The Social Conservative Review: April 28, 2011
by
April 28, 2011
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to the one-year anniversary edition of The Social Conservative Review! Over the past 12 months, our twice-monthly compilation of the articles most relevant to faith, family, and freedom has grown into a reliable, and relied-upon, source of news and information for social conservatives across the country.
One of our recurrent concerns is one that affects every American: Religious liberty. In a letter to a congregation in New York City shortly after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1783, General Washington wrote, "The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field; the object is attained, and it now remains to be my earnest wish and prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them."
Family Research Council remains committed to these principles, which is why we are coordinating a nationwide support effort for the State of Utah in the case Davenport v. American Atheists, one of the most important religious liberty cases to be offered to the U.S. Supreme Court in decades.
The State of Utah permits the Utah Highway Patrol Association (UHPA) to commemorate patrolmen who die in the line of duty by erecting a roadside cross at the site of the tragedy with the patrolman's name and badge number. A militant atheist organization, American Atheists, Inc., sued the State of Utah in federal court for allowing UHPA to erect these crosses.
If successful, this suit could require not only the removal of religious symbols on public buildings and lands but even that crosses and Stars of David be excised from the headstones at Arlington Cemetery. We are supporting legal efforts to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that held any stand-alone cross on public land is automatically an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
To help us, please join our effort to send a message to the U.S. Supreme Court that they need to hear the Utah case and make clear America's allegiance to the public expressions of faith which are an essential part of our birthright.
George Washington would be proud to stand with you for our God-given rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as we are here at FRC.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council
Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling
- "From School Choice to Educational Choice," Frederick M. Hess, Olivia Meeks, Bruno V. Manno, American Enterprise Institute
- "Teaching the Trivium," Mollie Hemingway, Get Religion
- "A Star Is Born," James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal
Legislation and Policy Proposals
- "College Debt Will Soon Exceed Credit Card Debt at 1 Trillion Dollars," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
- "Michelle Rhee Finds an Excellent Defender," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
- "The Tolerant Left," Michael Walsh, National Review Online
- "Report: School-choice advocates cheer Supreme Court ruling in Arizona case," John Couretas, The Acton Institute
- "Federal Education Spending Grows and Grows," Kevin R. Kosar, The American
- "School Vouchers Can Hurt as Well as Help," Charles Murray, The American
- "Shanghai Surprise," Chester E. Finn, Jr., The Hoover Institution
- "Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?," Andy Smarick, National Affairs
- "Why Catholic Schools Matter," Sol Stern and Patrick J. McCloskey, City Journal
- "Your Child Left Behind," Eric Hanushek and Paul E. Peterson, The Hoover Institution
- "Parents 'Bite the Bullet' as College Tuition Rises," Lisa Gartner, The Washington Examiner
Government Reform
Regulation
- "California Dreamin'--of Jobs in Texas," John Fund, The Wall Street Journal
- "U.S. EPA exempts milk from spill-control rules," Reuters
Waste/Fraud/Abuse
- "Federal Borrowing on Pace to Hit Debt Limit in Less Than Week," Terrence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com
- "How Not to Plan for the Future," Opinion, New York Times
- "Do Less with Less: What the History of Federal Debt and Tax Leverage Teaches," Jordan J. Ballor, The Acton Institute
- "Obama's Permanent Spending Binge," John B. Taylor, The Wall Street Journal
Health Care
Abstinence
- "N.D. LEGISLATURE: Legislators reach deal on abstinence bill," Teri Finneman, The Grand Forks Herald
- "School board OKs new abstinence-based class," Jeff Gill, The Gainesville Times
Conscience Protection
- "Conscience Rights: The New Frontline in the Culture War," Sarah Torre, The Heritage Foundation
Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts
- "Supreme Court hints at Obamacare impact in sovereign immunity cases," Ken Klukowski, The Washington Examiner
- "A Better Strategery And Better Chosen Ground," Pete Spiliakos, The Ashbrook Center
- "Magical Health-Care Savings," Josh Barro, City Journal
- "Robert Reich's Pie in the Sky Push for Universal Medicare," Wesley J. Smith, First Things
- "Supreme Court Allows Obamacare to Metastasize," David Catron, The American Spectator
- "Pay-for-Performance in Medicare Could Do More Harm Than Good," Kathryn Nix, The Heritage Foundation
Homosexuality
- "Profile in Courage Defending Marriage: Paul Clement," Ken Klukowski, Townhall
- "Give chikin a chance," Megan Basham, WORLD Magazine
- "For Catholics, Open Attitudes on Gay Issues," Austin Considine, New York Times
- "Proposition 8 backers: Gay judge's ruling should be thrown out," Ashley Hayes, CNN
- "Religion, Reason, and Same-Sex Marriage," Matthew J. Franck, First Things
- "State Department Lies About the Holy See," Austin Ruse, The Catholic Thing
Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion
- "Fact Checking the Fact Checker," Jeanne Monahan, Family Research Council
- "Planned Parenthood myths," Jeanne Monahan, The Washington Post
- "State of Health Insurance Abortion Coverage in the States," Brianna Walden, Family Research Council
- "Government loses abortion battle," Dominic Hughes, BBC News
- "Letter to the Editor on Planned Parenthood," Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton, New York Times
- "UN Forgets Abortion is Not an International Human Right," Bill Saunders, LifeNews.com
- "The New Anti-Abortion Math," Gail Collins, New York Times
- "90% of Down Syndrome Children Aborted, Survivors Bring Joy," Maura Butler, LifeNews.com
- "Site: No stigma in abortion," Christine McConville, Chris Cassidy, and Laurel Sweet, The Boston Herald
- "Young Mother with Cancer Sacrifices Life for Unborn Child," John Jalsevac, LifeSiteNews
- "Oklahoma 4th state to ban abortions after 20 weeks," Steve Olafson, Reuters
- "Guttmacher Going After Catholics and Protestants," Amanda Pawloski, Turtle Bay and Beyond
- "Raped girl's lawsuit against Planned Parenthood comes to a close," Steven Aden, Alliance Defense Fund
- "Planned Parenthood 'scared' of personhood," Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
Bioethics and Biotechnology
- "Democratic Bioethics and Eugenics," Sherif Gergis, The Public Discourse
- "New Report: 2.6M Annual Stillbirths Ignored," Susan Yoshihara, Turtle Bay and Beyond
- "World's most premature baby born in Germany," Physorg.com
Cloning
- "Nobel laureates support repeal of creationist bill," Andy Coghlan, The New Scientist
- "Biotech experts: Fischbach research ban could chill industry," Mark Sommerhauser, St. Cloud Times
Euthanasia and End of Life Issues
- "The Bearable Lightness of Dignity," Mary Ann Glendon, First Things
- "Lawsuit to Legalize Assisted Suicide to be Filed in Canada," Wesley J. Smith, First Things
- "DNR Order Mission Creep?," Wesley J. Smith, First Things
Stem Cell Research
- "The next big medical leap," Elissa Black, Sunday Mail
- "America's 'Clone War'," Justin Kinney, The Christian Post
- "Stem cell treatments threatened by European patents ruling," Ian Sample, The Guardian
- "Catholic couple blazes new trails in adult cardiac stem-cell research," Maureen Pratt, The Boston Pilot
Women's Health
- "Delivery from shame," Emily Belz, WORLD Magazine
Marriage and Family
Adoption
- "Tony Perkins on Same-Sex Adoptions: Fox News appearance," FRC Press Office
- "New Illinois civil unions law pressuring Catholic adoption agencies," Marianne Medlin, EWTN News
- "Virginia Protects Religious Liberty in Adoption and Foster Care," Sarah Torre, The Heritage Foundation
Family Economics
- "The Immorality of Our Federal Income Tax," Leslie Carbone, Bearing Drift
- "Who Among Us Doesn't Pay Income Tax?," Alex Brill, RealClearMarkets
- "Anti-Capitalism Christians," Joseph Sunde, Common Sense Concept
- "What Would Jesus Cut?," Debra Saunders, RealClearPolitics
Family Structure
- "Three Important Things Happened on 4/18/11 to Defend DoMA," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
- "Equal Pay for Women Act Brings Battle of the Sexes to Life in Louisiana," Robert Ross, The Pelican Post
- "Against Divorce: David Hume Defends Traditional Marriage," Russell Nieli, The Public Discourse
- "Selling Children: Condemned or Celebrated? (Part 1)," Brett Harvey, Alliance Defense Fund
- "1 in 4 children in U.S. raised by a single parent," Christine Armario, The Washington Times
- "Suffer the Little Children: Cohabitation and the Abuse of America's Children," W. Bradford Wilcox, The Public Discourse
- "Sexual Revolution: Defend It, If You Can," Anthony Esolen, The Public Discourse
- "Facing the Challenges of Single Parenting," Robert D. Jones, Crosswalk
Parental Rights
- "Court upholds woman's 'de facto' parental rights," Beth Miller, The News Journal
Media
Pornography
- "Good News: Supreme Court asked to Review Indecency Case (FCC v Fox)," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
- "City Libraries Say 'Checking Out' Porn Protected by First Amendment," Douglas Montero and Bob Fredericks, NewYork Post
Internet
- "Time to Reboot the Net Neutrality Debate," Nick Schulz, American Enterprise Institute
- "What effect has the internet had on religion?," Aleks Krotoski, The Guardian
- "Twitter traits," Alissa Wilkinson, WORLD Magazine
- "Theotechnos: Some Reflections on the Intersection of Social Media and Theology," Jeffrey Volkmer, The Good Book Blog
Religion and Public Policy
- "Religious Left Forms "Circle of Protection" Around Big Government," Jeff Walton, The Institute on Religion and Democracy
- "Blessed is Big Government," George Neumayr, The American Spectator
- "Evangelicals Join 'Religious Left' to Defend Poor Against Budget Cuts," Stephanie Samuel, The Christian Post
Religious Liberty
- "Mercifully Forsaken," Mark Galli, Christianity Today
- "What's So Good about Good Friday?," Carolyn Arends, Kyria
- "Before Philosophy--and After?," Ken Thomas, The Ashbrook Center
Religion in America
- "On the President's Easter Prayer Breakfast Comments," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
- "The Atheist Message Rests on Easter," Ginny Mooney, Breakpoint
- "Survey: Plurality of Americans believe capitalism at odds with Christian values," Public Religion Research Institute
- "No Perfect People Allowed," Dr. James Emery White, Crosswalk
- "Losing sight of our nation's source of truth," Katherine Kersten, Star-Tribune
- "The Gospel According to Hollywood," John A. Murray, The Wall Street Journal
- "Religion continues to impact voter decision, study finds," Physorg.com
Secularism
- "Newt Gingrich warns: Creeping secularism replacing Christianity," Kendra Marr, The Politico
- "Tim Keller: 'Mushy Middle' in Religion Is Disappearing," Ethan Cole, The Christian Post
International
Israel
- "Turkey's Cautionary Tale," Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post
- "Obama's Altruistic Foreign Policy," Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post
International Economy and Family
- "Tehran, Pyongyang Watch Libya," Robinson O'Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
- "Conservatism finding its voice on the Spanish stage," Warren Cole Smith, WORLD Magazine
Religious Persecution
- "The Flame That Will Not Be Extinguished," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
- "Counting China's Christians," Rodney Stark, Byron Johnson, and Carson Mencken, First Things
- "The Forgotten: Christians Persecuted in the Middle East," George Marlin, The Catholic Thing
Sharia law -- U.S., foreign
- "Missouri House votes to ban Sharia law," Jason Hancock, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- "Religion in the News: Islam Was No. 1 Topic in 2010," The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
- "How to Behave During an Islamic Massacre," Andrew Klavan
The Courts
Constitutional Issues
- "Seventh Circuit Affirms Americans' God-Given Right to Pray for This Nation," Alan Sears, Alliance Defense Fund
- "Library Censorship Case Catches Media's Attention," Thomas More Society
Judicial Activism
- "Knave and Spalding," Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
- "Florida Judge Uses Islamic Law in Suit," FedSoc Blog
Other News of Note
- "The Tea Party and Nullification," Michael Sabo, The Ashbrook Center
- "Compassionate Conservatism: A Primer," Clifford Orwin, The Hoover Institution
- "The Crisis of the New Order," Richard Adams, The Ashbrook Center
- "Catholics and the Civil War," George J. Marlin, The Catholic Thing
- "Building Virtue," Raymond Hain, The Public Discourse
- "The White House Wants a List," Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
- "'Atlas Shrugged:' The Blockbuster that Wasn't," Ray Gustini, The Atlantic
- "Machiavelli's Children -- Or Ours?," Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing
Book reviews
- "Counterfeit Gospels," Trevin Wax, Christianity Today
- "Shaping Up the Campus," Elizabeth Corey, First Things
- "A Review of To Change the World," John Henry Cosby, First Things
- "Ronald Reagan at 100," Clark S. Judge, Claremont Review of Books
- "Standing Pat [Moynihan]," Steven F. Hayward, Claremont Review of Books