Family Research Council

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Dear Friends,

In May 1607, the first Anglican service ever held in North America took place in the nascent colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

This reminds us that from our earliest days, religious liberty has been the cornerstone of all our freedoms. Why? Because if our rights come from God, then it is safe to assume our first duty is to Him -- and, thus, that religious liberty is the foundation of all other liberties.

Yet just this week, the Department of the Navy sought to require its chaplains either to perform same-sex unions or refer those desiring them to someone who would. As FRC president Tony Perkins commented, "Opening the military to same-sex weddings would not only violate federal law but also seriously threaten the religious liberty of military chaplains. If the Navy enforces its referral policy, any chaplain declining to perform a same-sex wedding would be required to find someone who would perform the wedding."

Thankfully, the Navy has backed away from its plan, and the House Armed Services Committee has passed a measure that states, in the words of the bill's author, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), " U.S. military bases may not be used to solemnize same-sex unions, nor may military chaplains perform these unions in the course of their official duties."

In 1776, Princeton theologian and Declaration of Independence signer John Witherspoon wrote, "There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire." He was right, and the implication of his observation is profound: The defense of religious liberty is essential.

That's our challenge and our calling. Thank you for joining Family Research Council in working to fulfill it.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder

Senior Vice President

Family Research Council

Educational Freedom and Reform

Homeschooling

• "School District Says Parent Needs License To Homeschool," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Bill to ease homeschool restrictions gets support," Tom Humphrey, Knoxville News-Sentinel

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "The 'Education' Mantra," Thomas Sowell, RealClearPolitics
• "Education level inversely related to childbearing," Cheryl Wetzstein, The Washington Times
• "For-Profit Colleges Defend Their Stature," Ben Wolfgang, The Washington Times
• "The Coming Brave New World of Higher Education," Dick Bishirjian, The Washington Times
• "DC Children Can Thank Boehner--and Randomized Trials," Paul E. Peterson, EducationNext.org
• "Tiger Mom: Here's how to reshape U.S. education," Amy Chua, USA Today
• "Closing the Door on Education Innovation," Greg Forster, The Public Discourse
• "Conservative 'Manifesto' Blasts Shared Curriculum,Tests," Catherine Gewertz, Education Week

Government Reform

Regulation

• "Hardships of Ethanol," Louie Glinzak, The Acton Institute
• "Senators blame speculation for high oil prices, urge stronger regulation," Kevin G. Hall, The Miami Herald
• "Government Creates Poverty," John Stossel, Reason

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "Debt and the Birth Dearth," Jordan J. Ballor, The Acton Institute
• "Hey, Big Spender," Nick Schulz, The Enterprise Blog
• "Of course it's perilous," Opinion, Chicago Tribune

Health Care

Abstinence

• "UN Wants Billions for STD Vaccination Scheme," Susan Yoshihara, The Friday Fax
• "Care Net still teaches sex education in Manatee County despite policy change; Planned Parenthood still excluded," Ashley Lopez, The Florida Independent
• "Age-appropriate sex ed sparks hot debate in Illinois Senate," Hannah Hess, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Conscience Protection

• "On "the Unborn," the Media, and the Conscience," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• ACLU Ploy Would Force Hospitals to Perform Abortions, Matt Bowman, Human Events
• "New Conscience Regulations from the Department of Health & Human Services: Do They Strike the Right Balance Between Conscience and the Medical Profession? - Event Audio/Video," M. Gregg Bloche, Farr A. Curlin, Robert A. Destro, Jessie Hill, and Mark L. Rienzi, The Federalist Society

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "Please Actually Read My Research," Alex Brill, The American
• "Doctors, Not Politicians, Should Decide," Grace-Marie Turner, The Enterprise Blog
• "National Health Preview," The Wall Street Journal
• "On Spending Cuts, Democrats Give Voters the Brush Off," Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal
• "Sebelius: 'Die sooner' with GOP plan," J. Lester Feder, Politico
• "Will Ken Cuccinelli's Health-Care Challenge be Sidelined?," Garrett Epps, The Atlantic
• "An Industry Slipping Away," Grace-Marie Turner, The Galen Institute

Homosexuality

• "Opposing view: Set aside the decision," Tony Perkins, USA Today
• "Jim Wallis, Homosexuality, and Genuine Love," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• "Presbyterians, homosexuality, & another tragedy in mainline Protestantism," R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Baptist Press
• "In MN, A Legislator Insults and Threatens a Parish Priest over Marriage Vote (+How We Can Respond)," Thomas Peters, CatholicVote.org
• "Same-Sex Marriage and the Assault on Institutional Integrity," Matthew J. Franck, The Public Discourse
• "Pro-marriage U.S. Olympic official forced to resign after criticism from gay activists," Rebecca Millette, LifeSiteNews.com
• "Navy Suspends Guidelines for Same-Sex Marriages on Bases," Sara Sorcher, National Journal
• "Deportation of partner in same-sex couple halted," Samantha Henry, Forbes

Human Life and Bioethics

Abortion

• "More Likely to Be Aborted Than to Be Born," Ryan Bomberger and Jeanne Monahan, National Catholic Register
• "Good enough for bin Laden, good enough for the unborn?," Robert Morrison, The Henrietta Post
• "Young Female Leaders Speaking Out About Girl Scouts of America and Planned Parenthood," Jeanne Monahan, Family Research Council
• "Abortion pill 'less safe than surgery'," Jamie Walker, The Australian
• "Post-Abortion Trauma," Kevin Burke, National Review Online
• "Brave New World of Webcam Abortions," Gary Bauer, Human Events
• "I am Woman, Waging War on Women," Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online
• "Culture War Update," Joseph Lawler, The American Spectator
• "Controversial New Hungarian Pro-Life Constitution Signed Into Law," Samantha Singson, The Friday Fax
• "The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing
• "The Lives Federalists Won't Save," Joe Carter, First Things
• "Ground Zero for Human Rights," Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review
• "Abortion lobby powers the Democratic money machine," Opinion, The Washington Examiner
• "Oklahoma governor signs bill restricting use of abortion pill in the state," Associated Press
• "Missouri pushes tougher abortion law," Roseann Moring, The News-Leader

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Better Living Through Chemistry (If Permitted)," Gilbert Ross, The American
• "People Don't Trust Science When It Becomes Politics," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Market Competition Collision: Eggs Needed for Research," Jennifer Lahl, Center for Bioethics and Culture Network
• "Neurochemical evidence that long-lasting love is possible," Physorg.com

Cloning

• "Missouri Pro-Lifers Worried About Tax-Funded Human Cloning," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• "Cloning is cloning is cloning," National Right to Life

Stem Cell Research

• "Second Patient Injected with Embryonic Stem Cell Derivatives," Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• "Appeals Court Allows Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Funding to Continue," Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• "Rule of Law Should Not be Trashed In Name of Stem Cell 'Cures'," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• "Engineers Patch a Heart: Tissue-Engineering Platform Enables Heart Tissue to Repair Itself," Science Daily

Women's Health

• "Forty Years of Title X Is Enough: The Folly of the McNamara Approach to Family Planning," Robert W. Patterson, The Family in America
• "The Incoherence of Federal Sex Policy: Title X, Medicaid, and the Eisenstadt Decision," Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., The Family in America

Marriage and Family

Adoption

• "Better Prospects, Lower Cost: The Case for Increasing Foster Care Adoption," Nicholas A. Zill, Ph.D., National Council for Adoption
• "Showdown Looms in Illinois," Matthew A. Rarey, National Catholic Register
• "Change Would Let Religions Out of Same Sex Adoptions," Manya Brachear, Chicago Tribune

Family Economics

• "Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Jump Due to Anomalies," Alex Kowalski and Shobhana Chandra, Bloomberg
• "Economists in the Wild," Steven F. Hayward, The Acton Institute
• "Prosperity, Depression, and Progress," Arnold Kling, The American
• "The Keynesian Growth Discount," Opinion, Wall Street Journal

Family Structure

• "Holder Further Undermines DoMA in Immigration Case," Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• "US Asylum Ruling Belittles China's Brutal One-Child Policy," Terrence McKeegan, C-FAM
• "China's One-Child Plan Faces New Fire," Jeremy Page, The Wall Street Journal
• "On Knowing and Loving," John Mark Reynolds, The Examined Life
• "Divorce and Malta," Jennifer Roche, National Catholic Register

Parental Rights

• "Do Parents' Rights End at the Schoolhouse Gate?," John W. Whitehead, White Mountain Independent
• "Corporal punishment bill falls in House," Tim Eaton, Austin American-Statesman

Media

Pornography

• "Dirty Tactics of a Growing Dial-a-Porn Empire," Cathy Ruse, Wilson County Times
• "Out of the Porn Darkness," Austin Ruse, The Catholic Thing
• "Folding of Anti-Smut Unit Revives Debate on How to Fight Porn," David Baumann, Main Justice

Internet

• "Can We Handle Social Media? Yes, If We Can Handle Self-Government," Joy Pullmann, The Enterprise Blog
• "Don't Reject Social Media, Find a Way to Use It Well," Miriel Thomas, The Enterprise Blog
• "Banned apps: How Apple decides," Ariel Schwartz, Technolog

Religion and Public Policy

Religious Liberty

• "Christian Unity and the Russian Orthodox Church," John Couretas, The Acton Institute
• "Going to Hell," Ken Thomas, The Ashbrook Center
• "Religious freedom in political sphere being eroded by secularism: Vatican," Rebecca Millette, LifeSiteNews.com
• "If passed, 'Religious Freedom' amendment would help state outsource services to faith groups," Ashley Lopez, The Florida Independent

Religion in America

• "Understanding Rand," Hunter Baker, The Acton Institute
• "Economic Bell Tolls for Nation's Church Steeples," Cathy Lynn Grossman, Christianity Today
• "Catholics in Politics," Justin Paulette, The Ashbrook Center
• "Muslims in America," Jessica Stern, The National Interest
• "The National Day of Reason Doesn't Have a Prayer," Francis Beckwith, The Catholic Thing

Secularism

• "Pitzer College in California Adds Major in Secularism," Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times
• "Tim Keller: 'Mushy Middle' in Religion Is Disappearing," Ethan Cole, The Christian Post

International

International Economy and Family

• "Calling a Rogue a Rogue," Apoorva Shah, American Enterprise Institute
• "Why Isn't China Democratizing? Because It's Not Really Capitalist," Dan Blumenthal, The American

Religious Persecution

• "The Persecution of Egypt's Coptic Christians Continues," Nina Shea, National Review Online
• "Chinese Christians Defend Persecuted Underground Church," Andrew Jacobs, New York Times
• "Muslim Attackers Kill Seventeen Christians in Nigeria," Jonathan Racho, Persecution.org

Sharia law -- U.S., foreign

• "How Should Christians Respond to the Death of bin Laden?," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• "In Case You Missed It," Robinson O'Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
• "Politics after Osama," Jonah Goldberg, American Enterprise Institute
• "Punishing Friends for the Behavior of Enemies," Alana Goodman, Commentary Magazine
• "The Washington Post's Jihadist Op-Ed Contributor," Thomas Joscelyn, The Weekly Standard

The Courts

Constitutional Issues

• "The Modern Regime of Rights," James Schall, S.J., The Catholic Thing
• "Reasserting Federalism in Defense of Liberty," Ken Cuccinelli, Imprimis
• "Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law," Hadley Arkes

Judicial Activism

• "Lenk misses link to common sense," Howie Carr, The Boston Herald
• "Senate Approves Former Planned Parenthood Director as Judge," Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com

Other News of Note

• "Men Seeking Absolute Power," Jordan J. Ballor, The Acton Institute
• "Ron Paul's land of second-rate values," Michael Gerson, The Washington Post
• "The totalitarian trends of liberal ideology and other matters...," John Smeaton, SPUC Director
• "The Self-Destructiveness of the Purity Test," Peter Wehner, Commentary Magazine
• "Liberals support, conservatives slam rapper's White House invite," Neil Munro, The Daily Caller
• "Jimmy Carter's Moral Compass," The Wall Street Journal

Book reviews

• "Why they do it," Robert Morrison, Family Research Council
• "The Music," Peter W. Schramm, The Ashbrook Center
• "Their Proper End," Brad Miner, The Catholic Thing
• "In Search of a Healthy Imagination," Greg Pfundstein, The Catholic Thing
• "In the Pew Instead of Prison," James Q. Wilson, The Wall Street Journal
• "From Anthony Comstock to Jocelyn Elders," Charlotte Allen, The Family in America
• "What Scientists Believe," Peter Lopatin, The New Atlantis
• "How the Confederates Won," Mackubin Thomas Owens, Claremont Review of Books
• "Not Lost in Translation," Christina Hoff Sommers, Claremont Review of Books