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Dear Friends:
I'm not in the habit of quoting Osama bin Laden in The Social Conservative Review, but in light of the events in Iraq against Christians and other religious minorities, the words of this devout mass murderer seem apt: "There are only three choices in Islam: either willing submission; or payment of the jizya, through physical though not spiritual, submission to the authority of Islam; or the sword -- for it is not right to let him (an infidel) live. The matter is summed up for every person alive: Either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die."
Not everyone would accept his interpretation of the Quran, but certainly the jihadists in Iraq do. Here's how the respected journal Foreign Policy describes one Iraqi Christian's story: "Salwan, an engineer and father of two from Mosul (said that) when he heard that France was ready to welcome displaced Christians, he joined the long queue of people in Erbil applying for asylum. Soon, he hopes to wave goodbye to his lifelong home. 'There is no future for Christians in Iraq,' he said. 'Christians in Iraq are over'."
What can Christians in America do? Groups like Samaritan's Purse and the Knights of Columbus are working to provide aid to the Christians who have fled from their homes as the wave of Islamist terror continues. We can give to them, but we must also pray for those who identify as followers of Jesus as they experience such great loss and, in some cases, such great brutality. And we should pray for their persecutors, that they would turn from violence and instead find true peace in Christ.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council
P.S. Next week, FRC President Tony Perkins will be in Israel to stand with that troubled nation during a time of great need. Tony will be broadcasting his daily radio show from Israel and will offer on-the-ground reports of what's happening. Be sure to listen here.
Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life
Abortion
- "The Down Syndrome Community's Death Debate," First Things
- "Aborting in the Name of Jesus," Moore to the Point
- "Florida woman gives birth in secret to avoid forced abortion," Live Action News
- "When Did Abortion Become a Popularity Contest?," Juicy Ecumenism
- "China Beachhead," World Magazine
Euthanasia/End of Life Issues
- "There is nothing modern about euthanasia," The Centre for Independent Studies
- "Police Raid Euthanasia Group's Office After Giving Drug to Man Who Killed Himself," LifeNews.com
- "There's something very familiar about the UK dying debate," MercatorNet
Stem Cells and Biotechnology
- "Team reveals molecular competition drives adult stem cells to specialize," Phys.org
- "Implanted Neurons Made From Adult Stem Cells Become Part Of The Brain," Science 2.0
- "There's a New Place Stem Cells Might Be Lurking in the Human Body," The Blaze
Marriage & Family
Common Core
- "Revising American History For Our Best And Brightest Students," The Acton Institute
- "Common Core Advocates Push for Curriculum's Use in College Admissions," The College Fix
- "Ohio Could Be Next State to Buck Common Core," The Daily Signal
- "FBI Investigation pushes back deadline for vouchers," The Toledo Blade
- "Flatlining Education," Accuracy in Academia
Family Life
- "Helping orphaned children is far more important than being politically correct," The Washington Examiner
- "Why Doesn't Living Together Before Marrying Decrease the Risk of Divorce?," Family Studies
- "Millennial marriage rates declining," Baptist Press
- "A Bipartisan Consensus on How to Fight Poverty?," The American
- "Boys Growing Up Without Dads Remain Boys for Too Long," The Christian Post
Human Sexuality
- "Sex can't explain the culture war," The Week
- "Challenging the meaninglessness of sex," MercatorNet
- "Stop Pretending Sex Never Hurts," The Federalist
Homosexuality and Same-Sex "Marriage"
- "Appeals Court Should Correct Judge Friedman's Botched Social Science," The Daily Caller
- "Gay, Christian and ... celibate: The changing face of the homosexuality debate," ReligionNews.com
- "Who gets to define marriage? Utah's marriage amendment and the Supreme Court," Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
- "Ruthless Ideology and the End of Debate," Crisis Magazine
- "The Transgender Question," MereOrthodoxy
Pornography
- "The Purpose of Pornography," First Things
- "Google Gives Child Pornography Email Evidence to Police," New York Times
- "When Pornography Pays for College," The Chronicle of Higher Education
Human trafficking
- "Human Trafficking To Blame For Surge Of Children At U.S. Border, Says Bishop," The Acton Institute
- "Lawmakers Want Repeal Human Trafficking Law To Make Child Deportation Easier," International Business Times
- "Human Trafficking Victim Shares Her Story," WFMYNews
- "This Is What Modern-Day Sex Slavery In America Looks Like," Business Insider
- "Double-Bound: How Immigration Law Can Trap Trafficking Victims," Christianity Today
Religious Liberty
- "Freedom of Religion and the Freedom of the Church," Library of Law and Liberty
- "Social Justice Includes Defending Religious Liberty," Juicy Ecumenism
- "The Next "Hobby Lobby": Mandating IVF Coverage," Crisis Magazine
- "The Holy War on Corporate Politicking," RealClearReligion
- "Tax man cometh? The IRS and church politics," Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Religion in Public Life
- "Cultural Engagement," Ligonier Ministries
- "Gordon College and Pluralism in Higher Education," The Public Discourse
- "What is Civilization?," The Imaginative Conservative
- "When Knowledge Becomes Wisdom," The Gospel Coalition
- "Engaging Culture on All Fronts," Canon and Culture
International Religious Liberty
- "Iraqi Militants Seize Christian Towns," The Wall Street Journal
- "A Deafening Silence as Iraqi Christians Vanish," The Christian Post
- "ISIS Is on the Verge of Expelling Northern Iraq's Religious Minorities," National Review Online
- "State Department Releases Report on International Religious Freedom," The Acton Institute
Other important articles
- "The FCC Pitchman," The Christian Post
- "Democracy, Tyranny, and the Current Situation," Catholic World Report
- "It's Not Your Founding Fathers' Republic Any More," City Journal
- "This City Being the Second Most Liberal Doesn't Bode Well for the Nation's Future," The Daily Signal
- "Panic vs. condescension: The state of our discourse," Breakpoint
Book Reviews
- "Good Philosophy Answering Bad," The Catholic Thing
- "Now Available: 'The System Has a Soul' by Hunter Baker," The Acton Institute
- "Edgar Allan Poe: Quintessential Romantic," The Imaginative Conservative
- "An Anxious Age," The Gospel Coalition
- "Liberalism on the Rocks," City Journal
