Ruth Institute Podcast

(May 11, 2010) President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, Solicitor-General Elena Kagan, is proving to be a bit of a mystery--she's never sat on the judicial bench and has a limited paper trail on the controversial issues on which she'll be expected to rule.  And in a bit of local excitement, the Ruth Institute has attracted the tolerant and reasonable attention of the Daily Kos.  Dr J and Todd Wilken discuss these developments in a segment of Issues, Etc.

(April 24, 2010) Dr J appears at Berkeley University's Worldviews Conference to speak on "The Institution Formerly Known as Marriage."

(April 6, 2010) Maggie Gallagher speaks at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, on the meaning of marriage, what it (or its absence) means for children, and why it should be preserved for both individuals and society.  She is president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (iMAPP).

(May 4, 2010) Seton Hall University, the oldest diocesan Catholic university in the country, is offering a pro-same-sex marriage course, which has raised the objections of the diocese's bishop over its opposition to the Catholic church's position on the issues.  Dr. J and Todd Wilken have more in this Issues, Etc. segment.

(April 30, 2010) Time Magazine is running an article on America's 50-year relationship with the Pill.  What was it designed to do?  What has it done?  Is it really that big of a deal--doesn't it just reflect trends and changes that were occurring already?  Dr J and Todd Wilken discuss this volatile subject on Issues, Etc.

(April 28, 2010) Dr J appears on Catholic Answers Live! to discuss why the institution of marriage matters historically and presently in human society and to field questions on the subject.

(April 21, 2010) Jamie Gruber appears on The Drew Mariani Show to discuss the hook-up culture on college (and some high school) campuses.  What's the problem?  What's the solution?  Her insights include why the term used is ambiguous, the role of alcohol, other people as objects, and more.

(April 20, 2010) The latest attempt to get same-sex marriage laws on the books ironically centers around the dissolution of same-sex relationships.  In the state of Texas (Texas!), where SSM initiatives were rejected by a 3-1 margin at the voting booth, this tactic has surfaced.  Dr J and Todd Wilken have more of the story...

(February 8, 2010) Marvin Olasky, provost of New York City's The King's College and editor-in-chief of WORLD Christian Magazine, interviews Dr J on a wide range of topics relating to marriage and family.  Afterward, she takes student questions.

(February 17, 2010) The Commonwealth Club of California hosts a speaker panel to discuss same-sex marriage, both in the context of the state and federal challenges through the courts and more generally in society and culture.  The four panelists are Molly McKay, media director for Marriage Equality USA; Jennifer Roback Morse, president and founder of the Ruth Institute, Therese Stewart, Chief Deputy City Attorney, San Francisco; and Kevin Snider, attorney for the plaintiffs in the federal court case over Prop 8, and Chief Counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute.  Doug Sovern, broadcast journalist of "Sovern Nation" and 3-time winner of the AP's "Reporter of the Year" Award for California, moderates.

(April 12, 2009) Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz's new study, "Two Mommies Are as Good as Mom and Dad," actually goes further than this: midway through the piece, the viewpoint becomes that women (or gay men) are better than heterosexual men.  Dr J has already responded in print; now she unpacks this study in a podcast.

(March 26, 2010) The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the divorce rate is falling as the recession discourages couples from setting up separate households to deal with their differences.  Since economic hardship usually nudges the divorce rate up, Dr J finds this very interesting.

(March 24, 2010) Adoption agencies are under fire--specifically, those whose beliefs won't permit them to place children with homosexual guardian(s).

(March 16, 2009) Dr J and Todd Wilken meet to discuss the recent Washington Post article (also spotlighted on RuthBlog) on gay marriage--specifically, how some homosexuals (a) aren't interested in getting married, or (b) would like to see the whole institution abolished.  This after all the pretense that the homosexual community was unilaterally interested in expanding the definition of marriage.

(March 9, 2010) The state of Oklahoma wants to lower its divorce rate, and its legislature is currently considering several ways to encourage couples to stay married (some of the solutions include preparation for marriage as well).  Is this a good thing?  When is it too much?  Dr J has some insights and examples of what other states have done.

(January 29, 2010) Dr J interviews attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund about the students they represent when colleges prohibit certain types of free speech they deem "offensive."  Sounds innocuous, right?  Wrong--you won't believe the levels of censorship and intolerance practiced by some of the higher learning institutions here in the United States.

(March 2, 2010) There's been a push for some time to add homosexuality to the list of "protected classes"--that is, to investigate the motives behind any wrongs committed against them and add other penalties to the punishment.  Dr J sheds some light on what this really means--and how it undermines the problem we're trying to solve.  Why are some humans more important and more protected than other humans?  And how will "symbolically" expanding the definition of a hate crime eliminate bullying, which ought to be addressed in any case?

(February 23, 2010) Billboards have been popping up all over Atlanta, Georgia, and their content has people upset.  Why?  One of the open secrets of Planned Parenthood (along with the eugenics nature and of its founding and the "racial preferences" expressed in the writings of its founders) is that it performs a disproportionately high number of abortions on the black community.  To point this out is, apparently, "racist"--no accompanying word on whether targeting ethnic communities for death is "racist."  Todd Wilken and Dr J have more of the details.

(February 2, 2010) Dr J travels to Stanford University, where she and Yaron Brook (of the Ayn Rand Institute) debate the question "Is Capitalism Compatible with Christianity?"  Some of the issues they explore include the definitions of reason and faith, human nature, individualism, freedom, Catholic teaching over a period of several centuries, the definition of capitalism, and the phenomina of love and altruism.

(February 9, 2010) Dr J appears at Socrates in the City, a lecture club in Manhattan, to discuss the toxicity of the debate over same-sex marriage.  Why is it suddenly so charged a subject that to question to homosexual marriage often means the questioner is insulted or silenced?  Dr J has some insights and fields questions on the subject afterward.  This podcast is a little over an hour long.