Dear Friends,
Modern culture is overloaded with news, social media, electronic images, technological advances, advertisements and so forth. The limits of our time and attention are pressed to new boundaries every day by the flood of external data hitting us from every angle.
There is so much happening in our society and our world that keeping up with it all is impossible. So, with respect to issues of concern to social conservatives and Christians who care deeply about the future of our country, the dignity of all people, and the persecuted around the world, FRC brings you The Social Conservative Review. It's a unique, one-stop-shop for news and commentary about the critical moral and cultural issues of our time.
This is a content-heavy edition of SoCon. That's because there's much to report in the key areas where FRC works to advance religious liberty, human dignity, the health of the family, and the sanctity of life. But that's also why we send out these editions every two weeks, to give you a chance to read the best of the Web on the issues you care about.
Thanks for your heart for the good things for which FRC stands. Pray we'll keep standing, and moving forward, with the grace and truth Jesus embodied.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council
Religious Liberty
"Free to Believe"
- Colorado Court: Ruling Stands That Baker Can't Cite Religion - Donna Bryson, Associated Press
- Repressive Intolerance - Bill Zeiser, Claremont Review of Books
- Charitable Giving and the Fabric of America - Karl Zinsmeister, Imprimis
- The 'Chilling' Reason This Doctor Says Georgia Fired Him - Leah Jessen, Daily Signal
- ESPN Has a Right to Fire Curt Schilling. What Rights Do People of Faith Have? - Ryan Anderson, Daily Signal
- Why Are Companies Taking Sides Against Religious Liberty? - William Ligon, The Wall Street Journal
- "Georgia Bureaucrats Listened to a Doctor's Sermons, and Then Fired Him," by David French, National Review
- "Christian Educational Institutions' Looming Choice between God and the State - Part 1," by Rick Plasterer, Juicy Ecumenism
International Religious freedom
- House panel advances Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act - J.C. Derrick, World Magazine
- Indian pastor and pregnant wife attacked by militant Hindus - Anto Akkara, WorldWatchMonitor
Military Religious Freedom
- FRC's Lt. Gen. (ret) Jerry Boykin to Attend Court Oral Argument in Key Military Religious Freedom Case - FRC Newsroom
- Bibles are being removed from Missing Man tributes at VA clinics and military bases. Why? - Todd Starnes, Fox News
Religious Liberty in the public square
- FRC Files Amicus Brief in US Supreme Court First Amendment Case (Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley)
- The Most Dangerous Book in the World: Banning the Bible? - Eric Metaxas, Breakpoint
- Unconstitutional Court Censorship Prompts Daleiden First Amendment Federal Court Appeal - Thomas More Society
- No Jesus at Lunch in Wisconsin - Eric Buehrer, Family Policy Alliance
- "Is Religious Liberty Biblical?" by Hugh Whelchel, Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
- "Must Christians Vote? Part III—Character in the Context of Factions," by Joe Carter, The Gospel Coalition
- ADF to Supreme Court: Govt isn't neutral if it treats the religious worse than everyone else - Alliance Defending Freedom
- Why You Shouldn't Panic if This Group Sends You a Demand Letter - First Liberty
- More from Michael McConnell on the supplementary briefing in 'Zubik v. Burwell' - Eugene Volokh, The Washington Post
- State of Georgia Fired Doctor and Lay Pastor for Content of Sermons; First Liberty Files Lawsuit - First Liberty
Life
Abortion
- Taking the Wind out of the Left's (Planned Parenthood) Sales - Tony Perkins, Washington Update
- Sex-Selection Abortion: The Real War on Women - Anna Higgins, J.D., Charlotte Lozier Institute
- U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse at Planned Parenthood Hearing: "Babies Are Not the Sum of Their Body Parts"
- Life Legal Files New Motions in Planned Parenthood Lawsuit - Life Legal Defense Foundation
- In letter Members of House and Senate voice deep disappointment that FDA loosened standards for use of RU-486 - National Right to Life News
- Some Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Refuse To Comply With California Law Requiring Notice of Free State Abortions - Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart.com
- Federal Court dismisses ACLU suit that sought to force Catholic hospital, staff to commit abortions - Alliance Defending Freedom
- UN Special Rapporteur: Pro-Life Laws are "Torture" - Benjamin L. Sisney, American Center for Law and Justice
- Many reasons to pass Pennsylvania fetal pain law - Michael J. McMonagle, Philadelphia Inquirer
- When the Pro-Life Movement Was Mostly Liberal - Michael New, The Christian Post
- Pregnancy Guidelines for Harmful Acne Drug Not Adhered to by Many Women - Honor Whiteman, Medical News Today
- Supreme Court Blocks Abortion Law - CBS Miami
- Study: Mass. Women more apt to end Down Syndrome pregnancies - Lindsay Kalter, Boston Herald
- Zika babies reveal our society's deep, dangerous prejudice against disabilities - Martina Shabram, Quartz
- Renting Wombs is a Human Wrong, not a Human Right - Adina Portaru, Public Discourse
Adoption
- My wife and I are white evangelicals. Here's why we chose to give birth to black triplets - Aaron Halbert, Washington Post
- Families use sports to promote, and take part in, adoption - Andrew Branch, WORLD Magazine
Bioethics
- In An Industry That Makes People, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - Jennifer Roback Morse, The Blaze
- The Insidious Danger Behind "Family Balancing" - Matt Hadro, Catholic News Agency
Obamacare
- Little Sisters Update: Plaintiffs Demand Full Exemption From Obamacare Mandate - Nate Madden, Conservative Review
- AHIP Head Warns That ACA Premium Increases Are Coming - Caitlin Owens, Morning Consult
Family
Family Economics
- Household Expenditures and Income - Pew Charitable Trusts
- The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans - Neal Gabler, The Atlantic
Marriage
- Future Families: Fertility and Reproduction - Freda McKissic Bush, M.D., Dr. David Hager and Annelise Spees, M.D., Boundless
- Tri-Parenting, Failing Children - Dierdre Reilly, Lifezette
- For Love or Money? The Economic Consequences of Delayed Marriage - Jason Carroll, The Family in America
Human Sexuality (homosexuality/ gender issues)
- I Didn't Believe Feminists until The Trans Lobby Attacked Me - Kaeley Triller, The Federalist
- 7 Questions About Transgender People, Answered - The Federalist Staff
- 4 Ways to Help your Teenagers Discover Their Identity In a Confused World - John Majors, Challies.com
- Federalizing the Trans Revolution - Rod Dreher, The American Conservative
- Born That Way? The Evolution of Humanity, Sex, & Gender - Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg, The Imaginative Conservative
- The Scientific Objectivity of Gender Difference - Glenn T. Stanton, Family in America
- North Carolina's Bathroom Bill and the Constitution - E. Gregory Wallace, The Public Discourse
- An Open Letter to Target: Regarding your New Restroom Policy - Mary From Martha
- When Doctors Refuse to Treat LGBT Patients - Emma Green, The Atlantic
- Planned Parenthood Is Helping Transgender Patients Access Hormone Therapy - Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart, Slate
- Pro-Life Student: What a Real College "Sex Week" Looks Like - Sade Patterson, The College Fix
- Biblical Compassion for Sex-Change Confusion - Robert Hart, Touchstone
- The Yes Culture: A Review of Girls and Sex - Naomi Schaefer Riley, Commentary
- The Slippery Slope to Incest - Dr. James Emery White, Crosswalk.com
- Opening the Door to Evil: LGBT Activists Continue 'Bathroom Bill' Push Nationwide - Jerry Pierce, Decision Magazine
- Drop the "T" From LGBT - Walt Heyer, The Federalist
Human Trafficking
- The Economics of Human Trafficking - Baylee Molloy, Institute on Faith, Work, and Economics
- "We Can Stop Modern Slavery--with Churches' Help," Interview by Morgan Lee, Christianity Today
Pornography
- Utah Recognizes Pornography as Public Health Crisis - National Center on Sexual Exploitation
- Breaking the Billion-Dollar Bondage of Pornography - Hannah Wegman, CNSNews.com
- How Pornography Physically Alters the Human Brain Similarly to Hard Drugs - Chris Enloe, The Blaze