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The Ecology of the Pill Dr. J appears on Florida-based radio show Religion, Politics, and Culture to discuss the Pill's effects on sexuality and culture in America.  When it was first introduced, the assumption was made that it would basically result in "all the current options plus one"--but its effects have been much more far-reaching and have resulted in a drastic shift in sexual norms and mores.  As always, Dr. J explains... (Click the POD icon.)

Lutheran Public Radio: Dr. J is usually on live on Tuesdays from 2-2:15 p.m. Pacific Time (Click the link to listen live or find a station near you.)

June 11: Phoenix, AZ, Alliance Defense Fund. Dr. J to speak at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship

June13-18: Grand Rapids, Michigan, Acton University. This event is open to the public but requires early registration.

June 24-27: Cincinnati, Ohio, NACFLM Conference (National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers) This event is open to the public but requires early registration.

Do you need advice on how to improve your marriage or relationship, or on how to find the right person for you? Expert Dr. J is here for you. Click here to ask your question, which may be featured anonymously in this newsletter for the benefit of all.

Read past questions and answers here.

Need help with your marriage? You can also check out Dr. J's "101 Tips for a Happier Marriage!"

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Allow yourself to be surprised by joy. A loving person knows that he or she does not know everything and is willing to learn more about the other person. Your partner undoubtedly has many wonderful qualities you have not yet discovered.

Here's a great excuse for a date night. Why not go to dinner and try to come up with stories you have not yet told each other. Perhaps start by thinking of your earliest memory and working your way up from there. Make a game of it! It could be lots of fun, and you'll likely learn a great deal more about each other.

In the true story, A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken and his wife wanted so much to know and experience everything the other had ever done, they made a point to read every book the other had ever read. Now that's devotion. And you can have it too.

Want more marriage-saving tips? Find all 101 here.

by Chris Ross, King's College student

Americans are confused about the true nature of marriage “because we live in an era of big government,” said Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, an economist who studies love and marriage and the founder of The Ruth Institute.

“Big government did not create marriage,” said Morse, who recently spoke to students at The King’s College in New York City, as part of the school’s Distinguished Visitors Series. “Government does not create marriage. Marriage is a natural reality that preexists the state.”

Morse has spent her career actively speaking against a declining understanding of lifelong, committed marriages in America. “The human is wired for community with others,” she said. “Christianity teaches us that man is not made to be alone. The human is made for love.”

Through her work, Morse strives to show Americans that civil society requires a traditional understanding of marriage. In fact, she said, “Statistically, the most dangerous situation for the child is to live with a cohabitating, single parent.”

Morse stressed that same-sex relationships are likewise unsuited to proper parenting, adding that different sexes are not interchangeable in a relationship. “A two-male couple is different from a two-female couple is different from a man-and-woman couple,” she said, pointing out that each mix has different properties, a fact that must be taken into account from the child’s perspective.

Expressing concern that a redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples is “a step too far,” Morse said, “For the state to make a proclamation that mothers and fathers are intrinsically interchangeable and that nobody’s allowed to say otherwise, that’s not really true.”

According to Morse, marriage is a natural reality, which “every society has known.” To believe that government can give or take away marriage, she said, is “statist hubris.”

“Libertarian theory and conservative theory,” Morse said, “generally has been very weak in its understanding of civil society.” She added that though the proponents of these philosophies can speak about the free market or constitutional division of powers, “What we don’t understand is how the civil society functions on its own.”

Marriage creates a structure for civil society, Morse told students, because “when a man and a woman have a child together, what you’re asking is that they invest a long period of time cooperating in order to bring that child up into adulthood.”

Read more of this and other articles on the Ruth Institute home page.

Comment on this article at the Ruth blog.

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