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
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
