10 reasons why absent fathers are bad for society
There is a lot of hoo-hah in today’s society as to the role that fathers play in the lives of their children. It seems that society nowadays believes that single-parenting is an okay situation – and by accepting this situation in totality, they state that fathers are redundant. Why? Because the majority of single-parent households consist of mother and child. This comes at a cost to society. From Fathers for Life, studies have shown that fathers play an important and pivotal role in the upbringing of their children. And the best environment in which fatherhood ‘earns its keep’ – and in which children ultimately flourish – is within an intact, married household.
As Frank Turek notes, there are 10… Continue reading ...
Grover from Sesame Street discusses marriage
This video is so innocuous and politically correct that it really irks me.
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In summary, according to Grover and his friend Jesse, marriage is an institution:
- between two people
- in which these two people kiss and hug each other
- in which two people live together and help each other out
- where the two people are friends
Three points that I can think from this clip, in relation to the marriage debate raging across the US and other Western countries, are: 1) gender of the participants is never mentioned (and in my opinion is carefully avoided); 2) apparently marriage is completely adult centred (no mention of children or families, which is the key reason for marriage); 3) you can do all the things… Continue reading ...
The Kiwis publish their 21 reasons why (hetero) marriage matters
While it seems Europe has fallen (for the most part), and the US is in the midst of duking it out, those of us floating around in the Indian and Pacific Oceans are perhaps only beginning – somewhat lethargically – to take up arms. The issue of same-sex marriage (or “marriage neutering”, as The Opine Editorials fondly terms it) in Australia and New Zealand is gearing up for full-swing.
Last month, in Australia, the Senate ceased taking submissions on the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009, a Bill which seeks to redefine marriage as a union between “two persons” (but what if I had two boyfriends? Can’t I marry them both? That’s unfair!). The Senate inquiry is due to have a report by 26 November 2009. I would… Continue reading ...
Things that us dads just cannot do
This reminded me of just how privileged I am to be a dad. Father’s Day, to me, is not about being celebrated for being a dad but rather celebrating the responsibility and the accountability of the role (and it’s importance) that I play in the lives of my children. I pray that I live up to the task as best I’m able.
(But even so, I won’t refuse a bit of pampering on the day – you reading this, kids?)
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To all you dads out there – Happy Father’s Day!… Continue reading ...
“It’s not fair: homosexuals can’t marry who they love”
Without a doubt, the most common objection to marriage remaining as the union between one man and one woman, for life, is that current marriage law “unfairly” discriminates against homosexuals who desire – and cannot help but desire – those of the same-sex (second to this is the claim that current marriage laws offer unequal protection / rights to homosexuals – that’s the subject of a different discussion).
Often, the objection is phrased in such terms as: “Heterosexuals are free to marry who they love, but homosexuals can’t – that’s unfair”, or “Banning same-sex marriage discriminates against homosexuals because it prevents them from marrying who they want”.
In almost all variances of this particular objection… Continue reading ...
There’s no inequality for the Greens’s Marriage Equality Amendment Bill to address
On 25 June 2009, Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young lodged the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill in the Australian Senate.
This Bill seeks to repeal the definition outlined in the Marriage Act 1961, redefining the definition of “marriage” as meaning:
the union of two people, regardless of their sex, sexuality or gender identity, voluntarily entered into for life.
The current definition of “marriage” reads, and ought to remain, as meaning:
the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.
All Australians concerned about retaining the natural definition of marriage ought to consider writing a brief letter to the Senate, requesting them… Continue reading ...
Mummy? Isn’t your friend Julie really my mummy?
An interesting question from mercatornet.com caught my eye in my RSS Reader the other day: what explanation do parents of surrogate children offer when their children ask the inevitable questions akin to “where-do-I-come-from” or “how-are-babies-made”?
Surrogacy (whether gestational or not), for those not in the know, is that process by which a host mother-to-be is brought onto the scene to carry a child to term on behalf of another couple, whereby they surrender any parental rights to the birthed child to the adoptive parents.
The reasons for entering into such arrangements can be varied – ie. couples may not be able to conceive a child naturally, or for cosmetic reasons the female may not wish to spoil her figure / ‘endure’ child-bearing, and then again there are alternate… Continue reading ...
Was Ethan McNamee manipulated by pro-GLBT lobbyists?
While researching my earlier article on the pro-gay marriage rally speech performed by nine year-old Ethan McNamee, one thing I noticed on the various GLBT blogs were comments that conservatives claimed Ethan was manipulated.
I don’t really know if this claim is substantiated; I couldn’t even find a conservative blog or news article that covered the event in which this view was apparently put forward. Perhaps I didn’t delve deep enough into the Google search results? Or I just didn’t read through the many comments left by people on the news sites and blogs that had articles on the subject?
While I don’t personally ascribed to the notion that Ethan was manipulated, I believe it is… Continue reading ...
Ethan McNamee – nine year-old gay-marriage advocate
Young Ethan McNamee – just nine years old and a third grade student at Montclaire Elementary School in Denver, Colorado – has done what most third graders wouldn’t even conceive of doing: organising a public rally on the steps of the Colorado state capitol building. His topic was two-fold, and not what you would normally expect of a nine-year old: marriage equality and equal protection for the gay and lesbian community.
As the reports go, young Ethan is the neighbour of a lesbian couple who had first given him the idea of organising such a rally. Having been told by his neighbours that they were not allowed to marry because they were of the same sex, Ethan took it upon himself to speak out for the gay and lesbian… Continue reading ...
Quote: The Importance of Family
James Q. Wilson, a political scientist, in the March 1996 issue of Reader’s Digest, wrote:
The family is not one of several alternative lifestyles. It is not an arena in which rights are negotiated; it is not an old-fashioned barrier to a promiscuous sex life; it is not a set of cost-benefit calculations. It is a commitment for which there is no feasible substitute… There is no way to prepare for this commitment other than to make it… Married life is shaped by the fact that the couple has made a solemn vow before family and friends that this is for keeps…
HT to Salting Society, where I first spotted and subsequently and unashamedly flogged this quote from. I liked it so much, I had to… Continue reading ...
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