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Why natural marriage? You know: For kids

Why natural marriage? You know: For kids

Adam J. MacLeod

The Respectful Conversations project is an effort to bring together those who disagree about the most controversial issues, to state disagreements civilly and with mutual respect, and to achieve as much mutual understanding as possible. This month's discussion concerns how marriage should be defined in law. Perhaps no issue in contemporary public discourse today is less likely to lead to a respectful conversation.

I was invited to make the case for natural marriage. As I explain in this essay, the legal norms of marriage incorporate the natural norms of marriage not because Jews or Christians (or Muslims, or Greek philosophers, or…) say so but because marriage is for children. Specifically, natural marriage laws secure the right of each child to be connected to her mother and father.

Special pleading and anti-Catholic discrimination by the Massachusetts Superior Court
Blogs

Special pleading and anti-Catholic discrimination by the Massachusetts Superior Court

Adam J. MacLeod

As the NewBostonPost reported late last week, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled that Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic preparatory school, now has a legal duty to employ a man who identifies another man as his husband for employment purposes.

The Roman Catholic Church, like nearly all Protestant denominations, orthodox Jewish teaching, Sharia law, and every known civilization in the history of the world until the day before yesterday, understands marriage to be inherently the union of a man and a woman. The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston, who run Fontbonne Academy for the benefit of Boston's young girls and the greater community, share this view of marriage. As a matter of conscience, they understand themselves obligated not to act contrary to the truth about natural marriage.

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