The Social Conservative Review: August 22, 2013

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Dear Friends:

So, the atheist advocacy group Freedom From Religion Foundation has been granted a tax exemption - as a religious organization. Who says politics can't be funny?!

"Religion," if reduced to being sort of a once-a-week part of one's life, a habit akin to changing the oil or getting a haircut, is fraudulent. Paul describes its practitioners "as holding to a form of Godliness, although they have denied its power" (II Timothy 3:5). Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith characterizes this illusive faith as only "moralistic, therapeutic deism."

Yet religion properly understood is honoring to our Creator and Redeemer. "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this," writes James. "To visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James1:27). Put another way, compassionate acts and pure hearts reflect true faith in a living Savior.

Family Research Council makes a strong case for the importance of adoption, and our Church Ministries department works actively with thousands of churches around the country to build strong families. Many Christian organizations are serving to the same ends.

In an era when atheists are considered "religious" and some groups want atheist "chaplains" in the Armed Forces, we're thankful to stand with you in advancing faith, family, freedom and hope for those most in need.

That's part of true religion. And good, meaningful politics.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "Helping Homeschoolers Before, During and After," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "The many facets of home-schooling," Rockford Register Star

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "School Has Become Too Hostile to Boys," Time
• "Private enterprise and public education: Strange bedfellows or natural allies?," American Enterprise Institute
• "Common Core: A Threat to Catholic Education," Crisis Magazine
• "Seeking the Peace by Educating Children," The Acton Institute

College Debt

• "Report Calls for Bankruptcy Protection for the Most Vulnerable Student-Loan Borrowers," The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "More students than ever rely on federal college aid," The Politico
• "Student Loan Debt Relief Industry Draws Scrutiny," CNBC

Government Reform
Regulation

• "Principled Entitlement Reform: Private Ordering Needs Room to Grow," The Public Discourse
• "Obama's Unconstitutional Steps Worse than Nixon's," The Washington Post

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "Obama is obsessed with the wrong 1 percent," American Enterprise Institute
• "Morning Bell: 15 Pictures of Ridiculous Government Spending Guaranteed to Make You Mad," The Heritage Foundation
• "The Indebted States of America," City Journal

Health Care
Abstinence

• "New Study about the 'Hook-Up' Culture," San Jose Mercury-News
• "'Duck Dynasty' Stars Jase and Missy on Abstinence Before Marriage," The Christian Post
• "Quinn OKs sex-ed bill backed by Planned Parenthood, ACLU," Chicago Sun-Times

Health care reform: ACA/Obamacare

• "Health care repeal: What you may have missed in the polls," AEIdeas.org
• "Conscience Rights for All," The Acton Institute
• "A Limit on Consumer Costs Is Delayed in Health Care Law," New York Times
• "Missouri Legislator Sues Government Over HHS Mandate Violation of Civil Rights," Thomas More Society
• "Obamacare's implementation eyed by GuideStone for 2014," Baptist Press
• "The ObamaCare Slush Fund," The Wall Street Journal
• "UPS to drop 15,000 spouses from insurance, cites Obamacare," Atlanta Business Chronicle

Homosexuality

• "The Quiet Gay-Rights Revolution in America's Churches," The Atlantic
• "A Pulpit for Bullies," The Public Discourse
• "Foreign Homosexuals Sue American Pastor For Preaching from the Holy Bible," Touchstone Magazine
• "State Dept. Will Recognize Foreign Same-Sex Marriages--But Not Polygamous Ones," CNSNews.com
• "Pentagon Provides Special Benefit for Same-Sex Couples," The Gospel Coalition
• "'Right Side of History,' or Primed to Say Yes?," National Review Online

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "The horror show of abortion can open eyes to the truth," WORLD Magazine
• "Collaborative Reproduction and the Things We Should Not Do," The Public Discourse
• "Has Planned Parenthood Committed Fraud?," Townhall.com
• "Glamorizing Abortion," Commentary Magazine
• "Winning Key Victories in the Legal Struggle to Preserve Life in America," Alliance Defending Freedom
• "Only Canada, China, North Korea, and U.S. Allow Abortion After Viability for Any Reason," First Things
• "Governments Increasingly Object to UN Abortion Agenda," C-FAM
• "The Truth About Pro-life Christians," Juicy Ecumenism
• "Stop Using Sex and Abortion to Define Women," LifeNews.com
• "Judge Stops Eric Holder's Political Prosecution of Pro-Life Activists," Liberty Counsel

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "Low Birth Rates: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies-Becker," The Becker-Posner Blog
• "One-third of women conceive naturally after IVF," BioEdge
• "Governor Brown Does the Right Thing for Women in California," The Center for Bioethics and Culture
• "A Genetic "Fix" for Down's Syndrome?," Bioethics@TIU

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• ""Death Cafes" Express Human Exceptionalism," National Review Online
• "Bioethicist: "Who Cares" if Dying Elderly People Die From Extreme Heat?," LifeNews.com
• "Bureaucracy Lives! How many experts does it take to advise a dying patient?," The Weekly Standard

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.

• "The developmental on-switch," Phys.org
• "Is this the future of organ donation? Scientists grow beating mouse heart made from HUMAN stem cells," The Daily Mail
• "Stem Cells Open Up Options," The Scientist
• "Stem Cells Can Mend a Broken Heart," Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
• "Whose stem cells are they anyway?" New Scientist

Human Trafficking

• "2013 State Ratings on Human Trafficking Laws," The Polaris Project
• "'Home grown' human trafficking booming," The Battle Creek Enquirer
• "Cyber-sex trafficking: A 21st century scourge," CNN
• "Backdoor Amnesty: Liberals exploiting anti-human-trafficking aid," Rare
• "Two Years On, Mass. Human Trafficking Law Examined," WGBH

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "Adoption vs. Surrogacy Financial Costs," ABC News
• "Adoption numbers rising for kids in foster care," USA Today
• "The Abortion/Adoption Debate: Moral High Ground or Playground?," Misfit Politics

Family Economics

• "How the Minimum Wage Hurts Young Workers," Champion News
• "Taxes: Who Pays? My Latest from LearnLiberty," Library of Economics and Liberty
• "The Financial Crisis Explained: Why Complexity Wasn't the Problem," The American
• "Why 'The Family' Matters in Economics," Mere Orthodoxy
• "My Friend Is On Welfare," Values & Capitalism
• "Poverty and Near-Poverty in the United States--Posner," The Becker-Posner Blog
• "Work Like an Arminian, Sleep Like a Calvinist?," Desiring God

Family Structure

• "The Stroller Ban: Are Cities Anti-Kids?," Acculturated
• "Triumph of Desire," First Things
• "How to Help Your Child Read with Discernment," The Gospel Coalition
• "Satan's lies about singleness," The Briefing
• "Why Is It So Difficult to Discuss Marriage?," The Public Discourse
• "Opt-In to Having Kids," U.S. News and World Report
• "Toward a New Understanding of Modesty," The Atlantic

Media
Pornography

• "Why Does Everyone Defend Pornography?," Ethika Politika
• "Sexy Pics and Secrecy," The Gospel Coalition
• "What Will Be the Cost to the Church?," Challies.com

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "Public Bible reading still legal in California," WORLD Magazine
• "Religious Freedom in Search of Its Argument -- Abroad," The Catholic Thing
• "The Court Opens Door to Christian Persecution," Crisis Magazine
• "Great News: Reading the Bible in Public is Legal in California," Touchstone Magazine
• "Religious freedom applies to businesses," USA Today
• "Grounding Our Right to Religious Freedom," The Public Discourse
• "Liberty Institute Helps League City Fight Back Against Freedom From Religion Foundation," Liberty Institute
• "At Dartmouth, No African Christians Need Apply," The American Conservative

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.

• "George Will, Unchurched, Defends Religion," The American Spectator
• "The Millennial Traits of Jesus," Relevant Magazine
• "Dear Pastor, Bring Your Bible to Church," The Gospel Coalition
• "The Church is a Bride, Not a Widow," Archdiocese of Washington
• "On a mission to save godless Massachusetts," The Boston Globe
• "Does Faith Make You Healthier?," The Wall Street Journal

Secularism

• "'Nones' On the Rise," The Pew Research Center for Religion & Public Life
• "What the 'Six Types of Atheists' Mean for Christian Outreach," Christianity Today
• "Losing My Religion: Faith, Family, and the Real Story of Secularization in the West," The Public Discourse

International
Israel

• "All 26 Palestinians Freed were Involved in Killing Israelis," Times of Israel
• "U.S. Should Listen to Israel on Egypt," Commentary Magazine
• "Looking south," The Economist

International Economy and Family

• "Liberating India And Its Poor, One Dollar And One Property At A Time," Forbes
• "Islam Conquering Higher European Education," Gatestone Institute
• "Asian Financial Crisis Ahead?," Via Meadia

Religious Persecution

• "Condition of captive Christians worsens," WORLD Magazine
• "Coptic Tragedy in Egypt," Times of Israel
• "Christians in Iran jailed for 'propaganda'," Baptist Press
• "Can We Trust the God of Genocide?," Christianity Today
• "Islamic Extremists in Somalia Abduct Christian Mother of Two Young Children," Religion Today

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "Proposed (Wisconsin) Constitutional Amendment Would Expand Religious Liberties," Wisconsin Public Radio
• "Federal Judge Throws out Oklahoma's Ban on Sharia Law," The Acton Institute
• "Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz: Obama Suspends the Law. What Would Lincoln Say?," The FedSoc Blog
• "Legislative Prayer Goes Back to the Supreme Court," Slate

Other Issues

• "Dissecting Political Correctness," The Public Discourse
• "The Tenured Conservative," The Library of Law and Liberty
• "On Loving Everybody - and Nobody," The Catholic Thing

Book Reviews

• "When reasoning is labeled 'Islamophobia'," WORLD Magazine
• "Struggling on the Streets," Christianity Today
• "Church as Sacrament," First Things
• "Jesus On Every Page," Challies.com
• "Dissent of Man," Claremont Review of Books
• "Flynn Kicks Off," The American Spectator
• "Anomaly Stands Out in a Crowd of Dystopian YA Novels," Crosswalk.com