Family Research Council

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Dear Friends:

To participate in public life is to recognize that periodic defeat is inevitable. Sometimes, defeat occurs far more often than we would like.

Earlier this month, conservatives in four states lost battles to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman. President Obama's re-election presages almost invariably the appointment of men and women to our Supreme Court and the lower federal courts who believe Roe was decided rightly and that the Constitution's meaning is malleable. The list could go on, but the point would be the same: This was a heartbreaking month for social conservatives.

So, do we quit? Certainly not. We consider ways of reframing our enduring message and means of persuading those wary of our vision for the country. Yet abandonment of truth is never a morally acceptable alternative to those who believe that right and wrong are defined not by popular consensus but by the self-revelation of an eternal God in the Bible and in the "laws of nature."

Moreover, all is not gloom and doom: In the 2011-2012 sessions of their legislatures, states enacted 131 laws that in some way temper access to abortion on demand. These include " bans on abortions at 20 weeks; 24- to 72-hour waiting periods; and a requirement to inform women of suicide risks if they seek an abortion" (Source: CBS News). Massachusetts voters rejected physician-assisted suicide, and in Montana voters passed a measure that requires every young woman of 15 or under who seeks an abortion to notify her parents.

In all of this, there is a larger point we dare not lose: Although we play for very high stakes - among them, the sanctity of unborn life, the dignity of women, the centrality of religious liberty, and marriage as defined in Scripture and practiced for 3,500 years of recorded history - we must never delude ourselves that these battles ever will be fully or finally won.

The ultimate triumph of truth rests in the hands of a King Whose guidance of time and history often is mysterious and Who alone has the power to ensure that right prevails. Until He chooses to consummate our fallen human affairs, it is out duty always to champion righteousness and justice in the public square. As T.S. Eliot wrote, "Combat may have truces, but never a peace." Why? Because as long as man exists, so will evil and its manifestations in society and government. Thus, although permanent wins are impossible, fighting for all the victories we can, for as long as we can sustain them, is essential.

For however long Christians win or lose on the field of moral combat, we remain faithful, animated by the courage and confidence of those for whom victory is assured not by human effort but the sovereignty of a good and omnipotent God. It's a fight worth waging, and never quitting.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council

P.S. Be sure to join us, in person or online, for Dr. Russell Moore's upcoming presentation on adoption and its relevance to Christian compassion and calling. It takes place this coming Tuesday, December 4 at 12:00 noon EST. Register or watch here.

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• ""Come Peacefully Now or by Force Later"," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Kenya To Outlaw Homeschooling?," OneNewsNow
• "Home-schooling pioneer Susan Wise Bauer is well-versed in controversy," The Washington Post

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "Court: Schools Can't Sue Parents of Disabled Children over Religious Vouchers," Christianity Today
• "Americans Are Proud of U.S. Colleges but Not of Their Direction," The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "New Graduation Rate Data Show Large Achievement Gaps," Education Week
• "Evaluating Teachers AND Administrators," Education Next
• "The Case for Educational Pluralism," First Things

College Debt

• "Children's Education, but Parents' Crushing Loans," New York Times
• "Student Loan Debt is a Losing Gamble for Many Central Valley Students," Modesto Bee

Government Reform
Regulation

• "Here Comes the Regulatory Flood," The Wall Street Journal
• "Let's Raise Taxes on the Middle Class," The American
• "Does government need to grow?," American Enterprise Institute

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "How to Approach the 'Fiscal Cliff'," National Review Online
• "Heat without Light," The American

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Young Blood and Good News: A Report from the Sex Wars in Princeton, NJ," The American Thinker
• "Bishop: Abstinence, fidelity sure ways to avoid HIV," GMA News
• "'Two and a Half Men' star chooses sexual purity over $350,000 weekly salary," LifeSiteNews.com

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "What do the Waiters at Red Lobster and Some Adjunct Profs Have in Common? Obamacare.," Family Research Council
• "Another Victory for Challengers of HHS Mandate," National Review Online
• "Tightening the Noose: Hobby Lobby vs. Sebelius," Economics for Everybody
• "Three More States Approve Ballot Initiatives to Block Health Care Mandate," The Galen Institute
• "Massive Fines and Growing Anxieties: The HHS Mandate," The Acton Institute

Homosexuality

• "The Irony of the November 2012 Marriage Votes," Family Research Council
• "The Wisdom of Upholding Tradition," The Wall Street Journal
• "The Marriage Debate and the History of Homosexuality," National Review Online
• "National Post-Election Survey Reveals Widespread Support for Defining Marriage as the Union of One Man and One Woman," National Organization for Marriage
• "What the latest poll on same-sex marriage really says," The Iona Institute

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "Chinese study shows abortion increases breast cancer risk," Family Research Council
• "How Obama's 'Life of Julia' Prevailed," The Wall Street Journal
• "US abortions drop 5 percent during recession; more birth control, bad economy likely causes," Associated Press
• "Michigan Republicans trying to pass law that would give tax breaks (i.e. personhood) to fetuses," God Discussion
• "Media misleads on reasons behind abortion decline," LifeSiteNews.com
• "Potentiality Rightly Understood," The Public Discourse
• "Disabilities group opposes UN treaty," WORLD Magazine
• "How Many Women Have Pro-Life Laws Saved?," First Things
• "Planned Parenthood: A Rose by Any Other Name...?," Alliance Defending Freedom

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Bioethicists Say Researchers Should Advocate for Use of Newborn Screening Samples," GenomeWeb
• "UPenn offers new queer bioethics course," CampusReform.org
• "AI Might Emulate the Brain But Never the Mind," National Review Online

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "Enlightened Death: The Argument for Assisted Suicide," Family Research Council
• "One-sided reports in Canada and the UK ignore data concerning euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands," National Right to Life

Stem Cell Research
To read about the latest advances in ethical adult stem cell research, keep up with leading-edge reports from FRC's Dr. David Prentice, click here.

• "Remembering Pioneers in Patient Treatments," Family Research Council
• "Paralyzed Dogs Walk Again," National Review Online
• "Transposable elements reveal a stem cell specific class of long noncoding RNAs," Phys.org
• "Adult Stem Cell Research Pioneers Deserve More Attention," LifeNews.com

Human Trafficking

• "Nigerian Sex Trafficking Victims Abandoned," Voice of America
• "Christian Workers Save Trafficked Girls in India," Patheos
• "An Escape From Sex Slavery," Newsweek

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "With adoption, it's not who you are - it's how you parent," The Guardian
• "National Adoption Month raises awareness," Fox News
• "Social media now playing a role in adoptions," News4Jax.com

Family Economics

• "Is Capitalism Over?," Family Research Council
• "Blasted Twinkie Killers!," The Center for Vision and Values
• "Lenders and Spenders: Confronting the Political Reality of Debt," The American
• "It's Not Just the Economy's Fault," Values & Capitalism
• "Stability and "Creative Destruction" in the Home and Economy," Mere Orthodoxy
• "Family's economic situation influences brain function in children," MedicalXpress

Family Structure

• "Better Bystanders or Moral Courage?," Family Research Council
• "The Blessing of Children," The New Atlantis
• "Opting Out of Parenthood, With Finances in Mind," New York Times
• "The Disappearing-Family Problem," The Weekly Standard
• "The Future of Marriage: Why "The Inevitable" Is Not Inevitable," The Public Discourse
• "The Abolition of Man-and-Woman: On Marriage, Grammar, and Legal Strategy," The Public Discourse
• "The chemistry of marriage," WORLD Magazine
• "FactChecker: Who Really Started the Family 'Culture War'?," The Gospel Coalition

Media
Pornography

• "Appalachian State Chancellor Defends Discipline of Professor Who Showed Film About Porn," The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "My porn addiction," LifeSiteNews.com

Internet

• "Are Your Facebook Friends Stressing You Out? (Yes.)," The Atlantic
• "Social Media in Warfare: The New Battleground," The Heritage Foundation

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "UK Catholics might lose charitable status for not offering communion to everyone," LifeSiteNews.com
• "Religious Freedom, Persecution Of The Church, And Martyrdom," Papal Nuncio
• "The Naked Private Square," The Acton Institute
• "At EU, Faithful Christians Need Not Apply?," First Things
• "Supreme Court Says No to Hypersecularist Attack on Religious Freedom," The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
• "Judge Denies Request for Nativity Displays in Santa Monica," The FedSoc Blog
• "Montana Denies Tuition Benefits To Religious Preschoolers," Alliance Defending Freedom

Religion in America
Check out Dr. Kenyn Cureton's feature on Watchmen Pastors called "The Lost Episodes," featuring how religion has had an impact on our Founding Fathers.

• "Responding to Peter Wehner on Moral Issues and the "Mind of God"," Family Research Council
• "Sacrifice and Self-Interest," The Acton Institute
• "Four Principles of Biblical Stewardship," Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics
• "What is a Christian's Responsibility to Government?," Ligonier Ministries
• "The Church & Violence Against Women," Moore to the Point

Secularism

• "Solzhenitsyn: 'Spiritual Death Has... Touched Us All'," The Washington Post
• "God and Thanksgiving: Secularism Must Not Remove God From This Day," PolicyMic

International
Israel

• "A Time for Courage, and Action," Caroline Glick
• "The Party of Victory," National Review Online

International Economy and Family

• "Beyond Gaza: The Foreign-Policy Implications of Morsi's Power Grab," The Atlantic
• "The Comedy Version of Greece v Germany," International Liberty

Religious Persecution

• "A Tale of Three Converts," Religion Today
• "Another Church Bombing in Nigeria Kills 11 People," The Christian Post

Sharia law -- U.S., foreign

• "al-Qaradawi, Asks Allah to Destroy the Jews," Jihad Watch
• "Obama Doesn't Have Four More Years To Combat Iranian and Other Forms of Inflammatory Extremism in the Middle East," David Alton

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "Stripping the Constitution," The Public Discourse
• "Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Derails Dr. King's Dream," National Association of Scholars

Judicial Activism

• "Judicial Usurpation: Then and Now," National Review Online
• "How Picking a Supreme Court Justice Became Partisan," The FedSoc Blog
• "The Most Dangerous Branch," National Affairs

Other News of Note

• "Liberty and a Free Press," The Public Discourse
• "Liberty Is a Slow Fruit," The American Scholar
• "No sex? Permission to speak freely, Sir.," The Washington Post
• "The Disappearing White Catholic Voter," The Catholic Thing
• "The Americanness of the American Revolution," City Journal

Book reviews

• "Holy Homemaking: A Response from Rachel Held Evans," Christianity Today
• "Altared: A Book on Marriage that Everyone Should Read," Mere Orthodoxy
• "Just Kidding," First Things
• "Recommended: 'That Hideous Strength'," The Acton Institute
• "Perfectly Unique," The Gospel Coalition
• "A Stalemate, Not a Mandate," Claremont Review of Books