The scrutiny comes primarily from a secular media mystified, and in some cases, plain disturbed, by the notion that personal faith might affect public policy decisions.  In a much-discussed op-ed, New York Times Executive editor Bill Keller claims that “Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann are both affiliated with fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity — and Rick Santorum comes out of the most conservative wing of Catholicism — which has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.”

“Fervid subsets?”  Does Keller envision Mrs. Bachmann handling rattlers, or Gov. Perry levitating?  “Raised concerns” where, and who has raised them?  Certain residents of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, whose understanding of the role of faith in American life is defined not by experience but the occasional PBS documentary?  Certainly, if a politician claims to hear audibly the voice of God and asserts divine direction for highly specific policies (e.g., liberal Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s astounding comment that to oppose U.S. entry into the League of Nations was to oppose God), any reasonable person – believer or non-believer – would be justified in feeling uneasy.  Yet to assert, as Keller does, that the faith of a Bachmann, a Perry, or a Santorum might be “a Trojan horse for a sect that believes it has divine instructions on how we should be governed” is both to mis-comprehend orthodox Christian faith and also to disparage the beliefs of most of one’s fellow countrymen.

Perhaps Mr. Keller and his jittery colleagues in the Fourth Estate should reflect on something then-Sen. Barack Obama said in a speech in 2006:

“Americans are a religious people. 90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians … the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. Some of the problem here is rhetorical – if we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice … to say that men and women should not inject their ‘personal morality’ into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.”

I agree, for the most part; however, the discomfort of liberals with religion goes beyond the scrubbing of language.  It goes to the heart of one’s philosophical basis for life itself: Is there, or is there not, an infinite but personal God who has communicated truth in understandable ways to human beings?  Christians say yes; the irreligious cultural elite would say, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

In 2004, then-Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent – a liberal with an honest conscience – penned these lines about the Gray Lady; they could have been written about much of the “mainstream” press and, much more so, the shrill complainers of Left-wing blog sites and editorial commentary generally:  “Is the New York Times a liberal paper?  Of course it is … These are the social issues: gay rights, gun control, abortion and environmental regulation, among others. And if you think The Times plays it down the middle on any of them, you’ve been reading the paper with your eyes closed.  But if you’re examining the paper’s coverage of these subjects from a perspective that is neither urban nor Northeastern nor culturally seen-it-all; if you are among the groups The Times treats as strange objects to be examined on a laboratory slide (devout Catholics, gun owners, Orthodox Jews, Texans); if your value system wouldn’t wear well on a composite New York Times journalist, then a walk through this paper can make you feel you’re traveling in a strange and forbidding world. Start with the editorial page, so thoroughly saturated in liberal theology that when it occasionally strays from that point of view the shocked yelps from the left overwhelm even the ceaseless rumble of disapproval from the right.”

In his second inaugural address, which is more of a meditation on the sovereignty and justice of God than a political speech, Abraham Lincoln observed, “if God wills that (the Civil War) continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether’.”

In 1865, the New York Times praised Lincoln’s speech for its “calmness, its modesty, its reserve,” and said, “We have a President who will be faithful to the end.”  What would Mr. Keller say of them, and of Lincoln himself, today?

**Read FRC Action Board Member Rick Santorum’s remarks at the University of St. Thomas, “A Charge to Revive the Role of Faith in the Public Square.”

Educational Freedom and Reform

• “Education Reform Has Jumped the Shark,” Anthony Cody, Education Week
• “Home schooling an option with many aspects,” Laurel L. Scott, San Angelo Standard-Times
• “An Omen For Education Reform?,” The Atlantic
• “Like everything else in TX, home schooling big,” Bill Bumpas, OneNewsNow
• “Politics, not evidence, drive education reform,” Bruce Fuller, San Francisco Chronicle
• “Rhee-Forms Worthy of Imitation,” Lindsay Burke, The Heritage Foundation
• “We Have Too Many Teachers Already!,” Andrew J. Coulson, Cato Institute
• “Helena School Board releases revised sex-ed plan ,” Marnee Banks, KRTV

Environmental Issues

• “Religion Has Scant Effect on Environmental Views, Poll Suggests,” Leslie Kaufman, New York Times
• “Pollution Takes its Toll on the Heart,” PRWeb
• “Iowa measure would create environmental trust fund,” Courtney Blanchard, Telegraph Herald
• “Farmers fear dust rules won’t reflect rural life,” Rick Callahan, The State
• “Environmental Hazards,” Steven F. Hayward, The Weekly Standard
• “Cap-and-trade Opinion Missing a Lot,” Jim Johnston, Environment & Climate News
• “Eco-terrorism an ignored threat,” Chris Woodward, OneNewsNow
• “On the Debunking of Spencer’s Feedback Ideas: An Appeal to Physical Scientists Everywhere,” Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D.

Faith and Policy

• “Leaving out God,” Ken Blackwell, WORLD Magazine
• “Religion and politics really don’t mix,” James Murr, Santa Maria Times
• “JFK’s ‘Religion Speech’,” Fred Schwarz, National Review Online
• “Shariah a danger to U.S., security pros say,” Bill Gertz, The Washington Times
• “Faith and policy: Respect others’ rights, but also their values,” Rev. Robert Sirico, The Detroit News
• “Fear,” Bruce Bawer, City Journal
• “Flights of Fancy: A Review of The Icarus Syndrome by Peter Beinart,” Steven F. Hayward, The Claremont Review of Books
• “The Money of Fools: Cheap political rhetoric like ‘social justice’ has a long, expensive history,” Thomas Sowell, National Review Online
• “Imagining Islam: Wishful thinking will not bring success or security,” Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review Online
• “Islam and Moral Nuance: In general, the Left hates the Right more than it hates bigotry,” Dennis Prager, National Review Online
• “Holy War Over Ground Zero,” Joseph Bottum, First Things
• “Founding Believers,” Joe Carter, First Things

Health Care

• “The Stakes of Obamacare,” Charles Kesler, The Claremont Review of Books
• “Health Insurers Drop Coverage For Children Ahead Of New Rules,” Julian Pecquet, The Hill
• “How ObamaCare Guts Medicare,” Peter Ferrara and Larry Hunter,” The Wall Street Journal
• “Gov’t: Spending to rise under health care overhaul,” Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar, The Washington Post
• “Sebelius Has a List,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
• “Data on Teachers: Lessons From Health Care,” Kati Haycock, The Huffington Post
• “USCCB Officials Urge HHS Not to Require Coverage of Contraception and Sterilization,” U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
• “Congressman Bart Stupak Claims Obama Has Upheld Order on Abortion Funding in Health Care ,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews

Homosexuals in the Military

• “Opposing view on gays in the military: Keep the law in place,” Tony Perkins, USA Today
• “FRC Praises Senate for Stopping Liberal Social Agenda in Defense Authorization Bill,” Press Release, Family Research Council
• “Don’t Ask, I’ll Just Tell You What the Law Should Be: Log Cabin Republicans v. United States,” Hans A. von Spokovsky, The Heritage Foundation
• “Judicial assault on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Editorial, The Washington Times
• “Senate repeal of ban on gays in military falters,” MSNBC
• “Risky health maneuvers,” Dr. Robert J. Labutta, The Washington Times
• “Bid to Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Stalls in Senate,” Julian E. Barnes, Naftali Bendavid, and Adam Entous, The Wall Street Journal
• “The Re-Hollowing of the Military,” Arthur Herman, Commentary Magazine
• “Man chosen to lead Marines against lifting gay ban,” Anne Flaherty, Associated Press

Judiciary

• “Why Constitution Day Matters,” Senator Orrin Hatch, National Review Online
• “Remembering the Anti-Federalists,” John C. Pinheiro, The Acton Institute
• “There Really Is Something Rotten in the Justice Department,” Hans von Spakovsky, The Heritage Foundation
• “Can Stephen Breyer save the Obama agenda in the Supreme Court?,” Jeffrey Toobin, The Wall Street Journal
• “The Rule of Law and the Law of Nature,” Russell Hittinger, First Principles
• “Public Opinion on the Supreme Court, 2010,” Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg, American Enterprise Institute

Marriage and Family

Family Economics

• “After Almost 50 Years, the Gender gap in Pay Still Resonates” Diana Furchtgott-Roth, The Washington Post
• “A Tale of Two Recoveries,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
• “The Failure of the Liberal Economic Experiment?” James K. Glassman, Commentary Magazine
• “How Obama Thinks,” Dinesh D’Souza, Forbes
• “Work and the Two Great Love Commandments,” Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute
• “Is the U.S. Still the Land of Opportunity?,” Karen Campbell, The Heritage Foundation
• “Social conservatives stay in fray,” Ralph Z. Hallow, The Washington Times
• “A Poverty of Statistics,” Nicholas Eberstadt, The American

Marriage

• “Briefs quote Obama in calling for ‘morality’ in Prop 8 case,” Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily
• “The Case for Marriage,” The Editors, National Review Online
• “Defending Prop. 8: California’s Top Public Lawyer and Its Chief Executive Have an Obligation to Defend the Laws of the State Whether They Like Them or Not, and That Includes Proposition 8,” Editorial, Los Angeles Times
• “NY law lets unmarried adults jointly adopt child,” Associated Press
• “How should schools handle transgender kids?,” Denise-Marie Balona, The Orlando Sentinel
• “Study Finds Wider View of ‘Family’,” Sam Roberts, New York Times
• “Federal family leave without pay policy extends to same-sex partners,” Ed O’Keefe, The Washington Post
• “Study breaks down divorce rates by occupation,” Ellen McCarthy, The Washington Post

Pornography

• “Sex is Everywhere,” Marcia Seegelstein, OneNewsNow
• “Child porn law, when misapplied, can victimize kids,” Peter McKnight, The Vancouver Sun
• “Special Report: Confronting the Pornography Epidemic,” Peter C. Kleponis, Ph.D., Catholic Online
• “Pure Hope for porn addicts,” Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
• “Craigslist to appear before House hearing on sex trafficking,” Cecelia Kang, The Washington Post

Religious Liberty

• “Prop 8 Judge’s Attack on Parental Rights and Religious Liberty,” Peter Sprigg, The Christian Post
• “Rifqa Bary Obtains Permanent Resident Status in the U.S.,” Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• “Culturally Focusing on the Family,” Matthew Lee Anderson, Christianity Today
• “Fired, in a Crowded Theater,” Meghan Duke, First Things
• “Gay couple awarded $13.4K for rental refusal; Landlord feared God’s wrath if he rented apartment in his house,” CBC News
• “Under Which God?,” Joe Carter, First Things
• “Americans United, allies urge federal appeals court to rehear case challenging religiously based hiring bias,” Alliance Defense Fund
• “Despite Fiscal Concerns, Cultural Issues Still Resonate in Evangelical Epicenters,” Dante Chinni, PBS NewsHour
• “Crippling Our Faith-Based Groups,” Craig L. Parshall, NRB

Sanctity of Life

Abortion

• “Legal Abortion Does Not Always Equal Safe Abortion,” Jeanne Monahan, Family Research Council
• “The right to opinions on abortion,” Deidre McQuade, The Washington Post
• “Women, Abortion, and the Brain,” Evelyn Birge Vitz and Paul C. Vitz, The Public Discourse
• “Abortion does not further children’s health,” Chris Smith, The Washington Post
• “A nation turns away from abortion — It’s not true that abortion statistics are irreversible. Italy proves it,” Vincenzina Santoro, MercatorNet
• “Abortion Groups Praise Newly Named Head of UN Women’s Agency,” C-FAM
• “Young People Launch Pro-Life/Pro-Family “Statement to the UN and the World,” C-FAM
• “Neb. abortion docs to file fetus’ age with state,” Timberly Ross, BusinessWeek

Adoption

• “Appeals court: Florida ban on gay adoption unconstitutional,” Susan Spencer-Wendel, The Palm Beach Post
• “NY law lets unmarried adults jointly adopt,” Associated Press

Bioethics

• “Human Embryos in the Age of Obama,” John Neuhaus, First Things
• “The Predicament: Francis Collins, Human Embryos, Evolution, and the Sanctity of Human Life,” Albert Mohler, Crosswalk
• “A Bulwark Against Barbarism,” By Jennifer Lahl and Elaine Petty, Center for Bioethics and Culture

Cloning

• “Moderate Extremists,” Terence P. Jeffrey, The Patriot Post
• “Gene-Altered Fish Closer to Approval,” Gautam Naik, The Wall Street Journal

Stem Cell Research

• “Stem Cell Ruling Could Focus Funding on Treatments,” Dr. David Prentice, Ph.D. and David Christensen, Human Events
• “Stem-Cell Plaintiffs Cite Ethical Motivation,” Laura Meckler and Janet Adamy, Wall Street Journal
• “Stem cell plaintiffs blast NIH chief, question total funding freeze,” Ivan Semeniuk, Nature
• “Stem cell research is the best-kept secret in the galaxy,” Dr. Jean Peduzzi Nelson, The Hill
• “Poll Shows Opposition to Fed Funds for Stem-cell Research,” Catholic News Service
• “Senator pushes bill legalizing stem cell research,” Jim Abrams, Associated Press
• “The Halting of Stem Cell Research Is the Culmination of a Decade-Long Legal Effort,” Eli Y. Adashi and I. Glenn Cohen, The Huffington Post
• “Stem cells: A legal round table,” Meredith Wadman, Nature

Other News for Social Conservatives

• “Modernity’s Uninvited Guest,” Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal
• “OIG: FBI Inappropriately Tracked Domestic Advocacy Groups,” Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic
• “Will God Save the Democrats?” Wendy Kaminer, The Atlantic
• “Immigration Doublespeak,” W. James Antle, The American Spectator
• “Darwin’s World of Pain and Wonder,” Algis Valiunas, The New Atlantis
• “A Big Tent on the Right: The multiplier effect of adding Tea Partiers to social–conservatives,” Jeffrey Bell, The Weekly Standard
• “Rebranding Conservatism: A Localist Alternative to Babylon on the Potomac ,” Craig Shirley, The Washington Times
• “Creeping Islamic Fundamentalist Law Threatens Human Rights ,” Deborah Weiss,  The Washington Times
• “I.R.S. Looks at Finances of Bay Area Clinic ,” Katharine Mieszkowski, New York Times
• “Compassionand Choices Uses Murder/Suicide to Advertise Doctor Prescribed Death in Montana,” Wesley J. Smith, First Things
• “America’s One-Child Policy: What China imposed on its population, we’re adopting voluntarily,” Jonathan V. Last, The Weekly Standard
• “The Sources of Liberal Intolerance,” Carson Holloway, The Public Discourse
• “What Do Social Conservatives Want,” David Boaz, Cato Institute
• “Spartacus All,” T.M. Moore, The Colson Center

• “Most Americans Against Abortion Coverage in Health Care Bill,” Nathan Black, The Christian Post
• “Church, state and gay marriage,” Editorial, The Los Angeles Times
• “Iowa conservatives still focused on gay marriage,” Mike Glover, Associated Press
• “NJ teen barred from abortion protest sues school,” Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press
• “Sex ed. vs. abstinence,” Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
• “Pew: Faith-based initiative still popular,” Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun
• “Abortion clinic ‘bubble’ law met by protests,” Dan Simmons, Chicago Tribune