A Desire For Truth

Family North Carolina Magazine
Winter 2010

By Brittany Farrell

This issue of Family North Carolina is heading to press as we reflect on a year full of excitement—some good, some disappointing, but all in God’s plan. You will be reading this as we embark on a new year—full of potential and opportunity.

As seniors in high school, my classmates and I were given the task of choosing a yearbook quote—one that would outlive our time as seniors, and possibly our time on earth. I took the assignment very seriously and finally settled on one from the great President Abraham Lincoln. “I have an irrepressible desire to live ‘til I can be assured that the world is a better place for my having lived in it.” Shortly after I arrived at the North Carolina Family Policy Council, the newly appointed Archbishop of Vancouver, J. Michael Miller, took the motto “Veritati Servire”—To Serve the Truth—which I have adopted for my own work. Both of these commands, from President Lincoln and Archbishop Miller, get to the heart of what we are about here at the NCFPC. This issue of Family North Carolina is a testament to that. It touches on difficult subjects and seeks to unveil the light of truth in a world of darkness. We are here to make a lasting difference on policy in North Carolina, so as to make the world a better place for the generations that will come after us.

We are privileged to co-release our feature on the harms of pornography with Dr. Patrick Fagan and the Family Research Council. This report seeks to bring light to the corners of this dark and creeping sin. While pornography is a sin of individual choice, its destruction is borne by marriages, children, families, and communities. The oft-repeated argument that the production and consumption of pornographic material is a private individual matter, protected by the First Amendment, withers under the sunny sanitation of truth. Pornography is bad for women, bad for men, bad for marriages, bad for children, and bad for society. Dr. Fagan’s research leaves little room for debate.

One of the most controversial pieces of legislation passed by the General Assembly in the last decade—the pro-homosexual “Bullying Bill”—goes into effect in 2010. Alysse ElHage details what the law does and does not require school districts to include in updated Anti-Bullying Policies, and explains how parents and schools can avoid being forced to promote or accept homosexuality and transgenderism in their schools. “Tolerance” at all costs has already won many battles in the war for minds. Many of those battles are being waged in our children’s classrooms. Parents and teachers must be on guard and must be actively dressing their children in the armor of truth.

Not so long ago, murder was unequivocally considered evil. In 1973, the Supreme Court granted cover to those who would murder children simply because they could not be seen. Today, the centuries-old Euthanasia Movement is again making progress. Mary Summa relays where this battle has been, where it is, and where it is trying to go. The devaluation of human life to a purely utilitarian calculation has crept into the human psyche to the point that we have now begun to accept the murder of even the unarguably living members of our families whom we see and touch and with whom we speak. Our editors have all been moved by her compelling story.

One of the many real challengess imposed by a breakdown of sexual morals and marriage in our society is out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Women facing unexpected pregnancies often mistakenly believe they only have two options: the difficult life of young unwed single motherhood, or the tragic choice of abortion. Matt Lytle—himself an adoptive parent—argues for the third and often overlooked choice of adoption, which offers a much better option for mother and child. He urges society to encourage adoption, and families to open their homes and hearts to adopting children as an alternative to abortion.

This year, we have included the annual “Votes Paper” in this issue of Family North Carolina. We selected some of the most important and interesting votes from the 2009 Legislative Session to give you a sense of the activity down on Jones Street. The “Y”s and “N”s in those charts only tell part of the story. Much of the pro-family legislation that is introduced is buried in committees by legislative leaders, who refuse to even allow members to consider—let alone vote on—bills related to the sanctity of life, charter schools, and the protection of marriage.

We at the NCFPC are preparing for another year of service to policymakers and citizens across North Carolina. What will you do to spread truth in the New Year? Are you assured that your life will leave the world a better place?

Brittany Farrell is research associate for the North Carolina Family Policy Council and editor of Family North Carolina.