Defending Marriage With Ryan Anderson, Part 1

This is family policy matter program is produced by the North Carolina family policy Council of profamily research and education organization dedicated to strengthening and preserving the family and here's John Rushton, president of the North Carolina family policy Council thinking of doing this we profamily policy matter in the next two episodes of this program we're going to feature extra from a powerful presentation on the fundamental importance to our culture of marriage remaining the union of one man and one woman presentation was given by the noted scholar and writer Ron Anderson Carolina family policy Council's major speaker series dinner in Raleigh this spring. Ron Anderson is the William E. Simon fellow at the Heritage foundation in Washington DC and is the editor of the journal public discourse as you will hear the following presentation. Ron is one of the most articulate and winsome defenders of traditional marriage in our nation today in the following two part series.

Ron gives one of the most compelling arguments about the importance of our society, recognizing and maintaining marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

We hope you enjoy it now.

Ryan Anderson is seen as a marriage debate right now where it is where it is where it's going and what role we play in shaping this debate the other side wants to say that the definition of marriage is all of the other side wants to save the people in this room are on the wrong side of history. Those predictions only come true if the people in this room except those as truths, people in this room to push back on those predictions that history has no power, apart from the actions that people like us choose to. There's no right or wrong side of history is right or wrong side of the truth in each one of us has an obligation to do what we can to know the other side has a very catchy slogan.

They say they're in favor of marriage equality and freedom to marry his catchy slogan over these because they both are site doesn't have as good of a catchphrase we don't have as good of the logo is on our side and that something something is marriage a quality and freedom to marry. Are we vacuous phrases they say nothing. I would imagine that everyone in this room is in favor of marriage equality. If you find marriage correctly. I would imagine everyone in this room is in favor of the freedom to marry. If you find marriage correctly so these slogans completely debate the question of what is marriage only if you know what marriage is. Can you say whether any particular marriage policy is treating marriage equally or not only no marriages can you know any given marriage law is preventing someone freedom to marry because every marriage policy, whether it's between same-sex couples or opposite sex couples will draw certain lines when using marriage and what isn't one of those lines to be based on principle. You want those lines to reflect the truth. You have to be Nancy able to answer a more foundational question what is that we have a disagreement.

No one is against marriage equality, no one is against freedom to marriage is simply defined the word marriage differently, which is the state's view of marriage based on a sound apology based on sound sociology governments in the marriage business to have a man and a woman committed to each other permanently and exclusively as husband and wife so the nature of that union may produce access to the care of the attention of the married mother and father that the states interest marriage. It's not because the state cares about romance, not because the state cares about your life for my love life. The reason the states in the marriage business is it because he cares about romance or love cares about children and the cares of catching children to the man and the woman who helped create child.

This is my understanding marriage is based on logical sure that men and women are distinct and complementary biological fact that it requires a man and a woman to produce a child face of the social reality that children deserve a mother and father that unites a man a woman as husband and wife is the same. Create new life that the lawmaking act is also the life giving this tells us something about that relationship.

You begin to explain why the state takes an interest in this relationship. In a way that it doesn't take an interest in other relationships so consenting adults are free to live in the love how they want to they don't need the government's permission. They don't need a government certificate but why does the state care about this type of consenting adult relationship because of the capacity it has to create new life and the ability that it has two attached at new life with his mother and father. Now, whenever a child is born, a mother will always be close by that fact of biology. She's normally in the same room question from culture and therefore the question for all his father be close by, and if so for how long that marriage is the institution that different societies throughout history and across the globe, not just the state of North Carolina up until the year 2000. Throughout history and across the globe define marriage as a man and a woman and they did so to maximize the likelihood that Batman commits to that and take responsibility for raising a child, so that's a basic overview of what marriage is policy standpoint why the government defines marriage the way he does why governments in the marriage is because our politicians want to make sure that as many children as possible are conceived, born and raised by the man and the woman who gave life.

Why does this matter and I think the best way of answering that question is with the quotation you read you something and then ask you who the speaker was. We know this is a six that children who grow up without a father are five times more like to live in poverty and commit crime nine times more likely to drop schools in 20 times more likely to end up they are more likely to have behavioral problems or run away from home will become teenage parents themselves in the foundations of our community are weaker because of it. Who was the speaker. Pres. Obama yesterday.

That's why marriage matters. If you look at how marriage impacts the whole community, how it impacts the children out impacts the spouses. The last line the foundations of our community are weaker because marriages fail to form in the first place really break apart. We seen it over the past 50 years. 50 years ago for this to single mothers were in single digits.

The phenomenon of single parenting wasn't in existence more or less every American child was born and raised by their married mother and father today. That rate is 40% of all Americans are born outside of marriage.

50% of Hispanics and over 70% of African-Americans. The statistics speak for themselves what we see is that with the breakdown of the American family. Over the past 40 or 50 years. This is one child poverty rates.

This is when crime increases. This is when social mobility decreases. This is when welfare spending explodes.

We now spend more than $1 trillion each year on means tested government welfare programs so everything you hear about if you care about social justice and you hear a limited government, if you care about the poor, and you care about freedom is better served by healthy marriage culture remarriages do the work that they're supposed to do and you don't have the government trying to pick up the pieces of a broken marriage culture in the form of a police state, or the form of a welfare state.

That's why marriage matters. You can define marriage as a man or woman husband-and-wife mother and father say that marriage matters what does any of this have to do with letting same-sex couples be, how is allowing Adam and Steve marriage license going to impact you or your marriage or impact society at all. What is the harm three brief answers that question say that these are the sorts of challenges you will face with family and friends and all three of these answers fall under the general rubric of ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have bad consequences. Let me say that the first is that if you were to redefine marriage to save the union of any two consenting adults. You have no institution left public policy, then all hell even as an ideal that every child has a right to a mother and father. When the law would be teaching. Is that true moms to dad's the same thing as a mom that mothers and fathers are interchangeable that men and women are substitutional to be very hard for there to be any sort of public argument saying that the child deserves a mother and father when that's been reduced to hate speech. So even though you won't have a public institution like the law and public policy teaching that marriage is about men and women, husbands and wives, mothers, fathers, it would even increasingly difficult for civil society institutions for churches to say that that's what marriage is about to see. The children deserve a mother and a father been reduced to animus or bigotry or hate speech will be teaching if we were to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples to be teaching that men and women are interchangeable that mothers and fathers are substitutional and be very hard to insist that fathers are essential in the loss redefine marriage to make fathers optional and the biggest social problem we face today is 40% for single mothers for all Americans, 50% for Hispanics 70% for African-Americans and it has all the social pathologies terms of crime, welfare, educational attainment, employment, all these things, how will will teach that fathers are essential.

How we address the central social ill when the loss redefine marriage to make fathers optional first counselor will teach about marriage and will or even be an ideal of every child deserving a married mother and father. There's no reason to think the redefinition of marriage would stop here. If marriage is just about adult romance.

If you want to redefine marriage to same-sex couple to make it about adult romance. Why does it have to be only between two people. Three. People can love each other.

All of the same arguments that you can make in favor of redefining marriage is the same-sex couple, you can make the same-sex or the opposite sex quartet because the way that we got to monogamy in the Western Wall and cultures is one man and one woman who can unite and act that can produce new life in every new life has one mother and one father.

What you say that your irrational arbitrary and big with magical number two Florida norms of marriage and sexual complementarity, monogamy, sexual exclusivity, permanency is easy to see that once you get rid of the complementarity you don't have a sure foundation for keeping the other three forms. It's harder to see why it should be a monogamous relationship. If it's not male-female wife should be sexually exclusive. It's not uniting a male and female type of relationship that create new life. Why is relationship if it's just about adult romance, adult romance and wax and wane feelings in common.

They can go.

Why should have that stability and solidity permanency if it's only about adult is the second answer the question of you. What are the consequences of redefining marriage. The first is that you eliminate this ideal. You eliminate the teaching function of the wallet child deserves a mother and father. The second is that there will be a stopping point.

It will dissolve the institution of marriage into simple contract law you've been looking for. What brought in April 2014 speech on the fundamental nature and importance of marriage which was presented at the North Carolina family policy Council major speaker series dinner in Raleigh.

I encourage you to tune into family policy matters next week. Report to this presentation.

You can also view a video of Ryan's pool on the North Carolina family policy Council website into family.org. Thanks so much for was family policy matters is information and analysis North Carolina family policy Council discussion on policy issues affecting the family. If you have questions or comments. 919708 visit our website