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Social Conservative Review: An Insider's Guide to Pro-Family News November 12, 2015

November 12, 2015
Rob Schwarzwalder

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This week at the National Press Club here in Washington, D.C., Baylor University's Institute for Religion Studies held a fascinating seminar titled, "The End of Religion? An Essential Correction to the Secularization Myth."

Led by Dr. Byron Johnson, who gave an outstanding lecture at FRC several years ago on how religious faith diminishes crime, the scholars who presented debunked the notion that religious faith is on the wane in the US or the world generally. They noted that more than 80 percent of the world's population identifies with an organized religion. And in the US, the rise of the so-called "nones"-- younger Americans with no professed faith -- is a much more complex matter than is often present.

As Baylor professor J. Gordon Melton observed, "Are 'nones' to be equated with irreligious? That's not the case. We have a large segment of the 'nones' who are atheists and irreligious, but we have a large segment that fall into (the) spiritual but not religious category. ... The largest group are ones who say Christianity is not a religion."

People long for the vitality of a rigorous faith, not simply some undemanding, self-created religion-of-choice.  As William Voegli, writing in the Claremont Review of Books, says, “If and when people who turned to moralistic therapeutic deism for spiritual nourishment come to regard that creed as a starvation diet, they are likely to seek out, or return to, more fortifying alternatives. In that sense, the serious problem of replenishing moral and religious capital may prove to be self-correcting.”

Christianity is the one true “fortifying alternative.”  It’s the only one that endures and fulfills, since it is grounded in the historic Person Jesus of Nazareth, Who claimed to be God in the flesh and the only way to the Father.  That’s good news, especially since His claim possesses the advantage of being true. 

Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council

P.S. Many of the results of last week’s election were encouraging to conservatives. As FRC President Tony Perkins’ “Washington Watch” newsletter reported on Nov. 4, “If social issues are dead, you could have fooled U.S. voters … the enormous impact of issues like marriage and religious liberty” echoed throughout the nation.  That’s why Molly Ball asserts in The Atlantic that “Liberals Are Losing the Culture Wars.”  One thing is certain: Social conservatives are here to stay.  Regardless of next year’s election outcomes, we’re going to keep both defending and advancing faith, family, and freedom in the public square.

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 The Government Nondiscrimination Act is focused on preventing government discrimination at the state level.  Like the First Amendment Defense Act at the federal level, states need to pass legislation now to protect individuals and entities from state discrimination on the basis of their beliefs in natural marriage.

As Millennials become more prominent in the workforce, companies are spending small fortunes researching their interests, from specific jobs to new products. Social science studies reveal that the Millennial generation is drifting away from traditional family values towards acceptance of all views as equally valuable. Even so, the strong sense of justice that most Millennials possess provides a glimmer of hope.

 The purpose of the “Inequality Act” is to give special privileges to people based on homosexual behavior or based on gender identity dysphoria by adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” into a number of federal laws. These changes affect “any” provider of goods, services, and programs. This is sweeping legislation that does not provide any protections based on religion, even stripping individuals of a Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (“RFRA”) claim.

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