The U.S. and Saudi governments are both rolling out Healthy Marriage initiatives. But what a difference!

Here in the U.S., a healthy marriage is defined as a mutually beneficial and satisfying relationship between two people with deep respect for each other and the skills to communicate and handle conflict. The initiative involves supporting and strengthening secular and faith-based marriage education programs and using the media and the internet to motivate couples to learn relationship skills.

In Saudi Arabia, a healthy marriage is one without hepatitis B or genes likely to lead to unhealthy children. They are making it easier to get pre-marital blood and genetic tests.

In both cases, the reason for the initiative is the well-being of the nation's children. May both succeed.