Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Jan. 20th, 2006 01:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdFocus on the Family sends its support letters to Alito;
FotF: government needs to regulate broadcast "indecency" much more strongly, also needs to crack down on the Internet;
FotF report: Democrats to have "strategic" No votes on Alito, and use his confirmation as an issue in the 2006 election;
Preliminary announcement of anti-abortion-rights march;
FotF: "Last ditch" effort to "tar" Alito's record;
FotF trumpets a study "affirming" that abortion is bad for women, interviews a researcher from New Zealand;
FotF: 70% of Americans would vote for a female presidential candidate;
Stephen Bennett and CWA's Janice Shaw Crouse rail against Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Transamerica, as "homosexualising" America;
Agape Press newsbriefs include Microsoft, HP boycott; also how most Christians don't "understand God's way... to [handle] their financial resources";
Agape Press: Concerned Women for America, Exodus International condemn Golden Globe awards;
CWA's Robert Knight, other American fundamentalist evangelical conservatives hoping for Tory win in Canadian elections, support Harper;
CWA California chapter opposes bill on anti-bullying programmes, includes ACTION ITEM;
CWA's Robert Knight: gay actors shouldn't play Christians, even if the movie ends up being very good and uplifting - it's contaminated by queerdom;
Traditional Values Coalition also claims to deliver 1700-odd letters to Alito in support; has the "A+ for Alito" theme on the binder that's being carried by Concerned Women for America, and the number is the same as Focus on the Family's and the binder meets the description they used - are they all redelivering the same letters?
TVC rails against Federal intervention against doctors working within Oregon's "right-to-die" law being struck down by Supreme Court, says the vote was 6-3, would have been 5-4 with Alito onboard, and that means their work isn't done; also rails against Lawrence v. Texas, saying it will "be used to legalize incest, prostitution, polygamy, and make it nearly impossible for states or local communities to enforce standards of morality";
Touchstone Magazine: homosexuality is a "linguistic as well as moral error," says it and feminism are "against traditional morality";
TVC links to albertmohler.com commentary: men can't be friends anymore because of those damned fags making other people think you might be t3h queer, condemns libertarianism;
Martin: Harper would set back rights, break pledge not to reopen abortion debate;
Three Queen’s University law professors say polygamy should be legal in Canada on religious grounds; Focus on the Family Canada shrieks, said, "we told you so!" and blames queers with marriage rights; Morman religious polygamy is what actually prompted the paper;
Focus on the Family Canada: 10% of PM email, phone calls last year against marriage rights for gayfolk;
Faith and Freedom Network using poll reports they just released to attack GBLT-rights bill in Senate;
Faith and Freedom Network releases analysis of poll they ordered, claim continually falling support for GBLT marriage rights in Washington State (compared across different polls); includes link to poll questions and response sets; analysis says only two groups support GBLT marriage, Seattlites and government employees; a look at the actual numbers show that isn't true, there's a very interesting third group: 18-35 year olds, statewide, by a 12-point support margin and with an absolute majority (51% yes, 39% no, 10% don't care).
----- 1 -----
LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ALITO HEADED TO WASHINGTON
More than 1,750 notes go to the Supreme Court nominee.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 19, 2006
by Stuart Shepard, managing editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0039253.cfm
Today, we shipped out three large binders stuffed with
more than 1,750 truly encouraging e-mails for U.S. Supreme
Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.
It is an honor and a humbling privilege to serve the
readers of CitizenLink. Your notes were gracious,
heartening and inspiring. Here are a few examples:
-- I just wanted to tell you how proud I was of the way you maintained your dignity despite the Senate Democrat's incredible rudeness and dishonesty during your confirmation hearing.
-- You and your family are in my family's prayers each day and I have been forwarding the reports from CitizenLink to my extended friends and family who, in turn, have prayed for you.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Congress Hears How to Curbing Indecency and Pornography
SUMMARY: Not surprisingly, industry experts say it's all up to parents.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 19, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039260.cfm
The Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony today on how
to protect children from indecency on TV and pornography
on the Internet, although some pro-family experts question
whether the industry's suggestions are truly helpful for
parents.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska,
first heard testimony from members of the television
industry and media advocacy groups about solutions to
indecency on TV.
Jack Valenti, former chairman and CEO of the Motion
Picture Association of America, told the committee that
it's really up to parents to control what their children
see on television.
He suggested that the Ad Council be given the task of
educating parents about controls already available, such
as V-Chip technology.
[...]
Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council
(PTC), said placing the entire responsibility on parents
does nothing to solve the real problems faced by families.
"The V-Chip is a dodge," he said, pointing to a PTC report
last year that found the rating system to be
"inconsistent, inaccurate, arbitrary and capricious."
Bozell questioned the motives of the other panelists.
"Virtually every person testifying before you today
represents a vested special interest and will say and
spend whatever it takes to protect their special
interest," he said. "We speak on behalf of another special
interest altogether: the vast majority of Americans sick
and tired of the sewage being poured out of the airwaves,
or on cable programs they are being forced to underwrite."
[...]
He made it perfectly clear through his examples why the
industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself.
[...]
< Protecting Children on the Internet >
In the afternoon, a hearing focused on how to best protect
children from pornography on the Internet.
Dr. James Weaver III, professor of communication and
psychology at Virginia Tech, called the ease with which
children can access pornography a "public health crisis"
and advocated that Congress treat it as such.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Democrats Urge Strategic 'No' Votes on Alito
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 19, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
U.S. Senate Democratic leaders urged members Tuesday to
vote against President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Judge
Samuel Alito, in an effort to lay the groundwork for
making a campaign issue of his decisions on the court, The
New York Times reported.
The vote count "matters a lot, and I think the debate
leading up to it matters," said Sen. Richard Durbin,
D-Ill., a member of the Judiciary Committee and the
Democratic whip.
At a closed meeting of the Democratic caucus, Sens. Harry
Reid, D-Nev., the Democratic leader, and Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee,
made the case against Alito.
But people who were at the meeting also said that of the
45 senators who normally attend, only about two dozen were
present.
----- 4 -----
Pro-Lifers to March for Those with No Voice
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 19, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
The 33rd annual March for Life Rally is scheduled for
Monday to begin at noon on the Mall in Washington, D.C.,
and end on Capitol Hill.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) offered its support and
prayers for the march, a pro-life gathering that seeks to
preserve and uphold the sanctity of all human life.
Wendy Wright, executive vice president of CWA called it a
chance to speak for those who are never heard in the
debate.
"We as Americans pride ourselves on protecting those who
have no voice, yet we end precious lives everyday in the
name of choice," she said. "The cries of the unborn have
not gone unheard and those who participate in the March
for Life will not go unseen. We will march for those
babies who will never get a chance to."
----- 5 -----
LAST-DITCH ALITO ATTACK ADS EXPECTED
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 17, 2006
Delay gives Democrats more time to tar the Supreme Court nominee's record.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039240.cfm
Experts say the delay of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote
on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito until
Tuesday will most likely mean a weeklong flurry of attack
ads from the left.
Committee Democrats seized on a procedural rule which lets
any member push the vote back by a week -- that despite a
promise from the ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., that the rule would not be used except in an
extraordinary circumstance.
Cathy Cleaver Ruse of the Family Research Council said
Alito's nomination surely doesn't meet that description.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Research Affirms that Abortion Harms Women
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 17, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039241.cfm
SUMMARY: A New Zealand researcher set out to prove that
abortion does not cause adverse mental-health problems,
but he found the opposite.
Professor David Fergusson, a researcher at Christchurch
School of Medicine and Health Sciences in New Zealand,
wanted to prove that abortion doesn't have any
psychological consequences. What he found surprised him:
Women who had abortions are one-and-a-half times more
likely to suffer mental illness.
"When we did the research, I was very much convinced that
abortion didn't have any harmful effects," Fergusson told
Family News in Focus. "So, from a personal point of view,
I would have rather seen the results come out the other
way -- but they didn't. And as a scientist you have to
report the facts, not what you'd like to report."
[...]
"To provide a parallel to this situation, if we were to
find evidence of an adverse reaction to medication, we
would be obliged ethically to publish that fact," he said.
"The fact is that abortions are the most common medical
procedures that young women face. It verges on scandalous
that a surgical procedure that is performed on over one in
10 women has been so poorly researched and evaluated,
given the debate about the psychological consequences of
abortion."
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Americans Would Vote for a Female Presidential Candidate
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 17, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
According to a Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans would
vote to elect a woman president, USA Today reported.
First Lady Laura Bush praised the election of Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf to the presidency of the African nation of
Liberia during a trip to the inauguration ceremony last
week. Sirleaf is the first female president on the
continent of Africa. As for the United States, Bush said
she would like to see a woman president here, too.
"I think it will happen for sure," she said, "probably in
the next few terms of the presidency of the United
States."
----- 8 -----
Hollywood ‘Homosexualizing’ America
By Terry Vanderheyden
LifeSite
January 18, 2006
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06011807.html
HOLLYWOOD, January 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This time, “Hollywood has gone way too far,” according to Stephen Bennett, Host of Straight Talk Radio, who is critical of Hollywood’s decision to award four Golden Globe awards to the homosexual cowboy movie, “Brokeback Mountain.”
“Hollywood has sunk to an all-time moral low,” Bennett emphasized. “I guess 2006 will be known as ‘The Year of the Homosexual’ in Hollywood. With ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ ‘TransAmerica’ and ‘Capote’ winning several major ‘gender-bender’ Golden Globes - Hollywood is no doubt ‘out’ on a mission to ‘homosexualize America.”
Felicity Huffman, a star in the television series Desperate Housewives, won best actress for her role as a male who undergoes a sex change operation in the movie Transamerica. Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for his portrayal of homosexual Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in the movie Capote.
[...]
“When Hollywood is pumping out anti-family movies with sexually explicit, twisted and perverse themes that glorify homosexuality, transsexuality and every other kind of sexual immorality – then awards itself for doing so – middle America better take note.
[...]
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America commented on the awards: “Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit.”
[...]
Crouse concluded, “If America isn't watching these films, why are they winning the awards?”
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
January 18, 2006
Compiled by Jenni Parker
Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/182006h.asp
[...]
..Lawmakers have held a hearing on whether "sexual orientation" and "gender expression or identity" should be added to the state of Washington's anti-discrimination law. One opponent objected that those are "behavior-based classifications" that don't warrant civil rights protection. Another simply read from the Bible until the committee chairwoman cut her off. Supporters say homosexuals should be covered by the state law that already bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status and other factors. Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who pastors a Seattle-area church, says he will call for a boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies supporting the homosexual rights bill. [AP]
[...]
..The leader of a financial stewardship ministry says most Christians have a desire to be good money managers but do not always have the training they need to understand God's way when it comes to handling their financial resources. Howard Dayton, co-founder and CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, says the problem is that most churches only offer people financial advice when it comes to tithing and nothing more. In that case, he says, people tend to fall back to the default practice of managing the remainder of their finances pretty much the same way the world does. "Many churches have typically focused on teaching God's people only how to handle ten percent of their income, the area of giving," he explains. "It's a crucial area," he admits, "but frankly, they haven't addressed the other 90 percent." Dayton says some of Crown's studies of more than 1,000 congregations that have received financial training show many of these churches' families paying off more than $20,000 in debt within three years of their instruction. He strongly urges Christian churches that have not done so already to develop a financial training program for their members. [Ed Thomas]
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Groups Say Golden Globes Presented Hollywood's Hyped Version of Homosexuality
By Jenni Parker
Agape Press
January 18, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/182006f.asp
(AgapePress) - A prominent pro-family organization and a leading "ex-gay" ministry are highlighting the highly hyped and politicized atmosphere of Monday night's Golden Globes award ceremony, at which the pro-homosexual film Brokeback Mountain was a clear victor.
Winning four Golden Globe Awards, the film about homosexual sheepherders who hide their affair for decades held the spotlight for much of the evening, while other homosexual- and transgender-themed films also received accolades.
The Golden Globes honored Brokeback Mountain with the best drama, best director, best song and best screenplay awards. Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives co-star Felicity Huffman won best actress honors for her role as a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual in the gender-bending road trip movie Transamerica. And Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for his portrayal of homosexual writer Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, in the film Capote.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
U.S. conservatives hoping Harper's Tories win
Toronto Star
Jan. 19, 2006. 12:20 AM
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON (CP) — It's all about the chance for a new start.
At the White House, there's cautious optimism about Conservative gains in Canada's election campaign.
Republicans view Stephen Harper's rising fortunes as a relief and a balm after so much bickering between the two countries under Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Social conservatives are thrilled.
Canada's election has provoked more notice than usual south of the border, where there's a keen expectation of change among some.
Major newspapers like the Washington Post and USA Today, as well Fox News, have followed the race. The New York Times recently noted that Harper ends every stump speech with "God bless Canada."
[...]
For Robert Knight, who's with the evangelical group Concerned Women for America, the most interesting thing about the election campaign has been the Liberal party's reaction to the possibility of a Conservative win.
"They're getting positively hysterical. They remind me of some Democratic senators. They're using scare tactics and character assassination and the facts don't seem to interest them."
Knight is well aware that Harper says he wouldn't invoke Canada's notwithstanding clause to overturn same-sex marriages or push to overturn abortion rights. But there's no question he'd be a welcome respite from 13 years of Liberal rule.
"The Conservative party at least in some ways embodies the values that conservatives in the United States hold, like smaller government and an emphasis on traditional values," said Knight.
"There is a feeling that under a Harper government, the speeding train heading for a social wreck would at least be slowed, if not reversed."
Right-wing commentator Patrick Basham said the pleasure of a Harper win among American conservatives will be emotional.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Targeted Bills 2006
Concerned Women for America, California Chapter
1/18/2006
Long URL elided
This will be a busy legislative session in Sacramento and one that will require prayer and action, with a number of bills that did not complete the committee process already scheduled for hearings beginning January 10. You can track these bills and share your support or opposition with committees and legislators throughout the process. Just check the “Targeted Bills 2006” list on our Web site. The list will be regularly updated with new bills, talking points and sample letters to allow you to make your voice heard quickly and easily.
AB 606, the first bill on the list, would give unfettered discretion to the state Superintendent of Schools to withhold funding from any school district that did not develop policies to prevent harrassment of homosexuals. While no reasonable person would want to see acts of violence on school campuses for any reason, this should not result in mandated pro-homosexual curricula. There are methods of dealing with instances of violence or discrimination without infringing on the religious beliefs of students and parents. Instead of one person having the authority to decide on whether a school has properly dealt with alleged violations of state law, our courts should be the arbiter of such acts. Existing provisions for exemption of the pro-homosexual curriculum would be repealed under AB 606. Please contact your member of the Assembly to oppose this bill.
----- 13 -----
‘End of the Spear’ Lead Actor Promotes Homosexual Agenda
Concerned Women for America
1/19/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/9935/CWA/misc/index.htm
The movie ‘End of the Spear’, the story of the missionaries speared to death in Ecuador in the 1950’s, hits theaters this weekend. While there is much to commend this movie on the story of Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Flemming, Roger Youderian and Nate Saint, Christians should be on their guard when viewing interviews with the lead actor Chad Allen. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, says that Mr. Allen, who plays pilot Nate Saint, is a well known homosexual activist and he is using the notoriety from this film to promote those causes. Click here ( http://www.cwfa.org/play.asp?id=cw20060119a ) to listen.
[Robert Knight: "This is a very powerful story, it's about the five missionaries who went to Ecuador and were killed by pears of the native people in Ecuador in the 1950s, and how the wives of the murdered men and others actually surrounded the villagers with love, and forgave them, and brought many of the villagers to Christ... it stars Chad Allen, and hence there's the controversy, because Chad Allen is not just any actor; he's the cover boy for The Advocate magazine, a gay-themed magazine; he's a homosexual activist himself, who has produced homosexual movies, he's contributed to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund... he's outspoken in support of gay marriage, and homosexuals adopting children, and he's been given a platform now amoung Christians to spread the gospel that homosexuality isn't something that the lord really disapproves of... he says he's a Christian, and that the lord wouldn't do anything so unfair as to deny him his 'true nature,' which is to commit homosexual acts with other men." "He's been involved with... all-night drug-soaked sex orgies..." "You got to wonder why the producers of End of the Spear chose an actor like this; it's not as if his homosexuality is incidental... he makes it his identity. He declares it, he advocates in the public square for accepting homosexuality and even changing laws... he starred in Corpus Christi, a very offensive play about a character names Joshua who's a stand in for Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles, all of whom are homosexuals... this play has been so controversial that some campuses have banned it as sacrilegious and blasphemous."
"Here's a little sample of Chad Allen's theology; he was talking about Corpus Christi, he said, 'I view it as a deeply Christian play. What it does, is, it asks us all, 'Can we see ourselves as Christ? Are we all capable of that same kind of relationship with God?' Well, of course, none of us is capable of that kind of relationship with God, because Jesus Christ was the only begotten son of God, he is God incarnate, none of us can ever even approach that status. We can be children of God... but that's not the same as being Jesus Christ.'" More complaints about theology, "misinterpretations" of the Bible, etc.
"It's a real shame... even Ted Bayer, our friend who publishes Movieguide... gave it a +1 rating, and four stars for quality... so we're not talking about the quality of the film itself, we are concerned about it being used as a way to allow Chad Allen entry into Christian circles and to equate his gospel of accepting homosexuality with the gospel of Jesus Christ." Urges people not to have "their children in the room" when Chad Allen is interviewed, and not to google Chad Allen, because of "homosexual websites, and those lead to pornographic websites." Ends with saying "open homosexual actors" shouldn't play Christians in Christian-themed movies.]
----- 14 -----
TVC Delivers 1700 Pro-Alito Letters To White House
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2577
January 19, 2006 – On January 18, TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty and TVC Communications Director Amy Skeen delivered two binders filled with more than 1700 letters of encouragement to the White House for Judge Samuel Alito and his family.
[More at URL, including photo of one of the binders]
----- 15 -----
Supreme Court Sides With Oregon Suicide Law In 6-3 Vote
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2575
January 19, 2006 – In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon’s “right-to-die” law. The three dissenting votes were Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Clarence Thomas. (If Judge Alito had been seated on the Court, it is likely that this would have been a 5-4 decision, which means that the Court is still slanted to the left. Our work is not over even with Judge Alito confirmed later this month.)
[...]
The editor of Slate magazine theorizes that Anthony Kennedy will now become the swing vote on the Supreme Court, replacing O’Connor. Kennedy has turned out to be a leftist who wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, overturning all state sodomy laws. Justice Scalia predicted that Lawrence would eventually be used to legalize incest, prostitution, polygamy, and make it nearly impossible for states or local communities to enforce standards of morality.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
The Gay Invention
Homosexuality Is a Linguistic as Well as a Moral Error
by R. V. Young
Touchstone Magazine
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=18-10-036-f
For thousands of years, until the late 1800s, our ancestors were completely oblivious to the existence of a fundamentally distinct class of human beings. Indeed, during the long period of Greco-Roman antiquity and more than a millennium and a half of Christian civilization, man did not even have a name for this class.
Or so asserts an almost universal assumption fixed in the language almost everyone uses: that “heterosexuals” and “homosexuals” are two permanently and innately different kinds of human being, and that “sexual orientation” constitutes a difference comparable to the difference between male and female. Widespread acceptance of “homosexuality” and associated terms thus biases discussion of the subject before an argument is even formulated.
[...]
The “gay” liberation movement, like feminism, is a branch of the wider sexual revolution that depends upon the postulate that traditional morality is false and untenable because it assumes a stable human nature with corresponding norms of conduct—moral absolutes, in other words. Modern relativism has always maintained to the contrary that our “sexuality” is like every other human capacity and attitude, “constructed” by our social milieu; in Marxist terms it is an ideological “superstructure” arising from the inexorable evolution of the material “base.”
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Sexual Confusion and the End of Friendship
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_print.php?cdate=2005-12-14
Nominations for the 63rd annual Golden Globe Awards were announced Tuesday, and the movie identified as a "cowboy romance" has taken the lead with seven nominations. Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys linked in a homosexual romance, has been nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Score and Best Song. Already, critics are predicting that Brokeback Mountain is the leading candidate to be chosen as Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony.
[...]
Anthony Esolen, Professor of English at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, warns that this breakdown of the natural sexual order has led to the death of friendship--particularly to the death of male friendships.
In "A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution," published in the September 2005 issue of Touchstone magazine, Esolen begins by reminding readers of a scene from J. R. R. Tolkien's great work, The Lord of the Rings. Sam Gamgee, having followed his master Frodo into Mordor, the realm of death, finds him in a small filthy cell lying half-conscious. "Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!" Sam cries. "It's Sam, I've come!" Frodo embraces his friend and Sam eventually cradles Frodo's head. As Esolen suggests, a reader or viewer of this scene is likely to jump to a rather perverse conclusion: "What, are they gay?"
Esolen suggests that this question is an "ignorant but inevitable response" to the context. He goes on to recall that Shakespeare and many other great authors spoke of non-sexual love between men in strongest terms. Similarly, when David is told of the death of his friend Jonathan, he cries: "Your love to me was finer than the love of women."
As Esolen understands, the corruption of language has contributed to this confusion. When words like love, friend, male, female, and partner are transformed in a new sexual context, what was once understood to be pure and undefiled is now subject to sniggering and disrespect.
Esolen insists that this linguistic shift was no accident. He accuses "pansexualists" of corrupting the language in order to normalize sexual confusion and anarchy. They have used language "as a tool for establishing their own order and imposing it on everyone else," he argues.
As Esolen explains, "The pansexualists--they who believe in the libertarian dogma that what two consenting adults do with their privates in private is nobody's business--understand that the language had to be changed to assist the realization of their dream, and also that the realization of their dream would change the world, because it would change the language for everyone else."
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Harper would set back rights, Martin warns
Last Updated Thu, 19 Jan 2006 22:01:21 EST
CBC News
Long URL elided
Liberal Leader Paul Martin accused Stephen Harper of having the most extreme right-wing agenda in the history of Canada and warned that a Tory government could set back the rights of Canadians, particularly women.
He said the Conservative leader wants to limit the power of the courts and reopen debates over same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
"You add it all up and you see why Mr. Harper regards the courts with such suspicion because they stand between him and the most socially conservative agenda that has ever been this close to forming a government," Martin said.
Martin was responding to Harper's remarks from Tuesday that a Tory majority wouldn't wield power unfettered because of the Liberal-dominated Senate, and a civil service and judiciary that have been put in place by the Liberals.
He accused Harper of planning to stack the courts with socially conservative judges if he wins. He said this is of particular concern to women, given that there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Study proposes legalizing polygamy
Focus on the Family Canada
January 18, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/011806.html
Parliament should decriminalize polygamy because the courts would likely strike down the law banning it as unconstitutional, according to a government-funded study by three Queen’s University law professors.
“Virtually everyone in a polygamous marriage is there for religious reasons,” co-author Beverley Baines told the Kingston Whig-Standard. “I came to the conclusion that we define freedom of religions very broadly. I think the courts would say the prohibition infringes on the Charter right to freedom of religion.”
A constitutional law expert, Baines claimed that decriminalization would allow governments to extend rights of custody, access, support and divorce to women and children when a polygamous marriage ends. She also suggested that Canada cannot avoid allowing polygamy because it is “enormously multicultural now.”
As well, chief author Martha Bailey told Canadian Press, “We don’t criminalize adultery. In light of the fact that we have a fairly permissive society . . . why are we singling out that particular form of behaviour [polygamy] for criminalization?”
Polygamy has been a crime since 1890 when Section 293 of the Criminal Code was enacted as a deterrent to polygamous Mormons migrating to Canada. For more than 60 years, it has been practiced in Bountiful, a fundamentalist Mormon community in southeastern B.C. The community is currently the focus of an RCMP investigation into allegations of child abuse and sexual exploitation.
[...]
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, however, said the government has no plans to act on the study.
[...]
Focus on the Family Canada, which has been working hard to promote traditional marriage in Canada, is not surprised that the institution is under further assault.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
Marriage definition tops PM's mail
Focus on the Family Canada
January 18, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/011806_02.html
Opposition to allowing same-sex couples to legally marry was by far the most frequently addressed subject in communications directed to Prime Minister Paul Martin last year, Canadian Press reported.
Over all, 10 per cent of all the letters, e-mails and telephone calls received by Martin’s office concerned homosexual marriage. That does not include form letters and e-mail templates.
Last January, when the government had indicated it planned to introduce a bill legalizing homosexual marriage, an analysis by the Prime Minister’s Office revealed that of the 880 phone calls received that month, the “overwhelming majority of callers was opposed to a redefinition of traditional marriage.” And in February, after the legislation had been introduced, 5,755 personally written items were received.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Monday, January 16, 2006
Seattle PI Says We Further Complicated Matters
Faith and Freedom Network
Long URL elided
As you may have heard by now, Dr. Joe Fuiten, Bob Higley, our lobbyist and I held a press briefing in Olympia last Wednesday. Here was a strong turn-out from the statewide news organizations.
Much has been written and reported in the few days that have followed.
The Elway Poll and Joe’s Analysis was distributed to all the press state-wide and the elected officials.
The Poll and Analysis is available on our website. Click here.
The Seattle PI is reporting that House Speaker Frank Chopp has put civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians on a fast track. The Senate is advancing the vote this week – probably tomorrow.
The PI wrote, “Adding to potential complications, a Christian conservative group [that would be us] released results Wednesday from a poll that showed statewide support for gay marriage dropping to 35 percent.”
Speaker Chopp said, “I don’t have faith in their poll.” He said Democrats do a lot of polling as well and that what the voters really want is for the legislature to spend it’s time on education, healthcare and jobs.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Analysis by Dr. Joseph B. Fuiten
Chairman, Faith & Freedom
In regard to Poll Conducted for Faith & Freedom by Elway Research
January 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/analysis.htm
Is There Support for Redefining Marriage in Washington State?
Washington State was among more than 40 states in the last decade to pass laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Following a court decision in Massachusetts requiring the Legislature to allow same-sex marriage, the year 2004 saw thirteen states pass constitutional amendments reasserting the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. In 2005 Texas became the 19th state to change their constitution. The Washington State Supreme Court took up the matter in March 2005 and will render its decision in 2006.
Over the last two years a number of polls have attempted to gauge movement in public opinion on the topic of same-sex marriage here in Washington State. In a poll conducted by The Elway Poll in behalf of the Faith and Freedom Network, public opinion about same-sex marriage was assessed. This report is a summary of the findings of the poll conducted December 27-30, 2005 and published in January 2006.
[Ed. Note: link to poll PDF is here: http://www.faithandfreedom.us/pdf/AnalysisandPoll011106.pdf ]
FotF: government needs to regulate broadcast "indecency" much more strongly, also needs to crack down on the Internet;
FotF report: Democrats to have "strategic" No votes on Alito, and use his confirmation as an issue in the 2006 election;
Preliminary announcement of anti-abortion-rights march;
FotF: "Last ditch" effort to "tar" Alito's record;
FotF trumpets a study "affirming" that abortion is bad for women, interviews a researcher from New Zealand;
FotF: 70% of Americans would vote for a female presidential candidate;
Stephen Bennett and CWA's Janice Shaw Crouse rail against Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Transamerica, as "homosexualising" America;
Agape Press newsbriefs include Microsoft, HP boycott; also how most Christians don't "understand God's way... to [handle] their financial resources";
Agape Press: Concerned Women for America, Exodus International condemn Golden Globe awards;
CWA's Robert Knight, other American fundamentalist evangelical conservatives hoping for Tory win in Canadian elections, support Harper;
CWA California chapter opposes bill on anti-bullying programmes, includes ACTION ITEM;
CWA's Robert Knight: gay actors shouldn't play Christians, even if the movie ends up being very good and uplifting - it's contaminated by queerdom;
Traditional Values Coalition also claims to deliver 1700-odd letters to Alito in support; has the "A+ for Alito" theme on the binder that's being carried by Concerned Women for America, and the number is the same as Focus on the Family's and the binder meets the description they used - are they all redelivering the same letters?
TVC rails against Federal intervention against doctors working within Oregon's "right-to-die" law being struck down by Supreme Court, says the vote was 6-3, would have been 5-4 with Alito onboard, and that means their work isn't done; also rails against Lawrence v. Texas, saying it will "be used to legalize incest, prostitution, polygamy, and make it nearly impossible for states or local communities to enforce standards of morality";
Touchstone Magazine: homosexuality is a "linguistic as well as moral error," says it and feminism are "against traditional morality";
TVC links to albertmohler.com commentary: men can't be friends anymore because of those damned fags making other people think you might be t3h queer, condemns libertarianism;
Martin: Harper would set back rights, break pledge not to reopen abortion debate;
Three Queen’s University law professors say polygamy should be legal in Canada on religious grounds; Focus on the Family Canada shrieks, said, "we told you so!" and blames queers with marriage rights; Morman religious polygamy is what actually prompted the paper;
Focus on the Family Canada: 10% of PM email, phone calls last year against marriage rights for gayfolk;
Faith and Freedom Network using poll reports they just released to attack GBLT-rights bill in Senate;
Faith and Freedom Network releases analysis of poll they ordered, claim continually falling support for GBLT marriage rights in Washington State (compared across different polls); includes link to poll questions and response sets; analysis says only two groups support GBLT marriage, Seattlites and government employees; a look at the actual numbers show that isn't true, there's a very interesting third group: 18-35 year olds, statewide, by a 12-point support margin and with an absolute majority (51% yes, 39% no, 10% don't care).
----- 1 -----
LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ALITO HEADED TO WASHINGTON
More than 1,750 notes go to the Supreme Court nominee.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 19, 2006
by Stuart Shepard, managing editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0039253.cfm
Today, we shipped out three large binders stuffed with
more than 1,750 truly encouraging e-mails for U.S. Supreme
Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.
It is an honor and a humbling privilege to serve the
readers of CitizenLink. Your notes were gracious,
heartening and inspiring. Here are a few examples:
-- I just wanted to tell you how proud I was of the way you maintained your dignity despite the Senate Democrat's incredible rudeness and dishonesty during your confirmation hearing.
-- You and your family are in my family's prayers each day and I have been forwarding the reports from CitizenLink to my extended friends and family who, in turn, have prayed for you.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Congress Hears How to Curbing Indecency and Pornography
SUMMARY: Not surprisingly, industry experts say it's all up to parents.
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 19, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039260.cfm
The Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony today on how
to protect children from indecency on TV and pornography
on the Internet, although some pro-family experts question
whether the industry's suggestions are truly helpful for
parents.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska,
first heard testimony from members of the television
industry and media advocacy groups about solutions to
indecency on TV.
Jack Valenti, former chairman and CEO of the Motion
Picture Association of America, told the committee that
it's really up to parents to control what their children
see on television.
He suggested that the Ad Council be given the task of
educating parents about controls already available, such
as V-Chip technology.
[...]
Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council
(PTC), said placing the entire responsibility on parents
does nothing to solve the real problems faced by families.
"The V-Chip is a dodge," he said, pointing to a PTC report
last year that found the rating system to be
"inconsistent, inaccurate, arbitrary and capricious."
Bozell questioned the motives of the other panelists.
"Virtually every person testifying before you today
represents a vested special interest and will say and
spend whatever it takes to protect their special
interest," he said. "We speak on behalf of another special
interest altogether: the vast majority of Americans sick
and tired of the sewage being poured out of the airwaves,
or on cable programs they are being forced to underwrite."
[...]
He made it perfectly clear through his examples why the
industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself.
[...]
< Protecting Children on the Internet >
In the afternoon, a hearing focused on how to best protect
children from pornography on the Internet.
Dr. James Weaver III, professor of communication and
psychology at Virginia Tech, called the ease with which
children can access pornography a "public health crisis"
and advocated that Congress treat it as such.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Democrats Urge Strategic 'No' Votes on Alito
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 19, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
U.S. Senate Democratic leaders urged members Tuesday to
vote against President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Judge
Samuel Alito, in an effort to lay the groundwork for
making a campaign issue of his decisions on the court, The
New York Times reported.
The vote count "matters a lot, and I think the debate
leading up to it matters," said Sen. Richard Durbin,
D-Ill., a member of the Judiciary Committee and the
Democratic whip.
At a closed meeting of the Democratic caucus, Sens. Harry
Reid, D-Nev., the Democratic leader, and Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee,
made the case against Alito.
But people who were at the meeting also said that of the
45 senators who normally attend, only about two dozen were
present.
----- 4 -----
Pro-Lifers to March for Those with No Voice
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 19, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
The 33rd annual March for Life Rally is scheduled for
Monday to begin at noon on the Mall in Washington, D.C.,
and end on Capitol Hill.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) offered its support and
prayers for the march, a pro-life gathering that seeks to
preserve and uphold the sanctity of all human life.
Wendy Wright, executive vice president of CWA called it a
chance to speak for those who are never heard in the
debate.
"We as Americans pride ourselves on protecting those who
have no voice, yet we end precious lives everyday in the
name of choice," she said. "The cries of the unborn have
not gone unheard and those who participate in the March
for Life will not go unseen. We will march for those
babies who will never get a chance to."
----- 5 -----
LAST-DITCH ALITO ATTACK ADS EXPECTED
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 17, 2006
Delay gives Democrats more time to tar the Supreme Court nominee's record.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039240.cfm
Experts say the delay of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote
on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito until
Tuesday will most likely mean a weeklong flurry of attack
ads from the left.
Committee Democrats seized on a procedural rule which lets
any member push the vote back by a week -- that despite a
promise from the ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., that the rule would not be used except in an
extraordinary circumstance.
Cathy Cleaver Ruse of the Family Research Council said
Alito's nomination surely doesn't meet that description.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Research Affirms that Abortion Harms Women
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
January 17, 2006
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039241.cfm
SUMMARY: A New Zealand researcher set out to prove that
abortion does not cause adverse mental-health problems,
but he found the opposite.
Professor David Fergusson, a researcher at Christchurch
School of Medicine and Health Sciences in New Zealand,
wanted to prove that abortion doesn't have any
psychological consequences. What he found surprised him:
Women who had abortions are one-and-a-half times more
likely to suffer mental illness.
"When we did the research, I was very much convinced that
abortion didn't have any harmful effects," Fergusson told
Family News in Focus. "So, from a personal point of view,
I would have rather seen the results come out the other
way -- but they didn't. And as a scientist you have to
report the facts, not what you'd like to report."
[...]
"To provide a parallel to this situation, if we were to
find evidence of an adverse reaction to medication, we
would be obliged ethically to publish that fact," he said.
"The fact is that abortions are the most common medical
procedures that young women face. It verges on scandalous
that a surgical procedure that is performed on over one in
10 women has been so poorly researched and evaluated,
given the debate about the psychological consequences of
abortion."
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Americans Would Vote for a Female Presidential Candidate
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
January 17, 2006
[Received in email; no URL]
According to a Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans would
vote to elect a woman president, USA Today reported.
First Lady Laura Bush praised the election of Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf to the presidency of the African nation of
Liberia during a trip to the inauguration ceremony last
week. Sirleaf is the first female president on the
continent of Africa. As for the United States, Bush said
she would like to see a woman president here, too.
"I think it will happen for sure," she said, "probably in
the next few terms of the presidency of the United
States."
----- 8 -----
Hollywood ‘Homosexualizing’ America
By Terry Vanderheyden
LifeSite
January 18, 2006
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06011807.html
HOLLYWOOD, January 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This time, “Hollywood has gone way too far,” according to Stephen Bennett, Host of Straight Talk Radio, who is critical of Hollywood’s decision to award four Golden Globe awards to the homosexual cowboy movie, “Brokeback Mountain.”
“Hollywood has sunk to an all-time moral low,” Bennett emphasized. “I guess 2006 will be known as ‘The Year of the Homosexual’ in Hollywood. With ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ ‘TransAmerica’ and ‘Capote’ winning several major ‘gender-bender’ Golden Globes - Hollywood is no doubt ‘out’ on a mission to ‘homosexualize America.”
Felicity Huffman, a star in the television series Desperate Housewives, won best actress for her role as a male who undergoes a sex change operation in the movie Transamerica. Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for his portrayal of homosexual Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in the movie Capote.
[...]
“When Hollywood is pumping out anti-family movies with sexually explicit, twisted and perverse themes that glorify homosexuality, transsexuality and every other kind of sexual immorality – then awards itself for doing so – middle America better take note.
[...]
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America commented on the awards: “Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit.”
[...]
Crouse concluded, “If America isn't watching these films, why are they winning the awards?”
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
January 18, 2006
Compiled by Jenni Parker
Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/182006h.asp
[...]
..Lawmakers have held a hearing on whether "sexual orientation" and "gender expression or identity" should be added to the state of Washington's anti-discrimination law. One opponent objected that those are "behavior-based classifications" that don't warrant civil rights protection. Another simply read from the Bible until the committee chairwoman cut her off. Supporters say homosexuals should be covered by the state law that already bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status and other factors. Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who pastors a Seattle-area church, says he will call for a boycott of Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies supporting the homosexual rights bill. [AP]
[...]
..The leader of a financial stewardship ministry says most Christians have a desire to be good money managers but do not always have the training they need to understand God's way when it comes to handling their financial resources. Howard Dayton, co-founder and CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, says the problem is that most churches only offer people financial advice when it comes to tithing and nothing more. In that case, he says, people tend to fall back to the default practice of managing the remainder of their finances pretty much the same way the world does. "Many churches have typically focused on teaching God's people only how to handle ten percent of their income, the area of giving," he explains. "It's a crucial area," he admits, "but frankly, they haven't addressed the other 90 percent." Dayton says some of Crown's studies of more than 1,000 congregations that have received financial training show many of these churches' families paying off more than $20,000 in debt within three years of their instruction. He strongly urges Christian churches that have not done so already to develop a financial training program for their members. [Ed Thomas]
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Groups Say Golden Globes Presented Hollywood's Hyped Version of Homosexuality
By Jenni Parker
Agape Press
January 18, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/182006f.asp
(AgapePress) - A prominent pro-family organization and a leading "ex-gay" ministry are highlighting the highly hyped and politicized atmosphere of Monday night's Golden Globes award ceremony, at which the pro-homosexual film Brokeback Mountain was a clear victor.
Winning four Golden Globe Awards, the film about homosexual sheepherders who hide their affair for decades held the spotlight for much of the evening, while other homosexual- and transgender-themed films also received accolades.
The Golden Globes honored Brokeback Mountain with the best drama, best director, best song and best screenplay awards. Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives co-star Felicity Huffman won best actress honors for her role as a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual in the gender-bending road trip movie Transamerica. And Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for his portrayal of homosexual writer Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, in the film Capote.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
U.S. conservatives hoping Harper's Tories win
Toronto Star
Jan. 19, 2006. 12:20 AM
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON (CP) — It's all about the chance for a new start.
At the White House, there's cautious optimism about Conservative gains in Canada's election campaign.
Republicans view Stephen Harper's rising fortunes as a relief and a balm after so much bickering between the two countries under Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Social conservatives are thrilled.
Canada's election has provoked more notice than usual south of the border, where there's a keen expectation of change among some.
Major newspapers like the Washington Post and USA Today, as well Fox News, have followed the race. The New York Times recently noted that Harper ends every stump speech with "God bless Canada."
[...]
For Robert Knight, who's with the evangelical group Concerned Women for America, the most interesting thing about the election campaign has been the Liberal party's reaction to the possibility of a Conservative win.
"They're getting positively hysterical. They remind me of some Democratic senators. They're using scare tactics and character assassination and the facts don't seem to interest them."
Knight is well aware that Harper says he wouldn't invoke Canada's notwithstanding clause to overturn same-sex marriages or push to overturn abortion rights. But there's no question he'd be a welcome respite from 13 years of Liberal rule.
"The Conservative party at least in some ways embodies the values that conservatives in the United States hold, like smaller government and an emphasis on traditional values," said Knight.
"There is a feeling that under a Harper government, the speeding train heading for a social wreck would at least be slowed, if not reversed."
Right-wing commentator Patrick Basham said the pleasure of a Harper win among American conservatives will be emotional.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Targeted Bills 2006
Concerned Women for America, California Chapter
1/18/2006
Long URL elided
This will be a busy legislative session in Sacramento and one that will require prayer and action, with a number of bills that did not complete the committee process already scheduled for hearings beginning January 10. You can track these bills and share your support or opposition with committees and legislators throughout the process. Just check the “Targeted Bills 2006” list on our Web site. The list will be regularly updated with new bills, talking points and sample letters to allow you to make your voice heard quickly and easily.
AB 606, the first bill on the list, would give unfettered discretion to the state Superintendent of Schools to withhold funding from any school district that did not develop policies to prevent harrassment of homosexuals. While no reasonable person would want to see acts of violence on school campuses for any reason, this should not result in mandated pro-homosexual curricula. There are methods of dealing with instances of violence or discrimination without infringing on the religious beliefs of students and parents. Instead of one person having the authority to decide on whether a school has properly dealt with alleged violations of state law, our courts should be the arbiter of such acts. Existing provisions for exemption of the pro-homosexual curriculum would be repealed under AB 606. Please contact your member of the Assembly to oppose this bill.
----- 13 -----
‘End of the Spear’ Lead Actor Promotes Homosexual Agenda
Concerned Women for America
1/19/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/9935/CWA/misc/index.htm
The movie ‘End of the Spear’, the story of the missionaries speared to death in Ecuador in the 1950’s, hits theaters this weekend. While there is much to commend this movie on the story of Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Flemming, Roger Youderian and Nate Saint, Christians should be on their guard when viewing interviews with the lead actor Chad Allen. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, says that Mr. Allen, who plays pilot Nate Saint, is a well known homosexual activist and he is using the notoriety from this film to promote those causes. Click here ( http://www.cwfa.org/play.asp?id=cw20060119a ) to listen.
[Robert Knight: "This is a very powerful story, it's about the five missionaries who went to Ecuador and were killed by pears of the native people in Ecuador in the 1950s, and how the wives of the murdered men and others actually surrounded the villagers with love, and forgave them, and brought many of the villagers to Christ... it stars Chad Allen, and hence there's the controversy, because Chad Allen is not just any actor; he's the cover boy for The Advocate magazine, a gay-themed magazine; he's a homosexual activist himself, who has produced homosexual movies, he's contributed to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund... he's outspoken in support of gay marriage, and homosexuals adopting children, and he's been given a platform now amoung Christians to spread the gospel that homosexuality isn't something that the lord really disapproves of... he says he's a Christian, and that the lord wouldn't do anything so unfair as to deny him his 'true nature,' which is to commit homosexual acts with other men." "He's been involved with... all-night drug-soaked sex orgies..." "You got to wonder why the producers of End of the Spear chose an actor like this; it's not as if his homosexuality is incidental... he makes it his identity. He declares it, he advocates in the public square for accepting homosexuality and even changing laws... he starred in Corpus Christi, a very offensive play about a character names Joshua who's a stand in for Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles, all of whom are homosexuals... this play has been so controversial that some campuses have banned it as sacrilegious and blasphemous."
"Here's a little sample of Chad Allen's theology; he was talking about Corpus Christi, he said, 'I view it as a deeply Christian play. What it does, is, it asks us all, 'Can we see ourselves as Christ? Are we all capable of that same kind of relationship with God?' Well, of course, none of us is capable of that kind of relationship with God, because Jesus Christ was the only begotten son of God, he is God incarnate, none of us can ever even approach that status. We can be children of God... but that's not the same as being Jesus Christ.'" More complaints about theology, "misinterpretations" of the Bible, etc.
"It's a real shame... even Ted Bayer, our friend who publishes Movieguide... gave it a +1 rating, and four stars for quality... so we're not talking about the quality of the film itself, we are concerned about it being used as a way to allow Chad Allen entry into Christian circles and to equate his gospel of accepting homosexuality with the gospel of Jesus Christ." Urges people not to have "their children in the room" when Chad Allen is interviewed, and not to google Chad Allen, because of "homosexual websites, and those lead to pornographic websites." Ends with saying "open homosexual actors" shouldn't play Christians in Christian-themed movies.]
----- 14 -----
TVC Delivers 1700 Pro-Alito Letters To White House
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2577
January 19, 2006 – On January 18, TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty and TVC Communications Director Amy Skeen delivered two binders filled with more than 1700 letters of encouragement to the White House for Judge Samuel Alito and his family.
[More at URL, including photo of one of the binders]
----- 15 -----
Supreme Court Sides With Oregon Suicide Law In 6-3 Vote
Traditional Values Coalition
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2575
January 19, 2006 – In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon’s “right-to-die” law. The three dissenting votes were Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Clarence Thomas. (If Judge Alito had been seated on the Court, it is likely that this would have been a 5-4 decision, which means that the Court is still slanted to the left. Our work is not over even with Judge Alito confirmed later this month.)
[...]
The editor of Slate magazine theorizes that Anthony Kennedy will now become the swing vote on the Supreme Court, replacing O’Connor. Kennedy has turned out to be a leftist who wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, overturning all state sodomy laws. Justice Scalia predicted that Lawrence would eventually be used to legalize incest, prostitution, polygamy, and make it nearly impossible for states or local communities to enforce standards of morality.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
The Gay Invention
Homosexuality Is a Linguistic as Well as a Moral Error
by R. V. Young
Touchstone Magazine
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=18-10-036-f
For thousands of years, until the late 1800s, our ancestors were completely oblivious to the existence of a fundamentally distinct class of human beings. Indeed, during the long period of Greco-Roman antiquity and more than a millennium and a half of Christian civilization, man did not even have a name for this class.
Or so asserts an almost universal assumption fixed in the language almost everyone uses: that “heterosexuals” and “homosexuals” are two permanently and innately different kinds of human being, and that “sexual orientation” constitutes a difference comparable to the difference between male and female. Widespread acceptance of “homosexuality” and associated terms thus biases discussion of the subject before an argument is even formulated.
[...]
The “gay” liberation movement, like feminism, is a branch of the wider sexual revolution that depends upon the postulate that traditional morality is false and untenable because it assumes a stable human nature with corresponding norms of conduct—moral absolutes, in other words. Modern relativism has always maintained to the contrary that our “sexuality” is like every other human capacity and attitude, “constructed” by our social milieu; in Marxist terms it is an ideological “superstructure” arising from the inexorable evolution of the material “base.”
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Sexual Confusion and the End of Friendship
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_print.php?cdate=2005-12-14
Nominations for the 63rd annual Golden Globe Awards were announced Tuesday, and the movie identified as a "cowboy romance" has taken the lead with seven nominations. Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys linked in a homosexual romance, has been nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Score and Best Song. Already, critics are predicting that Brokeback Mountain is the leading candidate to be chosen as Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony.
[...]
Anthony Esolen, Professor of English at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, warns that this breakdown of the natural sexual order has led to the death of friendship--particularly to the death of male friendships.
In "A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution," published in the September 2005 issue of Touchstone magazine, Esolen begins by reminding readers of a scene from J. R. R. Tolkien's great work, The Lord of the Rings. Sam Gamgee, having followed his master Frodo into Mordor, the realm of death, finds him in a small filthy cell lying half-conscious. "Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!" Sam cries. "It's Sam, I've come!" Frodo embraces his friend and Sam eventually cradles Frodo's head. As Esolen suggests, a reader or viewer of this scene is likely to jump to a rather perverse conclusion: "What, are they gay?"
Esolen suggests that this question is an "ignorant but inevitable response" to the context. He goes on to recall that Shakespeare and many other great authors spoke of non-sexual love between men in strongest terms. Similarly, when David is told of the death of his friend Jonathan, he cries: "Your love to me was finer than the love of women."
As Esolen understands, the corruption of language has contributed to this confusion. When words like love, friend, male, female, and partner are transformed in a new sexual context, what was once understood to be pure and undefiled is now subject to sniggering and disrespect.
Esolen insists that this linguistic shift was no accident. He accuses "pansexualists" of corrupting the language in order to normalize sexual confusion and anarchy. They have used language "as a tool for establishing their own order and imposing it on everyone else," he argues.
As Esolen explains, "The pansexualists--they who believe in the libertarian dogma that what two consenting adults do with their privates in private is nobody's business--understand that the language had to be changed to assist the realization of their dream, and also that the realization of their dream would change the world, because it would change the language for everyone else."
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Harper would set back rights, Martin warns
Last Updated Thu, 19 Jan 2006 22:01:21 EST
CBC News
Long URL elided
Liberal Leader Paul Martin accused Stephen Harper of having the most extreme right-wing agenda in the history of Canada and warned that a Tory government could set back the rights of Canadians, particularly women.
He said the Conservative leader wants to limit the power of the courts and reopen debates over same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
"You add it all up and you see why Mr. Harper regards the courts with such suspicion because they stand between him and the most socially conservative agenda that has ever been this close to forming a government," Martin said.
Martin was responding to Harper's remarks from Tuesday that a Tory majority wouldn't wield power unfettered because of the Liberal-dominated Senate, and a civil service and judiciary that have been put in place by the Liberals.
He accused Harper of planning to stack the courts with socially conservative judges if he wins. He said this is of particular concern to women, given that there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Study proposes legalizing polygamy
Focus on the Family Canada
January 18, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/011806.html
Parliament should decriminalize polygamy because the courts would likely strike down the law banning it as unconstitutional, according to a government-funded study by three Queen’s University law professors.
“Virtually everyone in a polygamous marriage is there for religious reasons,” co-author Beverley Baines told the Kingston Whig-Standard. “I came to the conclusion that we define freedom of religions very broadly. I think the courts would say the prohibition infringes on the Charter right to freedom of religion.”
A constitutional law expert, Baines claimed that decriminalization would allow governments to extend rights of custody, access, support and divorce to women and children when a polygamous marriage ends. She also suggested that Canada cannot avoid allowing polygamy because it is “enormously multicultural now.”
As well, chief author Martha Bailey told Canadian Press, “We don’t criminalize adultery. In light of the fact that we have a fairly permissive society . . . why are we singling out that particular form of behaviour [polygamy] for criminalization?”
Polygamy has been a crime since 1890 when Section 293 of the Criminal Code was enacted as a deterrent to polygamous Mormons migrating to Canada. For more than 60 years, it has been practiced in Bountiful, a fundamentalist Mormon community in southeastern B.C. The community is currently the focus of an RCMP investigation into allegations of child abuse and sexual exploitation.
[...]
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, however, said the government has no plans to act on the study.
[...]
Focus on the Family Canada, which has been working hard to promote traditional marriage in Canada, is not surprised that the institution is under further assault.
[More at URL]
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Marriage definition tops PM's mail
Focus on the Family Canada
January 18, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/011806_02.html
Opposition to allowing same-sex couples to legally marry was by far the most frequently addressed subject in communications directed to Prime Minister Paul Martin last year, Canadian Press reported.
Over all, 10 per cent of all the letters, e-mails and telephone calls received by Martin’s office concerned homosexual marriage. That does not include form letters and e-mail templates.
Last January, when the government had indicated it planned to introduce a bill legalizing homosexual marriage, an analysis by the Prime Minister’s Office revealed that of the 880 phone calls received that month, the “overwhelming majority of callers was opposed to a redefinition of traditional marriage.” And in February, after the legislation had been introduced, 5,755 personally written items were received.
[More at URL]
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Monday, January 16, 2006
Seattle PI Says We Further Complicated Matters
Faith and Freedom Network
Long URL elided
As you may have heard by now, Dr. Joe Fuiten, Bob Higley, our lobbyist and I held a press briefing in Olympia last Wednesday. Here was a strong turn-out from the statewide news organizations.
Much has been written and reported in the few days that have followed.
The Elway Poll and Joe’s Analysis was distributed to all the press state-wide and the elected officials.
The Poll and Analysis is available on our website. Click here.
The Seattle PI is reporting that House Speaker Frank Chopp has put civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians on a fast track. The Senate is advancing the vote this week – probably tomorrow.
The PI wrote, “Adding to potential complications, a Christian conservative group [that would be us] released results Wednesday from a poll that showed statewide support for gay marriage dropping to 35 percent.”
Speaker Chopp said, “I don’t have faith in their poll.” He said Democrats do a lot of polling as well and that what the voters really want is for the legislature to spend it’s time on education, healthcare and jobs.
[More at URL]
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Analysis by Dr. Joseph B. Fuiten
Chairman, Faith & Freedom
In regard to Poll Conducted for Faith & Freedom by Elway Research
January 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/analysis.htm
Is There Support for Redefining Marriage in Washington State?
Washington State was among more than 40 states in the last decade to pass laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Following a court decision in Massachusetts requiring the Legislature to allow same-sex marriage, the year 2004 saw thirteen states pass constitutional amendments reasserting the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. In 2005 Texas became the 19th state to change their constitution. The Washington State Supreme Court took up the matter in March 2005 and will render its decision in 2006.
Over the last two years a number of polls have attempted to gauge movement in public opinion on the topic of same-sex marriage here in Washington State. In a poll conducted by The Elway Poll in behalf of the Faith and Freedom Network, public opinion about same-sex marriage was assessed. This report is a summary of the findings of the poll conducted December 27-30, 2005 and published in January 2006.
[Ed. Note: link to poll PDF is here: http://www.faithandfreedom.us/pdf/AnalysisandPoll011106.pdf ]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 01:36 pm (UTC)The leader of a financial stewardship ministry says most Christians have a desire to be good money managers but do not always have the training they need to understand God's way when it comes to handling their financial resources. Howard Dayton, co-founder and CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, says the problem is that most churches only offer people financial advice when it comes to tithing and nothing more.
This is nothing to worry about in the Cultural Wars. I used to hear the radio program Money Matters with Larry Burkett, the other founder of Crown Financial Ministries, giving free financial advice. It was very practical, with the late Mr. Burkett even saying that paying off debt was more important than tithing to the church. Crown Financial Ministries is merely an honest money-management-advice firm that caters to the Christian market.
From item 17:
In "A Requiem for Friendship: Why Boys Will Not Be Boys and Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution," published in the September 2005 issue of Touchstone magazine, Esolen begins by reminding readers of a scene from J. R. R. Tolkien's great work, The Lord of the Rings. Sam Gamgee, having followed his master Frodo into Mordor, the realm of death, finds him in a small filthy cell lying half-conscious. "Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!" Sam cries. "It's Sam, I've come!" Frodo embraces his friend and Sam eventually cradles Frodo's head. As Esolen suggests, a reader or viewer of this scene is likely to jump to a rather perverse conclusion: "What, are they gay?"
Only if the reader or viewer had somehow missed the rest of the story. Here is a little thought experiment: imagine that Tolkien had made Samwise Gamgee a female character Sammy, but otherwise kept Sam's character the same. Early on, we would wonder whether Sammy's loyalty to Mr. Frodo meant that she had a secret crush on him, but a few lines about her love for Ross (Rosie converted to male) back in the Shire would dispell that notion. The scene above, when Frodo is rescued from the orcs, would once again have romantic overtones, but since Tolkien already firmly established that Sammy and Frodo did not have a romantic relationship, we would know that this was just a tender scene between friends.
The only real change that acceptance of homosexual romance makes in Tolkien's tender scene between Samwise and Frodo is that it is no longer an automatic given that two males have no romantic relationship between them. However, the story has at this point firmly established the relationship between Sam and Frodo, and it is not romantic.
Similarly, when David is told of the death of his friend Jonathan, he cries: "Your love to me was finer than the love of women." (2 Samuel 1:26)
Sadly, that is really a reflection of David's bad relationships with women. David, soon to be King David, was a woman chaser and collected wives. Unfortunately, he was a poor husband and father, and thus, had a rotten situation at home.
Erin Schram
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 04:18 pm (UTC)One of the traditional roles of churches is to help people with their problems. Why should that exclude financial problems?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 07:11 pm (UTC)It's also important to note that this program is being espoused by the leader of a "financial stewardship ministry", whose website (http://www.crown.org/centurion/generalinfo.asp) uses language such as:
"The Crown Centurion Challenge
The Crown Centurion Challenge is an opportunity for you to join an army of people across the country who have committed to personally teach a minimum of 100 people to handle money from God’s perspective by September 2015.
In the Roman army, Centurions were veteran noncommissioned officers, considered to be the most effective and important leaders. Each Centurion led a century made up of about 100 soldiers."
Sounds to me like it's being thought of in terms of warfare. What war would that be, if not the culture war?
Helping people with their problems is one thing, but providing free training in finanical matters seems far and away beyond their purview, more along the lines of offering a free college class through the church than merely "helping". Not to mention the entire idea of there being a "Christian" way to handle financial matters in the first place... seems to me that the only things Christ really said about money were to render under ceasar what is ceasar's, and to give all you owned to the poor and follow him. Oh and something about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. To say that "financial ministries" are not part of the culture war seems to me to be patently absurd.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 08:01 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's probably about right.
Mind you, nominating Condi Rice might change that, particularly if she's running against Hillary Clinton.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 08:06 pm (UTC)Me, I'm prefectly happy to see religious conservatives (or anybody else) dig themselves out of debt. People in debt are more likely to have constant low-level worry in their lives, and worried and frightened people are more likely to support right-wing politics.
One of my local churches shows movies on Friday nights. Not religious stuff, things like Ghost Dog and the Clone Wars cartoons. It also opens itself up as an art display area for local art festivals. Not anythign Jesus talked about, but they do it anyway, to be part of the community. Anything wrong with that?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 02:36 am (UTC)I've been watching a lot of West Wing lately (the older, GOOD episodes), so indulge me on this one. In one episode the characters talk about the amount of foreign aid the US gives, and they keep referencing a poll they conducted. As Josh Lyman says, 64% of the respondents think foreign aid is too high, and 55% think it should be cut. Near the end, he complains that 9% of people think it's too high, but shouldn't be cut. What does 'too high' mean, then? He concludes 9% of those polled can't get their heads around the question, so how the hell can we trust the rest of it?
Well, anyway. That came to mind and I thought I'd share. -Danny
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 08:31 pm (UTC)I'm more annoyed by the folks who badly misunderstand where the fed's money goes. Like, "Why don't they pay off the national debt/fully fund SS/etc by terminating NASA/National Science Foundation/The Park Service/etc", not realizing what a small % of the budget those things are.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 10:24 pm (UTC)