Dear Friends,
Writing last year in The Public Discourse, attorney Jeff Ventrella of the Alliance Defending Freedom described what he termed "the prevailing orthodoxy that bans dissent from or disapproval of total sexual autonomy."
We are witnessing that essentially fascistic approach to law and policy -- the banning of dissent -- in our time, even this week, as the Obama Administration seeks to crush the government of North Carolina's efforts to preserve privacy and security in public bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers.
FRC is standing with Governor Pat McCrory, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, and the leaders of North Carolina's legislature as they refuse to surrender to President Obama's vision of a redefined human sexuality. As FRC President Tony Perkins has said, "If the White House can dictate the bathroom policies of America, what could possibly be beyond their reach?"
The federal government is a servant, not a master. Americans are citizens, not subjects. The Tenth Amendment, reserving to the states those things not specifically assigned by the Constitution to the federal government, remains in force.
Those are the principles upon which conscientious men and women have always stood in our country. To abandon them is to abandon liberty. And to abandon liberty is to abandon America.
May God give us the grace and strength never to accede to such a sordid, tragic betrayal of our historic commitment to and movement toward liberty and justice for all.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council
P.S. This is an "FRC-only" version of the SoCon Review. Watch for the next full edition the week of May 23rd.
Lectures and Events
The Genocide Resolution: Responding to ISIS and Threats to International Religious Liberty -- U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), April 28. Before Secretary of State John Kerry designated ISIS' ongoing brutality against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in the Middle East as genocide, a resolution calling for that action passed the House 393-0. The rare bipartisan support for this move reflects the universal desire in Congress to see the Obama administration act to end ISIS' atrocities. This historic effort was spearheaded by Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East.
They Say We Are Infidels: On the run from ISIS with persecuted Christians in the Middle East-- Mindy Belz, Editor, WORLD Magazine, May 3. For the past decade, journalist Mindy Belz has returned again and again to the Middle East, following Iraqi Christians fleeing from rape, murder, kidnapping, and suicide bombing. Belz brings the stark reality of this escalating genocide to light, sharing the stories of real-life Christians who refuse to abandon their faith -- together with the hope that still lives, even in the face of terror. The title of her lecture is also the title of a new book she has written on the topic.
National Day of Prayer Webcast, May 5. Dr. Tony Evans and other leaders from the National Day of Prayer Task Force spoke about the theme of this year's National Day of Prayer, "Wake Up America," based upon Isaiah 58:1A NIV: "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet." Dr. Evans, Honorary Chairman for the 2016 National Day of Prayer, is the long-time pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas and his timely, biblical messages can be heard daily on "The Urban Alternative" radio program.
Op-eds and Blogs
Ken Blackwell, Senior Fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance
No Phony Truces in the Battle to Block Most Anti-Life, Liberal Court in a Generation -- Catholic Online
Persecuting Believers Doesn't Protect Anyone's Civil Rights -- Investor's Business Daily (co-authored by Edwin Meese III, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus at The Heritage Foundation and former Attorney General of the United States
Using the Garland nomination to 'transform' America -- Washington Times
Dan Hart, Managing Editor for Publications
The Left's (Papal) Selective Hearing -- FRC Blog
Arina Grossu, Director, Center for Human Dignity
The investigation into the sale of aborted baby body parts must go on -- The Hill
Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
Big business will never appease the Left -- The Hill
Will we stand with persecuted Christians? -- Religion News Service (co-authored by Frank Wolf, for Member of Congress and Senior Fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative
Rob Schwarzwalder, Senior Vice-President
Faith's Influence on Politics: Why it Will Not be Going Away -- Christian Headlines
What's Next in a Blurry Culture -- FRC Blog
Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies
Transgender activists put ideology above safety -- Quad-City (Iowa) Times
Travis Weber, Director, Center for Religious Liberty, and Cathy Ruse, Senior Fellow for Legal Studies
Is the High Court Starting to Take the Little Sisters Seriously? -- The Stream
Reflections on Oral Argument in United States v. Sterling -- FRC Blog
Publications
Christopher M. Gacek, J.D., Ph.D., Senior Fellow for Regulatory Affairs and Arina Grossu
The FDA Adopts the Abortion Industry Standards for the Mifeprex (RU-486) Abortion Regimen
