Pro-life prize

Awards Totaling Up to $600K to Honor Pro-Life Heroes

A pro-life foundation announced that it plans to give away up to $600,000 in awards to leaders and groups that have significantly advanced the culture of life. Up to six individuals or groups will be recognized with the "Norinne A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Pro-Life Prize."

Thu, Jul. 10, 2008

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A pro-life foundation announced on Tuesday that it plans to give away up to $600,000 in awards to leaders and groups that have significantly advanced the culture of life.

The Gerald Health Foundation said it will recognize up to six individuals or groups with the "Norinne A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Pro-Life Prize," created to honor the parents of pro-life philanthropist Raymond B. Ruddy.

"Our primary objective is to reward those who are preserving the culture of life through their charitable enterprises or through advocacy programs that defend and preserve the sanctity of human life," says attorney Cathy Ruse, executive director of Life Prize.

Ruse, who serves as a senior fellow of legal studies for Family Research Council, said the foundation hopes the prizes will also inspire young people to join the pro-life movement.

While executive director of Students for Life of America Kristan Hawkins noted the already "incredible momentum" going into the younger pro-life movement, she believes the prizes will "transform that momentum into inspiration for today’s teenagers, college students and young professionals."

More than 100 pro-life leaders received nomination packets this week. They have until August 15 to submit their choice of candidates. Nominees will be evaluated by their advances in public advocacy, scientific research, outreach and public disclosure activities, legal action or other noteworthy achievements, according to the foundation.

Life Prizes winners will be announced in October and officially receive their awards during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., held in conjunction with Students for Life of America’s annual conference in January 2009.

The initiative has received the blessings of many pro-life figures including Dr. Jack Willke, president of Life Issues Institute and former president of National Right to Life Committee, who says he's thrilled for the new program.

“The Life Prizes program will elevate the pro-life commitment in remembering the significant victories we have achieved and demonstrates that there are many fruits to be harvested by the next generation in carrying the pro-life torch and taking the movement to a new level," he stated.

Lawrence Jones
Christian Post Reporter

Are "faith-based fathers" more effective?

Study: Christianity makes men better husbands, fathers

- OneNewsNow - 6/30/2008 8:30:00 AM

VIRGINIA - In a research brief this month, Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, analyzed three national studies in order to discover if "there is any evidence that religion is playing a role in encouraging a strong family orientation among contemporary American men?" His research led him to conclude that men who regularly attend Christian services are engaged in happier and stronger marriages and are more involved in the lives of their children than men who do not.

"Seventy percent of husbands who attend church regularly report they are 'very happy' in their marriages, compared to 59 percent of husbands who rarely or never attend church," explained Wilcox, who also said that the studies indicated that wives experienced more marital happiness when their husbands attended regular religious services. This is likely one significant reason why the studies showed that married couples who attended regular Christian services were approximately 35 percent less likely to divorce then those couples who did not.

Wilcox's research also looked at the effect religion has on the relationships between fathers and their children. Fathers who attended regular Christian services spent an average of two more hours a week engaged in youth-activities with their children than fathers who did not attend regular services. Christian fathers also spent more one-on-one time with their children and were 65 percent more likely to hug and praise their children.

The studies also found that children born inside of wedlock had much more "involved, affectionate, and consistent relationships" with their fathers. This is an important statistic given Wilcox's findings that church-attending men are more likely to have children inside of wedlock then non-church-going men.

Wilcox concluded his research brief by strongly advocating the positive effects that religion has on husbands and fathers: "This brief provides an array of evidence indicating that religion is an answer to the male problematic - that is, the tendency of fathers to become detached, emotionally or physically, from their children and the mothers of their children. I find that fathers who are religious, and who have partners who are religious, are - on average - more likely to be happily married, to be engaged and affectionate parents, and to get and stay married to the mothers of their children."

The research report comes from The Center for Marriage and Families, which is based at the Institute for American Values, and was commissioned by the National Fatherhood Initiative under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.