World Family Policy Center Newsletter

James Q. Wilson, PhD, has enjoyed a long career in the public policy arena. From 1961 to 1987, he taught political science at Harvard University, where he was the Shattuck Professor of Government. He was the James Collins Professor of Management and Public Policy at UCLA from 1985 until 1997. He is the author or co-author of fourteen books, the most recent of which are The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families (Harper Collins, 2002), Moral Judgment (Basic Books), and the Moral Sense (Free Press). His others include American Government, Bureaucracy, Thinking About Crime, Varieties of Police Behavior, Political Organizations, and Crime and Human Nature (with Richard J. Herrnstein). In addition he has edited or contributed to books on urban problems, government regulation of business, and the prevention of delinquency among children. Many of his writings on morality and human character have been collected in On Character: Essays by James Q. Wilson. His textbook on American government is more widely used on University campuses than any other government textbook.

Wilson has served on a number of national commissions concerned with public policy. He was chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime in 1966, Chairman of the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention in 1972-1973, a member of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime in 1981, a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1985 to 1991, and a member of the board of directors of the Police Foundation form 1971-1993. He is currently chairman of the Board of Academic Advisors of the American Electric System, State Farm Mutual Insurance Company, and Protection One. He is also a trustee of the RAND Corporation.

In 1990 the American Political Science Association presented him with the James Madison Award for a career of distinguished scholarship, and in 1991-1992 he served as the association’s president. In 1994 he received the John Gaus Award for "exemplary scholarship in the fields of political science and public administration."

He has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Educated at the University of Redlands (AB, 1952) and the University of Chicago (PhD, 1959). He has received honorary degrees from six universities (most recently, Harvard University).

At the time of his appointment at Pepperdine, Wilson was the president of the American Political Science Association. The Association presented to Wilson a "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2001.

Dr. Wilson’s most recent book:

The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families

From Publishers Weekly
In this study of the implications of broken marriages, conservative social scientist Wilson (The Moral Sense) posits that there is a direct connection between Americans' tolerance for no-fault divorce and unmarried cohabitation, and the country's rising rates of childhood delinquency, teenage births, abuse and single-parent families. As such, Wilson's work is poised to attract fans of Judith Wallerstein.'s important The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study (2000), which suggests that divorce has a much harsher effect on children than previously believed. But many of Wilson's points assume that divorce is de facto a bad thing ("As one popular movie made clear, there is no such thing as a happy divorce"); he refuses to acknowledge that society's attitudes may have shifted precisely because many people now believe that divorce often represents a promising solution rather than a bitter failure. Many readers will take issue with Wilson's claim that the demographics of African-American families (high instances of single motherhood; absent fathers) can be traced to the cultural practices of people in Africa and the West Indies. And in fact, the teen birth rate has fallen significantly in the past 10 years. Wilson's polemic will likely be embraced by readers who already share his traditional views on public policy and shunned by those who don't.

For more information: http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/wilson/

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FEATURED NEWS ARTICLES

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1. Bush Vetoes Embryonic Stem-Cell Bill, Promotes Ethical Research

by Wendy Cloyd, CitizenLink, June 20, 2007

President said he wants HHS to pursue alternatives.

President Bush announced his veto today of S.5, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, passed by Congress this month. The legislation would have forced taxpayers to pay for research using stem cells taken from destroyed human embryos.

During the ceremony in the East Room of the White House, he also issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to promote research that does not destroy life.

Bush said his duty as president is to ensure that stem-cell research is ethically responsible, such as using adult stem cells.

"This careful approach is producing results," he said. "It has contributed to proven therapeutic treatments in thousands of patients with many different diseases. It's opening the prospect of new discoveries that could transform lives."

He said his executive order will make it more likely that such advances continue and will support his policy of advancing stem-cell research "in a way that is ambitious, ethical and effective."

"Congress has sent me a bill that would overturn this policy," Bush said. "If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers – for the first time in our history – to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.

"I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line. Last year, Congress passed a similar bill. I kept my promise by vetoing it. And today, I'm keeping my word again: I am vetoing the bill that Congress has sent."

To read entire article:

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004881.cfm

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2. Last Minute Heroics Stave Off Homosexual Bill in Colombia

By Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews.com, June 20, 2007

BOGOTA- A band of Colombian lawmakers rallied enough support at the eleventh hour to defeat a bill that would have given certain rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples to homosexual couples.

The bill, backed by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, would have made Colombia the first nation in Latin America to provide homosexual couples rights to health insurance, inheritance rights, and social security benefits. Pro-family leaders and the Catholic Church warned that the bill was a first step toward same-sex "marriage" and homosexual adoption, which Uribe denies.

However, just as the bill's passage seemed a foregone conclusion, Senator Manuel Virguez Piraquive made a rare motion that lawmakers bring the bill to a floor vote and cast individual, not party-line votes. With many of the bill's supporters absent, pro-family defenders won over enough senators allied with Uribe to defeat the bill 34-29 in the 102-member Senate.

Sen. Piraquive's move crushed the bill for the time being, and buys pro-family advocates a little more time to rally greater pro-family opposition to Uribe. Homosexual lawmakers enraged at Piraquive's maneuver vowed to restart the process on the bill when the Colombian Congress reconvenes July 20.

Colombia has come under intense pressure from the United Nations to advance its pro-homosexual and abortion agenda, and is seen as the chink in the pro-family and pro-life armor of Latin America. Colombia became the first nation in Latin America to legalize abortion in cases of rape and incest last year after the Constitutional Court overturned the ban May 10, 2006 calling it "disproportionate" and "irrational."

The case meant victory for population control groups and abortion activist Monica Roa of the UN funded Women's Link Worldwide, who admitted that her tactic was to use "extreme cases" to open up abortion on demand.

To read entire article:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062007.html

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3. Europe sees creationism as threat to human rights

Reuters News Agency

Washington Times

June 24, 2007

PARIS — Europe's primary human rights body will vote on a proposal this week to defend the teaching of Darwinian evolution and keep creationist and intelligent design views out of science classes in state schools in its 47 member countries.

The unusual move shows that a U.S. trend for religiously based challenges to the theory of evolution is worrying European politicians, who now see such arguments put forward in their countries by Christian and Muslim groups.

A report for the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly said the campaign against evolution has its roots "in forms of religious extremism" and is a dangerous attack on scientific knowledge.

"Today, creationists of all faiths are trying to get their ideas accepted in Europe," it said. "If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights."

The council, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, oversees human rights standards in member states and enforces decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

To read entire article:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070624/FOREIGN/106240032/1001

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4. People born homosexual, say local school officials -Parents, doctors, ex-'gays' protest planned curriculum

By Naomi Laine, WorldNetDaily.com, June 25, 2007

The Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland has accomplished what science and medicine have been unable to confirm, simply declaring in its newly approved school curriculum for children that some babies are born homosexual.

Activists are appealing the decision, and former homosexuals are claiming discrimination due to the decision by the school board to pilot a controversial new sex education curriculum – against the advice of hundreds of practicing physicians in the county.

Developed by its own staff, the educational materials were given a test run in six schools in the county district at the 8th and 10th grade levels. Now they are supposed to be implemented in all schools soon.

But since its decision on Jan. 9, the school board has drawn a barrage of criticism.

A strong opponent of the curriculum is Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, a non-profit Maryland-based group formed in response to the board's decision. According to its website, the group believes in the parental right to have "ultimate authority to guide the moral direction of their children without interference by an increasingly activist public school system."

Another organization leading the charge against the curriculum, "Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays," recently released a statement that, "According to the American Psychiatric Association, there are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biological cause for homosexuality. But now the Montgomery County Board of Education has done what science and medicine could not do by declaring in its newly approved curriculum that homosexuality is 'innate' or inborn."

Unit 8:2 of the new 8th grade textbook includes a definition of innate from the 2006 edition of the Merriam Webster's Dictionary as meaning "determined by factors present in an individual from birth." The curriculum then instructs teachers to "Say to students, 'Sexual orientation is innate and a complex part of one's personality."

But the same text contradicts itself later when asking, "What causes sexual orientation? Almost certainly there is no single reason why some people are homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation results from an interaction of cognitive, environmental, and biological factors."

Parents and doctors object to the text as inaccurate, unscientific and discriminatory. The board received an objection to the material signed by more than 270 practicing physicians in Montgomery County, stating the information in the curriculum was inaccurate and possibly dangerous to students on the grounds that it did not disclose health risks associated with minority sexual behavior.

To read entire article:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56368

Related Article: Wal-Mart shuns gay groups

By Marc Gunther

Fortune Magazine

June 22, 2007

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed disapproval.

The move comes a year after Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) had put on a gay-friendly smile. The company joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. It sponsored the annual convention of Out & Equal, a group that promotes gay rights in the workplace, and sold gay-themed jewelry in stores.

"We are not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBT groups," said Mona Williams, the company's senior vice president of corporate communications. Individual stores can still donate to gay groups.

By way of explanation, Ms. Williams cited a policy adopted last fall saying that Wal-Mart would not make corporate contributions "to support or oppose highly controversial issues" unless they directly relate to the company's ability to serve its customers.

To read entire article:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/22/magazines/fortune/pluggedin_gunther_walmart.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007062211

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COMING EVENTS

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EIGHTH WORLD FAMILY POLICY FORUM

July 9 - 11, 2007

Provo, Utah

Sponsored by the World Family Policy Center, Brigham Young University. The

theme for this year's Forum is "Achieving Development without Losing Our Families." Participation and attendance at the Forum is by invitation only. For further information, contact Sarah Stewart 801-422-5192

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Note: The Featured Articles excerpts are highlights of current events and

do not necessarily represent the views of the World Family Policy Center

or Brigham Young University.

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Newsletter created and distributed by:

World Family Policy Center (www.worldfamilypolicy.org)

J. Reuben Clark Law School

Brigham Young University

Acting Managing Director: A. Scott Loveless

Newsletter Editors: Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg

If you have any articles, editorials, or papers you would like

circulated through the WFPC News network, you may submit them to

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