of black adult men are married compared to around 60 percent for white males.

(July 21, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop Harry Jackson and Pastor Derek McCoy both discussed the importance of the vote in the defense of traditional marriage.

To date, 31 states have voted to define marriage as occurring between one man and one woman.  Maine overturned same-sex marriage by People’s Veto, and all the states that have enacted same-sex marriage have done so through the courts (Vermont used its legislature as well).

Bishop Harry Jackson

Pastor Derek McCoy

(July 20, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “Why Not Privatize Marriage?“  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop John Smith, the ninth bishop of Trenton, discussed how marriage compliments the uniqueness of men and women.  Jim White, former Supreme Director of the Knights of Columbus, encouraged civic participation and accountability of government officials.

Bishop John Smith

Jim White

(July 21, 2010) This podcast is a rebroadcast of Family New in Focus’s coverage of NOM’s bus stops in Rhode Island and Annapolis.  The original is available here; listen below or on our podcast page.

NOM Summer Marriage Tour

(July 21, 2010) Though NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour continues through August 15, Annapolis, Maryland is Dr J’s last stop.  Her final talk is entitled “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  Listen below or at our podcast page.

Annapolis, Maryland

I will be in LA this morning, representing NOM at a press conference for the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. from their press release:

The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, an organization of conservative Hispanics, will announce the details of a $1 million campaign in support of California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina at a press conference in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 27 at 11:00am Pacific Time.

NOM was asked to provide a speaker in support of this effort. When I became acquainted with their views, I was eager to help. The Partnership gives voice to the vast majority of Latinos who are pro-natural family. 56% of Latinos oppose gay marriage, compared to 42% of all non-Hispanic people. In 2008, for example, Latino voters helped provide the margin of victory for Proposition 8 in California restoring the traditional definition of marriage, supporting the initiative by 53% (compared to only 49% support among non-Latino whites).

Latinos strongly believe in the dignity of the human person. 57% believe abortion should be illegal, compared to 40% of all non-Hispanic people.

The Partnership supports Carly Fiorina because she believes in the right to life, from the moment of conception, and opposes same-sex marriage.

I am happy to stand in solidarity with my Latino sisters and brothers who share these views. See you in LA!

I have had the misfortune to overhear conversations between women bashing their husbands.  Few types of conversations make me feel more ill.

In my religion, conversations about the misdeeds of others is called “Lashon Horah.”  It is one of the more serious sins.  As it turns out, such conversations that women have about their husbands are not only sinful but they’re also deeply detrimental to marriage.

For instance, see this article.

At first, Layna was comforted by the fact that she wasn’t alone. It wasn’t exactly like “misery loves company,” but in her heart, the camaraderie of the complaining was nice. She sort of thought they were providing a nice service to each other. Complain to each other, spare your man the nagging. That said, she also knew none of the men were being spared any nagging. In her case at least, the more she complained to the girls, the more fire she had to take it to Josh. Read more…

Dr J updates Todd’s listeners at Issues, Etc. on the progress of NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour–especially the intolerance they experienced in Providence, Rhode Island when a well-organized group of same-sex “marriage” supporters tried to shout them down (as well as intimidating and threatening the listeners).  They also discuss a settlement in Mississippi, where a school student wants to bring a same-sex date to prom.

[In]tolerance

Chris Plante, president of NOM’s Rhode Island Chapter, and Brian Brown, president of NOM, were also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is on our blog, too.

Plante & Brown

Father John Codega, priest in the diocese of Providence and advisory board member to Rhode Island’s chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, was also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally on July 18 with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is also on our blog.

Father John Codega