The Family & the Market, an Acton University lecture by Jennifer Roback Morse, uses Christian theology and logic to illustrate unique connections between seemingly unrelated aspects of society, at least to the secular world. Morse is the founder and president of the Ruth Institute, where she discovered that the economy depends on the intact family raising children. This Institute has a dream: that every child is welcomed into a loving home with a married mother and father. Their goal is to create a lasting and Christ-like social movement, and to clean up the consequences of the Sexual Revolution.
Students in this course learn the importance of both parents raising their own children together, as opposed to divorcing, sharing custody, or placing children in foster care. This is vital in order to “respect, honor, and preserve” the genetic identity and cultural heritage of every adult, without exception. Morse emphasizes that when this practice is violated, it gives way to structural injustice and the political correctness of “Alternative Family Forms.” These terms, such as multi-partner fertility, are indicators of our broken reality, and of life problems for children in these environments, mainly, stirring up feelings of resentment in an unloved child.
Morse goes on to further define the Sexual Revolution, or the secular belief that a good and decent society should: separate sex from babies, separate both sex and babies from marriage, and eliminate all differences from men and women except those explicitly chosen by the individual. We can now create babies without sex, and our society propagates hook-up, divorce, and affair culture. Morse believes the agenda of the Sexual Revolution has, all along, been largely based upon the third point, to “re-construct” identities that were merely “social constructs” in the first place. If gender distinctions are eliminated, then any form of parenting, no matter how broken, can function according to this model.
However, we know this to be impossible, false, and untrue. It is irrational, irresponsible, and ultimately would require force and propaganda to stand on its own. Children really do require both a mother and father. Morse drew attention to a popular argument in the divorce culture: “Children are resilient and tougher than we give them credit for.” She responded in kind with a hard-hitting comment exposing the selfish nature of such a claim: “Parents are precious little snowflakes that will fade and die if they don’t get what they want, and children are supposed to be resilient? No.”
With so many children feeling unwanted and unloved, and with donor conceived people feeling like purchased objects and property, we need to focus on all issues the Sexual Revolution encompasses. When others do not hear our arguments, Christians need to practice healing friendship, be shining examples to those who are struggling, and above all, show deep and authentic compassion. Morse left her audience with a comforting message of hope: “Heal yourself, heal others, and heal the culture, because the Church will last, justice will last, and friendship and love will last.”
