The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Family North Carolina Magazine—November/December 2008

By R. Matthew Lytle

November and December bring with them two major holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving offers the opportunity to reflect on life’s many blessings. As Americans, we enjoy freedoms, both political and economic, that others throughout the world only dream about. This year, November also brings an election, in which citizens of this great nation will take an active part in choosing the next leaders to represent us in local, state, and national government positions. For this privilege, we should all be thankful. It is thus somehow appropriate that Thanksgiving would take place in the same month as the General Election.

December brings Christmas, which evokes thoughts of friends, family, and food, not to mention presents. It is our hope that each reader would take some time during the busy Christmas season to ponder the greatest present of all: the birth of the Savior. Jesus’ birth sets the stage for his humble life of perfect obedience that fulfilled the law, his death on the cross that brought about justification, and his resurrection that allows his own to look forward to the day when God will raise them as well.

In this current issue of Family North Carolina, Alysse ElHage investigates a troubling policy in most of the North Carolina public and school libraries. Touted as the “right to read,” this policy makes sexually explicit material available to all ages without restriction. As the article was making its way through the editing phase, the American Library Association (ALA) celebrated its annual “Banned Books Week.” During this week, the ALA brought attention to controversial books that concerned parents and organizations have tried to have removed from the shelves. As part of this promotion, the ALA urges citizens to check out and read “banned” books. The “right to read” policy may be disconcerting to many citizens, but fortunately, Alysse’s analysis concludes that means are available for libraries to protect children from harmful material.

By the time this issue of Family North Carolina will reach its readers, students will already be well into the fall semester and then home for the holidays. Many high school seniors will be submitting college applications. With this in mind, four of our staff members—some newly graduated from college, and some still in either a Bachelors or Masters program—have collaborated to bring you an article on how to maintain a Christian worldview in a college environment that is often hostile to Christianity. In this article, these four ladies share their own experiences in college and encourage the reader that it is possible to make it through school while maintaining—and even strengthening—a Christian worldview.

This issue also includes an article written by John Morris. John served this summer as a Blackstone legal intern from the Alliance Defense Fund. The Council hosts Blackstone interns each summer. Each intern researches legal issues concerning the family in North Carolina. We are happy to present John’s fine work on the benefits of marriage and the legal steps that can be taken in North Carolina to protect marriage and prevent divorce.

Turning to a more historical theme, Brittany Farrell presents an article looking into the influences of faith in the lives of our country’s Founding Fathers who called North Carolina home. Specifically, Brittany addresses the question of whether the country was founded on Christian principles. The answer is more complicated and nuanced than it may appear on the surface. While several key Founders were not Christians, they nevertheless held to Christian ideals and morality, as evidenced by their speeches and writings. Moving beyond the merely historical, Brittany also includes some implications for the current debate surrounding the separation of church and state.

Also, be sure not to miss staff attorney Tami Fitzgerald’s Courts article. Tami takes on the issue of the renewed debate about lowering the national drinking age by providing a legal and historical perspective. She also gives an update on the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the enactment of the lottery in North Carolina and provides a legal analysis of the hearing before the State Supreme Court.

We hope that you find this issue of Family North Carolina informative and that you will consider how you can affect change on the issues presented here.

R. Matthew Lytle is director of research for the North Carolina Family Policy Council.