|
NEWS
OF THE HOWARD CENTER FOR
DECEMBER 2004
“We strive to be the leading
source of fresh ideas and new strategies for
affirmation and defense of the natural family, both nationally and globally.”
FROM MEXICO
CITY TO DOHA. The
World Congress of Families III (WCF III), held March 29-31 in Mexico City, drew
over 3,300 delegates from 75 countries.
Highlights of this Center inspired event included a welcoming address
from Mexico’s First Lady, Martha Sahagun de Fox; extensive press coverage
(particularly in the Latin American press); thousands of side “networking”
meetings; the presence of prominent religious leaders (including Cardinal
Archbishop Norberto Rivera of Mexico City, Cardinal Archbishop Alfonso
Lopez-Trujillo of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council on the Family, Dr. Paige
Patterson, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Rabbi
Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition), and the official launching, via signed protocol,
of The Doha International Conference on the Family, held November 29-30
in Doha, Qatar. (A complete report on
the WCF III is available from The Howard Center; contact carol@profam.org). The Howard Center has also supported other
events leading to the Doha conference.
On May 14, Allan Carlson read a paper, “On the Nature of Family Policy,” before members of Sweden’s
Parliament at The Riksdag building in
Stockholm. On August 23, he gave a
lecture on “The Family is the…Natural
Unit of Society: Evidence from the Social Sciences,” to the European
Regional Conference of the Doha process, held in Geneva, Switzerland. At Doha itself, Dr. Carlson chaired the
session on “Legal and Religious
Foundations of the Family in the Third Millennium.”
WCF DRAWS
PRAISE FROM UNUSUAL PLACES. The Fall 2004 issue of Ms. Magazine, the nation’s premier
feminist journal, actually features a special report on The World Congress of
Families III. Author Gillian Kane
underscores how the Congress project has “brought together the leadership of an
increasingly trenchant and powerful wing of the international conservative
movement.” She reports that Mexico’s “Centro
Banamex was teeming with crowds that reflected the organization’s growing
luster.” The article also reports that
“at this year’s World Congress of Families, for the first time, the U.S.
government gave its explicit endorsement of the so-called pro-family agenda.”
Similar testimony to the history-making importance of this
Center project is found in the new book, Globalizing Family Values: The Christian
Right in International Politics, from The University of Minnesota
Press. The authors, Doris Buss and Didi
Hermann, are law professors who write with open “feminist” and “lesbian”
sympathies. Still, they report that:
-
“The WCF II represented a new sophistication on the part of
American activists: the recognition that conservative social change, at
the global level, requires a networked alliance of orthodoxics.”
-
“A notable example of this potent
mix of devotion and data is the work embraced and produced by the Howard
Center, a leading [Christian Right] organization domestically and
internationally.”
-
“In the United States, [Christian
Right] activists such as…Bryce Christensen, Wade Horn, and Allan Carlson
have all produced a secularized, professional discourse on ‘the family’
that has achieved a wide impact and is rarely associated with their
conservative Christian politics.”
CENTER BOARD
CHAIRMAN’S NEW BOOK EXPLORES THE CATHOLIC VOTER IN AMERICA. Published
by St. Augustine’s Press, George Marlin’s The American Catholic Voter: 200 Years of Political
Impact appeared in August to strong critical acclaim. The volume traces the political and
electoral history of American Catholics from the time of Lord Baltimore and the
founding of Maryland to the election of George W. Bush. It offers an inspiring story of ethnic
Catholics who arrived on America’s shores with only their clothes on their
back, worked through their parishes and neighborhoods to overcome nativism, and
became a significant voice in local, state, and national political
affairs. Comments critic Brad Miner: “Nobody knows more about the history of
Catholic voters than George Marlin. His
book is always informative and sometimes a downright revelation. I learned things about politicians, Catholic
and otherwise, I never knew, and The
American Catholic Voter is certain to be an instant classic.” It can be ordered at:
www.staugustine.net.
ALLAN
CARLSON’S ‘FRACTURED GENERATIONS’ TO APPEAR IN 2005. The
Center President’s latest book, Fractured Generations: Crafting a Family
Policy for Twenty-First-Century America, will be published by
Transaction (at Rutger’s University) in Spring 2005. Adapted from lectures given to the Family Research Council in
Washington, DC, during 2003, chapters follow the life course of a family: ‘Marriage on Trial,’ public policy and the
birth of children, “The Fractured Dream
of Social Parenting, ‘Education as
Homecoming,” housing policy, “Taxing
the Family,” “The Recovery of a Family Economics,” and “A Fresh Vision of the Multigenerational
Family.” The book concludes with a
concise ‘American Family Policy for the
Twenty-First Century.’ Starting in early,
2005, it can be ordered at: www.transactionpub.com
.
Another manuscript by Dr. Carlson, tentatively entitled
The
Meaning of Marriage, has also been completed. It is based on the lecture series that he gave before Family
Research Council audiences during 2004.
Chapters examine five aspects of marriage, viewing it as: procreative;
economic; communal; political; and distinctly American. The manuscript has been submitted to several
publishers for consideration.
DISILVESTRO,
BASKERVILLE NAMED KOHLER FELLOWS. Russell
DiSilvestro, a Ph.D. Candidate at Bowling Green State University, has been
named The Charlotte and Walter Kohler Fellow in Family Studies at The Howard
Center for 2004-05. Mr. DiSilvestro
will focus on turning his doctoral dissertation, which discusses the human
qualities and moral status of embryonic life, into a publishable
manuscript. Mr. DiSilvestro holds
M.A.’s from both Bowling Green (in Philosophy) and the Talbot School of
Theology (in the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics). His articles and reviews have appeared in
Ethics & Medicine, The
Proceedings of the Ohio Philosophical Association, Philosophia Christi, The
Journal of Value Inquiry, and Dignity.
During Summer, 2004, Stephen Baskerville of Howard
University (Washington, DC) also received a Kohler Fellowship to support work
on his manuscript, “Taken Into Custody:
Government’s Assault on Marriage, Fathers, and Families.” Dr. Baskerville teaches Political
Science. His articles have appeared in PS:
Political Science and Politics, The Huntington Library Quarterly, Education and
Society, History of European Ideas, The Seventeenth Century, and The
Journal of Family History.
CENTER, DR.
CARLSON RENEW COLLABORATION WITH FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL FOR 2005. This broad cooperation includes a new series of Family
Policy Lectures to be presented during FRC’s 2004/05 Program Year. Currently scheduled for Washington, DC, are:
“The Failure of European Family Policy: Lessons for Americans”
(December 8). This talk will focus on
the efforts of various European governments since 1970 to prop up birth rates
through measures such as subsidized day care and paid parental leave. However, birthrates have plummeted since then. Dr. Carlson will explain why, and offer
positive alternatives.
“The Family and America’s Health Care Crisis” (January 26). National debate on health care remains
locked in old models. Few acknowledge
how traditional marriage and family are superior providers of
good health and the most effective defense against disease. What health insurance reforms would truly
strengthen families and so reduce health care costs?
Later
Carlson lectures will examine: “Urban
Families, Rural Families: Are there Still Important Differences”; “Family Life, the Sexes, and a Military Draft”;
and “Do We Live in a ‘Post Family’
Nation?” All lectures are held at
FRC’s headquarters, 801 G Street, NW. To
attend, contact Mark Haskew at FRC (mnh@frc.org
or 202-393-2100).
HOWARD CENTER
ELECTS TWO NEW DIRECTORS. At its Annual Meeting, held June 11, the Center Board of
Directors elected two new members. William
Andrews, of Chicago, is a retired executive from the investment firm Stein,
Roe & Farnham. David Peterson,
of Rockford, is Executive Vice President of Rockford Products Corporation. “We are delighted to welcome these two new
members,” said Center President Allan Carlson.
“They bring both solid business experience and a real commitment to our
mission.”
CENTER FILES
DECLARATIONS IN WASHINGTON AND CALIFORNIA IN DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE. In June, the Center
President authored a legal Declaration on behalf of Washington [State]
Evangelicals for Responsible Government, in support of that state’s Defense of
Marriage Act. This measure has been
challenged by homosexual couples seeking a right to marry. Specifically, Dr. Carlson responded to a prior
statement submitted by Yale University historian Nancy Cott in the case Andersen
and Christensen v. King County, which claimed that
procreation and childrearing have been secondary or merely “customary” purposes
of marriage in America. “This was an
outrageous attempt at historical deconstruction,” Dr. Carlson reports. In his Declaration, he explains that
marriage has in fact “focused first and foremost on the procreation and rearing
of children.” In November, he filed a
similar Declaration in San Francisco court, in the case Thomasson v.
Newsom. In this instance, he worked with the
Alliance Defense Fund.
A SMALL
SAMPLING OF OTHER CENTER ACTIVITIES…
-
February 2: John Howard’s article “Same Sex Marriage in
a Larger Context” is published in The
Illinois Leader.
-
February 23: Larry Jacobs was interviewed by
American Daily and
Assist News Service.
-
February 23:
An article about the WCF III/Mexico City appears in American Daily.
-
February 26: Allan Carlson was interviewed on “Mars Hill Audio Magazine,” about his
book The ‘American Way.’
-
March 9: Allan Carlson conducted a lengthy television
interview for CBN-TV, which was developed into three long news segments on
“marriage” appearing on “The 700 Club”
in May and July.
-
March 24 & 25: Larry Jacobs gave Pro-Life and World
Congress of Families Presentations to the Women’s New Life Center Board and
Staff and a Pro-Life/Pro-Family Presentation following Mass/Celebration of the
Feast of the Annunciation in New Orleans, LA.
-
March 29: Larry Jacobs had an interview with
Meridian Magazine.
-
March 29:
An article on the WCFIII/Mexico City appears in The Washington Times.
-
April: John
Howard’s “George Washington: A Leader Beyond Comparison," appears in the St. Croix
Review; also in The Rock River
Times.
-
April 1: Allan Carlson spoke on “Social Science and
Family Policy” for the conference, “Vida Familia,” held by Mexico’s National
Action Party in the Legislative Palace, Mexico City.
-
May:
Jean
Heise, WCF III Coordinator, gave the Keynote Address to the Western
Australia Coalition for the Defense of Human Life, the “Rally for Life” on the
steps of Parliament House, and the Keynote Address for the 2004 conference of
The Family Association of Victoria. She
also spoke to a special gathering of Members of Parliament in Perth. She was featured in
New Life, Australia’s weekly Christian newspaper and the May 9
edition of the Perth Sunday Times.
-
May 1:
Roger
Scruton spoke at the Philadelphia Society dinner in Chicago, sponsored
by The Howard Center, on “An Englishman Looks at American Conservatism.”
-
May 5: Mr. Scruton appeared on “Extension 720,” WGN-AM, Chicago, on
American conservatism.
-
May 12: John Howard, a decorated veteran of the
Normandy invasion, spoke about World War II to three classes of 11th
graders at Rockford Christian High School.
-
May 20: Allan Carlson delivered the speech “The
Catholic Side of The ‘American Way,’” for The Rockford Chapter of Legatus (an
organization of Catholic CEO’s).
-
June: John Howard’s “The 2004 Election: Salvaging the Civil Order,” appears in the
St. Croix Review.
-
June 10: Kohler Fellow
Christopher Shannon gave a presentation on “The Bowery
Cinderella” films at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago.
-
June 24:
Bryce
Christensen’s article in The
Family in America “Why Homosexuals Want What Marriage has Now Become,” is
the topic of a long article in The
Wanderer.
-
July 2: The lecture “Martin Luther’s Revolutionary
Theology of Sex, Marriage, and Family,” was delivered by Allan Carlson to a
Family Research Council audience in Washington, DC.
-
July 18: Four long articles featuring The Howard
Center appeared in the Rockford Register
Star.
-
August 20:
Liberty
Post cites Larry Jacobs in an article entitled, “‘Mainstream Republicans’
Urge Party to Avoid Social Issues.”
-
August 28: Allan Carlson spoke at the first meeting of
the McHenry County (IL) Pro-Family Coalition.
-
September: Allan Carlson’s book,
The ‘American Way,’ is highlighted in
Recordings for the Blind & Dyslexic.
-
September 22: Allan Carlson was interviewed by
“The Morning Show” with Preston Scott on
NewsRadio 1270 in Tallahassee, Florida.
-
September 29: Allan Carlson is quoted in
IslamicAwakening.Com in the article
entitled “How Feminism has Murdered the West.”
-
October 2:
“Phyllis
Schlafly Live,” a syndicated radio show, hosted Allan Carlson to discuss
his book, The ‘American Way.’
|