In the latest Mapping America, adults in always-intact marriages who attend religious services at least weekly are the least likely to believe that most people try to take advantage of others.

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In the latest Mapping America, always-intact married adults are less likely than married, previously divorced adults and unmarried adults to believe that most people would try to take advantage of others.

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Recently, the ACLU of West Virginia has forgotten the Constitution and the rules of self-governance. For more check out wv4marriage.com.

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In the latest Mapping America, adults in always-intact marriages who attend religious services at least weekly are the least likely to report that they sometimes drink too much alcohol.

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This is the second video in our four part series.

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In the latest Mapping America, always-intact married adults are less likely than married, previously divorced adults and unmarried adults to report that they sometimes drink too much alcohol.

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In the latest Mapping America, adults in always-intact marriages who attend religious services at least weekly are the most likely to report that being married is personally very important to them

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In the latest Mapping America, married adults are more likely than unmarried adults to report that being married is personally very important to them.

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Survey shows that adults in always-intact marriages who attend religious services at least weekly are the most likely to believe in the importance of having their own children.

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Surveys show that married adults are more likely to be proud of the type of work they do, compared to single adults, whether divorced, separated, or never married.

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Here’s some articles that might be of interest.

• “Code words,” Emily Belz, WORLD Magazine
• “Bloomfield man fights cancer with his own stem cells,” Patti Singer, Democrat and Chronicle
• “Attacking the Defense of Marriage Act,” The Washington Times
• “Michigan panel to discuss stem cell research bills,” Associated Press
• “Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging stem cell rule,” Associated Press
• “MSU profs offer same-sex marriage solution,” Dawson Bell, The Detroit Free-Press
• “In Battle Over Gay Marriage, Timing May Be Key,” Adam Liptak, The New York Times
• “How Pro-life Dems Will Justify Voting for Taxpayer-funded Abortions,” Mike Brownfield, The Foundry
• “Anti-abortion protesters sue Milwaukee, saying civil rights were stifled,” Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Surveys show that adults in always-intact marriages who worship at least weekly are the least likely of all to have had adulterous sexual relations.

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Surveys show that adults who are currently married are less likely to have committed adultery than adults who are divorced or separated.

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Surveys show that of adults currently or previously married, those who attend religious services once a week or more are the least likely to have committed adultery.

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Some people believe that religious dogma is the only reason why anyone opposes same-sex marriage. Those who believe the human race began with Adam and Eve, and that their relationship was God’s model for marriage, believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. But those who don’t believe in the Bible, who think Adam and Eve are a myth, and who don’t accept a Christian view of the human person, have no reason to believe marriage is an opposite-sex union. Right?

Wrong. They should take a look at a front-page article in the Washington Post about the newest claim by evolutionary scientists. The scientists believe that a primate skeleton found in Ethiopia is that of a human ancestor—one that lived 4.4 million years ago. Almost at the end of this long piece, the article describes what C. Owen Lovejoy, an anthropologist at Kent State University, says about the social organization of this species:

The males, he argues, pair-bonded with females. Lovejoy sees male parental investment in the survival of offspring as a hallmark of the human lineage.

So, how long has marriage (i.e., “pair-bonding”) been a male-female union? About four million, four hundred thousand years, if this secular scientist is to be believed. And what was its purpose? To insure “male parental investment in the survival of offspring”—something which the advocates of same-sex “marriage” contend is now no longer necessary.

And what will we be discarding, if we change the definition of marriage from being a union of a man and a woman? Only “a hallmark of the human lineage.”

Marriage is not merely a religious institution, nor merely a civil institution. It is, rather, a natural institution, whose definition as the union of male and female is rooted in the order of nature itself. And it doesn’t take a Bible to prove it. In this case, evolutionary theory points to the exact same conclusion.

Washington Post:

‘Ardi’ May Rewrite the Story of Humans: 4.4 Million-Year-Old Primate Helps Bridge Evolutionary Gap (see third-to-last paragraph)

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Here’s some news articles of interest to help kick off Labor Day weekend.

• “Boston’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Says He Confronted Obama about Abortion in Health Care Plan at Ted Kennedy’s Funeral,” Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com
• “Gay Ice Cream?,” Elisabeth Meinecke, Human Events
• “Montana AG approves language for abortion restriction initiative,” Montana’s News Station.com
• “Jack Kevorkian Promotes Euthanasia Again, Al Pacino HBO Movie Out Next Year,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• “What Would Jesus Insure?,” Joseph Loconte, The Weekly Standard
• “Muslim teen fears for life after changing religion,” John Couwels, CNN
• “R-71 names still under wraps as judge weighs case,” Rachel La Corte, Seattle Times
• “Reformed Body Says Lutheran Gay Vote Does Not Impair Partnership,” Lillian Kwon, The Christian Post
• “Common grace,” Marcia Segelstein, WORLD Magazine
• “Two Huge Stem Cell Trials Are In The Works. Guess Which Type,” William Teach, Right Wing News
• “Missing Critical Thinking,” Shane Vander Hart, Caffeinated Thoughts

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Here’s a compilation of articles for your reading pleasure.

• “Maine gay marriage opponents submit challenges,” Associated Press (July 31, 2009)

“Leaders of the Stand for Marriage campaign said Friday they collected more than 100,000 signatures of registered Maine voters. Cartons containing the petitions have been turned into the secretary of state’s office to be certified.”

• “The Case for Early Marriage,” Mark Regnerus, Christianity Today (July 31, 2009)

“If you think it’s difficult to be pro-life in a pro-choice world, or to be a disciple of Jesus in a sea of skeptics, try advocating for young marriage. Almost no one empathizes, even among the faithful. The nearly universal hostile reaction to my April 23, 2009, op-ed on early marriage in The Washington Post suggests that to esteem marriage in the public sphere today is to speak a foreign language: you invoke annoyance, confusion, or both.”

• “Stimulus Bill Funds Go to Art Houses Showing ‘Pervert’ Revues, Underground Pornography,” Joseph Abrams, Fox News (July 30, 2009)

“The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night “pervert” revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco.”

• “Liberal and Conservative Senators Unite on Bill to Reinstate D.C. School Vouchers,” Adam Brickley, CNSNews.com (July 31, 2009)

“A bipartisan group of senators announced Thursday that they plan to introduce legislation to revive the District of Columbia’s recently terminated D.C. Opportunity Scholarship school-voucher program.”

• “Portugal’s high court keeps gay marriage ban,” Barry Hatton, Associated Press (July 31, 2009)
• “Researchers May Have Found Equivalent of Embryonic Stem Cells,” Rob Stein, The Washington Post (July 24, 2009)
• “UF scientists program blood stem cells to become vision cells,” University of Florida News (July 30, 2009)

“University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people.”

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In the latest Mapping America, adults who grew up living with both biological parents are less likely ever to be divorced or separated than those who did not.

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Surveys show that adults who frequently attended religious services as adolescents are less likely ever to be divorced or separated than those who did not.

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Here’s what we are reading today.

• “Students Embed Stem Cells in Sutures to Enhance Healing,” PhysOrg.com (July 20, 2009)

“Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students have demonstrated a practical way to embed a patient’s own adult stem cells in the surgical thread that doctors use to repair serious orthopedic injuries such as ruptured tendons. The goal, the students said, is to enhance healing and reduce the likelihood of re-injury without changing the surgical procedure itself.”

• “Mayo Clinic calls House plan bad medicine,” Christina Bellantoni and Jennifer Haberkorn, The Washington Times (July 21, 2009)

“A world-renowned clinic that President Obama held up as an example of good medicine said Monday that the American people would be “losers” under the House’s health care proposal, joining the growing chorus of critics the Obama administration is trying to fend off as the debate intensifies from Capitol Hill to Main Street.”

• “Neural stem cells offer potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” PhysOrg.com (July 20, 2009)

“If you look at Alzheimer’s, it’s not the plaques and tangles that correlate best with dementia; it’s the loss of synapses – connections between neurons,” Blurton-Jones said. “The neural stem cells were helping the brain form new synapses and nursing the injured neurons back to health.”

• “Health Bill Might Direct Tax Money to Abortion,” Robert Pear and Adam Liptak, The New York Times (July 19, 2009)

“Peter R. Orszag, the White House budget director, asked whether he was prepared to say that “no taxpayer money will go to pay for abortions,” answered: “I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It’s obviously a controversial issue, and it’s one of the questions that is playing out in this debate.”

• “Mail policy questioned at jail,” Tracy Bell, Stafford County Sun (July 21, 2009)

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia in conjunction with several other ally groups, late last week demanded that officials at the Rappahannock Regional Jail immediately cease censoring religious material sent to prisoners.”

• “Young Americans plan to be married,” Cheryl Wetzstein, The Washington Times (July 19, 2009)

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