Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Equality is a popular concept. Many people believe that it is the most important concept when it comes to marriage policy. The appeal to equality is an appeal to justice. Have you ever wondered how to use this popular concept to defend marriage as only being between one man and one woman (natural marriage)? Did you know that Christian social conservatives probably believe in equality but don't realize it? How many more people might be willing to defend natural marriage openly if they could do so by harnessing this important concept? Let author Jennifer Johnson of the Ruth Institute walk you through her life story to explain how the ideal of equality can be employed to defend natural marriage. It is important to engage people by using concepts that they already care about. If you are a Christian social conservative who wants to defend natural marriage in a more robust way, this book will help you do just that.
Synopsis
In November of 2008,
Jennifer Johnson did not vote Yes on California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Raised by divorced parents since the age of three, and vaguely aware that something was wrong with how her post-divorce "family" was structured, her life was marked by constant turmoil as she tried to reconcile her conscious need to "be resilient" with her buried feelings of anger and loneliness. As a young adult, she sought consolation through an arranged marriage in a controlling Gnostic personality cult, yet healing from her past remained a mystery until she discovered the Catholic Church's teachings on sex and marriage later in life.
In this memoir, Johnson chronicles her journey in her defense of natural marriage. The story starts in 2013 with an inspiration about God's design for the family. She applied this inspiration to her own childhood family situation and other forms of so-called "family diversity" with striking results. She identifies several ways that children who are raised outside of the marriage of their own mother and father experience inequality. Johnson's lifelong search to explain her chaotic and painful childhood comes full circle in her realization that the ancient Christian teachings on sex and marriage provide more justice to children than any of the alternatives.
Her book is for anyone who cares about children and family policy, anyone who believes that equality is an important ideal, and anyone who wants to connect the pro-life movement with the pro-marriage movement in a deeper way. It is also for those who want to understand why accusations of discrimination made against the Catholic Church in regards to its historic teachings on sex and marriage are shallow and misguided.