The Social Conservative Review: October 17, 2013

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Dear Friends,

As the movement for life and human dignity advances, the consternation of the Left only increases. Consider:

"With the closure of two more abortion clinics and a third on the brink of shutting down, Ohio women will have fewer places to terminate pregnancies than perhaps any time since the years after the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973."

This report from the Columbus (OH) Dispatch almost has the tone of a lament. Yet for those of us who value the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, the closure of abortuaries means that unborn lives will be saved and women will be treated with greater dignity.

We celebrate the growing erosion of the abortion-on-demand mentality that has claimed far too much of the American mind since Roe. Yet even as we continue to make strides in the battle for life, the battle for marriage shows no sign of immediate victory. Lifting the confusion over human sexuality, marriage, and male/female complementarianism remains an enormous challenge for social conservatives.

The bottom line is simple: The Bible calls Christians to be wise, gentle, strong, and faithful. We use our best judgment, seek actively to obey the God of Scripture, and then leave the results to Him. Knowing and practicing those truths creates hope and animates action. The Triumphant One will not be defeated, even if we experience setbacks in our fallen, finite world.

So, with His strengthening grace, let's get to work.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

P.S. Watch highlights of FRC's just concluded Values Voter Summit, including speeches by top conservative leaders, here.

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "Homeschooling Too Effective?," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Seized German Homeschool Kids Returned Home, With Conditions," The Heartland Institute
• ""Tebow Bills" and Access to Public School Sports," Crosswalk

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "Higher Education, Social Capital, and the Path to a Better Life," The Public Discourse
• "The DOJ's Attack on Vouchers," Education Week
• "Rethinking High School," Education Next
• "Kentucky Teacher: Common Core "Is Like Rearranging the Deck Chairs"," The Truth in American Education
• "The record on vouchers is not mixed," Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• "Polytechnic Utiliversity," First Things

College Debt

• "Could college debt be the next bubble?," The Des Moines Register
• "The New Vicious Cycle of Student Loan Debt," Human Events
• "The Educational Trend That Could Put an End to Student Loan Debt," The Motley Fool
• "More College Subsidies a Poor Investment," The Mackinac Center Blog

Government Reform
Regulation

• "Privatizing the National Park Service," The Center for Vision and Values
• "States bail out federal government, reopen parks," WORLD Magazine
• "A Shutdown Silver Lining: Fewer Regulations," U.S. News and World Report

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "Republicans Lost the Shutdown Battle, but They're Winning the Fiscal War," National Post
• "Government waste stifling growth worldwide," The Washington Times
• "Why Christians Should Oppose the Debt Ceiling Charade," The Acton Institute

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Teenage sex: A family affair?,"The Center for Vision and Values
• "Abstinence or condoms," The Samford Crimson

Health care reform: ACA/Obamacare

• "How Will You Fare in the Obamacare Exchanges?," The Heritage Foundation
• "What the Obamacare Website Failure Teaches Us About Crony Capitalism," The Acton Institute
• "What Obamacare means to Little Sisters of the Poor," The Washington Times
• "Obamacare shock: $12,600 deductible, 40 percent co-pay, zero competition," The Washington Examiner
• "100 Christian Ministries Compose Class-Action Lawsuit over Contraceptives," Christianity Today
• "The Dynamic Unity of Conscience," The Library of Law and Liberty

Homosexuality

• "Same-sex couples test North Carolina gay marriage ban," USA Today
• "The Pope is No Radical," Time Magazine
• "The Transgender Culture Wars," Crisis Magazine
• "Same-Sex Marriage Makes Liberal Judges Irrational," The Public Discourse
• "The Marriage Equality Movement Could Change Dramatically In The Next Two Weeks," BuzzFeed
• "Homosexuals and the church," WORLD Magazine

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "Erring on the side of the living," The Washington Times
• "What International Gendercide Can Teach America about Abortion," PJ Media
• "Ecuador president would rather resign than allow abortion," LifeSiteNews
• "Brady Amendment Makes It Onto Colorado Ballot, Will Redefine Fetuses As People In Criminal Code," The Huffington Post
• "EU May Declare Abortion a 'Human Right'," CNSNews.com
• "Whose choice? How new rights may expand old oppression," MercatorNet
• "EU: While 1.3 Million Sign the Pro-Life Petition, Radical Pro-Abortion-Politicians Don't Want to Learn the Lesson.," Turtle Bay and Beyond

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Breakthroughs in Prenatal Screening," New York Times
• "How Christians should think about bioethics," ERLC
• "International opposition grows to UK's three-parent embryos," MercatorNet
• "Should We Live Shorter to Save the Planet?," National Review Online

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "The ever more elastic grounds for abortion and euthanasia," The Iona Institute
• "The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to Rule on a Right to Assisted Suicide," Turtle Bay and Beyond

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.

• "Adult (Fetal) Stem Cell Trial for Spinal Cord Injury Presents New Ethical Questions," National Review Online
• "Tracking viral DNA in the cell," Phys.org
• "Novel stem cell technique may transform liver and pancreatic transplant therapies," Fox News
• "ALS Stem Cell Therapy: Too Soon to Tell," MedPage Today

Human Trafficking

• "This Is The Key Measure To Protecting Sex Trafficking Targets," The Huffington Post
• "Washington Delegate Donates Shutdown Salary to Shared Hope," Shared Hope International
• "Tunisian girls return home pregnant after 'sexual jihad' in Syria," Al-Arabiya
• "Sex Trafficking in India," New York Times

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "An orphan goes to church and asks someone, anyone to adopt him," NaplesNews.com
• "New Pro-Abortion Tactic: Demonize Adoption as Hurting Women and Children," LifeNews.com

Family Economics

• "Why the US job market might (finally) be gaining momentum," AEIdeas.org
• "A Farmer's Mission to Reweave Shalom," Values & Capitalism
• "Is Charity Ultimately Selfish?," Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
• "Self-Discipline Today or Hardship Tomorrow," The Acton Institute
• "Four Charts on How Economic Freedom Makes Your Life Better," The Heritage Foundation
• "Should We Be taxing Churches?," The Hipster Conservative
• "How to Humanize the Workplace," The Gospel Coalition

Family Structure

• "Sharing spaces," WORLD Magazine
• "How We Can Bolster American Families," Values & Capitalism
• "A Married Mom and Dad Really Do Matter: New Evidence from Canada," The Public Discourse
• "Frank Discussion Needed about the Impact of Family Breakdown," Education Next
• "What Young Christians Can Learn from the Elderly," The Gospel Coalition
• "10 Secrets You Should Know About Marriage," Crosswalk
• "Pope Francis Calls Extraordinary Synod on Family and Marriage," Time
• "The True Origin of Society: The Founders on the Family," The Heritage Foundation
• "It's Not Just a Guy Thing," Challies.com

Media
Pornography

• "Revenge pornography is a symptom of a deeper problem," The Ceres Courier
• "Internet Pornography & the First Amendment," The Public Discourse
• "Why I Stopped Pretending Lust Was Just A Male Issue," iBelieve.com
• "I HatePorn," Desiring God
• "The Porn-Free Family," Challies.com

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "US Army defines Christian ministry as 'domestic hate group'," Fox News
• "Faith, Culture & Religious Freedom in 21st Century America," ERLC
• "Why We Separate Church and State," Commentary
• "New York churches no longer outcasts," WORLD Magazine
• "Does Faith = Hate?," The American Conservative
• "Christmas Wars, Round 43: More Reason to Fix Our Broken Church-State Jurisprudence," The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

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.

• "Jim Wallis: His Flawed Arguments on the Shutdown, Bible and Justice," The Christian Post
• "Wave of Christian Movies Is a Testament to the Prospects," The Wall Street Journal
• "God Does Not Post to YouTube," Second Nature
• "Four Reasons Christians Should Oppose Casinos," The Acton Institute
• "The missing message in today's churches," The Washington Post

Secularism

• "The secular socialist vision of government has failed America," CURE
• "Atheists Aren't Jerks," Relevant Magazine
• "Is the 'New Atheism' any different from old atheism?," GetReligion

International
Israel

• "Evangelicals and Israel: What American Jews Don't Want to Know (but Need to)," Mosaic
• "An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: Wake up!," Times of Israel

International Economy and Family

• "Syria's chemical imbalance," WORLD Magazine
• "China turns Japanese," AEIdeas.org
• "New Report Shows Poor Countries Face Extreme Challenges From Aging," C-FAM

Religious Persecution

• "I'm Sorry, but We Have to Talk about the Barbarism of Modern Islamist Terrorism," The Telegraph
• "Asian-American Christians decry mocking from white evangelical church," WORLD Magazine
• "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church," Touchstone Magazine
• "Rainbow of refugees sheltered in her home," Baptist Press
• "Do American Christians care about persecuted Christians?," The Cripplegate
• New Hudson Institute site on religious persecution: PersecutionReport.org

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "The Terrible Fall of the Civil Rights Movement," Minding the Campus
• "The Irrationality of the Court's DOMA Decision," Crisis Magazine
• "Supreme Court Set to Rule on the Future of Affirmative Action," The American Spectator
• "Freedom or Virtue?," The American Conservative
• "Study: Roberts Court Is Less Activist Than Any Court in the Past 60 Years," The FedSoc Blog

Other Issues

• "The Conservative Case for CivilianReview," The American
• "Freedom and Civility," The Public Discourse
• "It Takes a Village," The Weekly Standard
• "The Conservative Record on Environmental Policy," The New Atlantis

Book reviews

• "BOOK REVIEW: 'Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v Wade'," The Washington Times
• "Gatsby: Money, Romance, and the Wages of Sin," The Gospel Coalition
• "Blessed," The Gospel Coalition
• "Not Originally Intended," Claremont Review of Books
• "Drowning in the Digital Abyss," New York Review of Books
• "J.I. Packer's Systematic Theology: A (Bold)Proposal," God in the Wasteland
• "Clear Winter Nights," Challies.com