Benjamin Bull W., J.D.
Chief Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund
The
following is an excerpt from Benjamin Bull’s speech "Attack on Traditional
Marriage " presented at The World Congress of
Families IV Warsaw, Poland, May 2007:
When the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in a 4-3 decision ruled that same-sex
couples have a newly discovered legal right to “marry,” the court radically
redefined marriage—ignoring nearly four hundred years of state and United
States history and stripping marriage of its core purpose of uniting men and
women as the basic unit of the family.
Why is
this battle to redefine marriage so important? Because
it goes to the very heart of God’s plan for marriage and the family.
When anyone tinkers with that plan, the emotional, physical, and spiritual
well-being of future generations is put at severe risk. Make no mistake:
marriage as we know it will be destroyed if we make all relationships equal.
Even
secular social scientists know that the demise of traditional marriage will
injure all persons impacted by that institution. Children who live with their own two married parents enjoy better physical health,
on average, than children in other living arrangements. Indeed such
children score higher in virtually every significant category when measuring
the well-being of children. The health advantages of children in traditional
married homes remains even after taking into account socioeconomic status.
Married men earn between 10 and 40 percent more than unmarried men with similar
education and job histories. Traditionally married people, especially married
men, have longer life expectancies than other men. Traditional marriage
increases the likelihood that fathers will have good relationships with
children. Sixty-five percent of young adults whose parents are divorced
or raised in non-married households had poor relationships with their fathers.
Traditionally married women have a lower risk of domestic violence than
cohabiting women. Even after controlling for race, age, and education, people
who live together are still three times more likely to report violence than
people in traditional marriages…
Some have
observed that the main reason the government licenses marriage is to encourage
a mother and father to raise their children together because that’s in the best
interest of the children. As noted, there is overwhelming and indisputable
evidence that children raised by their mother and father in a traditional
marriage do better in school, are less likely to commit crimes, have less
premarital sex, and are healthier emotionally and physically. Legally, marriage
is how the government makes sure men take responsibility for the children they
father. The union of a man and woman has been the fundamental social unit in
every society. Dr. Barbara Whitehead, the co-director of Rutgers University’s
National Marriage Project, has stated, “Marriage is the central institution of
the family.”
Unfortunately,
however, in Europe and elsewhere a generation of children is growing up with no
idea of what a traditional family is like. In countries such as Norway,
Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark, it has been decades since many children have
known what it is like to live in a traditional family with a mother and a
father. More than half of the children in Europe are born to unwed
mothers. In Sweden, 54 percent of all children are born out of wedlock.
In Norway, the figure is 49 percent, in Denmark 46 percent, and in
Iceland, it is over 65 percent. In Northern Norway, the illegitimacy
problem is so bad that in 2002, an astonishing 82.27 percent of children are
born out of wedlock. In America, 26.7 percent of children born to white
mothers, and 68.8 percent of children born to black mothers, are out of
wedlock. Over 43 percent of all children born in America will live in a
single-parent home sometime in their childhood.
Why has
this occurred? Much of it has to do with the years of flawed government
subsidization of single parents. And we now have the new push for
“domestic partnerships” and “civil unions” for homosexual couples, which also
discourages marriage for heterosexuals. Same-sex “marriage” or its
equivalents have increasingly cheapened marriage to the point where it could
soon become irrelevant.
To read the
entire speech, visit http://www.worldcongress.org/wcf4.spkrs/wcf4.bull.htm
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FEATURED NEWS
ARTICLES
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1. Assisted
suicide initiative challenge delays signature gathering
SeattlePI
February 11, 2008
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Opponents of assisted suicide
are challenging the wording of a proposed initiative.
The Coalition Against
Assisted Suicide says the summary of Initiative 1000 fails to make voters aware
of specific changes in state law.
Supporters of the initiative say the appeal is a
move to delay signature-gathering.
A hearing on the appeal is set for Feb. 22 in
superior court in Olympia.
When the ballot title is approved, the group led
by former Gov. Booth Gardner will have until the Fourth of July to collect
225,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the November ballot.
To view the entire article, visit http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_assisted_suicide.html
Related Article
'God was with
us': family applauds decision to send life-support case to trial
CBCNews
February 14, 2008
Samuel Golubchuk's
relatives are relieved a judge has decided the elderly man will remain on
life support until a dispute over whether doctors can disconnect him without
the family's permission can go to trial.
On Wednesday, Justice Perry Schulman ruled Golubchuk's case should go to trial to determine whether
the ventilator and feeding tube that are keeping him alive should remain in
place or be removed, as recommended by his doctors.
"God was with us," said Miriam Geller, Golubchuk's daughter, after the judge issued his decision.
"We're grateful for the decision the judge
made, not only for my father, but all the elderly people and disabled
people," said his son, Percy Golubchuk.
The 84-year-old man was admitted to the Grace
Hospital in Winnipeg last October with pneumonia. He also has heart disease and
suffers from brain injuries sustained in a fall four years ago.
His doctors have argued he has minimal brain
function and there is little hope of recovery.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/02/14/golubchuk.html?ref=rss
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2. Scientists
at UCLA reprogram human skin cells into embryonic stem cells
UCLA Newsroom
February 12, 2008
UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin
cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells,
without using embryos or eggs.
Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic
alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are
nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to
become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used
to create the cells, which are called induced pluripotent
stem cells, or iPS cells.
The UCLA study confirms the work of researchers
Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University and James Thomson at the University of
Wisconsin, first reported in late November 2007. The UCLA research appears
today in an early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of the Sciences.
The implications for disease treatment could be
significant. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could
generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue
engineering and transplantation medicine. A patient's skin cells, for example,
could be reprogrammed into embryonic stem cells, and those stem cells
could be prodded into becoming various cells types — beta islet cells to
treat diabetes, hematopoetic cells to create a new
blood supply for a leukemia patient or motor neuron cells to treat
Parkinson's disease.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/scientists-reprogram-human-skin-44173.aspx
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3. Children
who have an active father figure have fewer psychological and behavioral
problems
PhysOrg
February 12, 2008
Swedish researchers also found
that regular positive contact reduces criminal behavior among children in
low-income families and enhances cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning
and language development. 
Children who lived with both a
mother and father figure also had less behavioral problems than those who just
lived with their mother.
The researchers are urging healthcare professionals to increase fathers’ involvement in
their children’s healthcare and calling on policy makers to ensure that fathers
have the chance to play an active role in their upbringing.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.physorg.com/news122039148.html
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4. New
Documentary Explores Global Demographic Crisis
LifeSite News
February 8, 2008
While the world focuses its energies and its fears
on a purported global-warming crisis, a new, not-yet-released documentary
claims that if there is any global crisis, it is not global warming, but rather
demographic winter.
As the website for Demographic Winter: The Decline
of the Human Family, explains, the phrase "'Demographic Winter' denotes
the worldwide decline in birthrates, also referred to as a 'birth-death,' and
what it portends."
"The ongoing global decline in human
birthrates is the single most powerful force affecting the fate of nations and
the future of society in the 21st century," says demographer Philip
Longman in the film. The film argues that the global decline in birthrate, if
unchecked, will have devastating social, political and economic
effects; it also argues that the issue is studiously ignored in
mainstream circles, due to the politically incorrect nature of
the solution to the crisis - that is, the rebuilding of the strength
of the family as the core unit of society.
"We are headed toward a demographic winter
which threatens to have catastrophic social and economic consequences,"
say the filmmakers. "The effects will be severe and long lasting and are
already becoming manifest in much of Europe."
To view the entire article, visit http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/feb/08020802.html
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5. Unusual perks: Goldman Sachs covers sex changes
CNNMoney
February 8, 2008
NEW YORK -- Wall Street is typically considered a
pretty conservative place to work. But the classic white-shoe investment bank
is loosening things up by adding health benefits that cover sex-change
operations.
Not only is Goldman Sachs ranked No. 9 on Fortune's
list of 100 Best
Companies to Work For, it also appears on what could be a list of transgendered job-seekers' ideal employers as well.
Goldman added health-insurance coverage of sex
reassignment surgery as part of a push last year to attract top talent and
recruit and retain a more diverse workforce, the company said.
The surgery alone could cost an individual
anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000 if they paid out of pocket, depending on their
particular situation, said Pauline Park, chair of the New York Association for
Gender Rights Advocacy, a group that campaigns for transgender rights. That
figure doesn't include hormone and other drug treatments.
To view the entire article, visit http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/08/news/companies/gender.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008020809
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6. Italians
Rally to Defend Abortion Law
Chicago Tribune
February 14, 2008
ROME - Hundreds of women rallied
in Rome and Naples on Thursday to protest police interrogation of a woman after
she underwent an abortion and to oppose a campaign push by some conservatives
to change Italy's abortion law.
State television said at least one woman was detained by police after
protesters scuffled with officers when they tried to move the rally to a square
in central Rome.
Turco has denounced an incident earlier in the week when
police rushed into a Naples hospital to interrogate a woman who had aborted a
21-week-old fetus minutes before. The 39-year-old woman says she had the abortion
after learning the fetus had a grave genetic defect. News reports said the
aborted fetus was seized as evidence.
The police investigation came amid a drive seeking to limit the point in a
pregnancy when abortion should be allowed. Proponents of limits claim medical
advances mean 21-week fetuses can sometimes survive.
Abortion after three months is allowed in Italy when a pregnancy is deemed a
grave danger to a woman's mental or physical health.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-italy-abortion-law,1,3260023.story
Related Article
Senate
Considers Bill to Provide Support to Babies with Disabilities
CitizenLink
February 14, 2008
The Prenatally
and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act
(S. 1810), which would provide up-to-date information to families who receive
adverse genetic diagnoses during pregnancy, was considered by a U.S. Senate
committee today.
The bill, sponsored by Sens.
Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also would supply families
— prenatally and up to a year after birth — with a
connection to support services and networks that can offer assistance.
“We as a society must offer as much protection as
we can to 'the least of these,' " Brownback said. "When
a mother receives the news that her unborn child may be born with a disability,
she should be supplied with current and reliable information about the many
options available for caring for children with disabilities."
If the bill is approved by the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, it will move to the full Senate.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000006538.cfm
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Note: The Featured Articles
excerpts are highlights of current events and
do not necessarily
represent the views of the World Family Policy Center
or Brigham Young
University.
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Newsletter created and
distributed by:
World Family Policy Center
(www.worldfamilypolicy.org)
J. Reuben Clark Law School
Brigham Young University
Acting Managing Director: A.
Scott Loveless
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