Everyone’s grabbing at the Reagan mantle these days.

Under the Wikipedia entry “What would Reagan do?” one can find the following summary:

The phrase on occasion has been used by iconoclastic conservatives to claim the mantle of Reagan as they criticize mainline conservatives, by some liberal commentators as a way of chastising Republicans whom also they believe fall short of Reagan’s ideals and also by non-partisan public policy organizations that seek to emulate aspects of Reagan’s leadership.

But one Reagan historian doesn’t find that surprising at all. Professor and author Paul Kengor notes that Reagan won the presidency in 1980 by defeating an incumbent in a landslide, winning 44 of 50 states, and then got reelected in 1984 by sweeping 49 of 50 states. Few presidents enjoyed such decisive success at the ballot box and, more broadly, in changingAmerica and the world for the better.

Tomorrow, Dr. Paul Kengor will address the question, “What did Ronald Reagan believe?” Or, even more specific: What would Reagan do if he were president right now?

Dr. Kengor will lay out the underlying thinking that formed the basis of Ronald Reagan’s political philosophy and the policies (foreign and domestic) that he pursued. Dr. Kengor will share what he calls his “Reagan Seven;” that is, seven beliefs that undergirded Reagan’s actions as president and as a public figure. These core principles get us closer to the crux of what Ronald Reagan’s conservatism was about, and what his GOP emulators today might take to heart.

To RSVP for tomorrow’s event, click here: What is a Reagan Conservative?

Tags: Conservative, GOP Presidential Primary, Ronald Reagan

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It’s World Aids Day—a time to unite in the fight against HIV and commemorate those who have died of the disease.

Political parties will vehemently disagree on the precise tactics and funding levels required to address this horrific disease. But in a refreshingly bipartisan event this morning, President Barack Obama made the following comment:

As we go forward, we need to keep refining our strategy so that we’re saving as many lives as possible. We need to listen when the scientific community focuses on prevention.

My good friend Suzanne Taylor just released a film that tells the moving story of the treacherous AIDS epidemic in the African country of Botswana. The Road We Know documents what a small group of college students are doing to encourage prevention.

In Botswana, 1 in 4 people adults has HIV/AIDS. But while the government has done everything the Western world has encouraged—like handing out condoms and offering free testing—the formula has clearly failed.

Desperate for a solution, the government invited a small group of college students to help save their generation with a message of hope and behavior change.

In the film’s trailer, the student leaders share an upbeat message across the country–a message that sex is good and that abstinence isn’t only possible, it’s life-saving. As President George W. Bush remarked in his 2004 State of the Union Address, “Abstinence … is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.”

In a 2010 report, UNAIDS could point to a 25 percent drop or more in new infections for young adults ages 15 to 24 in 15 of the most infected nations–primarily due to sexual behavior change. This confirmed that story documented in Botswana was not an isolated trend.

Now that’s a message of hope and change. The kind we should all believe in.

To watch the film or host a screening, visit www.theroadweknow.com.

To connect with Evangelical or Catholic AIDS ministries, check out FRC’s Real Compassion website at www.realcompassion.org.

Tags: Abstinence, AIDS, Botswana, HIV, President Bush, President Obama, The Road We Know, World Aids Day

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In Saturday’s New York Times, Columbia professor Jeffrey D. Sachs made the rather audacious claim, that “[t]he young people in Zuccotti Park and more than 1,000 cities have started America on a path to renewal.” [emphasis added]

To give Sachs and the entire Occupy movement the benefit of the doubt, we might try to view the chaos, mayhem, rape, murder, and general slovenliness as unfortunate distractions from this intended renewal.

Hypothetically, Ivy League professors, Occupyers, and conservative policy makers should be able to agree on a few points: Our great country needs renewal. We can tangibly mark American renewal or decline by measuring things like high school graduation rates and childhood poverty.

But our suggested paths towards renewal differ. Sachs calls for a vast influx of spending on education and other domestic programs. Occupiers held up a myriad of signs calling for jobs, justice, education… and weed.

But the facts seem to lead us down a different path—a path that values family stability, over government-funded programs. The FRC’s Marriage & Religion Research Institute is poised to release its Second Annual Index of Family Belonging and Rejection, this Thursday. The Index delves into the statistical details behind the bold claim that family structure actually matters to a child’s education and success.

Robert Frost once wrote about two paths in a yellow wood. Our paths towards “renewal” obviously diverge. At the moment, the path toward family stability is the one “less traveled by.” Taking it could make all the difference.

To attend Thursday’s event, please register here.

Tags: Index of Belonging and Rejection, Jeffrey Sachs, Occupy Movement

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Trini Lazano wants to avoid being another statistic. Lazano is a Louisiana native, doing prison time for drug possession and theft and he’s scheduled to be released later this month.

According to an April 2011 study released by The Pew Center on the States, “43.3 percent of those [prisoners] sent home in 2004 were reincarcerated within three years, either for committing a new crime or for violating conditions governing their release.”

The study indicates that reincarceration or recidivism rates are key measure of the criminal justice system’s success. Minnesota Commissioner of Corrections, Tom Roy says the following:

Prisons are often the forgotten element of the criminal justice system until things go badly. Catching the guy and prosecuting him is really important work, but if we don’t do anything with that individual after we’ve got him, then shame on us. If all that effort goes to waste and we just open the doors five years later, and it’s the same guy walking out the door and the same criminal thinking, we’ve failed in our mission.

For years, Prison Fellowship has offered numerous faith-informed to minister to prisoners and their families. In an economic environment where some states, like North Carolina, are cutting their chaplain program, faith-based volunteers may be filling an increasingly vital role.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recently honored 32 volunteers for their work within the Corrections system.

But how effective are these volunteers? Where does faith fit in the picture?

Byron Johnson is a renowned criminologist and author of the new book More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matters and How It Could Matter More. Join us live or via webcast, at noon today as Johnson discusses the link between faith, community, and criminal behavior.

Trino Lazono says, “God saved my life,” and hopes “[j]ust maybe I can save somebody’s life.” Johnson’s research gives Lazono, and so many others, reason for hope.

Tags: Byron Johnson, crime

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Can reflection, meditation, and “moral leisure” survive the Twitter age? Our contemporary American connectedness and busy-ness certainly make it harder to focus on timeless things like wisdom and virtue.

Some of our religious leaders are nudging our churches (i.e. institutions meant to guard and foster virtue) to catch up with the social media times. But, then, some of our most tech-savvy millennials are ditching their personal iPhones in favor of uninterrupted dinner conversations and real books.

Gerson Moreno-Riano, Ph.D. will explore these themes at the Family Research Council’s upcoming 2011 Witherspoon Lecture, at 12:00 noon on October 20th. Dr. Moreno-Riano is the dean of undergraduate studies and associate professor of government at Regent University. He suggests that our misuse of time and leisure threatens both public and private morality. But Dr. Moreno-Riano also offers hopeful remedies to recover and reverse the effects of this crisis.

Click here to register for next Thursday’s event. The lecture will be webcast at www.frc.org. Light refreshments will be provided.

Tags: meditation, reflection, technology, virtue

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