Happier Ever After: David Myers Belives Marriage Is Good for People and Society-Which Is Why He Feels It Should Be an Option for Everyone

Krejci-Papa, Marianna, Science & Spirit

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST David Myers is a man with a mission: to interpret psychology's insights for a popular audience and to integrate those insights into a life of Christian faith. He is perhaps best known for his writings on happiness, including the book The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty, in which he makes the case that our country's rising affluence has not improved our collective well-being. He also has had much to say about marriage--the benefits of nurturing matrimonial bonds and the perils of their dissolution, for partners and for their children.

Most recently, Myers has taken on one of the most divisive topics of the day. In his book What God Has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage, Myers and co-author Letha Dawson Scanzoni call on those whose religious ideals lead them to be ambivalent about same-sex marriage to rethink their positions in light of recent social science research. The authors argue that homosexuality is a natural and lasting disposition, and that from biblical and scientific perspectives, marriage results in stronger, happier individuals and better societies. Supporting the institution of marriage, then, is in everybody's best interest.

Myers told Science & Spirit's Marianna Krejci-Papa why he wrote the book, what it is that makes us happy, and why marriage--for everyone--is something worth fighting for.

Science & Spirit: In your studies of happiness, have you found any groups of people who are happier than average?

David Myers: Happiness is about equally available to people of any age, gender, or race. Income increases beyond what's needed for sustenance and security seem not to matter much. In the United …

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Publication information: Article title: Happier Ever After: David Myers Belives Marriage Is Good for People and Society-Which Is Why He Feels It Should Be an Option for Everyone. Contributors: Krejci-Papa, Marianna - Author. Magazine title: Science & Spirit. Volume: 17. Issue: 2 Publication date: March-April 2006. Page number: 60+. © 2007 Heldref Publications. COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group.

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