Husbands or Employers?
Security in the workplace is taking the place of security in marriage. I have been saying this for some time. But now, the major league self-styled feminist groups are coming right out and saying it. Women and children don’t need stability in marriage if they can have stability in employment. CNSNews.com asked both activists if […]
The Life Movement is a Youth Movement: Part 3
Youth at the Vigil Mass for Life 2011 Our roving reporter and Friend of Ruth, Steve Hicks, sent us this photo from the Vigil Mass for Life at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The place was packed with young people. Look at them stretched out on the floor in the aisle.
The Life Movement is a Youth Movement: Part 2
Berkeley Students for Life, at the 2010 West Coast Walk for Life
Milennials: Be part of the solution to the marriage problem
Here is my open letter to young adults world-wide. Below, some extracts: My challenge to you is this: do you, or do you not, want married love to last a lifetime? Would you be willing to commit yourself to lifelong married love? No more messing around. No more excuses. No more waiting for the government and the politicians to “do something.” It is time to get serious. It’s time to stop complaining about the sad state of marriage and start doing something about it. Are you willing to take the Reel Love Challenge? “It is my hope and my wish to get married. When I get married, it is my intention to stay married for the rest of my life. I commit myself to doing all I can for the common good of my marriage and my family.” If you are already married, take this version of the Reel Love Challenge: “It is my intention to stay married for a lifetime. I commit myself to doing all I can for the common good of my marriage and my family.” According to a recent report, “By the time they have reached ages 15 to 17, 55 per cent of teens have parents who have rejected each other, either through non-marriage or separation/divorce." Young adults: this report is about you. The question is: are you going to do something to break this cycle for your own children? This is the core of the marriage movement: a personal commitment to lifelong married love, a next generation movement cutting across religion and race, country and class. Take the Reel Love Challenge.
The Pro-life Movement is a Youth Movement: Part 1
If you attend any marches or rallies this weekend, send us your photos! I am especially interested in photos of young people at the marches. The mainstream media barely cover these events at all, and never seem to mention that the pro-life movement marches are filled with people under twenty. These Friends of Ruth are doing […]
A simple pro-life project
This weekend, pro-lifers are commemorating the tragic anniversary of Roe v Wade. The Catholic Bishops have urged people to pray, fast, do penance. And they have urged the clergy to preach on pro-life themes. Here is a simple pro-life project anyone of any religion, can do. If your clergy preach on pro-life themes, this weekend or […]
Is the U.K. Promoting Out of Wedlock Births?
Wow this really caught my attention: Unemployed Father of 10 Having 5 More Children The article is about a guy who’s fathered up to 15 kids by the age of 25. There are potentially ten women involved. I am completely mystified as to why these women are willing to bear his children. He’s not handsome, […]
Changing Passports: Changing Reality
The new policy changing US passports to say “parent 1” and “parent 2” is something I predicted in my CD series “Same Sex Marriage Affects Everyone” back in 2008! Gay rights activists say “reflects the reality of the modern family.” I say it obscures the biological reality that children have one mother and one father. And […]
US Abortion Rate Up Slightly
I will be doing my regular Luthern Public Radio show on this story. Go here for Issues Etc. Or wait for the Podcast…. Gotta go: there’s the call!
Aristotle’s Ethos, Pathos, and Logos – in Which Do You Excel?
Ethos: the source’s credibility, the speaker’s/author’s authority Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument. Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details. Located here. A recent blog comment by “RuthRocks” triggered a […]
Pro Choice and Informed Choice
Caution: very graphic content follows. Clicking the links below may result in shock or sadness. I notice only pro life groups create abortion videos to use in trying to persuade people to their cause. Why don’t pro choice groups create their own videos showing abortions? Is there something biased in the pro life’s abortion videos? […]
Reel Love Challenge on the Web!
We’re excited! The Reel Love Challenge is getting some coverage! Check out these sites that have picked up the story: CharismaMag.com talks about RLC LifeSiteNews.com talks about RLC Do you know people who can spread the word about the Reel Love Challenge? Please share this link with them: Reel Love Challenge Thank you!
More on the Incest Case
Matthew Franck writes today about how we have lost the moral vocabulary to even talk about what’s wrong with incest. natural hierarchies, duties, and trusts are shattered by incest, even between “consenting adults.” But the recent discussions of this matter reveal how decayed is our moral vocabulary for considering it, how nearly lost is any […]
Young Adults: Be Part of the Marriage Solution!
The Ruth Institute Launches Contest to Promote Positive Views of Lifelong Marriage SAN MARCOS, CA – The Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage Education Fund, announces its first annual Reel Love Challenge, a video contest for young adults, aged 18-30. The contest is open to all young adults, married or single, […]
Teaching our children about morality is not optional
Here is a thoughtful article by Friend of Ruth, Rev. Dr. Dale Kuehne. He starts with this example, to illustrate how morally unglued we are becoming: I recently had a discussion with a Middle School student in which s/he shared that s/he was bi-sexual. Having done a fair amount of research on sexual orientation, my […]
What is Nature’s Purpose for Sex?
I’m wondering what you all think. What is nature’s purpose for sex? I think nature intended sex for procreation. I base this on the physiology of the act. When man has an orgasm, he ejaculates a fluid known as semen. Within the semen are sperm, which are reproductive cells. The sperm are ½ of the […]
Pro-Marriage, not anti-gay
Some of our commenters seem to be surprised that the Ruth Institute is “transitioning away from its anti-gay advocacy…. Why is there an article about abortion here?” Actually, if you look over the life of this blog, you will see a lot of discussion about abortion, contraception and artificial reproductive technology. You will also see […]
“Marriage Equality” Equals State Expansion and Less Freedom
In a recent article about “marriage equality,” I addressed a couple of the common considerations regarding love and the marriage debate. I then received a question regarding one of the points I made, asking for clarification. Here is the question I received: “You wrote in the article, ‘The state has other reasons for supporting man/woman […]
Delaying Sex= Better Relationships
A new article in the Journal of Family Studies looks at over 2,000 individuals in their first marriages and assesses the impact of delaying sex on the quality of their relationship. Individuals were categorized as either having: • Early sex (before dating or less than one month after they started dating). • Late sex (between […]
Is Marriage merely a social construct?
Over at the Public Discourse Ryan Anderson and Sherif Girgis, young proteges of Robby George, respond to Prof Andrew Koppleman’s claim that marriage is nothing but a social construct. They get the better of Prof Koppleman, but there is one point I would add, for the benefit of the libertarians who come around this site. […]
Teen Abortion – Is MTV’s "No Easy Decision" a Contradiction?
The Short Version If the unborn are not human, why is having an abortion “no easy decision?” If the unborn are not human, having an abortion should be an easy decision, like having a mole or a tooth removed. The Long Version While browsing the Internet, I came across an article talking about MTV’s show […]
An Orthodox Catholic Explains Why She Appreciates Orthodox Jews
My friend Michael Rosen posted a lovely article called “An Orthodox Jew Explains Why He Loves Christmas Music,” which I gladly reposted on the Ruth Institute blog. His article inspired me to share these thoughts. When Jewish families observe the Sabbath, they are giving a tangible sign of faithfulness to God. We have Orthodox Jewish […]
An Orthodox Jew explains why he loves Christmas music
I love this article, “Why this orthodox Jew loves Christmas music.” by fellow San Diegan, Michael Rosen. Let me be clear: I am deeply proud of my faith, which I practice rigorously. While I genuinely respect the tenets of other creeds, I abhor religious syncretism of all sorts, and I have no desire to observe […]
Why We Need an Incest Taboo
Albert Mohler weighs in on the incest controversy that we have already discussed on this blog. I want to add one point that I haven’t seen anyone raise. People seem to think that the “ick” factor is not significant because it cannot be entirely explained on rational grounds. (Mohler’s quote from Wm. Saletan is to […]
The Prop 8 Rainbow Coalition
One of my earlier observations has dropped out of the conversation: the pro-marriage effort is an inter-faith, multi-racial coalition. If you think of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, he was trying to emphasize the ethnic diversity of his followers. We supporters of Prop 8 can make the same claim: we had the overwhelming support of African […]
Welcome Friewis
Welcome to all the new visitors from this site. Now that you are over here, I call you my FRIEnds w/ Wrong Ideas. (I don’t have enemies.) What with Christmas parties and all, I haven’t had time to extend a proper welcome to all my new Friends from Queerty and TPM and other such places. […]
Panic in the Streets over the Rainbow Flag
Wow! I really hit a nerve talking about the rainbow and what it does or does not symbolize. It is very interesting to me that this offhand discussion of symbolism struck such a nerve. Trouble is, the various commentators can’t seem to get their stories straight. One headlinesays, “Anti-Gay Ruth Institute Wants to Steal the […]
The symbol of the Cross
One of the more annoying comments on the Rainbow article is this one: Someone should tell the H8ers – who merely highjack the word “god” to spread their H8 – that the alleged “christian cross” was STOLEN (in 1081AD) by the Christian Crusade leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, from the Muslims. That’s right, the Christians STOLE […]
Original Meaning, Privileges and Immunities, Fundamental Rights and Other Legal Magic Words
So this morning, I’m reading the Hoover Institution’s Policy Review on the treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness, “Who’s Afraid of Original Meaning?” by George Thomas of Claremont McKenna College. I won’t pretend that I understand the twists and turns of his argument about why Scalia’s interpretation of Original Meaning isn’t as original as it should […]
12 Days of Christmas for College Students: Day 1
On the First Day of Christmas, I turned in my last term paper… So, now I can start thinking about my Reel Love Challenge video!
Virtual Alternative Half-time Show
Yes, it is the season of Christmas and giving and love and blah, blah, blah. It is also the season of back to back football games. Which means half time shows. which can mean offensive (remember Janet Jackson’s Wardrobe Malfunction a few years ago.) Or obnoxious commercials that are too precious by half. Or whatever. […]
The Life-Style Left Exploits the Poor
The Life Style Left exploits the poor Back in the day, when the Left used to go through the motions of standing up for the poor and downtrodden, they used words like, “alienation,” “exploitation,” “oppression of the weak by the rich” and “atomistic individualism.” Capitalism promoted all these Bad Things, you see, and the Left […]
WSJ Reports: Baby Selling Goes Global
The Wall Street Journal reports on the growing phenomenon of reproductive tourism. I encourage Regular Ruth Readers to go to this story and comment. In a hospital room on the Greek island of Crete with views of a sapphire sea lapping at ancient fortress walls, a Bulgarian woman plans to deliver a baby whose biological […]
They’ve already redefined marriage
In their minds, that is. Our side considers legalizing same sex marriage to be a redefinition of marriage. We try to persuade people that redefining marriage would be harmful. But I have noticed that many people who favor ssm have ALREADY mentally redefined it. In their minds, marriage is only about adult relationships, with children […]
Defending Prop 8: Defending the Voters.
I expect that Chuck Cooper will defend the voters of California against the truly scurrilous attack made by Olsen and Boies and repeated by Judge Walker. The plaintiffs complained about the advertising used during the campaign. I was shocked the first time I heard this complaint. They couldn’t find anything explicitly “homophobic” in the campaign […]
Prop 8 Resources
Our sister organization, the National organization for Marriage has an outstanding set of resources for following Prop 8. There is a case timeline here. And they have a list of links to important case documents here, including many amincus briefs.
How Chuck Cooper will defend Prop 8 tomorrow
Chuck Cooper, lead attorney for the defense of Proposition 8, will surely make a big deal out of the sloppy reasoning of Judge Walker’s opinion. He will certainly point out that there are numerous cases at the state and federal level, which are precedents for the same sex marriage issue. These cases hold that there […]
WaPo gets the Prop 8 point: the number of experts is pointless.
The Prop 8 legal defense team has taken a beating in public debate. But the MSM, in the person of Washington Post reporter Lisa Leff (finally) start asking the right questions. What was the point, if any, of all the expert testimony presented in the original Prop 8 case? Our side says it was basically […]
We have some questions of our own.
The Prop 8 trial will be full of questions. Here at NOM and the Ruth Institute, we have a few questions of our own. We think the People of California, those people who had the audacity to vote for Prop 8, are on trial here. We are proud of our involvement in Prop 8, and […]
The “fundamental right to marry” case favors man/woman marriage.
Skinner v. Oklahoma is one of the standard cases cited in defense of the “fundamental right to marry.” In this 1942 case, the Court stated, “We are dealing here with legislation which involves one of the basic civil rights of man. Marriage and procreation are fundamental to the very existence and survival of the race.” […]
Stop the Presses: European court Protects Marriage!
In this day of US Courts following European Courts, here comes an interesting story from the European Court of Human Rights: “The European Court of Human Rights has refused permission to appeal in a challenge to the ban on gay marriage in Austria. The effect of the decision is to make the court’s rejection of […]
Body Image Craziness
One topic we are hearing from college women in our programs: they are under enormous pressure to look a certain way, namely slim and perfect. A friend of mine sent me a link to this video: Dove Evolution Please share this video with all the young women you know! they are starving themselves and otherwise […]
Abortion Trauma
I have long noticed that the harms associated with abortion are not taken seriously. That is because “the right to choose” isn’t really the issue. the issue is the right to have unlimited sexual activity without a live baby resulting. If abortion has significant medical or psychological consequences, these consequences will limit women’s desire to […]
Second Thoughts: Abortion Law is Family Law
Ruth Institute board member Helen Alvare has a brilliant article on recasting abortion law in terms of family law, instead of constitutional law. family law is experiencing second thoughts about “what was lost” during the period when lawmakers fell into a pattern of prioritizing adults’ interests over children’s. This is a fair characterization of family […]
A “Roe” moment for marriage
I once told the Blackstone legal Fellows, if you knew that Roe v Wade was coming down the pike, wouldn’t you throw yourself in front of a train to stop it? Archbishop Joseph Kurtz is making the same argument here: Saying “today is like 1970 for marriage,” Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., urged […]
Iowans Dismiss Judges who redefined marriage
From USA Today: Three Iowa Supreme Court justices lost their seats Tuesday in a historic upset fueled by their 2009 decision that allowed same-sex couples to marry. Vote totals from 96% of Iowa’s 1,774 precincts showed Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit with less than the simple majority needed to […]
Election Preferences
This election season, some friends of mine have made a project of reporting on the actual pro-abortion, pro-gay views and activities of a candidate. The husband in this husband and wife team researched the candidate’s positions on abortion and same sex unions. He wrote up a flyer, reporting this information. The wife translated the flyer […]
The Poor’s Good Marriages
This is really an excellent blog post from the First Things blog. David Lapp dissects one economists’ approach to the decline of marriage among the poor. While there surely is an economic dimension to marriage, marriage historically has primarily been about bringing children and parents together. So we invented the vacuum cleaner (a standard economic-determinist […]
Test Tube Parenthood on Trial
This article from Canada’s National Post focuses on a woman’s quest to give Donor Conceived Persons the right to search for their genetic, but absent parent. This is a right accorded to adopted children, but not to Donor Conceived Persons. One young woman I interviewed some months ago, who is making a documentary about her […]
Johnny has two mommies and four dads
I’ve been telling my audiences that redefining marriage means redefining parenthood. I’ve told people that same sex marriage will create pressure for triple parenting. Now, here is an article in the Boston Globe, explaining what I’m talking about. You can see for yourself that I am not making this up. (By the way, notice the […]
Loved Into Existence
In my Magnificat (a daily Catholic prayer book) I found this quotation last Sunday, from Fr. Richard Veras: “I do not decide my mission, Jesus loves my mission into existence, by continually loving me into existence.” I love that phrase, “loved into existence.” I realize that this is one of the core beliefs of the […]
What people don’t know about Iowa
I follow changes in the marriage debate across the country and around the world. I’m often surprised as I travel around that not everyone follows these things as closely as I do. So, one of my jobs is keeping ordinary people informed about strange goings-on in other parts of the country. For instance, my audience […]
Never Enough: The Utility of Impossible Objectives
I have been reading the new book, Never Enough, by William Voegeli at Claremont McKenna College, with great interest. His theme is that the advocates of the welfare state have never been able to give a coherent account of the proper size and scope of their ambitions. How much assistance to the poor is enough? […]
My position on same sex adoption
The article in the Kalamazoo Gazette may have caused some confusion about my views on same sex adoption. My position on same sex adoption: • There should be a social and legal presumption that kids need a mom and a dad, preferably their own mom and dad. When that is not possible, society should try […]
What I really said in Kalamazoo
This article from the Kalamazoo Gazette has caused some confusion. In my talk, I didn’t say a word about civil unions. The reporter came up afterwards and asked me some questions. I said that “all the practical problems of same sex couples can be solved without redefining marriage.” I didn’t say I favor civil unions […]
Do Real Men Love the Latin Mass?
I ask the indulgence of our non-Catholic readers, for that matter, of our non-traditionalist Catholic readers. This is a completely esoteric post, but here goes. While I was in Kalamazoo MI this weekend, I went to Latin Mass at Fr. Sirico’s parish, St. Mary’s. Now, this was not the Novus Ordo in Latin, which is […]
Standing on the Threshhold of an Inconceivable Age
Here is an excellent talk on sex and happiness Standing on the Threshold of an Inconceivable Age: Sexuality in the 21st Century, by Reverend Dale S. Kuehne from Alexander Hamilton Institute on Vimeo. This is about an hour long, but there is alot of good food for thought here.
Elitism and Judicial Supremacy
Why do the Courts so often impose their “enlightened” views on the rest of us? Political Science professor Robert Lowry Clinton believes he has the answer: A few months ago, I was attending a presentation by one of my colleagues on American elections. He reported that it was now settled among experts that American voters […]
Nobel Misconception
I was going to write something about the award of the Noble Prize in medicine to the developer of IVF. But my friend from Down Under, Carolyn Moynihan of Mercator Net said what I wanted to say: There is something quite ironic in this week’s award of the Nobel Prize to Robert Edwards for the […]
Who’s for abortion?
On one of my recent trips, I heard from some old-time pro-life sidewalk counselors. These are folks who have been praying outside abortion clinics since Roe v Wade practically. They made this observation: “in the old days, our opponents on the sidewalks would be feminists of some sort. Today, it is far more likely that […]
Ed Whelan’s Amicus Brief in the Prop 8 case
Ed Whelan filed an amicus brief in the Prop 8 case, on behalf of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. RRR’s have seen some of his arguments already in this space. He explodes the contention that the Prop 8 defense team “didn’t provide any evidence.” And in fact shows pretty clearly that Judge Walker echoed […]
On the Other Hand, Sex is a Requirement for Marriage
Actually having Sex is a requirement for marriage, even if actually having a baby is not. Marriages traditionally had to consummated in order to be valid. In case you think this is an unimportant point, look again to the life story of Henry VIII. For his fourth wife, Henry agreed to wed Anne of Cleves, […]
Why Actual Fertilty is Not a Requirement for Marriage: Exhibit A
As a defender of natural marriage, I am often asked why actually having children is not a requirement for marriage. I claim that the essential public purpose of marriage is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. If that is the case, why are infertile couples permitted to marry. So, […]
Why the Judges in Iowa have to go: Basic Unfairness
The judges who imposed same sex marriage in Iowa did a terrible job in the case, Varnum v Brien. I had a couple of articles about the case when it came out in 2009. Here they are again, to help folks make the case as to why this decision should be considered as poorly decided […]
Why the Iowa Judges Have to Go: Defining Marriage Down
The judges in Varnum v Brien made very clear what some of us have been saying for a long time: same sex marriage doesnt’ just let more people join in to the existing institution of marriage. Same sex marriage redefines marriage, downgrading its essential public purposes and leaving nothing but inessential private purposes. The judges […]
The Good of Sex in Marriage
“Marriage between one man and one woman is the only moral cntext for sexual intimacy. This is because in marriage, and only in marriage, a man and woman freely and willingly commit their entire lives to one another in mutual love and fidelity. … Non-contracepted sex between a husband and wife is good regardless of […]
News Flash: Sex Discrimination is Finished
Economists have known for a long time that discrimination per se accounts for relatively minor part of the wage differences between men and women. By far the largest factor is the impact of children on people’ work/life decisions. Children affect men and women differently. This was already very apparent in data when I started in […]
It’s Not Working (the Blue State Script, that is)
I recently reviewed Red Families vs. Blue Families. (I didn’t like it much.) The authors’ constant refrain was “The Blue State Script works. Delay marriage and childbearing until the mid-thirties, with the help of unapologetic use of abortion and contraception. The marriages last longer and are more stable. The kids are better off. Be like […]
