A friendly reminder to all of us at the start of this new election cycle:  ”Pro-life” means much, much more than just anti-abortion. It’s an entire set of beliefs leveled at legislating bodily autonomy.  For women, yes and most controversially, but also for the sick, the poor, the disabled, the terminal, gays, parents; in short, “pro-life” efforts impact health care access for all of us, regardless of our belief systems. So stories like this, at The Economist, are helpful but fall way short of the necessary discussion that should be taking place in the national media.

Kathryn Montalbano: What is meant by “feminist”–the inherently problematic, unfixed term that often causes pangs of discomfort when mustered as a fighting word–varies not merely across historical and contemporary time and space but also within individual countries and regions.  In the 1970s, for instance, the feminist movement in America was starkly divided in the public eye between the likes of sexy Helen Gurley Brown, author of Sex and the Single Girl and editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, and powerhouse Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique who is credited with launching “second-wave” feminism.

Last month the Russian Orthodox Church issued a statement that supported Moscow’s squashing of the gay pride parade there.  But it seems limiting the rights of gays isn’t the only issue on which the church has found a chance to work with the state.  The New York Times reports that the Russian government and the ROC are working together to keep the native Russian population from being overrun by immigrants by fostering a US-like “pro-life” movement.

by Kristina Loew

There was a time when popular culture was a bastion of rebellion, a place where America’s youth could forge a new identity and give the middle finger to their parents. Not so these days, where purity rings have become fashionable, pop stars are giving regular shout-outs to Jesus and raunchiness is in remission. Could it be that the Christian right has finally infiltrated youth culture or is it just a new way to sell wholesomeness to a precarious demographic that is bringing in billions of dollars in business?

Using family values to sell family entertainment is nothing new. Everyone from Ozzie and Harriet to Britney Spears has employed them to market their products, their shows and themselves. Back in the late 1950’s Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was carefully marketed by Disney as the quintessential “girl-next-door,” someone who was chaste and defined the morals of the time. Even Elvis and Aretha Franklin rose up through the ranks of popular music singing gospel.

States of Devotion, a publication of NYU’s Hemispheric Institute edited by Ann Pellegrini, has a new “dossier” of articles that address same-sex marriage in the U.S. Pellegrini’s introduction reads:

That same Christian Century article contrasts the rising support for gay marriage, especially among younger Americans, with public attitudes towards legalized abortion. The survey found that support for abortion held steady over the past five years, but so did opposition to it. More significantly, there was no demonstrable generation gap, as there is on the same-sex marriage issue. That is, both support for and opposition to legalized abortion held steady across age groups.

by Andy Kopsa

America’s culture wars are at full throttle: defunding Planned Parenthood, chipping away at a woman’s right to an abortion – and if possible taking away that right altogether, preventing or ending gay marriage (because it could lead to Sharia law), enacting Religious Freedom Restoration Acts to “restore religious liberty” that was never lost.  State after state after state serves as a front on which the Christian Right and their willing Republican legislators wage these wars.  Iowa is a perfect microcosm, an example of the powerful Christian Political Action Committees (PACs) leading the effort.  Iowa’s powerful and successful The Family Leader is a model to which all others can be held.

The Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC), which recently changed its name to The Family Leader*, is the most vocal and political anti-gay organization in Iowa.  As a federally funded chapter of the Family Research Council (FRC), IFPC railed against gay marriage leading up to the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision granting marriage equality for same sex couples.  They started the “LUV Iowa” (Let Us Vote) Campaign to bring a Proposition 8-like ballot initiative to the state.  They sent lobbyists to the state capital and held ‘pro-family’ rallies.

From Obit Mag’s recent send-off to Jane Russell who died last week, “A Figure of Contradiction”:

Born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell, the actress hailed from Bemidji, Minn., a place she seemed anxious to leave. At 19, she had an abortion, then illegal, and the operation was so botched that she was unable to bear children. In 1943, she married Bob Waterfield, her first boyfriend and a Los Angeles Rams quarterback; that marriage ended a quarter of a century later. Her second marriage, to actor Roger Barrett, came to an abrupt end after just three months when while making love to Russell, he suffered a heart attack (as who would not?). Russell’s third marriage lasted another 25 years.

During all this time, she made adoption her work and her life. She adopted a daughter and two sons; in 1952 she founded the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), which claimed to have facilitated more than 50,000 adoptions. She also lobbied strongly for financial aid for those who adopt handicapped children.

Russell never was too clear on how she managed to reconcile the various parts of herself, especially the devout Christian (or as she once phrased it, “a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot”) and the sexy strumpet. But then why should she have managed to reconcile anything?

“Christians have bosoms too,” she used to say, with perfect accuracy.

From Tim Muldoon’s article at WaPo’s On Faith blog, “Faltering and Leading: The Conservative Moment,” in which Muldoon assesses David French’s fawning assessment of the state of the Conservative movement (only evangelicals need work harder!) and finds it almost very satisfactory:

If there is a hopeful note in this ancient and new story of the relationship between faith and culture, it is this: no longer is the story limited to a single narrative. There are three strands (Catholic, Evangelical, and Mormon) that French points to in his article, but there are surely others. Many contemporary Jews and Muslims, for example, are equally concerned that American laissez-faire attitudes toward sex, and therefore toward abortion, marriage, and many other social issues are toxic to a society. Further, the convergence of these narratives around social issues offers fruitful directions for interfaith conversation, when once upon a time those conversations foundered on the rocks of doctrinal disagreement.

Kristina Loew: From movies to music, conservative voices have cornered the tween scene, that 12 – 13 year old demographic which often looks to their favorite stars for moral guidance (and ways to spend their parents’ paychecks). Parents can feel safe knowing that the Twilight franchise is one long ode to abstinence, while the Jonas Brothers sport promise rings and Miley Cyrus gives shout-outs to Jesus. Most recently, Justin Bieber let his fans know he doesn’t like abortion, even in cases of rape. With young impressionable minds hanging on every word, maybe it’s time for parents to ask — has the mainstreaming of conservatism gone too far?