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Dear Friends,

America’s Founders believed that unless public leaders are persons of high character, they will be motivated by self-interest. This fosters cynicism among citizens, who then become disengaged from the political sphere and all the more vulnerable to political abuse by those in power.

Theologian David Wells describes virtue as having both private and public dimensions: First, virtue is “the domain of character, the practice of private virtue, such as honesty, decency, the telling of truth, and all the other kinds of moral obligation.”

Second, says Wells, there is “the domain of public virtue, such as civic duty, social responsibility, philanthropy, the articulation of great ideals and good policies.”

The Founders of our country believed that “the domain of public virtue” was essential to the success of political self-government through representative democracy. Only if citizens are persons of virtue will they govern their own behavior with sufficient wisdom to live in a just and free society. And only if they possess personal virtue will they elect persons whose own moral caliber is sufficient to ensure that integrity and wisdom are applied to public policy decisions.

“Without virtue, there can be no political liberty,” wrote an aged John Adams to his friend Thomas Jefferson in 1819. That was true at the founding of our Republic, and is no less true today.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

P.S. Urge retailers to resist pressure to discriminate against customers with a traditional and biblical view of marriage.

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Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• “Back in the home school classroom: First day of school,” Lynn R. Mitchell, SWAC Girl
• “Teen opts for home schooling to further education,” Sue Bero, The Times
• “Cardus Survey–The Rest of the Story,” Jeremiah Lorrig, Home School Legal Defense Association

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• “Let the people make education policy, not the feds ,” Chris Gacek, The Hanford Sentinel
• “The Bedroom in the Classroom: Clio is Not Amused,” Dr. Jason R. Edwards, The Center for Vision and Values
• “Online Education Is Everywhere. What’s the Next Big Thing?,” Marc Parry, The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “College Asks About Sexual Orientation on Application,” Nathan Harden, National Review Online
• “Green Light More Education Tax Credits,” Matthew Brouillette, The Commonwealth Foundation
• “Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?,” Paul E. Peterson, Carlos Xabel Lastra-Anadon, Eric A. Hanushek, and Ludger Woessmann, Education Next
• “School Choice Gains Traction,” Kevin Schmiesing, The Acton Institute
• “Empower Parents: Restore the Constitution by Returning Educational Policy to the States,” Jane Robbins, The Public Discourse
• “Pupils Delighted,” Anthony Esolen, Touchstone Magazine

Government Reform
Regulation

• “Obama’s War on the Secret Ballot,” Ken Blackwell, Townhall.com
• “Nanny State Tackles…Nannies,” Robinson O’Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
• “Mere Proposals,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
• “Why I’m ‘Ginned Up’ about Regulation,” Blake Hurst, The American

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• “Obama administration moves to save debt-ridden Postal Service from default,” Bernie Becker, The Hill
• “Obama’s Jobs Big Idea? Spend Another $300 Billion,” Publius, Big Government
• “In Government We Mistrust,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal

Health Care
Abstinence

• “Church views on morality, chastity,” Lisa Larson, The Spectrum
• “Desire, Lust, Chastity, and Love: A Deeper Understanding,” William May, Culture of Life Foundation

Conscience Protection

• “Uphold Conscience Protection: Religious Freedom’s Contribution to the American Experience and Threats to its Survival,” Helen Alvare, The Public Discourse

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• “Senator Hatch: Top 10 reasons why repealing Obamacare saves money and jobs,” Tom McClusky, The Cloakroom
• “Health Law Puts Governors in Pickle,” Jonathan Weisman, The Wall Street Journal
• “Help the Sick and Reduce the Debt: The Moral Economy of the Health-Care Debate,” Yuval Levin, The Public Discourse
• “A Hidden Jobs-Killer,” Grace-Marie Turner, The New York Post
• “Obamacare: Uninsureds Grow and Uncertainty Reigns,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke

Homosexuality

• “Teacher Reinstated After Suspension for Comments Against Gay Marriage,” Publius, FedSoc Blog
• “A novel notion of justice,” Robert R. Reilly, MercatorNet
• “Christian Group Criticized for Ousting Gay Member,” Brittany Smith, Crosswalk
• “Sojourners Passes GLAAD’s Advertising Test on GLBT Issues,” Tobin Grant, Christianity Today

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• “Biden ‘Understands’ China’s One-Child Policy ,” Ken Blackwell and Robert Morrison, Townhall.com
• “Hillary’s Abortion Revolution,” Robert Morrison, The Compass Paper
• “Dead Baby Jokes at Planned Parenthood: Not Funny, Give Us Back Our Tax Money,” Cathy Ruse, Family Research Council
• “Virginia officials prepare to release draft abortion regulations,” Lena H. Sun and Anita Kumar, The Washington Post
• “China Dupes: Excusing the One-Child Policy ,” Dr. Paul Kengor, The Center for Vision and Values
• “Court: State can tell pregnant women of ‘existing relationship’ with baby,” Baptist Press
• “Favoring Abortionists in Sex-Slavery Fight,” Bob Laird, The Washington Times
• “Abortion increases risk of mental health problems, new research finds,” London Daily Telegraph
• “You’ve Been Guttmacher’d: Planned Parenthood’s Baby,” Ryan Bomberger, LifeNews.com
• “The new Abby Johnson?: Another Planned Parenthood manager quits and converts to pro-life,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• “Redefining the Abortion Debate,” Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life
• “Why Isn’t Millennial Support For Abortion Rights Increasing?,” Megan McArdle, The Atlantic

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• “Optimism May Lower Stroke Risk,” Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• “The Near Miracle of Male Infertility Treatment,” Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, The New Atlantis
• “The First Fourteen Days of Human Life,” Patrick Lee and Robert P. George, The New Atlantis
• “Siblingcide,” Justin Paulette, The Ashbrook Center
• “One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring,” Jacqueline Mroz, New York Times
• “Biological Colonialism: Kidney Traffickers Busted,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• “Targeting Down Syndrome by Regulation,” Mark Leach, The Public Discourse

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• “10% of Suicides Involve Illness,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke

Stem Cell Research

To read about the latest advances in ethical adult stem cell research, keep up with leading-edge reports from FRC’s Dr. David Prentice, click here.

• “BioCentury 09.04.11 [1] – Litigation Update,” BioCentury.com

Women’s Health

• “End Human Trafficking: A Contemporary Slavery,” Laura J. Lederer, The Public Discourse
• “A Win for Women?,” Nora Sullivan, Susan B. Anthony List

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• “Good rules assist foster parents,” Opinion, Palladium-Item
• “Georgia Family Shares International Adoption Challenges, Blessings Online,” Nic Anderson, All News Wire

Family Economics

• “Money Madne$$,” Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online
• “Why the Gender Gap Won’t Go Away. Ever.,” Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal
• “Atlas Slouched,” Robinson O’Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
• “Can the Middle Class Be Rebuilt?,” Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute

Family Structure

• “Meet the Co-Parents: Friends Not Lovers,” Cathy Ruse, Family Research Council
• “Divorce in the Bible Belt?,” Glenn T. Stanton, National Review Online
• “FEMA’s use of term ‘federal family’ for government expands under Obama,” George Bennett, Palm Beach Post
• “ProtectMarriage.com Fights to Defend Prop. 8,” Catholic News Agency
• “More elderly couples live together without marrying,” Anita Creamer, The Kansas City Star

Media
Pornography

• “End Child Pornography: Enforce Adult Pornography Laws,” Patrick A. Trueman, The Public Discourse

Internet

• “Google Cuts Churches Out Of Nonprofit Program,” Matt Branaugh, Christianity Today
• “They Were Never Really My Friends: Facebook Revelations,” Lawrence Meyers, Big Government
• “Twitter vs. Blogs…Is There Even a Battle?,” Vincent Harris, Net Conservative
• “In Defense of Social Media and Other Evils,” Whitney Archer, Dale City Patch

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• “Excluding prayer from 9/11 memorial compounds the tragedy of that day,” Ken Klukowski, The Washington Examiner
• “What it means to be American: Attitudes in an Increasingly Diverse America Ten Years after 9/11,” Robert P. Jones, Daniel Cox, William A. Galston, and E.J. Dionne, Jr., The Brookings Institution
• “This attack on confession is a threat to all religions,” David Quinn, The Independent
• “A World Spinning Backward ,” Doug Bandow, The American Spectator
• “Mike Bloomberg and the End of Tolerance,” William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal
• “Re: Obama DOJ Picks a Fight Against Religious Freedom,” Ed Whelan, National Review Online

Religion in America

• “The Rock in Scott Walker’s Pocket,” Nicholas G. Hahn, III, RealClearReligion
• “Educated belief,” Tim Dalrymple, WORLD Magazine
• “Dubya and Me,” Walt Harrington, The American Scholar
• “Religious Tests at the New York Times,” Justin Paulette, The Ashbrook Center
• “Work and Prayer: Of Coins, Sheep, and Men,” Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute

Secularism

• “Religion and the Bad News Bearers,” Rodney Stark and Byron Johnson, The Wall Street Journal
• “Conservative Humility, Liberal Irony,” Andrew Stark, The Hoover Institution
• “Peace If Possible; Truth At All Costs,” Michael Hannon, First Things

International
Israel

• “The Perils of a Remilitarized Sinai,” Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post
• “Glenn Beck’s Revealing Visit,” Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post

International Economy and Family

• “Chinese Gendercide: An Unqualified Wrong,”Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• “Famine spreads to another region of Somalia,” Mission Network News
• “China’s Human Rights Abominations,” George J. Marlin, The Catholic Thing

Religious Persecution

• “Gambia: Country ‘No Go Area’ for Religious Extremists,” Hatab Fatera, AllAfrica
• “Pakistan: Police Admit Taliban Murdered Minister Shahbaz Bhatti,” Religion Today

Sharia law — U.S., foreign

• “The Libyan War,” Robinson O’Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
• “Promote Democracy: Start at Home, but Don’t Stop at Home,” Jennifer Bryson, The Public Discourse
• “Moving from Exclusion to Embrace: Miroslav Volf on Christianity and Islam,” Patton Dodd, Patheos
• “Islamic Law (Shari’a) and U.S. Foreign Policy,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and Public Affairs

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• “Deep-Sixing the ‘Furnace Doctrine’,” Robert Morrison, The American Thinker
• “Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2011?,” The Federalist Society
• “Has the Federal Government Crossed a Line?,” Robert P. George, ABC News
• “The Constitution and Limited Government,” Edward J. Erler, Imprimis
• “Obama’s Erosion of the Rule of Law ,” Robert Alt, The Washington Times

Other News of Note

• “Why Americans care about Iowa,” Robert Morrison, The Compass News
• “Hillary Clinton: World’s Second Most Powerful Woman?,” Ken Blackwell, The Huffington Post
• “The Cosmopolitan Conservative,” R.R. Reno, First Things

Book reviews

• “Carpooling with George Washington,” Robert Morrison, Family Research Council
• “Explosive new book details war on unborn baby girls,” Catholic News Agency
• “Tokyo on Foot,” Andrew Wilson, Christianity Today
• “The world according to Belloc,” Brett Decker, The Washington Times
• “The Guided and the Misguided,” Martha Bayles, Claremont Review of Books

Tags: Social Conservative Review

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