Leadership for America

Family and religion are foundational to American freedom and the common good. For example, the married family plays an important part in promoting economic opportunity: children raised by never-married mothers are seven times more likely to be poor when compared to children raised in intact married families. Meanwhile, religious institutions and individuals form the backbone of America’s thriving civil society, providing for the welfare of individuals more effectively than government programs. Yet the role of these institutions in maintaining ordered liberty is poorly understood, and policy and social developments have factored in undermining their important contributions.

Liberals propose to expand government intervention in family life and to curtail religious influence in the public square. Our goal is to build support for policy changes that strengthen marriage and the family and advance a robust understanding of religious liberty and the role of religion in society. The Heritage Foundation’s approach on family and religion emphasizes the empirical evidence about these permanent institutions’ contribution to the common good. Our objective is to convey the indispensable role of family and religion in our American order and in our conservative philosophy. We seek to shape a healthy public discourse that appreciates the historic and continuing significance of religion and moral virtue in American civic life. We aim to strengthen and expand the current pro-family constituency and to unite religious and economic conservatives more effectively. The DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society will work closely with other Heritage departments to apply these principles across policy areas from economics, to health care, to international issues.