Religion & Politics
Consider the proper role of religion in public life.
Over the past fifty years, the United States has seen a dramatic revolution in family life. Marriage rates have cratered, fertility rates have fallen to all-time lows, and the question of whether the government should take an interest in strengthening families (and if so, how) has attracted attention from both sides of the political aisle.
This course will introduce fellows to both the philosophical and the empirical aspects of policy-making on issues related to the family. Fellows will read five rival understandings of the family and its role in society—from Plato through contemporary feminism—and then apply their thinking to current family policy debates. We will examine some of the most salient topics in family policy, including childcare, the child tax credit, and pro-natal policies. At the end of the week, fellows will have learned to think more clearly about the ways in which political philosophy does, and does not, bear directly on decisions made in the world of public policy.
Image: Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, Family Portrait, 1804, National Gallery of Art
Patrick Brown on pro-family economics
This course was part of our residential Political Studies Program. Fellows participate in morning seminars and meet prominent men and women in public life over afternoon and evening sessions.
Faculty
Daniel Burns
Daniel Burns is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas. His research in political philosophy focuses on the relation between religion and citizenship. He has recently served as a staffer for the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee and as a full-time contractor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Daniel Burns
Daniel Burns is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas. He has held fellowships at the Catholic University of America and the University of Texas at Austin. He was on academic leave for government service between January and June of 2020, where he advised the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
His research in political philosophy focuses on the relation between religion and citizenship. He is currently working on a book called Against Secularism: Religious Identity and Liberal Democracy. He has also written on Al-Farabi, Thomas More, John Locke, Sayyid Qutb, the Strauss-Kojève debate, Joseph Ratzinger, Samuel Huntington, American foreign policy, and the modern Catholic church. He is a member of the Neuer Schülerkreis Joseph Ratzinger/Benedikt XVI., a Germany-based group of scholars dedicated to advancing Ratzinger’s intellectual legacy.
He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston College.
Patrick T. Brown
Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society. Prior to joining EPPC, Patrick served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC).
Patrick T. Brown
Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society.
His writing has been published in The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Post, and USA Today, and he has spoken on college campuses and Capitol Hill on topics from welfare reform to child care and education policy.
He has published reports on paid leave and family policy with the Institute for Family Studies, and edited an essay series featuring working-class voices for American Compass. He is an advisory board member of Humanity Forward and the Center on Child and Family Policy, and a contributing editor to Public Discourse.
Prior to joining EPPC, Patrick served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC). There, he helped lead research about how to make it more affordable to raise a family and more effectively invest in youth and young adults. He also previously worked a government relations staffer for Catholic Charities USA.
Patrick graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in political science and economics. He also holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He and his wife Jessica have three young children and live in Columbia, S.C.
Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Sacred Bonds & Contractual Bonds
Readings:
- Plato, Excerpts from the Laws and Menexenus
- John Locke, Excerpts from the Second Treatise of Government
Discussion Questions:
- Does Plato’s account of sacred familial bonds still describe how Americans experience family life today?
- Does Locke’s account of the contractual basis of marriage and family life offer a more reasonable basis for family-related public policy than Plato’s account?
- What are the most important areas of agreement between Plato and Locke on the family? What are their most important areas of disagreement? Would their disagreements have any bearing on questions of contemporary public policy?
Traditional Gender Roles, Pro & Con
Readings:
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Excerpts from Emile
- John Stuart Mill, Excerpts from On the Subjection of Women
Discussion Questions:
- Rousseau claims that traditional gender roles are not only useful to society but also beneficial for individual happiness and true gender equality. Are these believable claims?
- Mill advocates only for legal equality of opportunity between the sexes, not for any legal interventions to correct past inequities or prevent future discrimination. Is this consistent on his part? Or do his arguments point toward a more active government role in advancing the social status of women?
- What would contemporary American society look like if we listened more to Rousseau? Or to Mill?
Equality, the Workplace, & Childcare
Readings:
- Susan Moller Okin, Excerpt from Justice, Gender, and the Family
- Hailey Gibbs, “Four Reasons Why the U.S. Economy Needs Comprehensive Child Care,” Center for American Progress, May 24, 2023
- Steven E. Rhoads & Carrie Lukas, “The Uncomfortable Truth about Daycare,” National Affairs (Summer 2016)
- Abby McCloskey, “Conservative Values Support Investing in Child Care as Infrastructure,” Politico, June 17, 2021
- Matt Yglesias, “Democrats Should talk about Child Care Costs in a Broader Way,” Vox, January 20, 2020
Discussion Questions:
- Does the equality of the sexes require Okin’s “genderless society”? If not, then why not? Or if so, then are her policy prescriptions the best way to achieve that society?
- What are the social goals that proponents seek to advance through greater funding of childcare? What are some of the objections to broader funding of childcare? Are these fundamentally irreconcilable?
Pro-Family Tax Policy
Readings:
- “The Child Tax Credit: Policy Basics,” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, December 7, 2022
- Ross Douthat, “Why the U.S. Needs the Romney Family Plan,” New York Times, February 6, 2021
- Roger Rector and Jamie Hall, “Biden ‘Child Allowance’ Is a Bait and Switch,” Heritage Foundation, July 8, 2021
- Scott Winship, “New Evidence on the Benefits and Costs of an Expanded Child Tax Credit,” American Enterprise Institute, October 7, 2021
- “The Family Income Supplemental Credit,” American Compass, February 2021
Discussion Questions:
- What are some of the tradeoffs that come with greater fiscal support to families? Are there any objections to pro-family policies not listed in the articles above?
- Why is there such a heavy emphasis placed on ‘working families’ in this debate? Who might be left out in such a framing?
The Politics of Family & Pro-Natal Policy
Readings:
- David Brooks, “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake,” The Atlantic, February 10, 2020
- Lily Sánchez, “Why We Should Abolish the Family,” Current Affairs, September 5, 2022
- Mary Eberstadt, “Two Nations, Revisited” National Affairs (Summer 2018)
- Charles Lane, “Lower Fertility Rates are the New Cultural Norm,” Washington Post, March 29, 2023
- Michael Novak, “The Family Out of Favor,” Harper’s (April 1976), pp. 37–46
Discussion Questions:
- What are different ways someone on the political left might conceive of the family as an institution in today’s policy debates, and how does that differ from someone on the political right? What are the major fault lines?
- What are the best examples of contemporary policy debates that illustrate how the different anthropologies of the family drive different political positions and stances?
- Are we entering a new era of family policy? Are the debates over the family the same as in the 1970s or have they shifted?
