The Social Conservative Review: July 25, 2013

Click here to subscribe to the Social Conservative Review.

Dear Friend,

Life is full of ironies, not least of which are some of the expressions we use - why do we need to pay tolls when driving on the "free"-way?

There are others much more serious. In our nation's military, some Left-wing activists are insisting our men and women in uniform be denied the "freedom of religion" that the Constitution they have sworn to uphold guarantees them.

For example, in May, Coast Guard Rear Admiral William Lee told of his decision to violate the rules preventing him from giving a Bible to a service member who had attempted suicide. That young man is now alive and well thanks to the transforming power of Jesus Christ, which he found through study of the Bible.

Earlier this month, FRC President Tony Perkins and FRC Executive Vice President Jerry Boykin joined Members of Congress and other leaders in releasing FRC's new study, "A Clear and Present Danger: The Threat to Religious Liberty in the Military." You can download the study at no cost - here. You will find the many cases of repression it documents disturbing, but that's exactly why we're partnering with U.S. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and himself a veteran, to enact legislation that protects religious liberty for those who defend our country.

From the earliest days of our Republic, those who have served to keep us free and secure have called on God for help, courage, and protection. He still hears their calls. Do we?

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "Sixth Circuit Denies Romeike Rehearing, HSLDA Promises to go to Supreme Court," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "What Public Schools Should Learn from Homeschool Economics," The Acton Institute
• "Ohio lawmaker wants property tax break for homeschool families," Fox 19

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "The Promise of Personalized Learning," EducationNext
• "5 Things Every Parent Needs to Know About The Common Core," The American
• "Why Great Teachers Are Fleeing the Profession," The Wall Street Journal

College Debt

• "Senate Crafts a Deal on Student-Loan Interest Rates," The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "Study Now, Pay Later: It Could Work With Some Adjustments," The New York Times
• "Privatize Student Loans," National Review Online

Government Reform
Regulation

• "The Left Discovers a Truth About Regulation," Carolina Journal
• "Watch him pull a USDA-mandated rabbit disaster plan out of his hat," The Washington Post
• "The Fight for Food Rights," The American Conservative
• "State laboratories," WORLD Magazine

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "Yes, We Do Have a Debt Problem," Reason.com
• "When Detroit Was "Freedom's Forge"," Values & Capitalism

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Abstinence is the answer," Asheville Citizen-Times
• "It's worse than you thought. Welcome to the hook up culture.," The Iona Institute
• "A Brief History of Sex Ed: How We Reached Today's Madness," The Public Discourse
• "The Times & Hookup Culture: Two Views," Crisis Magazine

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "Obamacare: Projected Premium Increases by State," The Heritage Foundation
• "Study: Obamacare could cause 1 million low-income Americans to move from work to welfare," AEIdeas.org
• "Poll: Americans Broadly Doubt Obamacare Will Help Them," National Journal
• "Hobby Lobby Wins Temporary Injunction Against Health Care Mandate," The FedSoc Blog
• "Medical Competition and the Cost of Medical Care," Becker-Posner Blog

Homosexuality

• "Gay marriage becomes legal in England after queen's assent," Global Post
• "How Will Future Historians Treat Same-Sex Marriage?," The Public Discourse
• "Supreme Court same-sex marriage rulings spark state court challenges," Pew Research Center
• "Worth Worrying About? Same-Sex Marriage & Religious Freedom," Commonweal
• "Countries Reject Declaration of Homosexual Rights at OSCE Gathering," C-FAM
• "San Diego Clerk Sues Over Gay Marriage," Breitbart.com

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "Most Europeans -- and Americans -- agree with Texas' abortion law," The Daily Caller
• "A Real Happily-Ever-After for Babies With Down Syndrome," Christianity Today
• "Late Term Eugenic Abortion for Cleft Palate," National Review Online
• "Wendy Davis, Abortion, and the Media--Frozen in the Stereotype," The American Conservative
• "The Global Spread of Fertility Decline," MercatorNet
• "Without Words to Describe," The Public Discourse
• "Researchers Acknowledge Abortion-Preterm Birth Link," C-FAM
• "Judge stops North Dakota heartbeat law," WORLD Magazine
• "Illinois Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Parental Notice of Abortion Law," Thomas More Society
• "The 'threat' of free services for pregnant women," The Baltimore Sun
• "Is It Wrong to Say "Unborn Child"?," First Things
• "When Is a Royal Baby a Fetus?," The Atlantic

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Advances That Regrow Babies' Hearts," The Wall Street Journal
• "Don't diss the doc?," BioEdge
• "Controlling genes with light," Phys.org
• "A New Moral Treatment," City Journal

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "First New England, Then the Nation: The Spread of Physician-Assisted Suicide," The Public Discourse
• "Legislated Advance Directives to Live Could Be Ignored," National Review Online

Stem Cell Research
To read about the latest advances in ethical adult stem cell research, keep up with leading-edge reports from FRC's Dr. David Prentice, click here.

• "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Without Genes," National Review Online
• "Doubt cast over tiny stem cells," Nature
• "Japan govt approves stem cell clinical trials," Phys.org

Human Trafficking

• "Sowing and Reaping: China's 'One-Child' Policy Fosters Human Trafficking," Family Research Council
• "How Big Data Is Fighting Human Trafficking: Google, CNN, Others Share Solutions," The Huffington Post
• "Brave Little Girl Flees Forced Marriage, Records Powerful Testimonial," Gawker.com
• "Cyber-Sex Slavery in the 21st Century," The Acton Institute
• "Promise of American Dream leads family into labor trafficking," Fox 19
• "Anti Sex Trafficking Double Header: Amending the TVPA and CDA," Shared Hope International

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "Russia's adoption freeze," The Washington Times
• "Adopting a Child Can Bring You Countless Rewards -- and Tax Benefits," The Huffington Post

Family Economics

• "The War on Poverty's Best Weapon is a Job," The Acton Institute
• "The Truth About Jobs," The Wilson Quarterly
• "Information, the Entrepreneur, and George Gilder's New Economic Thinking," The American
• "Government Spends Four Times the Amount Necessary to End Poverty in America," Values & Capitalism
• "Seeking Christian authenticity in our work," Think Christian
• "Wal-mart and the Prosperity Magic Wand," The Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics
• "Are the Suburbs Where the American Dream Goes to Die?," The Atlantic
• "Does Capitalism Destroy Culture?," Intercollegiate Review

Family Structure

• "From Hashtags to Holy Matrimony," Acculturated
• "Responsible Parenting is Such a Drag," CatholicVote.org
• "U.S. Marriage Rate Drops to New Low," Religion Today
• "Between two worlds: children of divorce tell their stories," The Iona Institute
• "How to Build a Healthy Family from Scratch," Marriage Generation
• "Having a Win-Win Marriage: Why You Might Need to Stop Sacrificing," Crosswalk
• "Debunking 3 Marriage Myths," Relevant Magazine
• "The Legal Ban on Catholic Marriage," The Catholic Thing
• "Should I Make My Child Apologize?," The Gospel Coalition

Media
Pornography

• "Telling Tech Companies to Save Us From Our Love for Porn," Bloomberg Businessweek
• "What's at Stake with Internet Pornography," Moore to the Point
• "Success Story: Navy Search and Removal For Porn," PornHarms.com
• "Supreme Court to Hear Case on Harm of Pornography," The FedSoc Blog

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "New Coalition Pushes Back on Obama Admin's Religious Liberty Failures," Breitbart.com
• "ACLU vs. Gideons' Bibles," Alliance Defending Freedom
• "Internet freedom called vital facet of global religious freedom," Baptist Press
• "The Fight for Marriage, Truth, and Religious Liberty is Just Beginning," CatholicVote.org
• "ECHR: Respect for the Church's Freedom Justifies the Non-Recognition by the State of a Priests' Union," Turtle Bay and Beyond
• "The Failures of U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy," First Things
• "What Is Religious Freedom?," The Public Discourse
• "Religious freedom - a secondary right?," Baptist Press
• "Censored Art Demonstrates Anti-Christian Movement in the Military," The Christian Post
• "Religious liberty advocates win in court of public opinion," WORLD Magazine
• "Religious Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy," The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Religion in America
Check out Dr. Kenyn Cureton's feature on Watchmen Pastors called "The Lost Episodes," featuring how religion has had an impact on our Founding Fathers.

• "Human Sexuality and the God of the Bible," Religion Today
• "No Harm, Ought, and Other Moral Muddles," The Catholic Thing
• "A Hipster for King's College," The American Spectator
• "Is there Vitality in "Mainline Religion?"," Patheos.com
• "OneTable, many theologies?," WORLD Magazine
• "Will the Religious Left Become the New 'Moral Majority'?," The Atlantic
• "Report: Americans Hold Opposing Views of What 'Religious' Means," The Gospel Coalition

Secularism

• "Lawmakers battle over push to create military 'chaplain' for atheists," Fox News
• "Study: World Is Turning More Religious; Atheism Declining," The Christian Post
• "Humanists want a military chaplain to call their own," Religion News Service
• "New Gates History Curriculum Closes Young Minds to God," Crisis Magazine

International
Israel

• "Why Pay Clintons Top Dollar for No Answers on Jerusalem?," Townhall.com
• "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Kerry's Peace Talks," Via Meadia
• "Israel's reviled strategic wisdom," CarolineGlick.com

International Economy and Family

• "Should the European Union Emulate Japan's Inflationary Monetary Policy?," The Becker-Posner Blog
• "Report: Cyber Crime Costs Global Economy Up to $500B a Year," Fox Business
• "Global economic growth may depend on having more women working," The Globe and Mail

Religious Persecution

• "Seven Reasons Why Hacking the Internet Will Help Persecuted Christians," Christianity Today
• "Growing Religious Intolerance In Sudan," The Acton Institute
• "More Christians in Pakistan Accused of Sending 'Blasphemous' Text Messages," Religion Today
• "Beyond churches, Sudan regime targeting foreign aid workers," Baptist Press

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "The Decline of the Civil-Rights Establishment," The Hoover Institution
• "Do Snowden's Surveillance Leaks Open Way for Challenges to Programs' Constitutionality?," The FedSoc Blog
• "PA Attorney General Refuses to Defend Marriage Law - An Insider's View," The Center for Vision and Values
• "How the Supreme Court 'Decided' the State of Race in America," Patheos.com
• "Constitutional Neglect," Intercollegiate Review

Other News of Note

• "What Does It Mean to Be Truly Human?," The Gospel Coalition
• "Congress Isn't What It Used to Be," The American
• "Signs and Wonders: GOP can't write off social conservatives just yet," WORLD Magazine
• "Journey Through the Checkout Racks," City Journal
• "Dr. John Witherspoon, Educator of the American Founding Fathers," Christian Worldview of History and Culture

Book reviews

• "Is Family Decline Behind Religious Decline?," Christianity Today
• "Selling Feminism: A History," The Atlantic
• "Can These Bones Live?," Touchstone Magazine
• "A Lincoln for Our Times," The Public Discourse
• "Captive Nations," Claremont Review of Books
• "Renewing the Evangelical Mission," The Gospel Coalition