Bangor, Maine - If your spouse didn’t remember who you were, would it be unethical to have a physical relationship with another person?
Societal norms about the cultural institutions of marriage and fidelity continue to be challenged. For example, fewer people are getting married. Bowling Green State University's National Center for Marriage and Family Research found that the U.S. marriage rate is currently 31.1, or 31 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women. By comparison, the national marriage rate was 92.3 in 1920. Is the expectation of fidelity that comes with a monogamous relationship one of the reasons why fewer people are getting married? This is one possibility. Roughly, half of all marriages end in divorce and infidelity is not uncommon. According to the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41 percent of spouses admit to engaging in either physical or emotional infidelity at some point during their marriage.
This begs the question, “What does “fidelity” mean in today’s culture and how do we maintain relational integrity in our intimate connections?”
These and other issues related to intimacy and relationships will be the focus of Husson University’s Annual
Ethics Symposium on Monday, March 31 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business on the institution’s campus in Bangor, Maine.
“In an age when people are reluctant to get married and children are raised in loving homes by committed unmarried partners, some wonder if the practice of “fidelity” needs to be re-examined,
while others are looking for ways to strengthen the institution of marital monogamy,” said Cliff Guthrie, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the School of Science and Humanities at Husson University. “This ethics symposium will ask the hard questions. Our goal is to engage individuals and stimulate thoughtful discussions in the hope that participants can find good answers for themselves. But as so often is the case with ethical discussions, even within good answers, people can differ.”
Sharing his thoughts on fidelity with symposium participants will be Marvin M. Ellison, Ph.D., a social ethicist and author of Making Love Just: Sexual Ethics for Perplexing Times (Fortress Press, 2012). His keynote address will examine whether fidelity as monogamous physical exclusivity is a settled expectation despite cultural change.
More About Dr. Marvin Ellison:
Marvin M. Ellison, Jr. earned his B.A. in religion from Davidson College and an M.A. in religion and society at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He then went to the Union Theological Seminary where he completed his Ph.D.
In 1981, Ellison was invited to join the faculty of the Bangor Theological Seminary as the Willard S. Bass Professor of Christian Ethics. Over the years, he has lectured widely on ethical issues related to human sexuality, health care, and economic justice and published essays on same-sex marriage, gender justice in Protestant Christianity, and changing patterns of family life.
In addition to numerous essays and journal articles, Ellison has published these books: Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality (Westminster John Knox Press 1996), Body and Soul: Rethinking Sexuality as Justice-Love (The Pilgrim Press 2003), Same-Sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical Analysis (The Pilgrim Press 2004), Heterosexism in Contemporary World Religion: Problem and Prospect (The Pilgrim Press 2007), Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection, second edition (Westminster John Knox 2010), Making Love Just: Sexual Ethics for Perplexing Times (Fortress Press 2012).
Ellison founded the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination in Maine in 1994 to support civil rights protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, including the right to marry. He also founded the Maine Interfaith Council for Reproductive Choices in 1997. Ellison has served on the “Out In Scripture” Advisory Board of the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Project since 2005 and the Advisory Board of the Religious Institute for Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing since 2008. He serves on the Board of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England from 2007-2014.
The Husson University’s Annual Ethics Symposium is free and open to the public. For planning purposes, individuals who are interested in attending are asked to register online at Husson.edu/Symposium-On-Ethics. If you plan on attending and prefer to register by phone; have questions; or need to talk to someone about special arrangement or accommodations, please call 207-941-7760.
For more than 100 years, Husson University has prepared future leaders to handle the challenges of tomorrow through innovative undergraduate and graduate degrees. With a commitment to delivering affordable classroom, online and experiential learning opportunities, Husson University has come to represent superior value in higher education. Our Bangor campus and off-campus satellite education centers in Southern Maine, Wells and Northern Maine provide advanced knowledge in business; health and education; pharmacy studies; science and humanities; as well as communication. In addition, Husson University has a robust adult learning program. For more information about educational opportunities that can lead to personal and professional success, visit Husson.edu.
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