Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Apr. 13th, 2005 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI think the fundamentalists may have really pooched themselves - they were actually quoting Stalin at their little death-to-the-judiciary rally over the weekend, and not with irony;
Small-town Kansas newspaper editor who has been trying to keep his home town alive gives up after city votes overwhelmingly for the anti-marriage-rights amendment - he's gay;
Focus on the Family article demanding more political activism from fundamentalists;
Another plug for anti-gay "Day of Truth," and also calls to disrupt the planned "Day of Silence" silent protest by queer and queer-supportive students at universities;
Today's Family News in Focus talks about a King's College (remember them? They're having trouble with accreditation)/City Action Coalition to mobilise NYC and NY state fundamentalist groups into heavier political action;
Concerned Women for America rails against the Day of Silence, saying that stopping bullying is "not the real agenda";
Seattle Times guest opinion by Jeff Kemp of Families Northwest, an anti-marriage-rights group;
Washington Times article (first of three parts): "Religion under a secular assault";
WorldNetDaily reports on effort to impeach Massachusetts Supreme Court justices who ruled that gayfolk have marriage rights;
----- 1 -----
RudePundant
4/12/2005
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/04/history-loves-big-ol-chomp-o-ass-man.html
History Loves a Big Ol' Chomp O' Ass:
Man, those judge-hatin' motherfuckers in the Congress and on the right love to pretend that they're takin' the nation back to its alleged "roots." Look at the Constitution, they shout and wave, forgettin' that the judiciary was created to keep an eye on the other two branches of government. Oh, how they wave the Federalist Papers around, especially #78, written by repressed gay Alexander Hamilton, and they quote it endlessly.
The vampire corpse of Phyllis Schlafly quoted it while promoting her book from last year on how she perceived the judiciary as fucked-up: "Our Constitution's Framers designed the judicial branch to be the least powerful of the three branches. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 78 that the judiciary 'will always be the least dangerous' branch of government because it has the least capacity to 'annoy or injure' our constitutional rights." Actually, Hamilton said that it was the "least dangerous" because it can't summon the military or write laws. But knowing that would require reading past the first couple of lines of the document.
The creepy intellectual wannabes of the conservative bathhouse known as the Heritage Foundation also see Hamilton as siding with them: "As Alexander Hamilton correctly noted in Federalist 78, it is the province and duty of judges to say what the law is rather than what they want it to be. Judges faithful to their constitutional role exercise legal 'judgment' to enforce the original understanding of the law." Do we need, really, to define the word "judgment"? Has it gotten that stupid? Well, yeah, since supporters of Ten Commandments fetishist ex-judge Roy Moore and the batshit insane Jesus babblers at the Family Research Council also quote Hamilton out of context.
Here's Hamilton, who couldn't be fucking clearer: "[T]hough individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter; I mean so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the legislature and the Executive. For I agree, that 'there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.' And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments; that as all the effects of such a union must ensue from a dependence of the former on the latter, notwithstanding a nominal and apparent separation; that as, from the natural feebleness of the judiciary, it is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its co-ordinate branches; and that as nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office, this quality may therefore be justly regarded as an indispensable ingredient in its constitution, and, in a great measure, as the citadel of the public justice and the public security." (Emphasis the Rude Pundit's, motherfuckers, emphasis the Rude Pundit's.)
It's all fuckin' there, man. See, the difference is that the legislative and the executive branches are elected, by majorities (allegedly), and thus the majority of the nation has a voice through those branches. The judiciary exists, ideally outside the realm of elections, to give the minority a voice. The logic's simple: the majority will always have a voice through elections. But there's others, up to 49.9% of the population, who'd like to be considered as part of the nation. And, sure, sometimes the judiciary will piss off the other branches, but, fuck 'em, welcome to the Republic, you know? Isn't this basic civics class? Didn't we all learn this back in middle school? Admittedly, the Rude Pundit was taught the Constitution without a Bible present to coordinate the articles with, but, still, and shit, this ain't brain surgery. Hell, it ain't even temperature taking.
[More at URL]
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Welcome to the the City of Atwood, Kansas.
An open letter to the Citizens of Atwood.
http://www.atwoodkansas.com/
I sincerely apologize that I cannot represent Atwood anymore. I am completely disappointed and heartbroken (for lack of a better word) at the actions of my hometown, a community that always says how much it cares for others.
You know when I first created AtwoodKansas.com I did so because of my desire to do everything I could to save my hometown from dying like so many other Midwestern towns.
Even though when I grew up there, I was not treated very well, I still had a love for my hometown that only grew stronger as I grew up. Living in a metro area with 7 million people really makes you understand what the word "home" means.
I hear a lot of stereotypical things said about Kansas when people find out where I am from, and every time I stick up for my "home" because I knew that the people making those remarks didn't really know anything about Kansas. They had no idea that Kansas is not “so flat that when your dog runs away you can see him for 3 days”, they certainly did not know what it is like to experience sweet smell of alfalfa in the summer or what it’s like to run into the middle of a dust before it disappears. The majority think of Kansans as Redneck farmers who are racist, bigoted, un-educated, and "slow". I would tell them otherwise.
However, the Citizens of Atwood certainly lived up to a few of those stereotypes this past week! Way to go!
[more at URL]
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'People of Faith Struck a Nerve'
by Aaron Atwood, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Pastor Rod Parsley, one of the country's leading
charismatic preachers, says it's time for Christians to be
"Silent No More."
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036178.cfm
Pastor Rod Parsley began preaching in the backyard of his
Kentucky home as a young man. That small Bible study has
morphed through the past couple of decades into the 12,000
member World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio -- helping
establish Parsley as one of the better-known charismatic
preachers in the country.
Now, he's taking his message out of the pews and into the
policy arena in the wake of the hotly contested election
year of 2004, launching a new organization called The
Center for Moral Clarity. His latest book, "Silent No
More," is a call to action for all those who want to have
a voice in the shaping of America.
CitizenLink spoke to him recently about the book -- and
why he believes its message is a crucial one from American
Christians to hear.
Q. What sparked your vision for politics?
A. I had somewhat of an epiphany in 2003 when the bill to
ban partial-birth abortion was signed. Our "Breakthrough"
broadcast had several petitions for viewers to act
previous to that day, but I felt the leading of Lord when
I was privileged to be at the signing by President Bush.
"Silent No More" was written about issues that developed
from July 2004 to Election Day. I didn't have an
expectation; everything happened so quickly when we
launched The Center for Moral Clarity.
Q. Your ministry is based in Ohio. What was that like
during the November election, considering that Ohio was
the state that tipped the race in President Bush's favor?
A. Ohio is a hotbed. I believe very much in the geographic
locating abilities of the Holy Spirit. Everything in my
life prepared me for this project, and I feel very
privileged to have traveled throughout Ohio with Ohio
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, setting up crusade
meetings in big churches where more than 50 percent of the
congregation were African Americans. As we traveled I saw
people literally changed when they were informed. They
were no longer intimidated.
Q. What's happening between the left and right today?
A. The right "got it," the left didn't get it. They still
don't get it. They are astounded that when they issue a
decree, everyone doesn't bow down. We have a mind of our
own, and we stand for justice and the culture of life.
Q. What are your thoughts about the Terri Schiavo case?
A. I'm glad Jesse Jackson would show up there. We should
encourage anyone who wants to stand with us. No society
that values life would stand and watch as that tragedy
took place.
Q. Judicial tyranny is a major issue in your book. What is
the issue about?
[...]
Q. What do you say to those that believe the Church shouldn't get involved in politics?
A. When we give our lives to Christ, we don't immediately go to heaven. We have to engage the culture. Separation of church and state is in the Soviet Union's constitution, not ours, and I don't think we want to model ourselves after them
[More at URL]
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Day of Truth Seeks to End the Silence
by Josh Montez, correspondent
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Christian educators say Wednesday should be a day
for Christian students to speak the truth -- not advance
the gay-activist agenda.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0036176.cfm
Gay activists are calling for Wednesday to be a Day of
Silence -- a time when students are being instructed to
say nothing in school as a way of protesting the purported
"harassment" of homosexuals.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
says the event was created because schools are not safe
for homosexuals, and the Day of Silence will help make
bullying unacceptable.
But Finn Laursen, a spokesman for the Christian Educators
Association, said the event is really about promoting
homosexuality.
"To say there is wholesale abuse and discrimination in our
schools, (is something) I find very hard to accept,"
Laursen said. "To try to shut down the learning process in
some form of demonstration, to me, just causes
disruption."
About 3,000 high schools in all 50 states have registered
to participate in the Day of Silence. But Laursen said the
event should not go unchallenged.
"My recommendation to schools where this happens is,
'Well, obviously these are students who are trying to draw
attention to themselves and their cause,' and my
recommendation to these school districts is to ignore
them."
Joe Infranco of the Alliance Defense Fund, meanwhile, is
calling for a more truthful -- and truth-filled --
response. His group is equipping Christian students to
break the silence with a Day of Truth of their own --
scheduled for Thursday.
"Students can wear a T-shirt with the message that truth
cannot be silenced," Infranco said, "but there are also
materials (available for distribution) -- and the gist of
the materials is that there is another side to this
issue."
ADF also plans to give students a card to hand out with a
message of hope.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: You can find out more at the
Alliance Defense Fund Web site.
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
----- 5 -----
Family News in Focus
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Focus on the Family
* Democrats are trying to gut a bill that prevents girls from being taken across state lines for an abortion.
1: "Makes it a crime to transport a girl across state lines to avoid a parental notification bill in one state." Democrats trying to "make it unrecognisable, and ineffective." Political scientist notes that poison pills are not new. House Judiciary Committee is "very polarised" - "the grandma amendment, the uncle amendment, the friendly neighbour amendment." Expected to pass the house regardless - Senate is the question, though there's a lot more "pro-life" senators.
* New York pastors are being asked to get involved in the fight to protect marriage.
2: "The City Action Coalition is leading a summit to equip pastors to get involved to send a message to the not-so-family-friendly legislators in New York State." All mayoral candidates in NYC are "pro-homosexual." "There is a move afoot to create a similar environment that we saw some time ago in Massachusetts." King's College and CAC say, "The bible and its moral teachings are here today." "Christians all over the world... are going to make sure those issues are going to stay at the top of the list." KC/CAC: "Going from an escapist theology of nonengagement to a real policy of ... engagement that I believe is more Biblical..."
* Estate taxes….the so-called "death taxes"…. could be on the verge of dying themselves.
5: House will vote with eliminating estate taxes "on family businesses and farms." "Especially good news for families with farms and businesses." Expiration of the Estate Tax elimination called "the biggest tax hike in history." Demands to eliminate it completely and permanently. NTU says "if you get rid of the administration structure [for any tax] it makes it much more unlikely that it will again rear its ugly head."
* A new paradigm for high schools is being suggested by an Alliance of High School professionals nationwide.
6: Mission: "change the way high schools function now." "National High School Alliance." "The high school now is just a dead end for too many kids." "We're losing a lot of kids, and the kids that are graduating... only a third of those are actually prepared to go on without remediation." Affording to them, for about 1/3rd of students, high school is a failure. Suggestions include individual mentoring with students by teachers.
* The Lutheran church could be the next denomination to ordain gay clergy. A church council has agreed to put the issue to a vote at its annual meeting in August.
3: Lutherans considering permitting gay pastors in monogamous relationships. "I think it's likely you'll see a major schism." A split will "probably not be as public" as Episcipal."
* The election of Rev. Gene Robinson as the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church has spun into a new controversy…this one in Connecticut. The State Bishop, Andrew Smith, has warned six Parish Priests they may be removed as pastors.
4: Rev. Ronald Goss: "I really don't know what's going to happen, I'm going to take one day at a time... it's really uniting parishes, all six of our parishes have come together with such unity."
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Teach Respect? 4/12/2005
By Warren Throckmorton, Ph.D.
Concerned Women for America
Bullying should be stopped. But that's not the real agenda behind the Day of Silence.
Editor’s Note: To learn about the agenda of April 13’s “Day of Silence,” read this excellent column. Then, for more information on how to counter homosexual activism, check out our resources:
When Silence Would Have Been Golden
Reasons to Oppose ‘Sexual Orientation’ (Homosexuality) Codes in the Schools
Eleven Ways You Can Fight the Homosexual Agenda
Commentary
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/7882/CFI/family/index.htm
Well, soon schools will be taking another well-deserved break from academics and plunge headlong into political advocacy. Yes, Virginia, there is a “Day of Silence” (DOS) and it is coming to a school near you.
The DOS is an advocacy day sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN). According to GLSEN’s Web site, the DOS will occur on April 13 and involve 4,000 schools and 450,000 students and teachers. During the school day, those participating will refuse to speak, even during class. Students hand out cards calling attention to what GLSEN calls “the bias and harassment experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and their allies.”
This year, beginning on the same day as the DOS, GLSEN is launching a new campaign called Teach Respect. According to GLSEN’s news release, “The Teach Respect campaign seeks to educate, inform and inspire Americans to address the serious problems of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment that affect ALL students – gay and straight alike – in our nation’s schools.”
I agree with putting an end to name-calling, bullying and harassment. On the DOS, I will be in a public high school speaking against bullying. My favorite moral philosopher taught that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. So I have no problem with ending the harassment of anyone.
However, if GLSEN wants to teach respect, members of the organization should show respect. In a 2000 speech, GLSEN’s Executive Director Kevin Jennings had this to say about those he considers to be his adversaries:
"We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit -- ... I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, '[F---] 'em! which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! Drop dead!" (Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, March 20, 2000)
Maybe Mr. Jennings had a bad day, but to my knowledge he has not apologized for these remarks. (GLSEN refused to respond to my inquiries concerning the speech.) This is not an isolated incident. During the 2004 National Education Association convention, I witnessed similar displays from GLSEN members and their allies. I do not see how this rhetoric teaches respect.
If GLSEN and allies want to end name-calling in schools, then they should first stop name-calling. However, I do not think the DOS and the coming Teach Respect campaign are primarily about harassment. If so, there are a number of more effective means to achieve that end. These events are about persuasion. They are efforts, cloaked in rhetoric concerning safety, to change attitudes and beliefs concerning homosexuality. To wit, GLSEN’s guidebook regarding activism on the DOS reads:
But the Day of Silence Project is about more than being silent for a day. It’s about raising awareness around LGBT issues, making a visible personal commitment to justice and equality, and, potentially, organizing a larger campaign to promote safety and respect in your school and community. The Day of Silence enables participants to show, in a highly visible way, everyone they encounter, that they support LGBT rights.
This is political activism, pure and simple. Agree with gay rights or not, let’s understand this clearly: The purpose of the DOS is to advance homosexual activism in the public schools.
[More at URL]
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Marriage plays crucial role in society
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Seattle Times
By JEFF KEMP [of Families Northwest, an anti-marriage group]
GUEST COLUMNIST
Sometimes help comes from unexpected places. So let's give thanks to advocates of same-sex marriage. For the first time in decades, Americans are re-examining what they think marriage is. We're long overdue to consider what role it plays in our society and what we need to do to strengthen it.
We "traditional marriage" folks already have participated in our share of the personal and cultural decline of marriage. We tolerate easy divorce. We've cheapened sex. We normalized out-of-wedlock births and cohabiting relationships. We have dissolved the tie between childbirth and married parents.
The "same-sex marriage" movement is forcing us to revisit those issues.
Establishing a "right" of same-sex marriage will further reduce the meaning of marriage. Scandinavia's experiment resulted in very few same-sex "marriages" but a big drop in heterosexual marriage and more out-of-wedlock births.
The marriage debate isn't, or at least shouldn't be, about adult validation and acceptance. Changing marriage will affect children and what they will learn about honoring and uniting both sexes, as well as why mothers and fathers both are responsible and uniquely needed as parents.
It's about a possible future of even fewer marriages, and fewer mothers and fathers for kids. That means it also is about huge social costs and money.
[More at URL]
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Religion under a secular assault
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Special Report: First of three parts.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050413-122937-3482r.htm
Oral arguments were to begin before the U.S. Supreme Court on one of the most litigated questions in American law: Should the Ten Commandments be displayed on government property?
Outside, protesters sang hymns and held up signs proclaiming "The 10 Commandments: The way to live your life." A few feet away, a larger group clustered around Ellen Birch, a member of American Atheists, who describes herself as a descendant of Thomas Jefferson.
"A favorite claim of fundamentalists," she told anyone listening, is that America is "indebted to the Bible and Christianity for our laws."
Not so, Miss Birch says.
"State support of a religion leads to corruption within both government and religion," she says, adding that Jefferson himself said, "The wall of separation between church and state was absolutely essential in a free society."
The clash of cultures, between spiritual and secular America, was on full public display.
Secularists such as Miss Birch cite Jefferson's wall in their fight to exclude God from public life, proposing to ban creches at city hall, Christmas carols in public schools, graduation prayers at colleges and grace over meals at military academies -- as well as the more than 4,000 stone and concrete testaments to the Ten Commandments across the country.
They're part of a network of organizations that shares logistics, troops, board members and funding sources and includes radical feminists, humanists, atheists and liberal Jewish and Christian groups. Four organizations furnish most of the leadership.
The oldest and best-known is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose Kentucky chapter is a plaintiff in the two cases before the Supreme Court. The others are Americans United for Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way (PFAW) and the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). The latter two filed friends-of-the-court briefs in support of the lawsuits.
[More at URL]
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LAW OF THE LAND
Justices to be booted in Massachusetts?
Panel hears bill targeting 4 who voted for same-sex marriage
Posted: April 12, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A measure to oust the four justices who voted for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts will be considered today by the state legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the Massachusetts-based group Article 8 Alliance is promoting a "bill of address," a Massachusetts provision allowing lawmakers to remove judges who fail to fulfill their duties.
The measure, filed by Democratic state Rep. Emile Goguen filed in April 2004, contends the justices violated multiple articles in the state constitution prohibiting courts from nullifying existing laws and requiring that laws remain in effect until the legislature repeals them, regardless of the actions and opinions of the judiciary branch
The bill names Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and justices John M. Greaney, Roderick L. Ireland and Judith A. Cowin.
The last time Massachusetts lawmakers removed a Supreme Judicial Court justice was 1803. A failed attempt was made in 1922. But Article 8 director Brian Camenker, who launched the campaign in January 2004, has said lawmakers privately say "this was a completely illegal ruling, it has no basis in law at all, and that this is really what needs to happen."
[More at URL]
Small-town Kansas newspaper editor who has been trying to keep his home town alive gives up after city votes overwhelmingly for the anti-marriage-rights amendment - he's gay;
Focus on the Family article demanding more political activism from fundamentalists;
Another plug for anti-gay "Day of Truth," and also calls to disrupt the planned "Day of Silence" silent protest by queer and queer-supportive students at universities;
Today's Family News in Focus talks about a King's College (remember them? They're having trouble with accreditation)/City Action Coalition to mobilise NYC and NY state fundamentalist groups into heavier political action;
Concerned Women for America rails against the Day of Silence, saying that stopping bullying is "not the real agenda";
Seattle Times guest opinion by Jeff Kemp of Families Northwest, an anti-marriage-rights group;
Washington Times article (first of three parts): "Religion under a secular assault";
WorldNetDaily reports on effort to impeach Massachusetts Supreme Court justices who ruled that gayfolk have marriage rights;
----- 1 -----
RudePundant
4/12/2005
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/04/history-loves-big-ol-chomp-o-ass-man.html
History Loves a Big Ol' Chomp O' Ass:
Man, those judge-hatin' motherfuckers in the Congress and on the right love to pretend that they're takin' the nation back to its alleged "roots." Look at the Constitution, they shout and wave, forgettin' that the judiciary was created to keep an eye on the other two branches of government. Oh, how they wave the Federalist Papers around, especially #78, written by repressed gay Alexander Hamilton, and they quote it endlessly.
The vampire corpse of Phyllis Schlafly quoted it while promoting her book from last year on how she perceived the judiciary as fucked-up: "Our Constitution's Framers designed the judicial branch to be the least powerful of the three branches. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 78 that the judiciary 'will always be the least dangerous' branch of government because it has the least capacity to 'annoy or injure' our constitutional rights." Actually, Hamilton said that it was the "least dangerous" because it can't summon the military or write laws. But knowing that would require reading past the first couple of lines of the document.
The creepy intellectual wannabes of the conservative bathhouse known as the Heritage Foundation also see Hamilton as siding with them: "As Alexander Hamilton correctly noted in Federalist 78, it is the province and duty of judges to say what the law is rather than what they want it to be. Judges faithful to their constitutional role exercise legal 'judgment' to enforce the original understanding of the law." Do we need, really, to define the word "judgment"? Has it gotten that stupid? Well, yeah, since supporters of Ten Commandments fetishist ex-judge Roy Moore and the batshit insane Jesus babblers at the Family Research Council also quote Hamilton out of context.
Here's Hamilton, who couldn't be fucking clearer: "[T]hough individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter; I mean so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the legislature and the Executive. For I agree, that 'there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.' And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments; that as all the effects of such a union must ensue from a dependence of the former on the latter, notwithstanding a nominal and apparent separation; that as, from the natural feebleness of the judiciary, it is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its co-ordinate branches; and that as nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office, this quality may therefore be justly regarded as an indispensable ingredient in its constitution, and, in a great measure, as the citadel of the public justice and the public security." (Emphasis the Rude Pundit's, motherfuckers, emphasis the Rude Pundit's.)
It's all fuckin' there, man. See, the difference is that the legislative and the executive branches are elected, by majorities (allegedly), and thus the majority of the nation has a voice through those branches. The judiciary exists, ideally outside the realm of elections, to give the minority a voice. The logic's simple: the majority will always have a voice through elections. But there's others, up to 49.9% of the population, who'd like to be considered as part of the nation. And, sure, sometimes the judiciary will piss off the other branches, but, fuck 'em, welcome to the Republic, you know? Isn't this basic civics class? Didn't we all learn this back in middle school? Admittedly, the Rude Pundit was taught the Constitution without a Bible present to coordinate the articles with, but, still, and shit, this ain't brain surgery. Hell, it ain't even temperature taking.
[More at URL]
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Welcome to the the City of Atwood, Kansas.
An open letter to the Citizens of Atwood.
http://www.atwoodkansas.com/
I sincerely apologize that I cannot represent Atwood anymore. I am completely disappointed and heartbroken (for lack of a better word) at the actions of my hometown, a community that always says how much it cares for others.
You know when I first created AtwoodKansas.com I did so because of my desire to do everything I could to save my hometown from dying like so many other Midwestern towns.
Even though when I grew up there, I was not treated very well, I still had a love for my hometown that only grew stronger as I grew up. Living in a metro area with 7 million people really makes you understand what the word "home" means.
I hear a lot of stereotypical things said about Kansas when people find out where I am from, and every time I stick up for my "home" because I knew that the people making those remarks didn't really know anything about Kansas. They had no idea that Kansas is not “so flat that when your dog runs away you can see him for 3 days”, they certainly did not know what it is like to experience sweet smell of alfalfa in the summer or what it’s like to run into the middle of a dust before it disappears. The majority think of Kansans as Redneck farmers who are racist, bigoted, un-educated, and "slow". I would tell them otherwise.
However, the Citizens of Atwood certainly lived up to a few of those stereotypes this past week! Way to go!
[more at URL]
----- 3 -----
'People of Faith Struck a Nerve'
by Aaron Atwood, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Pastor Rod Parsley, one of the country's leading
charismatic preachers, says it's time for Christians to be
"Silent No More."
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036178.cfm
Pastor Rod Parsley began preaching in the backyard of his
Kentucky home as a young man. That small Bible study has
morphed through the past couple of decades into the 12,000
member World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio -- helping
establish Parsley as one of the better-known charismatic
preachers in the country.
Now, he's taking his message out of the pews and into the
policy arena in the wake of the hotly contested election
year of 2004, launching a new organization called The
Center for Moral Clarity. His latest book, "Silent No
More," is a call to action for all those who want to have
a voice in the shaping of America.
CitizenLink spoke to him recently about the book -- and
why he believes its message is a crucial one from American
Christians to hear.
Q. What sparked your vision for politics?
A. I had somewhat of an epiphany in 2003 when the bill to
ban partial-birth abortion was signed. Our "Breakthrough"
broadcast had several petitions for viewers to act
previous to that day, but I felt the leading of Lord when
I was privileged to be at the signing by President Bush.
"Silent No More" was written about issues that developed
from July 2004 to Election Day. I didn't have an
expectation; everything happened so quickly when we
launched The Center for Moral Clarity.
Q. Your ministry is based in Ohio. What was that like
during the November election, considering that Ohio was
the state that tipped the race in President Bush's favor?
A. Ohio is a hotbed. I believe very much in the geographic
locating abilities of the Holy Spirit. Everything in my
life prepared me for this project, and I feel very
privileged to have traveled throughout Ohio with Ohio
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, setting up crusade
meetings in big churches where more than 50 percent of the
congregation were African Americans. As we traveled I saw
people literally changed when they were informed. They
were no longer intimidated.
Q. What's happening between the left and right today?
A. The right "got it," the left didn't get it. They still
don't get it. They are astounded that when they issue a
decree, everyone doesn't bow down. We have a mind of our
own, and we stand for justice and the culture of life.
Q. What are your thoughts about the Terri Schiavo case?
A. I'm glad Jesse Jackson would show up there. We should
encourage anyone who wants to stand with us. No society
that values life would stand and watch as that tragedy
took place.
Q. Judicial tyranny is a major issue in your book. What is
the issue about?
[...]
Q. What do you say to those that believe the Church shouldn't get involved in politics?
A. When we give our lives to Christ, we don't immediately go to heaven. We have to engage the culture. Separation of church and state is in the Soviet Union's constitution, not ours, and I don't think we want to model ourselves after them
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Day of Truth Seeks to End the Silence
by Josh Montez, correspondent
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Christian educators say Wednesday should be a day
for Christian students to speak the truth -- not advance
the gay-activist agenda.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0036176.cfm
Gay activists are calling for Wednesday to be a Day of
Silence -- a time when students are being instructed to
say nothing in school as a way of protesting the purported
"harassment" of homosexuals.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
says the event was created because schools are not safe
for homosexuals, and the Day of Silence will help make
bullying unacceptable.
But Finn Laursen, a spokesman for the Christian Educators
Association, said the event is really about promoting
homosexuality.
"To say there is wholesale abuse and discrimination in our
schools, (is something) I find very hard to accept,"
Laursen said. "To try to shut down the learning process in
some form of demonstration, to me, just causes
disruption."
About 3,000 high schools in all 50 states have registered
to participate in the Day of Silence. But Laursen said the
event should not go unchallenged.
"My recommendation to schools where this happens is,
'Well, obviously these are students who are trying to draw
attention to themselves and their cause,' and my
recommendation to these school districts is to ignore
them."
Joe Infranco of the Alliance Defense Fund, meanwhile, is
calling for a more truthful -- and truth-filled --
response. His group is equipping Christian students to
break the silence with a Day of Truth of their own --
scheduled for Thursday.
"Students can wear a T-shirt with the message that truth
cannot be silenced," Infranco said, "but there are also
materials (available for distribution) -- and the gist of
the materials is that there is another side to this
issue."
ADF also plans to give students a card to hand out with a
message of hope.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: You can find out more at the
Alliance Defense Fund Web site.
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
----- 5 -----
Family News in Focus
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Focus on the Family
* Democrats are trying to gut a bill that prevents girls from being taken across state lines for an abortion.
1: "Makes it a crime to transport a girl across state lines to avoid a parental notification bill in one state." Democrats trying to "make it unrecognisable, and ineffective." Political scientist notes that poison pills are not new. House Judiciary Committee is "very polarised" - "the grandma amendment, the uncle amendment, the friendly neighbour amendment." Expected to pass the house regardless - Senate is the question, though there's a lot more "pro-life" senators.
* New York pastors are being asked to get involved in the fight to protect marriage.
2: "The City Action Coalition is leading a summit to equip pastors to get involved to send a message to the not-so-family-friendly legislators in New York State." All mayoral candidates in NYC are "pro-homosexual." "There is a move afoot to create a similar environment that we saw some time ago in Massachusetts." King's College and CAC say, "The bible and its moral teachings are here today." "Christians all over the world... are going to make sure those issues are going to stay at the top of the list." KC/CAC: "Going from an escapist theology of nonengagement to a real policy of ... engagement that I believe is more Biblical..."
* Estate taxes….the so-called "death taxes"…. could be on the verge of dying themselves.
5: House will vote with eliminating estate taxes "on family businesses and farms." "Especially good news for families with farms and businesses." Expiration of the Estate Tax elimination called "the biggest tax hike in history." Demands to eliminate it completely and permanently. NTU says "if you get rid of the administration structure [for any tax] it makes it much more unlikely that it will again rear its ugly head."
* A new paradigm for high schools is being suggested by an Alliance of High School professionals nationwide.
6: Mission: "change the way high schools function now." "National High School Alliance." "The high school now is just a dead end for too many kids." "We're losing a lot of kids, and the kids that are graduating... only a third of those are actually prepared to go on without remediation." Affording to them, for about 1/3rd of students, high school is a failure. Suggestions include individual mentoring with students by teachers.
* The Lutheran church could be the next denomination to ordain gay clergy. A church council has agreed to put the issue to a vote at its annual meeting in August.
3: Lutherans considering permitting gay pastors in monogamous relationships. "I think it's likely you'll see a major schism." A split will "probably not be as public" as Episcipal."
* The election of Rev. Gene Robinson as the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church has spun into a new controversy…this one in Connecticut. The State Bishop, Andrew Smith, has warned six Parish Priests they may be removed as pastors.
4: Rev. Ronald Goss: "I really don't know what's going to happen, I'm going to take one day at a time... it's really uniting parishes, all six of our parishes have come together with such unity."
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Teach Respect? 4/12/2005
By Warren Throckmorton, Ph.D.
Concerned Women for America
Bullying should be stopped. But that's not the real agenda behind the Day of Silence.
Editor’s Note: To learn about the agenda of April 13’s “Day of Silence,” read this excellent column. Then, for more information on how to counter homosexual activism, check out our resources:
When Silence Would Have Been Golden
Reasons to Oppose ‘Sexual Orientation’ (Homosexuality) Codes in the Schools
Eleven Ways You Can Fight the Homosexual Agenda
Commentary
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/7882/CFI/family/index.htm
Well, soon schools will be taking another well-deserved break from academics and plunge headlong into political advocacy. Yes, Virginia, there is a “Day of Silence” (DOS) and it is coming to a school near you.
The DOS is an advocacy day sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN). According to GLSEN’s Web site, the DOS will occur on April 13 and involve 4,000 schools and 450,000 students and teachers. During the school day, those participating will refuse to speak, even during class. Students hand out cards calling attention to what GLSEN calls “the bias and harassment experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and their allies.”
This year, beginning on the same day as the DOS, GLSEN is launching a new campaign called Teach Respect. According to GLSEN’s news release, “The Teach Respect campaign seeks to educate, inform and inspire Americans to address the serious problems of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment that affect ALL students – gay and straight alike – in our nation’s schools.”
I agree with putting an end to name-calling, bullying and harassment. On the DOS, I will be in a public high school speaking against bullying. My favorite moral philosopher taught that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. So I have no problem with ending the harassment of anyone.
However, if GLSEN wants to teach respect, members of the organization should show respect. In a 2000 speech, GLSEN’s Executive Director Kevin Jennings had this to say about those he considers to be his adversaries:
"We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit -- ... I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, '[F---] 'em! which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! Drop dead!" (Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, March 20, 2000)
Maybe Mr. Jennings had a bad day, but to my knowledge he has not apologized for these remarks. (GLSEN refused to respond to my inquiries concerning the speech.) This is not an isolated incident. During the 2004 National Education Association convention, I witnessed similar displays from GLSEN members and their allies. I do not see how this rhetoric teaches respect.
If GLSEN and allies want to end name-calling in schools, then they should first stop name-calling. However, I do not think the DOS and the coming Teach Respect campaign are primarily about harassment. If so, there are a number of more effective means to achieve that end. These events are about persuasion. They are efforts, cloaked in rhetoric concerning safety, to change attitudes and beliefs concerning homosexuality. To wit, GLSEN’s guidebook regarding activism on the DOS reads:
But the Day of Silence Project is about more than being silent for a day. It’s about raising awareness around LGBT issues, making a visible personal commitment to justice and equality, and, potentially, organizing a larger campaign to promote safety and respect in your school and community. The Day of Silence enables participants to show, in a highly visible way, everyone they encounter, that they support LGBT rights.
This is political activism, pure and simple. Agree with gay rights or not, let’s understand this clearly: The purpose of the DOS is to advance homosexual activism in the public schools.
[More at URL]
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Marriage plays crucial role in society
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Seattle Times
By JEFF KEMP [of Families Northwest, an anti-marriage group]
GUEST COLUMNIST
Sometimes help comes from unexpected places. So let's give thanks to advocates of same-sex marriage. For the first time in decades, Americans are re-examining what they think marriage is. We're long overdue to consider what role it plays in our society and what we need to do to strengthen it.
We "traditional marriage" folks already have participated in our share of the personal and cultural decline of marriage. We tolerate easy divorce. We've cheapened sex. We normalized out-of-wedlock births and cohabiting relationships. We have dissolved the tie between childbirth and married parents.
The "same-sex marriage" movement is forcing us to revisit those issues.
Establishing a "right" of same-sex marriage will further reduce the meaning of marriage. Scandinavia's experiment resulted in very few same-sex "marriages" but a big drop in heterosexual marriage and more out-of-wedlock births.
The marriage debate isn't, or at least shouldn't be, about adult validation and acceptance. Changing marriage will affect children and what they will learn about honoring and uniting both sexes, as well as why mothers and fathers both are responsible and uniquely needed as parents.
It's about a possible future of even fewer marriages, and fewer mothers and fathers for kids. That means it also is about huge social costs and money.
[More at URL]
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Religion under a secular assault
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Special Report: First of three parts.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050413-122937-3482r.htm
Oral arguments were to begin before the U.S. Supreme Court on one of the most litigated questions in American law: Should the Ten Commandments be displayed on government property?
Outside, protesters sang hymns and held up signs proclaiming "The 10 Commandments: The way to live your life." A few feet away, a larger group clustered around Ellen Birch, a member of American Atheists, who describes herself as a descendant of Thomas Jefferson.
"A favorite claim of fundamentalists," she told anyone listening, is that America is "indebted to the Bible and Christianity for our laws."
Not so, Miss Birch says.
"State support of a religion leads to corruption within both government and religion," she says, adding that Jefferson himself said, "The wall of separation between church and state was absolutely essential in a free society."
The clash of cultures, between spiritual and secular America, was on full public display.
Secularists such as Miss Birch cite Jefferson's wall in their fight to exclude God from public life, proposing to ban creches at city hall, Christmas carols in public schools, graduation prayers at colleges and grace over meals at military academies -- as well as the more than 4,000 stone and concrete testaments to the Ten Commandments across the country.
They're part of a network of organizations that shares logistics, troops, board members and funding sources and includes radical feminists, humanists, atheists and liberal Jewish and Christian groups. Four organizations furnish most of the leadership.
The oldest and best-known is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose Kentucky chapter is a plaintiff in the two cases before the Supreme Court. The others are Americans United for Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way (PFAW) and the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). The latter two filed friends-of-the-court briefs in support of the lawsuits.
[More at URL]
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LAW OF THE LAND
Justices to be booted in Massachusetts?
Panel hears bill targeting 4 who voted for same-sex marriage
Posted: April 12, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A measure to oust the four justices who voted for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts will be considered today by the state legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the Massachusetts-based group Article 8 Alliance is promoting a "bill of address," a Massachusetts provision allowing lawmakers to remove judges who fail to fulfill their duties.
The measure, filed by Democratic state Rep. Emile Goguen filed in April 2004, contends the justices violated multiple articles in the state constitution prohibiting courts from nullifying existing laws and requiring that laws remain in effect until the legislature repeals them, regardless of the actions and opinions of the judiciary branch
The bill names Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and justices John M. Greaney, Roderick L. Ireland and Judith A. Cowin.
The last time Massachusetts lawmakers removed a Supreme Judicial Court justice was 1803. A failed attempt was made in 1922. But Article 8 director Brian Camenker, who launched the campaign in January 2004, has said lawmakers privately say "this was a completely illegal ruling, it has no basis in law at all, and that this is really what needs to happen."
[More at URL]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 04:43 pm (UTC)The full text of the letter is still in Google's cache, though, here.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-13 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 04:32 am (UTC)---begin quote---
* The Lutheran church could be the next denomination to ordain gay clergy. A church council has agreed to put the issue to a vote at its annual meeting in August.
3: Lutherans considering permitting gay pastors in monogamous relationships. "I think it's likely you'll see a major schism." A split will "probably not be as public" as Episcipal."
---end quote---
To be precise, not the entire Lutheran church, but the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest denomination of Lutherans in the USA, and the demonination that I am a member of. I was part of our congregation's study group that went through the preliminary report of the Task Force on ELCA Studies of Human Sexuality to prepare our congregational response. The recommendations of the Task Force based on congregational responses were published in January. The recommendation of the Church Council came out this week.
The Task Force's report is that too many Lutherans are strongly anti-gay and too many Lutherans are strongly pro-gay to be able to make a firm choice either yea or nay without creating a split in the church. So they recommend pretending to make no changes but remove various restrictions, so that each congregation can make its own choice about calling (hiring) a pastor in a homosexual relationship. (Our prior rulings say that a celibate homosexual is the same as a celibate heterosexual for religious purposes, so it is already possible to ordain and call a homosexual pastor so long as he or she is not in a sexually-active relationship while employed as a pastor.)
I am not fluent in the stilted English used in the recommendations of the ELCA Church Council (I am fluent in government bureaucratese, but this is a different flavor of bureaucratese), but it appears to be saying that the ELCA should reaffirm our position that homosexuality is a sin, but to allow the regional bishop to approve ordaining and calling homosexual pastors in active relationships on a case by case basis.
All real decisions will be made by representatives of every congregation at the Churchwide Assembly in August. All reports and recommendations are available at http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/
Erin Schram