January 25-31 is National School Choice week, which is designed to "shine a positive spotlight on the need for effective education options for all children."
At FRC, we believe that parents deserve to be able to send their children where they believe their kids will receive the best education for them. Whether that school is public or private, at home or religiously-affiliated, we affirm that moms and dads know what's best for those they love most -- their own boys and girls. As former U.S. Department of Education official Jack Klenk wrote in his FRC booklet, "Who Should Decide How Children Are Educated?," "What we need today is education that serves the public: education where power flows back to parents (and) where empowered parents are able to choose schools as they see fit."
Even more importantly, parents need to be just that: Fathers and mothers who get married, stay married, and raise their children together in a loving, stable, and hope-filled environment. The finest education conceivable will never bring a child the security, maturity, and confidence that only a wise and caring mom and a dad can provide. Yet sadly, as FRC's Dr. Pat Fagan has documented, "Only 46 percent of American 15- to 17-year-olds have been raised with both their biological parents married to one another since before or around the time of their birth."
Support school choice for parents. And parents, support your children by staying married and being there, in every way, for the little lives God has entrusted to you. Remember, He's always there for you.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council
P.S. Go to www.frc.org to watch a dynamic presentation of what it means to be "Faithful, Young, (Christian), and Conservative," an FRC panel discussion featuring some of America's leading young conservative voices.
Education
Common Core
- Connecticut's Homeschool Hokum- City Journal
- Common Core Spurs Angst Among Educators, Parents -- Chicago Tribune
College Debt
- How the Supreme Court Created the Student Loan Bubble -- The American Spectator
- White House drops plan to scale back college savings plans -- Associated Press
Parental control
- Sex Education in America: How Yesterday's Extremists Shaped Today's Sex Ed- Public Discourse
- Metro parents furious after teacher gives students controversial abortion quiz-- KFOR.com
Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life
Abortion
- Abortion 2015: Caution, Diligence, and Faithfulness- Canon & Culture
- The Abortion Industry: A Study in Predation -- Christian Headlines
- How ultrasound-on-a-chip will transform abortion -- The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
- Regarding Life at the Beginning -- The New Atlantis
- House Passes Bill Barring Federal Abortion Funding - Fox News
- Abortion: The Intellectual Battle Has Been Won --Patheos
- "Abortion and Magical Thinking," The Catholic Thing
Adult stem cells
- Bone Stem Cells Shown To Regenerate Bones And Cartilage In Adult Mice -- Science 2.0
- Reprogramming adult stem cells may prevent cancer after radiation -- Science Codex
Assisted Suicide
- Assisted suicide movement gaining traction across U.S.- Washington Times
- New Mexico Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in challenge to state's law protecting people from assisted suicide- National Right to Life
- Colorado Activists Push Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide, Target Elderly and Disabled- LifeNews
Bioethics
- Lives Not Worthy to Live -- The American Spectator
- Human Exceptionalism -- National Review Online
- The Fallacy of 'Giving Up' -- The Atlantic
- The Hidden Costs of Surrogacy- National Review
Marriage & Family
Economy and the family
- It Takes a Family? Obama's New Mantra Is Designed To Confuse -- New York Sun
- Five Ways The Washington Post Got Middle Class Woes Wrong -- The Heritage Foundation
Homosexuality and Gender Issues
- Gay Christians: The Grave Danger Coming Out Poses to Christian Churches -- Touchstone Mag
- A Fundamental Right to "Personal Recreationism?" -- First Things
- For Years I Pleaded With God To Make Me Straight, So Why Did My Prayers Go Unanswered? -- Christian Post
Human Trafficking
- House passes second batch of human trafficking bills -- The Hill
- Sex traffickers are among ICE's most wanted -- USA Today
- Arizona Hopes to Shut Down Super Bowl Sex Trafficking- CBN
Marriage
- Supreme Court to Hear Marriage Challenge: How Should Christians Respond -- The Gospel Coalition
- Does the Constitution Require the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage? -- Alliance Defending Freedom
- Four-in-Ten Couples are Saying "I Do," Again -- Pew Research Center
- Male-Female Complementarity -- Public Discourse
- The Totalitarianism of Same-Sex "Marriage" -- Crisis Magazine
- "Pope Francis Shocks Liberals on Same-Sex 'Marriage'," Crisis Magazine
Pornography
- Pornography addiction: another reason for the U.S. marriage decline -- Deseret News National
- Extreme internet pornography is driving people to inflict sexual violence and murder, Britain's most senior judge warns-- Daily Mail
- How pornography influences and harms sexual behavior -- Medical Express
Religious Liberty and Persecution
Domestic
- The Supreme Court, prisoner rights, religious liberty, and human dignity -- FRC Blog
- Duke University Correct to Reverse Course on Muslim Call to Prayer -- Juicy Ecumenism
International
- Christian Lawyers and Doctors Need Not Apply -- The Cardus Daily
- No room in America for Christian refugees -- The Hill
- Boko Haram emerges as brutal Islamic State of Africa -- USA Today
Religion in Public Life
Christian faith and public policy
- What It Means to Be Evangelical -- Real Clear Religion
- 2015 is shaping up to be a significant year for religion at the Supreme Court -- Pew Research Center
Christian faith and politics
- Feds Get Moore Justice on Marriage -- Family Research Council
- City of Atlanta: No orthodox Christians needapply -- Family Research Council Blog
Occasional Categories
Conservatism and American Politics
- Language Policing Doesn't Pervert Liberalism, It Is Liberalism -- The Federalist
- Harry Jaffa RIP: Prophet of a Uniquely American Conservatism -- Breitbart
Federalism, the Constitution and the Federal Judiciary
- Congress wants to amend the First Amendment -- The New Criterion
- The Choice: To Serve God or Man on College Campuses -- Focus on the Family
Feminism
- I'm A Stay-At-Home, Working Mom, And I'm Sick Of Being Insulted By The President- The Federalist
- Birth Control Pill Risks May Now Include Brain Cancer- Time
Racial Reconciliation
- Tony Evans Discusses Race, Unity and the People of God -- The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
- U.S. churchgoers still sit in segregated pews, and most are OK with that -- Religion News Service
