Marriage & Family
Andrew’s #5 makes me wonder whether he isn’t too enamored of the opportunity to oppose lefitsts in the course of supporting a liberal judicial ruling. I’ll admit that I, too, find it very interesting that my reasons for disagreeing with Judge Tauro’s rulings (as I understand them) ought to ally me with a variety of…
As Andrew’s post on Judge Tauro’s ruling concerning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) proves, conservatives will find a great deal of intellectual meat in the development — setting principles of federalism against a traditional understanding of marriage. I’ll have more to say on the issue in days to come, but for the moment, discussion…
In a decision issued yesterday, the Federal District Court for Massachusetts overturned a portion of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) for reasons including the violation of the Tenth Amendment and Congress lacking an enumerated basis for defining marriage, in the case of Massachusetts v. Department of Health and Human Services. Section 3 of…
One hears, from time to time, that abstinence only sex education has been proven to be a failure. Not only is the proof arguably incorrect, but the entire premise misses the mark. Abstinence education hardly enjoyed meager implementation, let alone the pervasive reinforcement that would be necessary for society-wide effect. But I do wonder what…
Frankly, the comments to my post on contraception were about what I expected. The Pill, condoms, and their less common company are secular sacraments, and people are very reluctant to place them on the table for skeptical scrutiny. (It might… or might not… go too far to imply an underlying sense of prickliness about their…
Timothy Reichert had a very interesting analysis in the May issue of First Things applying economic and social science principles to the effect of the Pill on American relationships. (Unfortunately, the magazine appears to be having long-term technical difficulties with its firewall, so even a subscription might not enable access.) Here’s the premise with which…
Apparently, in fields that debate such things, there’s been an attempt to apply economic principles to explain the ebbs and flows of attendance in different churches. John Lamont does some difference splitting and paints a persuasive picture (subscription required). Because “the rewards of religion are supernatural and, therefore, unseen,” the healthy religion, he explains, requires…
Although those who wish to fling accusations of bigotry seldom manage to hear, I’ve long maintained that same-sex marriage is a bad idea because of its effects on the institution, not a matter of oppression. The typical response is the intellectually inept claim that calling a particular same-sex relationship “marriage” will not affect any particular…
An editorial in the Rhode Island Catholic points to another Catholic charity pushed out of business by redefinition of the ground out from under it: Time and time again proponents of homosexual marriage have promised churches and religious institutions they have nothing to fear from their radical proposal to redefine marriage. Yet last week Catholic…
In a recent column, Julia Steiny ran through various ways in which fathers are, in general, distinguishable from mothers. Here’s a sample: … dads bring other huge contributions. For one thing, they play. That fatherly roughhousing that most kids love actually aids brain development. Play has been proven to enhance learning, and dads usually play…