Do government programmes promoting marriage actually do any good, and specifically do they help to reduce poverty? A new study seems to indicate the answer is ‘no’, and if that is so then pro-marriage programmes lose much of their justification. However, Professor Brad Wilcox in this blog challenges the study. Wilcox says the study makes...
There is a growing body of research into the causes of happiness as this article from The New York Times points out. The research is allowing us to pinpoint what makes us happy and who is most likely to be happy. It appears that conservative women are most happy and liberal men are least happy....
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has an interesting piece about new research which suggests that parents with daughters are more likely to be conservative. Douthat believes that what might be driving this is the increased awareness that the culture which promotes commitment-free sex is damaging women more than men. He writes: “[A]s a father...
Last week the Australian High Court struck down a law in the Australian Capital Territory permitting same-sex marriage. It was a good decision, but with a considerable sting in the tail. It offered a definition of marriage that allows the Federal Parliament to define marriage in practically anyway at all. The decision defined marriage as...
Earlier this month saw the publication of the latest PISA results by the OECD. These measure the performance of 15-year-old school pupils in reading, mathematics and science. The results badly weaken the case of those who say the teaching of religion in our schools is dragging down academic standards because Ireland ranks well in the...
Unnoticed and unreported by most of the world’s media, on November 24 a group of several thousand pro-choice demonstrators decided to descend on the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in the city of San Juan, Argentina. What resulted is deeply disturbing to put it at its very mildest. The women had taken part in an annual...
Pure in Heart is a Catholic organisation devoted to promoting chastity in schools. Among other things, this means waiting until you are married before you have sex. Needless to say, a lot of people today don’t like this message but this doesn’t mean Pure in Heart don’t have a right to teach it. However, some...
Are some in the media beginning to understand that the sexual revolution isn’t an unalloyed good? Today’s Irish Independent ran a column by Sinead Moriarty suggesting that rising levels of STIs, abortion and depression among young people means we should look again at what our culture is telling young people about sex. She discussed the...
John Waters has written an excellent piece in the Irish Times about the disturbing case of an Italian woman who was forced to undergo a Caesarian section and had her child forcibly removed and given up for adoption against her will. He writes: “A pregnant woman, who travels from one European country to another to...
Marc Coleman had two interesting guests on his show on Sunday night arguing against gay adoption. One was Kate Bopp, a blogger who was also on Prime Time last week about the same issue. The other was Robert Oscar Lopez, a lecturer in English in the US who was raised by a lesbian couples and...
