Family Research Council

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Dear Friends:

In an era when divorce rates are high and 55 percent of America's children live in homes missing at least one biological parent, the imperative of strong marriages -- of one man and one woman becoming "one flesh" -- has never been higher. Family Research Council is committed to strong marriages, which is why the work of our Marriage and Religion Research Institute, led by internationally recognized scholar Dr. Pat Fagan, is so important.

As Dr. Fagan has written, "the overwhelming majority of social science data supports the premise that the intact married family that worships weekly is the greatest generator of human and social goods and the core strength of the United States."

Take a few moments to visit the MARRI Web site to find a trove of materials demonstrating why worship, marriage, and family are so vital to one another and to society. A strong, vibrant America needs strong, vibrant marriages. There are no substitutes.

Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

P.S. Read FRC scholar Peter Sprigg's executive summary of his thoughtful and compelling publication, "The Top Ten Harms of Same Sex Marriage," here. You can download the entire booklet, at no cost, at this same site.

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "School District Targets Homeschooled Students for Money," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Clamp Down in the Mountaineer State?," Christian NewsWire
• "Home-schooling on the rise for a good reason, say advocates," Craig Crosby, The Morning Sentinel

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "Course Corrections," Allen C. Guelzo, Touchstone Magazine
• "The State of Christian Higher Education: A Response to Allen Guelzo," Hunter Baker, First Things
• "The 'Education' Mantra," Thomas Sowell, Crisis Magazine
• "Closing the Door on Education Innovation," Greg Forster, The Public Discourse
• "Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'," Daniel J. Solove, The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "Study tells students what their major is worth," Kathy Matheson, MSNBC
• "New Jersey Supreme Court Usurps State Education Budget," Carrie Severino, National Review Online

Government Reform
Regulation

• "Debt limit reached, U.S. halts two pension investments," Editorial, WORLD Magazine
• "What's the Deal with the Debt Ceiling?," Joe Carter, First Things
• "Scheduling a Crisis," Philip I. Levy, Foreign Policy
• "The Federal Reserve's Real Mandates," Alex J. Pollock, The American

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "How Might the Arts Be Funded?," Micah Mattix, Capital Commentary
• "Congressional Retirement Benefits Much More Generous Than Private Sector," Andrew Biggs, The Enterprise Blog
• "More Concern about Raising Debt Limit than Government Default," Pew Research Center

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Like, a Virgin?," Russell D. Moore, Touchstone Magazine
• "The Need for a Real Prevention Revolution," Lauren Funk, Turtle Bay and Beyond

Conscience Protection

• "Chaplain Agencies Seek Conscience Protections in Military Amid Pro-Gay Moves," Stephanie Samuel, The Christian Post
• "Chaplain's Letter to the Military Chief of Chaplains," Alliance Defense Fund

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "Obamacare bombshell: Final ruling may wait until after 2012 election," Ken Klukowski, The Washington Examiner
• "Who Opposses Medicare Means Testing? Democrats!," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Mr. Speaker, Medicare IS Social Engineering," Joseph Antos, The Enterprise Blog
• "Gross Obamacare Corruption," Robinson O'Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
• "Kansas likely to enact health care 'freedom' law," John Hanna, The Topeka Capital-Journal

Homosexuality

• "Two genders, one image," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• "Same-Sex "Marriage" Is Not Legal Under Federal Law. Ever. At Any Time.," Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council
• "Some Good News on DoMA: Judicial Watch Suing DoJ over Its FOIA Request," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• "Wis. Gov. Walker tells judge he wants to stop defending domestic partner registry law in court," Associated Press
• "Victims of discrimination? No, homosexuals are today's leisure class...," J.C. von Krempach, J.D., Turtle Bay and Beyond
• "A Look at the T in LGBT," Austin Ruse, The Catholic Thing
• "Study Finds Children Raised in Lesbian Familes More Likely to Identify as 'Partly Homosexual'," Joe Carter, First Things
• "Tenn. gov. signs 'gender identity' repeal," Staff, Baptist Press
• "Prop 8 Opponents' Anti-Black Bigotry Against Judge Deciding Motion to Vacate Walker's Ruling?" Ed Whelan, National Review Online
• "Support for Legal Gay Relations Hits New High," Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "Young Female Leaders Speaking Out About Girl Scouts of America and Planned Parenthood," Jeanne Monahan, Family Research Council
• "Sins of the Father: Abortion, Birth Control, and the ACLU," Dr. Paul Kengor, The Center for Vision and Values
• "Kansas: Brownback Signs Abortion Inspection, Ultrasound Bill," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• "Governor signs sonogram bill; 'It's God's issue,' author says," Andy Hogue, The Lone Star Report
• "Gallup Poll: Americans Want All or Most Abortions Illegal," Steve Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• "Gov. Daniels Has Done Right With Abortion Law," Raymond Dix, St. Louis Post-Tribune
• "Are Abortion Laws Unenforceable," Howard Kainz, Crisis Magazine
• "The Nearly Aborted President," Peter Heck, The American Thinker
• "Five Signs the Pro-Life Cause Is Winning," Trevin Wax, Patheos
• "'New normal' on questions of life," Charles Donovan, Bellingham Herald

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Biopunks Tinker With The Building Blocks Of Life," National Public Radio
• "Do Presidential Bioethics Committees Shape Science Policy?," Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News
• "Paving the Way for Title X: How Protestants Swallowed the Pill and Evangelicals 'Out-Libertined' the Mainline," Allan C. Carlson, Ph.D., The Family in America
• "Business booms for Danish sperm," Paul Henley, BBC News

Cloning

• "Human cloning: Scientists worry Minnesota ban could squelch other research," Mass Device
• "Missouri Pro-Lifers Worried About Tax-Funded Human Cloning," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "Zurich Voters HEART Suicide Tourism," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Are There Sizable Benefits From Extending the Lives of the Old and Frail?" Gary Becker, The Becker-Posner Blog
• "Annual Symposium Focuses on Using Euthanasia Opposition," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com

Stem Cell Research

• "Adult Stem Cells as Possible Cure for HIV-AIDS, Redux," Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• "Information Update in Embryonic Stem Cell Lawsuit," Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• "Motion for Supplemental Briefs Allowed in Embryonic Stem Cell Lawsuit," Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• "Adult Stem Cells are Treating Thousands of Patients Now," Dr David Prentice, Lifenews.com
• "Genomic Medicine Combined with Adult Stem Cells Cure AIDS?," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Embryonic Stem Cell Research versus the Rule of Law," Wesley J. Smith, CBC Network

Women's Health

• "NJ Democrats Push for Funding Women's Health Clinics," CBS New York

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "Evangelicals push for adoptions in children's home countries," Peter Smith, Louisville Courier-Journal
• "The last Catholic adoption agency in Britain," Michael De Groote, Deseret News
• "Adoption agency fights Iowa effort to revoke license," Lee Rood, Des Moines Register
• "Groups ask Va to delay adoption regs that don't ban discrimination based on sexual orientation," Associated Press

Family Economics

• "Obama's $250,000 Question," William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal
• "Debt, Finance, and Catholics," Samuel Gregg, Crisis Magazine
• "Who Owns Our Jobs?," John Medaille, The Distributist Review

Family Structure

• "Parents again," Susan Olasky, WORLD Magazine
• "Why Divorce Devastates Children," Marlena Graves, Christianity Today
• "Number of long-lasting marriages in U.S. has risen, Census Bureau reports," Carol Morello, The Washington Post
• "Parents keep child's gender secret," Jayme Poisson, ParentCentral.ca
• "Why mothers matter," Jenet Erickson, MercatorNet
• "How to Live as a Christian Family," Cindy Wooden, National Catholic Register
• "Slacking as Self-Discovery: The Rebranding of Indolence as 'Emerging Adulthood,'" Rita Koganzon, The New Atlantis

Parental Rights

• "Murky Waters in 3-Way Parental Rights Fight," Jeff D. Gorman, Courthouse News Service
• "Texas debate on school paddling," UPI

Media
Pornography

• "Facebook Will Use Microsoft Tech to Find Child Pornography," Mikael Ricknas, PC World
• "New U.S. Bill Requires ISPs to Keep 18-months Records," PC World

Internet

• "Netflix's Internet traffic overtakes Web surfing," Peter Svensson, MSNBC
• "Should Kids Surf the Net in Helmets?," Max Lindenman, The Anchoress
• "The Silence of Technology: Presence Precedes Tools," Matthew Lee Anderson, Mere Orthodoxy

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "Bill Would Strengthen Role of Religious Freedom Envoy," Daniel Burke, Christianity Today
• "The Difference Between an Evangelical and a Fundamentalist in a Nutshell," C. Michael Patton, Parchment and Pen
• "What's Good? Wherefore Ought?," Thaddeus J. Kozinski, The Public Discourse
• "Putting Public Prayer to a Vote," Joe Ortwerth, The Monitor
• "Circumcision ban infringes on rights," Gil Leeds, San Francisco Chronicle
• "Seniors Hold Prayer Despite Atheist's Threats," CBNNews.com

Religion in America

• "Apocalypse now?," Cal Thomas, WORLD Magazine
• "A Catholic's Gratitude to Evangelicals," Colleen Reiss, First Things
• "There Ain't No Pure Church," Mark P. Shea, Crisis Magazine
• "Getting Millennials to Mass," Barb Fraze, National Catholic Register
• "The Evangelical Conservative Stool," Matthew Lee Anderson, Mere Orthodoxy
• "Should Doctors and Nurses Never Discuss Religion with Patients?" Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "The Rapture That Wasn't: Religious doomsdays that don't pan out harm only the doomsayer. Leftist ones also harm scientists, and science," Dennis Prager, National Review Online

Secularism

• "A Bachelor's Degree in Atheism," Alan Jacobs, The Wall Street Journal

International
Israel

• "Jews in Israel Are Not Declining Relative to Arabs Demographically," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• "A Word on CUNY, Kushner & Weisenfeld," Caroline Glick, carolineglick.com
• "Obama's Newest Ambush ," Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post
• "Ehud Barak's latest Nakba," Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post
• "Israel's bottom line," Bruce McQuain, Questions and Observations
• "An Anti-Israel President," Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal

International Economy and Family

• "Scholar: China Notices Link Between Christianity, U.S. Economic Success," Michelle A. Vu, The Christian Post
• "'Remember Nhu' fights child sex abuse in Asia," David Yonke, The Toledo Blade
• "Amb. CdeBaca Combats Sex Trafficking In The U.S.," National Public Radio

Religious Persecution

• "A New Birth of Religious Freedom in China," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• "Zoned out," Elbert Chu, WORLD Magazine
• "The Ever-Shrinking Role of Religious Freedom in U.S. Foreign Policy," Thomas F. Farr, National Review Online

Sharia law -- U.S., foreign

• "After bin Laden: The religious freedom imperative," Leonard A. Leo and Dr. Don Argue, The Hill

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "Do Naval Academy Mealtime Prayers Violate the Constitution?," Joe Wolverton, II, The New American
• "Dismantling the Constitution: The 4th Amendment is under attack," James H. "Smokey" Shott, Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Judicial Activism

• "Republican filibuster blocks Liu for appeals court," Sean Lengell, The Washington Times

Other News of Note

• "Arnold's Grover Cleveland Solution," Robert Morrison, The Beacon
• "Understanding Liberals," Walter E. Williams, Crisis Magazine
• "Curiosity in Philosophy," Shaun Kenney, ShaunKenney.com
• "Spring Contrasts: Madison, Wisconsin vs. Tuscaloosa, Joplin, and the Mighty Mississippi," Marvin J. Folkerstma, The Center for Vision and Values

Book reviews

• "EVANGELICAL AUTHOR: "HETEROSEXUALITY IS AN ABOMINATION."," Dr. Peter Jones, TruthXChange
• "Christianizing the Social Network," Matthew Lee Anderson, Christianity Today
• "Reforming the Reformed," Roger E. Olson, Christianity Today
• "Has science buried God?," William West, MercatorNet