The Social Conservative Review: The Insider's Guide to Pro-Family News -- December 13, 2012

The Family Research Council does superb work in assembling these articles.  For previous issues of the Social Conservative Review, click here.  The items below are found here.

Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling

• "School Official Demands "Home School License"," Home School Legal Defense Association
• "Homeschooling: freedom's last stand," LifeSiteNews.com
• "Saving the Shrinking Flame: How to Reignite Your Passion for Homeschooling," Crosswalk
• "After homeschoolers lobby, UN disabilities treaty fails," Human Events

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• "The tyranny of good intentions at US colleges," The Washington Examiner
• "Diverse Charter Schools," EducationNext
• Map: Charter-school penetration by city," Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• "Louisiana Unions Fight School Choice, Opportunity for Children," The Heritage Foundation
• "More Principals Learn the Job in Real Schools," Education Week
• "Christians on Campus: Our Right to Exist," Crosswalk
• "Is This Grade School a 'Cult'? (And Do Parents Care?)," The Atlantic

College Debt

• "Important Article on the College Debt Scene & Is the Bubble Exploding," Family Research Council
• "The Pin that Might Pop the Higher-Ed Bubble," The Acton Institute

Government Reform
Regulation

• "How Government Suffocates Charity," Values and Capitalism
• "In Orlando, You Can't Grow Your Own Garden," Doublethink
• "Charitable deduction cap would be 'devastating'," Baptist Press

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• "To win the fiscal cliff battle, Republicans should follow the Constitution," AEIdeas.org
• "The Left's Flip-Flop on the Bush Tax Cuts," The American

Health Care
Abstinence

• "Teenagers and the Morning-After Pill," New York Times
• "Sex without Qualifications: Christianity and the Meaning of Sex, " Mere Orthodoxy
• "Condom Ambulance delivers contraceptives right to your dorm room door," The Daily Caller
• "ObamaCare's Crisis of Conscience," Texas Policy

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• "HHS Anti-Conscience Mandate: Challengers Get Federal Appellate Court Victory," The Heritage Foundation
• "Cared to death," WORLD Magazine
• "When Obamacare fails: The playbook for market-based reform," American Enterprise Institute
• "Judge allows NY Archdiocese lawsuit over healthcare law," Reuters
• "Feds Nix Partial Medicaid Expansion," The Wall Street Journal

Homosexuality

• "No Word On Same-Sex Marriage Cases At SCOTUS," Breitbart.com
• "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity at the UN," The Public Discourse
• "Children of Same-Sex Unions: New Research on Family Stability and Structure," The Heritage Foundation
• "News Agency Discovers: "Homophobia" Is Humbug," Turtle Bay and Beyond
• "It Gets Bitter: Bullied by Anti-Bully Activist Dan Savage," LifeNews.com

Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion

• "Emergency Contraception: Not Best for Teens," American College of Pediatricians
• "Planned Parenthood and the Government v. Religious Liberty and Women's Wellbeing," The Public Discourse
• "United Nations Declares Contraception Access a "Human Right"," The Heritage Foundation
• "The Down Syndrome Community's Abortion Rift," First Things
• "Lancet Editorial Uses Incorrect Data To Promote Abortion Agenda," Turtle Bay and Beyond
• "Utah introduces sex-selective abortion ban, Ohio Senate stops a Heartbeat, and more," LifeSiteNews.com
• "Video Game Teaches Women How to Do Illegal Abortions at Home," LifeNews.com
• "Abortion's Backdoor Maneuver at the U.N.," First Things

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• "High Court to Address Whether Genes Can Be Patented," The FedSoc Blog
• "A Large-Scale Model of the Functioning Brain," Science
• "Modern healthcare: are we playing God?," Matthias Media

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• "Cruel Brittania: Euthanizing Sick Babies and Old Ladies?," Family Research Council
• "Sedated to Death Without Permission in UK," 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.

• "Faster, safer method for producing stem cells," Phys.org
• "A Peak of Reality at the World Stem Cell Summit," National Right to Life News
• "Stem cell agency board criticized for conflicts of interest," Los Angeles Times
• "Germany rules against stem cell patents," Deutsche Welle All

Human Trafficking

• "" We are not cookie-cutter..."," Family Research Council
• "National Study Reveals Top Seven States That Protect Against Child Trafficking," Shared Hope International
• "Vacating Convictions: Two Clients' Experiences," The Polaris Project

Women's Health

• "UN to Act Against Female Genital Mutilation," National Review Online
• "Contraception and Women's Wellbeing: Physical Health, Happiness, and Religion," The Public Discourse

Marriage and Family
Adoption

• "Adopted For Life: Orphan Care and the Christian Mission," Family Research Council
• "US Congress should extend adoption tax credit," DelmarvaNow.com
• "Haiti to overhaul adoption laws to protect its children, curb child trafficking and neglect," The Washington Post
• "Planned Parenthood and Adoption?," National Right to Life News
• "Moral Neutrality, Marriage, and the Supreme Court," The Public Discourse

Family Economics

• "The 1930s All Over Again?," The American
• "The Dividends of $elf-Control," The Center for Vision and Values
• "Life, delayed: Couples putting off marriage due to economy, changing views," The Deseret News
• "Unemployment Benefits: No Free Lunch," The Heritage Foundation
• "Prices, Income, and Education," Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics
• "The Future of Free Enterprise," Renewing Minds

Family Structure

• " Florida: Family Planning Vs. Family Belonging," Family Research Council
• "A Nation of Singles," The Weekly Standard
• "There's No Perfect Time to Start Having Kids," The Atlantic
• "Parents vs. the State," Crisis
• "How Did This Happen? The Family Crisis as a Theological Crisis," AlbertMohler.com
• "Till death do us part"," Mercatornet.com
• "The Blessing of Children," The New Atlantis

Media
Pornography

• "Shifting views? Women now more ok with porn than men?," PornHarms.com
• "SF-Based Porn Company Offers Sex-Ed Classes With Live-Demonstrations," CBS San Francisco
• "The Slave and the Porn Star: Sexual Trafficking and Pornography," PornHarms.com

Internet

• "Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Says God Comes Before Family and Work," The Christian Post
• "Does Technology Prevent Us From Being More Thoughtful About Technology?," Patheos.com

Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty

• "International Religious Freedom: President Obama Misses an Opportunity," The Heritage Foundation
• "Courting Religious Freedom," National Review Online
• "Another (Temporary) Advance for Religious Liberty," The Acton Institute
• "Montana Ranch Embroiled in Church-State Case," The Christian Post

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.

• "What Does Religion Have to Do With Presidential Politics?," The Acton Institute
• "Why Aren't We Praying From 9-5?," Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
• "Doing the Math on Religious Affiliation," First Things
• "Americans Highly Religious, Likely to Become Even More Religious, Pollster Predicts," The Christian Post

Secularism

• "FRC's Perkins: 'We are Losing a Moral Standard in the Military'," CNSNews.com
• "A Godless Nation: Doomed To Fail," World Net Daily

International
Israel

• "Morsi's Maneuver," National Review Online
• "Britain, France Threaten to Recall Israel Ambassadors," Religion Today
• "Israel's brilliant defense systems!," Caroline Glick
• "For Gaza, is it really now or never?," Mercatornet.com

International Economy and Family

• "Is France Trying To Drive the UK Out of Europe?," Via Meadia
• "'Taxpayer': The New Watchword for Transparency Reform in China," The Atlantic

Religious Persecution

• "Islamist Groups Threaten Future of Church in East Africa," BarnabasAid.org
• "What Egypt's Christians Think of Hastily Completed Constitution," Christianity Today

Sharia law -- U.S., foreign

• "How, Oh How, Were We To Know?, " The American Conservative
• "The "Courage" of Radical Thugs," Via Meadia

The Courts
Constitutional Issues

• "Why the Common Law in America?, " The Library of Law and Liberty
• "Judge Blocks California Law on Conversion Therapies," New York Times

Judicial Activism

• "The Effects of Replacing a Nonliberal Justice with a Liberal Justice," The Library of Law and Liberty
• "Obama to End Term With More Judicial Vacancies Than He Began With," The FedSoc Blog

Other News of Note

• "I'm Socially Conservative, in College, and Need a Party," The Public Discourse
• "Losing and Not Quitting: A Lesson From General Grant," Religion Today
• "Welfareship: France's Status Quo, America's Future?," Center for Vision and Values
• "The Only Place That Will Survive the Mayan Apocalypse," Daily Mail
• "Fiscal Talks Spur Charitable Giving," The Wall Street Journal

Book reviews

• "Deidre McCloskey Reviews Michael Sandel's What Money Can't Buy," The Library of Law and Liberty
• "Christians Find Few Shades of Grey in Book's Popularity," Christianity Today
• "Review: Creator Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Art of Becoming Human," The Gospel Coalition
• "The Essentiality of Religious Argument in the Public Square," Patheos