Social Conservative Review - October 16, 2017

October 16, 2017

Dear Friends,

In the face of chaotic and often disturbing events that dominate headlines and news feeds these days, I am often tempted (and sometimes succumb) to feelings of frustration and anger. I sometimes imagine that if only I were in charge, things would be so much better. If only I could have more control and worldly power, I could wield it in order to make everyone’s lives better, and I would feel better too.

When we examine the lives of those who do have influence, however—the rich, famous, and powerful—the results are often not pretty. In our increasingly godless society, money, fame, and power are often sought as ends in themselves because they are so alluring. As believers, it’s easy to delude ourselves into thinking, “Well, it’s true that money, fame, and power have a tendency to cause corruption in people, but that would never happen to me because I know that God is most important. I would use these things to better the world.” It’s easy to use this kind of reasoning to justify wasting money on lottery tickets, wasting time on Facebook curating our profiles just so, and wasting our talents on frivolous pursuits in order to gain societal status.

The reality for most of us is that we will never be in positions of great influence, and we will never be rich, famous, and powerful. And that’s perfectly okay. Why? Because one of life’s great paradoxes is that the less control we possess over our lives, the freer we are. When we let go of the vice grip we have around our life goals and life plans, God gives us a multitude of opportunities for us to do His will, not ours. Living in this way is truly freeing, because it gives us the roomy flexibility to respond to a friend or stranger in need who inconveniently disrupts our lives. Having less money, fame, and power also frees us from being distracted from what truly matters: nurturing love within our families and those closest to us.

As Mother Teresa once said: “If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.”

Thank you for your prayers and for your continued support of FRC and the family.

Sincerely,

Dan Hart
Managing Editor for Publications
Family Research Council

P.S. Don’t miss out on all of the amazing talks that happened at the Values Voter Summit this past weekend!

 

FRC Articles

Planned Parenthood Is Targeting Baby Girls in the Womb – Cathy Ruse

The New Religious Exemptions from the HHS Contraceptive Mandate Are a Victory for Personal Freedom (and Responsibility) Over State Coercion – Peter Sprigg

20 Principles of Religious Liberty – Peter Sprigg

Media Gets Brazil Ruling on Sexual Orientation Therapy All Wrong – Peter Sprigg

The Kingdom of Bahrain Declaration: What It Got Right and What It Got Wrong – Travis Weber and Natalie Pugh

The Judicial Assault on Public School Privacy Policies

 

Religious Liberty

Religious Liberty in the Public Square

White House Rebuts Attacks by Democrats, New York Times on Catholic Court Nominee – Fred Lucas, The Stream

Trump administration ends rule requiring nuns to fund contraception – Claire Chretien, LifeSiteNews

Federal court strikes down tax benefit for faith leaders – Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times

California Can Now Jail People for Misusing Gender Pronouns – Anders Hagstrom, The Daily Signal

Environmentalist Lobby Goes After Another Trump Nominee For Being A Christian – E. Calvin Beisner, The Federalist

NFL Athletes Can Take a Knee, But Universities are Denying Pro-Life Students Free Speech – Kristan Hawkins, LifeNews

Apple removes pro-life prayer app – Samantha Gobba, WORLD

"Free to Believe"

Southwest Flight Attendant Says She Was Fired For Being Pro-Life – Grace Carr, The Stream

Reporter Tries to Get Tucson Police Officer in Trouble — for Exercising His First Amendment Right – Rachel Alexander, The Stream

International Religious Freedom

Beijing’s heavy hand – June Cheng & Erica Kwong, WORLD

Cameroon’s Bishops Warn of Genocide – Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register

 

Life

Abortion

House Passes Pro-Life Bill Banning Late-Term Abortions After 20 Weeks – Steven Ertelt, LifeNews

Are We Too Comfortable with Abortion? – Lori Hadacek Chaplin, National Catholic Register

In the Middle of the Abortion Killing Her Baby She Changed Her Mind. Miraculously Her Son Survived – Micaiah Bilger, LifeNews

What Big Abortion Doesn't Understand about Pro-Lifers – Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register

Adoption

Forcing Faith-Based Organizations Out of Foster Care and Adoption Hurts Children – Elizabeth Kirk, Public Discourse

Janesville family receives national honors for efforts in adoption – Ashley McCallum, GazetteXtra

Bioethics

Assisted Suicide is No Peaceful Death. Some Patients Regurgitate, Have Seizures, or Wake Up Days Later – Michael Cook, LifeNews

An Absurd Fate: What Happens to Abandoned Embryos? – Jennifer Lahl, Public Discourse

The Resurgence and Rebranding of Population Control – Rebecca Oas, C-Fam

Obamacare

Universal Coverage? My Fourth Health Care Plan Just Died Thanks to Obamacare – Michelle Malkin, The Daily Signal

 

Family

Economics/Education

Thanks To Testing Backlash, Virginia Drops U.S. History Tests Despite Horrific Public Ignorance – Joy Pullmann, The Federalist

Betraying Liberal Education: A Response to President Paxson of Brown University – R.J. Snell, Public Discourse

These Two Colorado Counties Are Ground Zero For School Choice Across The Country – Helen Raleigh, The Federalist

The Washington Post Gets Retirement Wrong – Andrew G. Biggs, National Review

Marriage

Facebook and Your Marriage – Tricia Goyer, Focus on the Family

3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Make Your Marriage Happier – Jill Sieracki, Brides

Faith/Character/Culture

How To Talk To Your Kids About Death, Shootings, Natural Disasters, And Other Scary Things – Libby Emmons, The Federalist

The Man and His Song: Tom Petty (1950–2017) – David Mathis, Desiring God

The power of good – Ben Shapiro, Conservative Review

Does Modern Secularism Have a Memory Problem? – Fredric Heidemann, Word On Fire

After a Long Summer of Heartrending Tragedies, We Could All Use This – Megan Madden, Verily

Our Toxic Smartphone Addiction – Heather Wilhelm, National Review

Is It Wrong to Try to Persuade Others to Change Their Beliefs? – Rebecca McLaughlin, The Gospel Coalition

Human Sexuality

A no-tolerance policy for sexual harassment – Josh Wester, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission  

University Refuses Research On Growing Numbers Of Trans People Who Want To Go Back – Walt Heyer, The Federalist

Responding to the Transgender Revolution – Rob Smith, The Gospel Coalition

Sex change regret silenced – Kiley Crossland, WORLD

The Price of the Campus Hookup Culture is High – Carolyn Moynihan, Intellectual Takeout

UConn Cancels Comedian Over Remarks on Transgender Children – Rachel Alexander, The Stream

What Two Former Trans Men Want You To Know About All The Lies – Taylor Fogarty, The Federalist

The Transgender Matrix: It’s Time to Choose the Red Pill – Walt Heyer, Public Discourse

It’s Past Time to Rethink Modern Sexual Morality – David French, National Review

Human Trafficking

Impact on Capitol Hill, Standing for Online Sex Trafficking Victims – National Center on Sexual Exploitation

The fight against sex trafficking in the U.S. – Helen Taylor and Laila Mickelwait, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Pornography

Porn Is Not Harmless. It’s Cruel. – Justin Holcomb, The Gospel Coalition

He was exposed to pornography at age 11, on his school laptop – National Center on Sexual Exploitation

The Porn Gap: Gender Differences in Pornography Use in Couple Relationships – Jason S. Carroll and Brian J. Willoughby, Family Studies

Pornography and Sex Trafficking Are Linked: Take It From the FBI – Dawn Hawkins, National Center on Sexual Exploitation

Everyone At My All-Boy High School Openly Watches & Talks About Porn – Fight the New Drug