January 23, 2009
Speaker: Family is key component of society, marriage is basis
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
The presentation is on “Mar-riage: Where Love and Life Transform the World,” and the advertising flyer poses a question: “Changing the World from your Bedroom?”
David Blankenhorn will be the main speaker at the event, Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the University of South-ern Indiana. He is the founder and president of the Institute for American Values, headquartered in New York.
Blankehorn didn’t write the advertising copy, but in a telephone interview Jan. 20, he said he agreed with the notion that a good marriage can transform the world.
“The family is our primary social institution, the institution that most strongly influences all society,” Blankenhorn said. And in all societies, “Mar-riage is the basis of the family, the basis of our seedbed institution.”
“When that works right, it does have a very powerful radiating effect. It radiates out, through children, and through the example that is set. It’s like the wind blowing through.”
Blankenhorn said that a marriage can transform the world. “It radiates through the couple, affecting others around the couple. It is not something you can achieve on your own, it is something that flows through you.”
Blankenhorn’s presentation “will use social science research to illustrate the importance of the institution of marriage,” according to Jim Collins, director of Catholic Charities in the diocese and one of the event’s co-sponsors. “The presentation will emphasize the dignity and importance of marriage for a healthy society.”
Blankenhorn said marriage is “a key component of society” and he will talk “about marriage and why it matters.”
Looking at current economic news, he said he may focus on some of the economic realities of marriage, which is “a multi-faceted, multi-purpose institution.”
Blankenhorn’s presentation will be followed by responses from three panelists: Vince Ber-tram, superintendent of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation; Rev. William W. Simmons, a pastor of an Evansville church, and Sheriff Eric Williams of Vanderburgh Coun-ty. Randy Moore, news anchor from Fox 7 WTVW will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
Blankenhorn said it is important to have well-trained teachers and good facilities, but “What is often overlooked, especially in the United States, is the strength of families.”
Social science research shows that the “family structure is fairly predictive of educational outcomes” in regard to grades, drop out rates and all of the measurements of educational success.
The family system “is the undergirding of the educational system. The weaker your family sytem, the weaker will be the outcomes of your educational system. Conversely a strong family system will tend to produce stronger educational outcomes.”
In regard to the criminal justice system, Blankenhorn said, “I never met anyone in law enforcement or in the judicial system who did not know the importance of the family structure — particularly the absence of fathers.”
“If you are going to have a society of absent fathers, you are going to have a society with more prisons.”
Blankenhorn said the first article he had written for publication came out in 1985, and referred to a very popular television show at that time. His article was entitled, “Cosby for President.” Blankenhorn liked the program because it did not denigrate men, but rather de-picted a wonderful father, a wonderful husband. There’s a message for all of America.
Blankenhorn is among a group of people working to establish a National Center for African American Marriage and Families, at Hampton Uni-versity in Virginia. “There is a growing recognition that this is a pretty urgent problem,” Blankenhorn said. “But things can improve and things have improved.”
Blankenhorn has written a book on “The Future of Mar-riage,” largely written “to de-fend the traditional man-woman basis of marriage.” A paperback edition of the book is nearing publication, and an introduction to the book has been written by Jonathan Rauch, a prominent proponent of gay marriage.
Blankenhorn and Rauch have had a public “conversation — not a debate” on the topic of gay marriage. “We are trying to model a conversation, acknowledging that each side has points to make.”
In a commentary published in the Los Angeles Times prior to the vote in California on a gay marriage ban, Blankenhorn said he tried to make the case for a liberal point of view. He said the rights of a child, embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the legal right of a child to be known by mother and father. “If we want to expand the role of choice for adults in marriage, we diminish the rights of a child,” and “when rights conflict, our usual ethical choice is to pay attention to the rights of the weaker, which would be the child.”
The event at USI is being sponsored by St. Mary’s Medi-cal Center, and co-sponsored by Catholic Charities, the Christian Family Movement, Community Marriage Builders and USI Catholic Campus Ministry.