November 18, 2004 - Volume 2, Issue 44

Can Marriage Be Saved?

Christianity Today magazine recently posed the question of whether the institution of marriage can be saved. According to Tim Stafford, author of the article, "Marriage is in trouble in America, assaulted by a fearful divorce rate, soaring cohabitation, sex and childbearing increasingly detached from wedlock, and now, thanks to gay activists, a fundamental redefining."

Stafford highlights his experiences from a recent Smart Marriages conference he attended. To read the full article, click here.

Proposal 2 Opposition Continues

A group of about 100 pro-gay marriage activists gathered at the Capitol in Lansing this week to protest passage of Proposal 2. Attendees decried Michigan’s "discrimination" against homosexual unions, and said that America is all about "individual rights," which they said Proposal 2 violates.

A local news station covering the story interviewed MFF Executive Director Brad Snavely. Snavely gave clear balance to the protestors’ outrageous claims saying that Michigan’s citizens spoke loud and clear in support of traditional marriage on November 2. To read the entire news story, click here.

Marriage Fact – Marriage is Good for the Heart

The life-protecting effects of marriage stand out clearly in a study recently published by a team of epidemiologists from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, San Francisco.

The researchers ran a series of statistical analyses correlating mortality rates with marital status and with Social Network scores derived from a survey inventory of family and friendship relationships. In these analyses, "both higher social network scores and marriage at study baseline were potent predictors of lower total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality across follow-up. These benefits were largely independent of demographic variables, pre-existing disease, and other psychosocial measures."

(Source: "Long-Lived Women," New Research, Volume 17, Number 11; November 2003, a Howard Center abstract of Thomas Rutledge et al., "Social Networks and Marital Status Predict Mortality in Older Women: Prospective Evidence from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures," Psychosomatic Medicine 65 [2003]: 688-694.)

Michigan Christian Radio Station Seeks to "Tell the Truth" About Gambling

WUFN, part of the Family Life Radio network, recently received information from the Michigan Lottery encouraging them to share winning lottery information with their listeners. The station is seeking instead to share the exact opposite.

Station manager Robert Parsons has asked the lottery to provide information on how many tickets are sold, versus the number of actual winners, so the station can instead let listeners know how many people lost. To read the full story, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Michigan Family Forum staff would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the next issue of Forum Online will be sent Thursday, December 2. Have a blessed and happy holiday!

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Forum Online

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Executive Director: Brad Snavely

Editor: Jon Stanton

Questions? E-mail us: info@michiganfamily.org

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