A pro-family organization says it was surprised to learn that "American Girl Magazine" has decided to step into the culture war in favor of homosexuality. A pro-family organization says it was surprised to learn that "American Girl Magazine" has decided to step into the culture war in favor of homosexuality. "American Girl," owned by toy manufacturer Mattel, featured a picture of a family with two dads in an article about adoption.

It’s been a good month for champions of the traditional family, but don’t expect the family wars to be ending any time soon. In recent weeks, a barrage of new evidence has come to light demonstrating what was once common sense. “Family structure matters” (in the words of my American Enterprise Institute colleague Brad Wilcox, who is also the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia).

Is there a connection between strong families and a thriving economy? A new study, “Strong Families, Prosperous States,” takes a step toward answering the question. “Despite the clear economic gains associated with strong families at the individual level, economists across the ideological spectrum have failed to investigate whether strong families increase economic growth,” co-authors Brad Wilcox, Joseph Price, and Robert Lerman write in the report from the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies.

There is no longer a common American living experience. There is no longer even the possibility of consensus around the the proper role of government in American lives. The decline of the family is altering American life so profoundly that the two parties are increasingly forced to choose the demographic groups they aim to serve, and to win elections by mobilizing and turning out those groups rather than persuading undecided voters.

Planned Parenthood claims to represent the welfare and interests of women, but how do the facts and figures add up? Live Action created some helpful graphics to illustrate the fact that most Americans do not depend on Planned Parenthood.

The West has moved from marriage-centered societies to post-Christian anarchy...

There is a story gaining steam among some academics that suggests the institution of marriage -- particularly marriage for parents of young children -- could play an important role in strengthening the American economy. It is a story about growth and poverty, about responsibility and work ethic. And largely, it is a story about men.

"The science is settled." It's becoming an incessant catchphrase. More and more frequently, this simple statement is used as conversational pepper-spray to discourage contention and dissuade any who would continue to press their objection to the status quo. Those foolhardy enough to persist in their dissent are often labeled science-deniers; which, in today's culture of scientism, is tantamount to being branded with the Scarlet Periodic Symbol and cast from the village.

You may have heard some in the media say that the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage has finally settled the divisive issue of marriage. The courts have now determined that both genders are no longer necessary in...

Christian ethicist Russell Moore has said that congregations too afraid of being political to speak out against acts of immorality, like abortion, are similar to churches in the 1800s that remained silent on the issue of slavery. As the featured speaker at the Institute on Religion and Democracy's fifth annual Diane Knippers memorial lecture, Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, criticized mainstream Christian congregations that have relaxed their teachings on key issues of sexual morality and other social issues in order to blend in with the "ambient culture" and appeal to today's society.

The public is being cautioned not to place a great deal of faith in a new study that suggests the existence of a "gay gene." Observers may also want to consider the source: a researcher who himself is gay.

In an article in the Journal of Law and Religion, Law Professor Helen Alvare of George Mason University, examines  the inevitable clash between new legal rights to sexual expression and our constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. According...

Allowing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) would be a grave mistake for four reasons, as explained in a Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, “Always Care, Never Kill.”[1] First, it would endanger the weak and vulnerable. Second, it would corrupt the practice of medicine and the doctor–patient relationship. Third, it would compromise the family and intergenerational commitments. And fourth, it would betray human dignity and equality before the law. Instead of helping people to kill themselves, we should offer them appropriate medical care and human presence.

When a decorated soldier was told to turn a blind eye from intervening in the case of a child who was being repeatedly raped and beaten, he knew it was an order he had to refuse. Now, doing the right thing will cost him his career.

I had the privilege a few weeks ago of speaking together with Anthony Esolen at the Illinois Family Institute. His talk was fantastic — he has the kind of subtlety that is vigorous, lively, understandable, and brave. He is not...