Date: Thursday and Friday, March 19-20
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center, BYU
Cost: Free, open to the public
Full Schedule: wheatley.byu.edu
Details: Though the social and political definition of the family has been debated in recent years, research in the social sciences as well as theory and philosophy continues to demonstrate the necessity of the traditional, conjugal family unit. Six scholars and researchers, who study the family, will show evidence in support of the family's role in personal development and community stability at the Wheatley Roundtable on Family at BYU this week.
The BYU Wheatley Institution is hosting this two-day conference to give the community an opportunity to hear from prominent scholars who study the role and importance of the family in modern society.
The topics they will address range from the demographic decline of the family, the ethics of assisted reproductive technologies, marital intimacy and marital education and the influence of legislation on the family unit. The speakers come from a variety of academic backgrounds:
- Brad Wilcox, National Marriage Project, "Marriage Makes the Man: How Marriage Makes Men Work Harder, Smarter, and More Successfully"
- Jason Carroll, BYU Professor of Family Life and Fellow at the Wheatley Institution, "Ready or Not? The Rise of Paradoxical Preparation for Marriage"
- Scott Stanley, Center for Marital and Family Studies, "Sliding vs. Deciding Cohabitation, Relationship Development, and Commitment"
- Samuel Sturgeon, demographer, "Is the Family Really at Risk?: Exampining Demographic Trends in Family Decline"
- Melissa Moschella, philosophy department at the Catholic University of America, "What's Wrong with Reproductive Technologies?"
- J. Budziszewski, University of Texas, "The Natural Laws of Sex"