Marriage is so essential to human happiness and to the organization of human society that it simply cannot be ignored or denied.

It seems that many human beings will abandon their moral principles when faced with the opportunity to commit adultery. Ashley Madison exists to create even more of those opportunities.

Americans are accustomed to a certain kind of public confession, argues Susan Wise Bauer — and that means a confession that is shaped by the Christian faith. Indeed, in her seminal book, The Art of the Public Grovel, Bauer argues that Americans are actually accustomed to a public confession that she describes as Augustinian.

The year 2009 is still very close in the rear-view mirror, and what a year it was. The year was significant for any number of reasons, including the fact that it marked so many anniversaries.  2009 marked the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock and the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A good many young Americans see both as ancient history.

The travail of Tiger Woods entered a new chapter over the weekend as Accenture, a global consulting firm, severed all ties with the world’s most famous golfer. In doing so, Accenture became the first of Woods’s major sponsors to end its relationship with him. It is not likely to be the last.

Americans attempting to reconcile President Clinton’s sex scandals with his membership in a Baptist church received a little assistance from the November 2 1998 issue of Newsweek magazine. The newsmagazine presented an analysis of the President as “Bill the Baptist.” It goes a long way toward explaining the President - and the transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention.

In one of the strangest political reverses in history, the 1998 elections have been turned into a referendum on the Religious Right and the Republican Congress. Democratic leaders, on cue from the White House, have successfully turned the tables on conservatives by portraying President Clinton as the victim of a moralistic witch hunt.

Just as the skies of Baghdad were illuminated by detonating cruise missles and America braced itself for the impeachment of the President, high drama has turned to melodrama and farce. Speaker-elect Bob Livingston’s forced admission of adultery has underlined the lack of moral credibility which evidently poses no barrier to high office in American government. Americans have every right to ask: Is there no one in Washington who can keep his pants on?

The sad spectacle of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford continues to dominate the headlines as further revelations add one bizarre twist after another to the governor’s tale of adultery, deceit, and the consequences of sin. With every passing day, pressure mounts for the governor to resign. As the revelations unfold, his leadership credibility is further destroyed. The people of South Carolina now look to their governor’s mansion with a sense of dread and embarrassment.