The logical case for same-sex marriage seems nearly ineluctable today. In the course of the past three decades, American state laws have effectively reduced marriage to a terminal sexual contract between consenting adults. Prenuptial and separation contracts allow parties to define their own rights and duties within the marital estate and thereafter. Unilateral no-fault divorce statutes have reduced marital dissolution to a formality. Lump sum marital property exchanges provide many divorcing parties with a clean break to marry anew. Criminal prosecutions for fornication, adultery, polygamy, and other classic sexual crimes have largely fallen aside. Free speech laws protect all manner of sexual expression, short of obscenity. Privacy laws protect all manner of sexual conduct, short of exploitation of children or abuse of others. Given such generous freedoms of marriage and sexual privacy, many states may feel hard pressed to resist the next logical step to legalize same-sex marriages.
Emory University¿s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion (CISR) is embarking on a two-year project on "Sex, Marriage and Family Life" that is bringing together scholars from across the university to examine issues ranging from interfaith marriage to American divorce laws, from same-sex unions to the roots of monogamy.
CSLR Director John Witte, Jr. will discuss the Biblical foundations of covenant marriage and use these foundations to propose new ideas for today¿s context, July 21 at St. Marks College in North Adelaide, Australia. This new martial theory balances traditional ideals of responsible marriage and parenthood with new constitutional norms of sexual liberty and domestic autonomy.
A newly released second edition of CSLR Director John Witte, Jr.¿s ground-breaking book on Western marriage offers hope for restoring family life in America.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to release its decision on two monumental same-sex marriage cases in the next few weeks, the implications of the Court¿s decision for American Christianity is at the fore of many conversations. Diverging understandings of the purpose of marriage threaten to divide Christians across the globe as groups from both sides look to scripture and tradition to buttress their claims.
CSLR Senior Fellow Michael J. Perry recently spoke on one of the nation's most contentious issues -- same-sex marriage as a human right -- at King College in Bristol, Tenn, where he was a featured speaker of the Buechner Institute Lecture Series.
Emory University law professor John Witte, Jr. has been named the Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. Appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, Witte is serving during the summer and fall of 2012.
Senior Fellow M. Christian Green recently published an article entitled `There but for the Grace¿: The Ethics of Bystanders to Divorce' in Propositions, a newsletter produced by the Center for Public Conversation of the Institute for American Values.
Catholic bishops have been in the news lately saying that the federal mandate that private insurers cover contraceptive services violates religious freedom.
While many look to the Bible for guidance on matters of morality, including marriage and divorce, Professor Luke Timothy Johnson says mining the good book for what is ¿permissible¿ may be shortsighted.