The Center for Family and Society

“CULTURE & STRUCTURE”

Sutherland Institute’s Center for Family and Society exists to promote the family as the fundamental unit of society in Utah.

Family is the locus of the true common good. It results in healthier, happier, more productive, and more civically-engaged adults as well as healthier, happier, safer, and better educated children. Most serious public pathologies – including crime, delinquency, illegal drug use, domestic violence, long-term poverty, and low educational achievement – are closely associated with family breakdown and disorder. Family structure is infrastructure. All families have their troubles and problems, but the successful ones – those families that regularly and successfully cope with the trials of life – have good structures to support them. The breakdown of family structure often and necessarily becomes society’s problems. To help mitigate the growing costs associated with the breakdown of family structure, wise political leadership will keep its collective eye on promoting two-parent families linked by generations.

Key Areas of Focus for The Center for Family & Society

• Promote marriage as the union of a man and a woman
• Eliminate “no-fault” divorce in Utah
• Defend religious autonomy and religious expression in the public square
• Uphold a moral culture and local community standards
• Maintain the integrity of the natural family structure
• Protect the fundamental liberty interest of parents
• Encourage a culture that welcomes all people of good will to Utah
• Promote a culture that respects life and recognizes the natural family as the best setting to welcome and safeguard children