Pro-life authors I'd like to read--Helen M. Alvaré

Helen Alvaré

Helen M. Alvaré is a renowned Catholic legal scholar and pro-life advocate. She is the Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where she teaches Family Law, Law and Religion, and Property Law.

Publications and Expertise

Alvaré publishes extensively on matters concerning marriage, parenting, non-marital households, and the First Amendment religion clauses. Her work has appeared in news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, and CNN.com, as well as academic journals. She has also authored books and lectured widely on topics related to family, marriage, and religious freedom.

Professional Experience

Prior to joining George Mason University, Alvaré taught at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America and represented the U.S. bishops’ conference on pro-life issues. She has worked for over a decade in the Catholic Church’s pro-life efforts, lobbying Congress and speaking publicly on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment.

Recent Engagements

In 2024, Alvaré delivered the Tim Fischer Oration on Ethics in Public and Political Life, speaking on the importance of upholding Christian values in public discourse. She has also been recognized for her contributions to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and has been honored for her work on pro-life issues and broader public discourse on polarizing social issues.

Social Media

Alvaré is active on Twitter (@AlvareHelen), where she shares her thoughts on law, family, and faith, as well as her experiences as a Catholic scholar and advocate.

March is women's history month, and four years ago they marched

Four years ago, apparently to "honor" women's history and rights, women were marching against President Trump. I wrote this on March 8, 2017. Still true today. Although I've never wanted to be a man, many days I am embarrassed to be a woman. And those "ladies" epitomized what's nasty and mean about women.

"Some women will be marching today against President Trump.

• We know it isn't for the right to vote, because many have that and don't vote;
• we know it isn't for higher education because they outnumber men in college; 
• we know it isn't for protection of Title IX because they believe biological sex doesn't matter and anyone can be a woman even a 6' 300 lb. male wrestler;
• we know it isn't for higher salaries because most work for the government in some capacity either as teachers (average hourly wage about $60 according to BLS) or mid-level bureaucrats in local or state or federal government and they are paid more than in the private sector;
• we know it isn't for freedom of religion or the right to own a gun because they want people to keep religion private and inside churches and want the 2nd amendment to go away;
• we know it isn't for life from womb to tomb because they are pro-abortion;
• we know it isn't to stop hunger because only 25% of Americans are "normal" BMI;
• we know it isn't to crash the glass ceiling because women are free to make choices for career track;
• we know it isn't to stop international slave trade in women for sex because they want to do battle against 18th century slave trade.

So that only leaves the obvious since for the last 8 years they just went to work and nothing is different today."

Reeducation camps on college campus and in China for Uyghurs

The Uyghurs, alternately Uygurs, Uighurs or Uigurs, [pronounced Wee-gers] are a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group originating in Central and East Asia. They are Muslims. These days you hear about them being imprisoned in camps and reeducated by the Chinese [aka Communists]. I first heard of them at a Lakeside lecture over a decade ago, when the world began to find out about how they were being discriminated against and stripped of their unique culture.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-uighur-camps-swell-as-beijing-widens-the-dragnet-1534534894?

When I see what is happening in our schools and universities, I often think of that name. Wee-gers. The difference is, our children aren't going against their will. We're sending them and paying exorbitant fees to have a generation stripped of their religion and values.

Religious organizations were shut out of child care by Obama; reversed by Trump

The Obama administration was anti-Christian from the start, early 2009 (when he undid the Bush executive order not to expand the embryonic cell experimentation) to the finish in early 2017 refusing children good care because the agency had the audacity to believe in real marriage.

Now Trump is reversing that last minute anti-child order.

“In the closing days of the Obama administration, the federal government handed down a regulation that effectively barred from federal child-welfare programs organizations that believe marriage is between a man and woman. This affected many Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations. This misguided policy was rushed into effect right before President Trump’s inauguration."

"Communities of faith have a lot to offer to children in foster care. Barna research shows that practicing Christians may be more than twice as likely to adopt compared with the general population—with Catholics three times as likely and evangelicals five times as likely. That’s because Christians are eager to open their hearts and homes for children in foster care. They are commanded by the Bible to care for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:20). One need not agree with these beliefs to see that it is self-defeating for government to bar the participation of thousands of religious Americans from serving children in need because of their theological convictions."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-reverses-obamas-anti-christian-decree-11572813718?

The Trump administration I hope will look out for what's best for the children, not what's best for a political sexual agenda.

President addresses UN on religious freedom; a first

“The President will call on the international community to take concrete steps to prevent attacks against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs and to ensure the sanctity of houses of worship and all public spaces for all faiths.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-to-give-historic-religious-freedom-speech-at-united-nations-evangelical-leaders-invited.html.   80% of the world lives under religious oppression.

His address concerns all religions, but this is the worst time in history for Christians. "In 2017 Pew released a report showing that the number of countries where Christians fell victim to government restrictions and social hostilities grew from 108 in 2014 to 128 the following year. In its World Watch Monitor Report, covering 2016, Open Doors, an organization supporting persecuted Christians, found that: “More than 200 million Christians in the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian experience persecution because of their faith.” Other sources claimed that the true figure for 2016 may be as high as 600 million.. https://www.churchinneed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/persecution-1-1.pdf

https://www.newsweek.com/christian-persecution-genocide-worse-ever-770462

As thousands gathered last week to protest a climate model that has been proven false or inadequate for decades, real people were being tortured, turned into refugees and killed for their faith.

President Trump as defender of religious freedom

I was puzzled that the Washington Post editorial board was attacking the Bible as literature in schools today; after all, you can't read a history of rock or pop music or understand Shakespeare if you are illiterate in the Bible. But the attack by its "editorial board" is tied to Trump. He tweeted it is a good idea, therefore, it must be awful, oppressive and fascist.

The president made promises as a candidate about restoring our religious freedom, and it was one of the earliest promises he kept and with little fan-fare. The MSM haven't said a lot, but the left continues to attack nuns, bakers, and Catholic school kids at a march for life even after the Supreme Court returned to them their constitutionally protected rights.

I urge you to go on line and print out "Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty" from the Office of the Attorney General, Oct. 6, 2017. Give it to your pastors, priests and professors. No other country has this; and no other U.S. president has told his AG to compile an easy to understand guide of laws, regulations, court cases and litigation results concerning that most precious of all our freedoms.

During the eight years of Obama, our freedoms were eroded in small but alarming ways with, "I've got a pen, and I've got a phone" to "fundamentally change" our nation. From announcing embryonic stem cell research at a Catholic university to setting up bureaucratic regulations in various agencies which bullied people of the book to using a website announcing which religious schools were receiving exemptions from Title IX, President Obama, a professed Christian, ground his heel on religious liberty in the United State.

Slowly the agency actions which were chipping away at our freedoms are being undone. That website which was used by the left to harass and mock people of faith, has been taken down. Other changes are being made in hostile bureaucracies in the Department of Labor and State Department and there is an ambassador at large for international religious freedom. HHS now has a division devoted to conscience protections and religious freedom.

Use it or lose it applies to religious freedom, too.

For more on this important issue see May 2019 issue of First Things. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/05/trump-and-religious-liberty

President Trump and religious freedom—know your rights

Trump has done more for religious freedom in the U.S. than many recent presidents, but the media neglect to do their homework and some recent reporting shows the ignorance of journalists raised and educated in the late 20th-21st centuries. They hate him so therefore never dig into the laws and regulations. President Trump's executive order on religious liberty in May 2017 noted, "Federal law protects the freedom of Americans and their organizations to exercise religion." No new laws, no convoluted regulations. Simply implement the laws we had. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/05/04/read-the-full-text-of-trumps-executive-order-on-religious-freedom/?

Section 4 provided guidance (by then AG Jeff Sessions) on 20 principles of religious freedom and guidance for their implementation, followed by an appendix with supporting case law. I wonder how many journalists, pastors, church boards or school principals have read it? https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1001886/download?

Every American Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, others and atheists needs to print and save Sessions' guidelines so they don't look foolish arguing and making charges about settle law.

Was it Obama, Trump or Clinton who declared federal employees may keep religious materials on the private desks and read them during breaks? Clinton. Was it Obama, Trump or Clinton who said federal employees can wear religious jewelry, invite coworkers to attend services, and discuss religious issues? Clinton.

Why do Lutheran schools have the right to employ only practicing Lutherans, or set codes of conduct for non-Lutheran employees? Title VII Civil Rights Act 1964.

And this empire was started by a nun from Akron, Ohio in 1981

"Boldness should be the eleventh commandment."
- Mother Angelica

“EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 38th year, is the largest religious media network in the world. EWTN’s 11 TV channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 300 million television households in more than 145 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio and more than 500 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; the largest Catholic website in the U.S.; electronic and print news services, including Catholic News Agency, the National Catholic Register, and several global news wire services; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book-publishing division.”  (http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/ewtn-wins-lawsuit-over-hhs-contraception-mandate)

The reason I describe EWTN and its importance in religious media is because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued an order Thursday vacating a 2014 district-court decision against the Eternal Word Television Network in its lawsuit against the so-called contraceptive mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. The order follows a settlement between the network and the Department of Justice reached Oct. 5.
 
The specifics of the contraception mandate of the “Affordable Care Act” were not included in the original bill, but were announced in January 2012 by then-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Obama promised EWTN and other religious groups there would be an exception made for them. He lied.  Imagine the money they’ve had to spend just so they didn’t have to provide birth control and abortions for staff.

Seven years!
EWTN Wins Lawsuit Over HHS Contraception Mandate
IRONDALE, Ala., Nov. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a  legal battle that has lasted nearly seven years, EWTN Global Catholic Network has prevailed in its lawsuit against the U.S. government over what has become known as the "HHS Contraception Mandate." In an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit published Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, the court vacated a June 2014 decision against the Network by U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade. The ruling by the appellate court follows an Oct. 5, 2018 settlement agreement between EWTN and the Department of Justice. Under terms of that settlement, the Network will not be required to provide contraception, sterilization and abortifacients in its employee health plan, something EWTN found morally objectionable.

And finally some common sense from Washington.
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor released two updated rules concerning conscience protections for organizations and individuals in relation to the HHS contraception mandate. We once again are protected by the First Amendment from an over reaching federal government.  Until the next law suit.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/breaking-trump-administration-announces-broad-exemptions-for-hhs-mandate-84021

This election--a battle for the soul of America

Father Michael Orsi, now on the pastoral team of St. Agnes Church in Naples, Fl said, “For too long, pastors and churches have been bullied into believing that they can say nothing political from the pulpit,” said Orsi. The regulation that is used to silence them “was a piece of spite work” against non-profits that had opposed President Lyndon Johnson, he said. [This happened when he was in the Senate, not the White House.]

“Let me remind you: the Bible is a political document,” the priest said. “The prophets, including John the Baptist, and Jesus, lost their lives because they spoke the truth to power."

“The Constitution is quickly being destroyed,” warned Orsi, and “unless the right choice is made in November, we may not have a court that is fair and balanced in its interpretation of the Constitution.”

“Too many of the pastors—too many, practically all—in Germany refused to speak against national socialism,” continued Orsi. “And look [at] the result: millions of Jews, pastors, priests, homosexuals, gypsies all lost their lives because everyone was afraid. What are you afraid of, a couple of bucks? Your tax-exempt status? What’s that going to do to you? Your churches may be closed anyway, because if a certain party gets elected, this certain party said, if the churches do not agree with our interpretation of women’s reproductive rights, they’ll just have to change their doctrine.”

“If a certain party gets elected, I can assure you what kind of judges are going to be on those appeals courts,” he said. And those judges will be charged with deciding whether the government may force churches and religious institutions to pay for abortion, contraception, and abortifacient drugs, he noted.

Furthermore, “I’m not going to vote for a candidate who decides that we can redefine the meaning of marriage,” proclaimed Orsi. “Our opponents believe once they destroy the family, once they destroy the churches, they can re-create society in their own image and their own likeness. That, my friends, is not just political. That is diabolical. Get it straight, for crying out loud! The devil is in this!”

“We are in a battle for the soul of America,” he said.

“Somehow, [Christians] have come to buy the story that you cannot be political in church,” said Orsi. “Let me tell you right now, oh yes, you can, and oh, yes, you better be. Because you might not have a church to go to if you don’t vote the right way in November.”

Agreed. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-you-might-not-have-a-church-to-go-to-if-you-dont-vote-the-right-way

The Castro in Obama's Administration

 

This is outrageous. How long before the first amendment is declared hate speech by the Obama government, an administration that has inflamed racial unrest for years? How long before the creation story in Genesis is declared hate speech or the story of Noah and the flood? After all, it could be code for male and female and procreation.  How long before the only place you'll be able to pray is your jail cell and then in silence so you don't upset your guards?

“The phrases ‘religious liberty’ and ‘religious freedom’ will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance,” said  [Martin] Castro, an Obama appointee, in a separate statement that marked the report’s release.("Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles With Civil Liberties" 

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/are-religious-freedom-advocates-christian-supremacists/

We will again see the mixing of the words "freedom to worship" and "religious freedom."  Did you know that the Civil Rights Commission had met in 2013 with "scholars and legal advocates" to determine if Christians could be charged with violating the Commission's  interpretation of religion and not ours?  Now, of course they don't say "Christians" in the report, just other code words. Just as bureaucrats, not law makers, changed the word "sex" to "gender identity" in many laws and regulations, now they want to our cherished protections are hate speech.  I think they want to wear us out with law suits.

I read through the "scholars" reports and recommendations.  They are reinterpreting the Supreme Court decisions, and it will translate to regulations and law suits by the Commission.