Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society
The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society is a socially conservative U.S. think-tank and advocacy group{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/globalizingfamil0000buss|url-access=registration|quote=howard center.|title=Globalizing Family Values: The Christian Right in International Politics|last=Buss|first=Doris|date=2003|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=9780816642083|language=en}} that opposes abortion, divorce, and homosexuality, promoting instead the "child-rich, married parent" family.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21091976/corbett_aide_who_edited_journal_quits/|title=Corbett aide who edited journal quits|last=Columbius|first=Angela|date=18 Jan 2012|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=2018-06-19|page=A4|language=en}}
History
The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society was founded by John A. Howard in 1997.
The Center traces its origins back to 1976 when John A. Howard, President of Rockford College formed the Rockford College Institute. This group later became The Rockford Institute. In 1997 Howard and Allan C. Carlson broke from the Rockford Institute to form the Howard Center.{{Cite web|url=https://library.niu.edu/ulib/content/collections/rhc/collections/RC/RC%20238.pdf|title=Inventory of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society|website=Northern Illinois University Libraries}} It incorporated the previous Center on Religion and Society, and took over publication of both The Religion and Society Report and The Family In America.
It created and coordinates the World Congress of Families,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vFSpG8FNDD4C&dq=%22howard%20center%20for%20family%22&pg=PA42|title=The Global Right Wing and the Clash of World Politics|last=Bob|first=Clifford|date=2012-02-29|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521193818|language=en}} a group known for its involvement with the 2013 Russian LGBT propaganda law and opposing LGBT rights internationally.{{cite web|title=World Congress of Families Suspends Russia Conference|url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2014/03/25/world-congress-of-families-suspends-russia-conference/|website=splcenter.org|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|accessdate=29 August 2014}}{{cite web|title=SPLC Adds Seven New Organizations To Anti-Gay Hate Group List22 |url= http://www.truthwinsout.org/news/2014/02/39681/ |publisher= Truth Wins Out|accessdate= 29 August 2014}}{{cite news |last =Michaelson|first =Jay |title=The Kremlin's Favorite Anti-Gay Hate Group is Coming to Utah |url= http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/19/the-kremlin-s-favorite-anti-gay-hate-group-is-coming-to-utah.html |newspaper= The Daily Beast|date =19 July 2014 |accessdate= 29 August 2014}}{{cite web |title=World Congress of Families Suspends Russia Conference |url= http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2014/03/25/world-congress-of-families-suspends-russia-conference/ |publisher= Southern Poverty Law Center |accessdate= 1 September 2014}}
The current{{when|date=July 2019}} chairman of the board is Bill Andrews of Chicago, with a total of fifteen board members including Dallin H. Oaks who is an honorary board member.{{cn|date=July 2019}}
As of 2018, the president was Brian S. Brown. {{Cite web |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/revealed-trump-linked-us-christian-fundamentalists-pour-millions-of-dark-money-into-europe-boosting-the-far-right/ |title=Revealed: Trump-linked US Christian 'fundamentalists' pour millions of 'dark money' into Europe, boosting the far right |last=Provost |first=Claire |date=27 March 2019 |website=openDemocracy}}
The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society and the International Organization for the Family, whose directors include an ultra-conservative Spanish activist linked to the leader of the far-right Vox party, both support the World Congress of Families (WCF) network.
Controversies
In January 2012, Robert W. Patterson resigned from his job as an aide in Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare after Governor Tom Corbett's administration rejected a request to allow him to continue as editor of the Howard Center's journal, The Family in America. His column had proposed that "birth-control pills suppress women's sexual pleasure" and suggested "condom use deprives women of "remarkable chemicals" in semen that elevate their mood and self-esteem."{{Cite news|url=https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/pennsylvania_department_of_pub_1.html|title=Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare aide quits to keep his outside job as editor of conservative journal|work=PennLive.com|access-date=2018-06-19|language=en-US}}
In November 2013, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) denied a meeting hosted by the Howard Center and the World Congress of Families access to a Senate meeting room. The meeting eventually went on as scheduled after House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) intervened.[https://web.archive.org/web/20131201215831/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/15/gay-rights-group-hits-boehner-for-scheduling-anti-lgbt-speakers-on-the-hill/ Gay rights group hits Boehner for scheduling 'anti-LGBT' speakers on the Hill]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.profam.org/}}
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Category:Think tanks established in 1997
Category:Think tanks based in the United States
Category:Conservative organizations in the United States
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