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Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Expanded article from Mission America about their anti-gay school investigation programme; they're working with the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and the Family Research Council on this monster;
Lawsuit filed against Massachusetts school over reading of the "King and King" children's book;
In spirit dancing news, "PrayLive" organises mass prayer for lower gasoline prices;
A scathing deconstruction and analysis of Paul Cameron's methodology in his Journal of Biosocial Science article - I mean, in the very first paragraph, he describes homosexuality as "a contagion, a corruption, and an addiction," and also lies demonstrably in this paper about his already-impossibly-flimsy sources. How this got past peer-review I will never understand; link courtesy![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cafiorello;
National Day of Prayer vice-chair denounces "culture of personal choice" and "homosexuality" as part of this year's theme;
Focus on the Family notes survey indicating more lesbian and gay parents, particularly through adoption; decries it as "devastating" to children;
Anti-gay business owner who refused business from a lesbian customer in violation of county anti-discrimination code found in violation; Focus on the Family outraged;
***** Focus on the Family Citizen launches a direct broadside against science and scientists, reviews (favourably) the book The Scientists’ Crusade, and stating about scientists: "Once they saw themselves as under God. Today, many of them want to take His place. And they won’t tolerate anyone who objects.";
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM on Federal appeals court nominee Brett Kavanaugh - this is specifically a test of the filibuster compromise; you can do your own Google searches on the name if you want to know what he's about; the only interesting argument I've found is that the problem isn't that he's an ideologue - despite a variety of claims from the left that he is - but that he's a purely political animal and that this is allegedly a patronage appointment. I found no crossover support for or opposition to this nominee;
Focus on the Family revives the "War on Christmas" bullshit;
Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to help with anti-marriage drive; includes link to PDF of anti-gay-and-lesbian petition text; the language seems vague enough to me to allow people to claim it's against civil unions too;
Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to "ask Congress to put children first" by passing a Federal anti-marriage Constitutional amendment;
FRC quotes the anti-gay "Institute for Marriage and Public Policy" saying that lesbian and gay people don't get married anyway, so shouldn't be allowed to; the marriage rate in Massachusetts is up to 16%; iMAPP claims to be a neutral examiner of the topic, but all of their articles are against, all the fundamentalist organisations link to it, and they use the fundamentalist "defense" and "protection" language to describe anti-gay marriage activities, and talk about "wins" for their side against marriage rights; in other words, they're lying. Big shock;
American Family Association says 10 commandments cases are breaking their way - I suspect this is a result of Bush's nominees than anything else;
AFA story supporting lawsuit against Lexington (Mass.) school district over the reading of the children's book "King and King," which they denounce as "pro-homosexual";
Minnesota house passes bill to ban state medical funds from paying for abortions; it's reportedly to be in trouble in the Senate;
Republican Senator Sam Brownback demands RU-486 be taken off the market immediately; meanwhile, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd is proposing a school-prayer Federal amendment;
Article 8/MassResistance attacks "Day of Silence" protest against anti-GBLT discrimination as "depraved state-sponsoured propaganda on vulnerable kids";
***** Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight announces support for anti-gay "School Risk Audit" programme detailed earlier;
Concerned Women for America pushes filibuster-agreement challenging vote on nominee Kavanaugh;
Focus on the Family Canada article on "the continuing deterioration of traditional family values" - interestingly, this is 1993-2003, so they can't blame queers for this one;
Faith and Freedom Network attacks Kentucky for "promoting a secular America" - that's funny;
CWA audio feature on "Real Women" lobbying Congress; Senator Brownback helped with the morning training session;
Extended CWA audio feature, with transcription, railing against Day of Silence, any sympathetic or neutral coverage of GBLT issues in schools, or, indeed, any visibility at all; Robert Knight comes out and says outright that any mention or even implication of GBLT people or themes should require parental notification and opting out; in fact, goes further, saying that anything that contradicts their religious views is a violation of their religious rights; about LGBT people says, "that's what's intended here, that's what the homosexual activists hope to do, to destroy the children's innocence, to confuse them about gender and sexuality." There are a lot of red-meat quotes in this one, so go to, if that's what you're into.
----- 1 -----
Pro-Family Groups Unveil Homosexuality School
Risk Audit as Response to 'Day of Silence'
Development spearheaded by Mission America
Mission America
Online as of April 28; dated April 24
http://www.missionamerica.com/homosexual.php?articlenum=47
In the wake of the SBC’s passage of Education Resolution at its 2005 Annual Meeting, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and a pro-family coalition encourage investigation of local school districts
COLUMBIA, SC, April 24 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Last June the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approved a version of a resolution submitted by Dr. Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt that, among other things, warned parents of collaboration by public school districts with homosexual activists and urged parents and churches to investigate their local school districts. The Baucham-Shortt resolution was endorsed by over 60 conservative grassroots organizations, including many state chapters of the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, and Focus on the Family.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Parents sue Mass. school over same-sex fairy tale
Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:39pm ET
By Jason Szep
Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-0
4-27T170545Z_01_N27293100_RTRUKOC_0_US-RIGHTS-GAYS-MASSACHUSETTS.xml
BOSTON (Reuters) - Two sets of parents filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a Massachusetts town and its public school system after a teacher read a gay-themed fairy tale to children without notifying them first, their lawyers said.
The lawsuit against Lexington, a wealthy suburb about 12 miles west of Boston, seeks unspecified damages after book "King & King" was read to a classroom of about 20 children who were mostly 7 years old.
It also charges that the school broke a 1996 Massachusetts law requiring that parents be notified of sex-education lessons. It names Lexington Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash and several other school and town officials.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Latest News
PrayLive
Online as of 27 April 2006
http://praylive.com/news.html
Latest News - Join the Pray Live network to get up-to-date breaking information and news. Get sermon topics and bible study lessons for the current week and the newsletter.
Thursday, April 27, 2006, clergy from around the Washington, DC and MD area will gather in downtown DC to pray for the lowering of gas prices.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Paul Cameron Conquers Cambridge
Cambridge University Press has published Paul Cameron’s “Children of Homosexuals And Transsexuals More Apt To Be Homosexual” in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Biosocial Science. Will this give him the “stamp of approval” he has longed for?
Jim Burroway
April 15, 2006
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/Articles/000,012.htm
I am not a psychologist. Neither am I a sociologist nor any other kind of social scientist. I have a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from 1984, a degree so old that I’m now obsolete given the state of technology today. But that degree has given me the competence to deal with the concepts of sampling, data sets, and statistics. That, along with access to a good university library, the PubMed database and Google — these are all I need to recognize that what passes as a “scientific” article is nothing more than an unsubstantiated anti-gay tract.
It’s a terrible pity that the editors and reviewers of the Journal of Biosocial Science (JBS), who presumably posses far better credentials than I, have not been able to recognize blatant propaganda when they see it. This is all the more surprising given the clue that is not so well hidden in the very first sentences of the article:
‘Common sense’ holds that homosexuality is ‘contagious’ (Levitt & Klassen, 1974). Thus Rees & Ushill [sic – ed.] (1956) state ‘it is vain to blind oneself to the fact that the problem of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself and by its elders. It is the problem of the creation by means of such corruption of new addicts ready to corrupt a still further generation of young men and boys in the future’ (p.29).
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
National Day of Prayer Asks America to Honor God
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
April 28, 2006
This year's observance is set for Thursday, May 4 — and there's still time to get involved.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040313.cfm
The National Day of Prayer (NDP) is just six days away, and Jim Weidmann, vice chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, said this year's observance will be a bit different than in previous years — different, he said, because of where we find ourselves as a nation.
"I was listening to a representative from the White House the other day," he told CitizenLink, "and he was talking about the fact that we are in one of the most dangerous times we've ever had as a nation — we are now being threatened on our own shores with terrorist activity. And so, this is really a time where we need to be dependent upon the Lord."
This year's NDP theme is " America, Honor God."
"It really comes out of 1 Samuel 2:30, which says: 'Those who honor me, I will honor,' " Weidmann said. "To honor God means to fear and obey God.
"We have lost the fear of God in today's culture. Jeremiah 5:22 says this: 'Should you not fear me? declares the Lord.' "
[...]
"We are living in a culture of personal choice: homosexuality, abortion, pornography, divorce, gambling. What we've done is we've walked away from God at the time of our greatest threat. That's why this National Day of Prayer is so important."
But if we, as a nation, have lost the fear of God, can we regain it? We can, Weidmann maintained.
"God will stay His hand if the people repent," he said. "If not, He passes judgment and then the people repent. But we really don't want to be on the receiving end of the latter."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
More Gays Hope to Adopt
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
April 28, 2006
Family advocates say the result could be devastating for children.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040309.cfm
A new Syracuse University survey has found that two-thirds of lesbians and a third of homosexual men in the U.S. plan to adopt - a significant increase from four years ago, and the impact of which could be devastating.
Dawn Stefanowicz knows that devastation firsthand. She grew up in a household headed by two homosexuals.
"There was a tremendous impact on my gender identity, my sexual feelings and my value towards specific gender roles," she told Family News in Focus, adding that gay couples often have an ulterior motive in adding children to their household.
"Children right now are being used," she said, "to advance a political agenda that will create for the children, I believe, a great deal of harm."
----- 7 -----
Christian Ordered to Do Business with Gay Activists
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
April 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040312.cfm
An Arlington, Va., man who refused to duplicate videos containing homosexual content has been ordered by a government commission to complete the job, World Net Daily reported.
Lesbian activist Lillian Vincenz asked Tim Bono of Bono Film and Video to make copies of videos Gay and Proud and Second Largest Minority.
[...]
Refusing to take Vincenz's business, the commission concluded, violated the county's ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
The Scientists’ Crusade
Once they saw themselves as under God. Today, many of them want to take His place. And they won’t tolerate anyone who objects.
by Matt Kaufman
Citizen magazine
Focus on the Family
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040017.cfm
We all know the plot to the standard media “science vs. religion” story. The details change with the topic (abortion, embryonic stem cells, creationism, intelligent design), but the basic outline seldom varies: It’s about scientists and medical professionals devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and the service of humanity versus those backward, dogmatic religious folk.
And this brings us to one the latest journalists to take on the topic, Pamela R. Winnick. She’s got a master’s degree from decidedly liberal Columbia Journalism School, and describes herself as “a New York liberal Democrat who is Jewish and not religious.” So she’s telling the same story as usual, right?
Wrong.
Winnick, author of A Jealous God: Science’s Crusade Against Religion (Nelson Current, 2005; 334 pages), has a very different story to tell. As she sees it, the religious folk have gotten a bum rap from the media—and the forces of “science” have gotten a free ride.
Where others paint Christians as power-hungry censors, more interested in playing God than in serving Him, Winnick sees the scientific establishment as far more likely to assume that role, especially in recent years.
The Galileo prototype of the scientist martyred by religion is now purely myth. Science long ago won its war against religion, not just traditional religion, but any faith in a power outside the modern mind. Now it wants more.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Action May Come on Filibustered Court Nominee
Brett Kavanaugh, who has been blockaded for three years by Senate Democrats, could finally get a shot at confirmation.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink
April 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040291.cfm
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is making plans to move forward with Brett Kavanaugh’s long-stalled nomination to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Top Senate aides say Frist, R-Tenn., will make "every effort" to get the Senate to confirm Kavanaugh, currently serving as White House staff secretary, before the Memorial Day recess.
First nominated in July 2003, Kavanaugh has been waiting ever since for an up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate because of opposition from chamber Democrats, according to Jan LaRue, chief legal counsel for Concerned Women for America (CWA).
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
'Christmas Break' Back in Colorado
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
April 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/A0040294.cfm
A Colorado school district has taken a stand in the nationwide war on Christmas by reversing its decision to change the name of "Christmas break" to "Winter Break."
The Falcon School District near Colorado Springs made the decision after receiving advice from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which was contacted by a school board member looking for legal cover to restore the name "Christmas Break."
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Send in your petitions to protect marriage in Illinois
Deadline to submit petitions for marriage amendment nears in Illinois
Family Research Council
April 28, 2006 - Friday
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06D18
It has just been reported in the Chicago Tribune that Equality Illinois plans to challenge the Protect Marriage Illinois signatures that will soon be submitted. Because of this, it is important that thousands of "insurance" signatures be gathered.
If you have not yet signed the petition to protect marriage, please take the time to download the petition today, sign it and send it to Protect Marriage Illinois (address below). If you are not able to download this file, please call the PMI office at 877-787-8011 (toll-free), or call the Illinois Family Institute at 630-790-8370.
Please do the following to help:
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Ask Congress to Put Children First
Ask Congress to Put Children First - Sign our Marriage Petition
Family Research Council
April 27, 2006 - Thursday
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06D17
By now you've already received two messages from me requesting your support of Family Research Council's marriage amendment petition. My sincere appreciation goes to the more than 28,000 men and women who have responded. However, having reached only half of our stated goal, much work remains to be done. If you haven't already done so, I hope you'll join in our historic effort.
Attempts by those seeking to redefine the institution of marriage are well underway across the country. Today, 10 states face legal challenges to their state policy defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman. In four of these states lower courts have already ruled traditional marriage to be unconstitutional. However, these are only state courts.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Few Homosexuals Choose to "Marry"
Family Research Council
by: Tim Dailey
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=CU06D06&f=PG03I03
Despite insistent demands by Homosexuals and lesbians to have the "right" to marry, a new study by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy shows that few avail themselves of the opportunity when the option is legally available. The study, "Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe," compared the estimated population of homosexuals and lesbians with the number of same-sex "marriages" in jurisdictions which permit homosexual "marriage."
----- 14 -----
Courts, Governors Siding with Ten Commandments Displays
Christian Attorney Sees Tide Turning Against ACLU's War on Decalogue
By Allie Martin
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 28, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006g.asp
(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney says he's confident that public displays of the Ten Commandments will continue to be more acceptable in the legal arena.
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed a bill permitting the display of God's sacred laws in public buildings. And the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Ten Commandments display in Elkhart County, Indiana v. Brooks. Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, says courts are approving historic rulings when it comes to the public display of the Ten Commandments.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Spurned Massachusetts Parents File Suit Against Local School System
They Say Schools Have Violated State's Parental Notification Law
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 28, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Parents in Lexington, Massachusetts, have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town and school officials over their refusal to notify parents before classroom discussions with students regarding homosexuality. The two families bringing the suit claim school officials' actions violated the state's Parental Notification law.
The suit was filed yesterday (April 27) by parents David and Tonia Parker and Rob and Robin Wirthlin accuses school officials of violating their federal and Massachusetts civil rights in addition to the charge concerning the state Parental Notification law. Last year David Parker was arrested and spent the night in jail for refusing to leave Estabrook Elementary School until officials acknowledged his right to be notified when his six-year-old son is subjected to discussions about same-sex relationships.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Minnesota House Approves Ban on Taxpayer Funding of Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 28, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/state1627.html
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) -- The Minnesota state House easily overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban using state taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. The measure is designed to overturn a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling forcing the state's taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions for poor women.
House lawmakers signed off on the measure by an 81-50 vote. Sponsored by Rep. Laura Brod, a Republican, it would require the state's high court to re-examine its 1995 decision in Doe v. Gomez.
"I know many taxpayers in my district and throughout Minnesota would be very concerned that their hard-earned tax dollars are being used to fund abortions in this state," Brod said, according to an AP report.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 28, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
American Family Association
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006h.asp
[...]
...Senator Sam Brownback says he is angered by the seven deaths connected to the abortion drug RU 486. The Kansas Republican wants to see the drug taken off the shelves. "The public wouldn't stand for this level of failures if a drug had anything else that it was involved with other than abortion and life issues," he points out. "RU 486 must be pulled off the market before another woman dies." Brownback supports an effort being led by Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting the drug be pulled off the market until government authorities can review the drug's approval process, which was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration in the waning days of the Clinton administration. [Bill Fancher]
...Senator Robert Byrd has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow, but not require, voluntary prayer in public schools and extracurricular events. The West Virginia Democrat says the First Amendment was never intended to bar voluntary expressions of religion. It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Byrd says many people focus only on the first clause, "at the expense of the second clause, which protects the right of Americans to worship as they please." The 88-year-old senator is seeking re-election this year to another six-year term. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
"Day of Silence" in schools this Wednesday despite parents' outrage. A day of homosexual indoctrination.
Coming to a high school near you on Wednesday: The "Day of Silence"
Online as of 28 April 2006
Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance
http://www.massresistance.com/latest_email.html
The "Day of Silence" is an odious propaganda event held each April in high schools and middle schools across the country. The day-long event (now becoming multi-day) is promoted by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a well-financed national homosexual organization aimed at promoting homosexuality among schoolchildren, and organized in high schools and many middle schools through their (government financed) "Gay-Straight" alliance clubs and homosexual faculty members.
During an entire school day, children (and teachers) are asked to wear pro-homosexual rainbow stickers on their clothes, and remain silent during the school day in solidarity of the national homosexual movement. We cannot exaggerate how odious this is. Children are told by teachers and administrators that this is a noble cause, equated to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. They are told that homosexuality is normal and natural and that they must help fight all the "haters" and "bigots" out there. There are posters and speeches and pamphlets and free stuff, but no tolerance at all for any dissent.
In recent years, it's become quite sophisticated in the way they persuade vulnerable kids to participate with great passion. During the Day of Silence last year at Lexington High School, kids who wore traditional marriage stickers on their shirts endured a stream of hateful profanity during the day, and one girl was assaulted in front of teachers - who did nothing to stop it.
And this year, it promises to be even bigger. In some schools, it will encompass up to three days of events. Here's more info:
[...]
CALL YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL OFFICIALS. Ask them if they are having any "Day of Silence" activities. Let them know that they don't have a right to impose such depraved state-sponsored propaganda on vulnerable kids. If you can, pick up literature, take pictures, and help us expose it.
----- 19 -----
Groups Endorse ‘School Risk Audit’ to Expose ‘Gay’ Agenda in Schools
Concerned Women for America
4/25/2006
By Robert Knight
CWA is part of coalition urging parents to use new survey to alert their communities.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10593/CFI/family/index.htm
Are your local schools promoting homosexuality?
There’s a new way to find out.
A coalition of pro-family groups is urging parents to do a “School Risk Audit” to determine whether and how the schools have become conduits for homosexual activism.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) has joined with Mission America, American Family Association, Citizens for Community Values, Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, Americans for Truth, Exodus Mandate, and several state organizations (see below at end of article) to recommend a “School Risk Audit” inspired by a resolution passed in 2005 by the Southern Baptist Convention and developed by Mission America President Linda Harvey.
Parents can download the audit form and use any portion they wish or the entire document. The Audit includes recommendations for parental action in the wake of the survey, such as how to alert school authorities and how to issue a press release.
The release of the School Risk Audit has been timed to counter homosexual activists’ promotion of the 10th annual occurrence of “The Day of Silence,” in which students in kindergarten through college are encouraged to stay silent all day in support of “gay kids.” The Day of Silence, which proponents claim will be observed in more than 4,000 schools nationwide, is slated for Wednesday, April 26.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
CWA: Senate Must End Recess on Judges
Concerned Women for America
4/27/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10603/MEDIA/misc/index.htm
Washington, D.C.— Concerned Women for America (CWA) is encouraged to hear that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) intends to bring Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court to a floor vote before the Memorial Day recess. Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, needs a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing before proceeding to an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Number of marriages, births dropping
Focus on the Family Canada
Today’s Family News
April 28, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/042806_01.html
Fewer couples are marrying, and women who do marry are having fewer children. Adding to these statistics, the Ottawa Citizen reported that many more children are living with common-law parents.
These alarming trends come from a new report by the Canadian Council on Social Development. It offers disturbing evidence of the continuing deterioration of traditional family ideals.
The number of marriages per year plummeted by nine per cent, while the number of births fell 14 per cent, between 1994 and 2003.
The fact is that women are delaying motherhood. In 2003, 48 per cent of the women who gave birth for the first time were aged 30 or older.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Kentucky Promotes A Secularized America
Faith and Freedom Network
Thursday, April 27, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/kentucky-promotes-secularized-america.html
The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to take the first step in redefining how America dates its time.
The board has voted to include a new secular system of dating the calendar. They want to add to the traditional B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anto Domini, “The year of our Lord”) a secularized, B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era).
This new secular system of time dating will appear in the curriculum and other materials used by Kentucky educators. This new system is already being included in new versions of text books being used across the country.
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
Real Women Lobby Congress
Concerned Women for America
4/27/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10605/CWA/misc/index.htm
Grassroots women from across the nation gathered in Washington this week for “Real Women’s Lobby Day.” The event, co-sponsored by Concerned Women for America, focused on promoting pro-life legislation. Maureen Gregory, a CWA Prayer and Action Chapter leader in Georgia attended this year’s event and shares her experiences. Click here to listen.
[Met with Senator Brownback during their morning training session, who "revved [them] up, like a cheerleader" "we will win this war"; talks about how their prayer chapter's representative is already "pro-life"]
----- 24 -----
King and King: Homosexual Marriage Promoted in Second Grade Class
Concerned Women for America
4/26/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10606/CWA/misc/index.htm
A second grade teacher in Lexington, Massachusetts chose the fairy tale “King and King” to read to her class. The teacher said the tale, about a prince who must choose a bride but chooses another prince instead, is completely appropriate for the class’s theme day on weddings, because homosexual marriage was legal in the state. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, disagrees but notes this battle is one parents are facing nationwide. Click here to listen.
[Robert Knight: "A second grade teacher in Massachusetts apparently took advantage of "Wedding Day" where they're discussing weddings and read to the children a book called King and King; and this book is a fairy-tale type book with pictures, and it's about a prince who is told to look for his princess, and he rejects all the women in the book, as something wrong with them, and decides he really wants to marry another prince. So he marries another prince and they become "King and King," and then they acquire children after that. And this second-grade teacher thought this was suitable to read to seven year olds. And parents found out about it, and went to the school and complained, and the teacher's response was, well, gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, so I don't have to inform parents before I read materials like this."
Martha Kleider: "That's a very valid point by the part of the teacher. Apparently this was approved by the legislature, the representative body of the people of that state."
RK: "Well, it makes it harder for parents to object when it's the law of the land, although just because something's legal doesn't mean it's right and that it's appropriate to share it with children knowing that many of them come from backgrounds where parents have traditional beliefs about marriage, in fact, I would wager most of them. Just because cigarette smoking is legal doesn't mean the teacher should next read them a book about the joys of cigarette smoking. So legality isn't the only consideration. When you're reading a book to small children that will confuse them about something as basic as marriage and about the difference between men and women and how men and women interact, you're missing with their minds. It's immoral, if it isn't illegal."
"We've been warning this for years... we've said, you know, if gay marriage is legal, then the schools will say they have the right to teach kids that homosexuality is normal and healthy. They'll even bring in materials showing that gay weddings are normal, and of course, here it's happening in Massachusetts. But it's not must Massachusetts, in California there's a bill that our CWA chapters are fighting fiercely, and the bill would introduce the homosexual, bisexual, and transgender agenda to schools throughout the curricula from K through 12. Now you're talking about kindergardeners having elements of homosexuality in their arithmetic lessons. And the way they do it is, Bill and Bob live together, and they buy three apples, and Bill gives one to Bob, that sort of thing. I was asked a similar question like this, I just taped a segment for National Public Radio on this King and King book in Massachusetts, and the reporter said, well, how do you answer this, what about the homosexual activists say it's not about sex, it's just about relationships, and they read books like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and would you say they're about sex, because the heterosexual couple gets together? It's a very disarming question, and my answer is YES (emphasis in original), because we're talking about normal relations between men and women, and we're pointing to the institution of marriage, which was constructed to channel sex into a stable male-female, hopefully-for-life relationship, for the good of the couple and for bringing children into the world. And bringing them into a family. Of course it's about sex, ultimately. And kids look around, they know boys are different from girls - and so, if they're confronted with a book like King and King, where two men get together and act like a husband and wife, the first question the kids are gonna ask is, well, what do they do, exactly? And that's what's intended here, that's what the homosexual activists hope to do, to destroy the children's innocence, to confuse them about gender and sexuality, and to do it in such a disarming way - who could object, it's just a children's book."
MK: "And of course the next logical question for most children is, which one's the mommy? Because there's the construct of mommy and daddy as roles, whether it's there - beyond the actual gender, It's the role of each parent."
RK: "That's right. The NPR reporter, Tovia Smith, asked me this question as well; she said, well, I understand in Massachusetts they're going to have like math problems and just mention homosexual couples; Massachusetts has a parental notification law. In which case the parents have to be informed if controversial subjects, particularly about sexuality, are brought up. And she asked me, well, what do you think should trigger it? Any mention of homosexuality at all? In any context? Such as something that doesn't outright say it but implies it? And I said yes, because it's such an explosive topic, it's all about perceptions, and these are vulnerable children who are trying to figure out who they are, and when you have something that directly contradicts what their parents and their churches and their synagogs are teaching them, that should be considered an intrusion of a religious point of view. [!!!!! Ed note: This argument applies directly against science that contradicts religions teachings, too! Man, what a pandora's box this opens up! They've been aiming for this for years, but they haven't pulled it off yet, and they rarely put it in this clear a way. If it doesn't agree with their religion, it can't be taught.] You know, the secularists are always watchful that we don't establish religion in the public schools, and they establish the secular faith of sexual adventurism, as opposed to the Judeo-Christian point of view that really governs our laws - to me, that's establishing a religious viewpoint, because it is the doctrine of secular humanism that there is no norm in sexuality, that anything goes. So I think that might be a possible legal route for parents who are despairing of doing anything to stop this.
MK: [Is this just Massachusetts and California?]
RK: "It's all over the place, Martha, in fact, this is the week of the Day of Silence, in which students from elementary schools - in fact kindergarten, they're aiming at kindergarten this year - all the way up through college, are supposed to remain silent and not return inquiries from teachers or administrators or their classmates, and it's supposed to be in solidarity of their "gay friends" who are being "oppressed in this heterosexist society." It's really an intrusion in the learning process; it's a way to force kids to deal with homosexuality whether they want to or not; and it's - I don't know of any other event that disrupts the school day like this. The day after the Day of Silence is the Day of Truth, and that's the counter-offensive, but the sponsours of that, Alliance Defense Fund, are very careful to point out that activities are scheduled for after school hours, and that the kids are not to disrupt normal instruction. In other words, they're respectful of the atmosphere, they're respectful of kids, and their parents, as opposed to the Day of Silence, where they want to walk all over everybody else. [Ed. Note: Okay, so. First, from The Day of Silence FAQ: "GLSEN encourages students to participate in the Day of Silence in cooperation with their schools. We encourage students to get support from their principals and educators and participate in the school day as needed." The implication that there is massive disruption of the school day has not, in my experience, been substantiated with facts. Most of the protest is silence and handing out cards. The Day of Truth anti-GBLT response effort people do exactly the same thing, only they also wear T-shirts. Their language on school co-operation is similar in several ways: "While it is not necessary for students participating in the “Day of Truth” to ask permission of school officials, they are encouraged to do so. ADF has prepared a letter for participants to share with school officials informing them of the event."]
MK: "Bob, What can parents do if they notice something like this being snuck in to their child's curriculum?"
RK: "Well, they can do a lot of things. They can first bring it to the attention of the school officials, and - they should bring it to the attention of other parents first, so there's strength in numbers, you really shouldn't do something just on your own, it's best if you inform a couple of other parents - because school officials in public schools have a habit of telling you, you're, looking at you sideways, making it out like you're the one crazy one in the barrel, and no one else has complained, they love saying things like that, so you get a few other people to complain, it really helps. And then, if that doesn't help, you go to the school board, and if the school board is not responsive, you take them out! You replace them with people who respect parental rights and respect children's innocence!"
Lawsuit filed against Massachusetts school over reading of the "King and King" children's book;
In spirit dancing news, "PrayLive" organises mass prayer for lower gasoline prices;
A scathing deconstruction and analysis of Paul Cameron's methodology in his Journal of Biosocial Science article - I mean, in the very first paragraph, he describes homosexuality as "a contagion, a corruption, and an addiction," and also lies demonstrably in this paper about his already-impossibly-flimsy sources. How this got past peer-review I will never understand; link courtesy
cafiorello;National Day of Prayer vice-chair denounces "culture of personal choice" and "homosexuality" as part of this year's theme;
Focus on the Family notes survey indicating more lesbian and gay parents, particularly through adoption; decries it as "devastating" to children;
Anti-gay business owner who refused business from a lesbian customer in violation of county anti-discrimination code found in violation; Focus on the Family outraged;
***** Focus on the Family Citizen launches a direct broadside against science and scientists, reviews (favourably) the book The Scientists’ Crusade, and stating about scientists: "Once they saw themselves as under God. Today, many of them want to take His place. And they won’t tolerate anyone who objects.";
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM on Federal appeals court nominee Brett Kavanaugh - this is specifically a test of the filibuster compromise; you can do your own Google searches on the name if you want to know what he's about; the only interesting argument I've found is that the problem isn't that he's an ideologue - despite a variety of claims from the left that he is - but that he's a purely political animal and that this is allegedly a patronage appointment. I found no crossover support for or opposition to this nominee;
Focus on the Family revives the "War on Christmas" bullshit;
Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to help with anti-marriage drive; includes link to PDF of anti-gay-and-lesbian petition text; the language seems vague enough to me to allow people to claim it's against civil unions too;
Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to "ask Congress to put children first" by passing a Federal anti-marriage Constitutional amendment;
FRC quotes the anti-gay "Institute for Marriage and Public Policy" saying that lesbian and gay people don't get married anyway, so shouldn't be allowed to; the marriage rate in Massachusetts is up to 16%; iMAPP claims to be a neutral examiner of the topic, but all of their articles are against, all the fundamentalist organisations link to it, and they use the fundamentalist "defense" and "protection" language to describe anti-gay marriage activities, and talk about "wins" for their side against marriage rights; in other words, they're lying. Big shock;
American Family Association says 10 commandments cases are breaking their way - I suspect this is a result of Bush's nominees than anything else;
AFA story supporting lawsuit against Lexington (Mass.) school district over the reading of the children's book "King and King," which they denounce as "pro-homosexual";
Minnesota house passes bill to ban state medical funds from paying for abortions; it's reportedly to be in trouble in the Senate;
Republican Senator Sam Brownback demands RU-486 be taken off the market immediately; meanwhile, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd is proposing a school-prayer Federal amendment;
Article 8/MassResistance attacks "Day of Silence" protest against anti-GBLT discrimination as "depraved state-sponsoured propaganda on vulnerable kids";
***** Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight announces support for anti-gay "School Risk Audit" programme detailed earlier;
Concerned Women for America pushes filibuster-agreement challenging vote on nominee Kavanaugh;
Focus on the Family Canada article on "the continuing deterioration of traditional family values" - interestingly, this is 1993-2003, so they can't blame queers for this one;
Faith and Freedom Network attacks Kentucky for "promoting a secular America" - that's funny;
CWA audio feature on "Real Women" lobbying Congress; Senator Brownback helped with the morning training session;
Extended CWA audio feature, with transcription, railing against Day of Silence, any sympathetic or neutral coverage of GBLT issues in schools, or, indeed, any visibility at all; Robert Knight comes out and says outright that any mention or even implication of GBLT people or themes should require parental notification and opting out; in fact, goes further, saying that anything that contradicts their religious views is a violation of their religious rights; about LGBT people says, "that's what's intended here, that's what the homosexual activists hope to do, to destroy the children's innocence, to confuse them about gender and sexuality." There are a lot of red-meat quotes in this one, so go to, if that's what you're into.
----- 1 -----
Pro-Family Groups Unveil Homosexuality School
Risk Audit as Response to 'Day of Silence'
Development spearheaded by Mission America
Mission America
Online as of April 28; dated April 24
http://www.missionamerica.com/homosexual.php?articlenum=47
In the wake of the SBC’s passage of Education Resolution at its 2005 Annual Meeting, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and a pro-family coalition encourage investigation of local school districts
COLUMBIA, SC, April 24 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Last June the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention approved a version of a resolution submitted by Dr. Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt that, among other things, warned parents of collaboration by public school districts with homosexual activists and urged parents and churches to investigate their local school districts. The Baucham-Shortt resolution was endorsed by over 60 conservative grassroots organizations, including many state chapters of the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, and Focus on the Family.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Parents sue Mass. school over same-sex fairy tale
Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:39pm ET
By Jason Szep
Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-0
4-27T170545Z_01_N27293100_RTRUKOC_0_US-RIGHTS-GAYS-MASSACHUSETTS.xml
BOSTON (Reuters) - Two sets of parents filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a Massachusetts town and its public school system after a teacher read a gay-themed fairy tale to children without notifying them first, their lawyers said.
The lawsuit against Lexington, a wealthy suburb about 12 miles west of Boston, seeks unspecified damages after book "King & King" was read to a classroom of about 20 children who were mostly 7 years old.
It also charges that the school broke a 1996 Massachusetts law requiring that parents be notified of sex-education lessons. It names Lexington Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash and several other school and town officials.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Latest News
PrayLive
Online as of 27 April 2006
http://praylive.com/news.html
Latest News - Join the Pray Live network to get up-to-date breaking information and news. Get sermon topics and bible study lessons for the current week and the newsletter.
Thursday, April 27, 2006, clergy from around the Washington, DC and MD area will gather in downtown DC to pray for the lowering of gas prices.
[More at URL]
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Paul Cameron Conquers Cambridge
Cambridge University Press has published Paul Cameron’s “Children of Homosexuals And Transsexuals More Apt To Be Homosexual” in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Biosocial Science. Will this give him the “stamp of approval” he has longed for?
Jim Burroway
April 15, 2006
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/Articles/000,012.htm
I am not a psychologist. Neither am I a sociologist nor any other kind of social scientist. I have a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from 1984, a degree so old that I’m now obsolete given the state of technology today. But that degree has given me the competence to deal with the concepts of sampling, data sets, and statistics. That, along with access to a good university library, the PubMed database and Google — these are all I need to recognize that what passes as a “scientific” article is nothing more than an unsubstantiated anti-gay tract.
It’s a terrible pity that the editors and reviewers of the Journal of Biosocial Science (JBS), who presumably posses far better credentials than I, have not been able to recognize blatant propaganda when they see it. This is all the more surprising given the clue that is not so well hidden in the very first sentences of the article:
‘Common sense’ holds that homosexuality is ‘contagious’ (Levitt & Klassen, 1974). Thus Rees & Ushill [sic – ed.] (1956) state ‘it is vain to blind oneself to the fact that the problem of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself and by its elders. It is the problem of the creation by means of such corruption of new addicts ready to corrupt a still further generation of young men and boys in the future’ (p.29).
[More at URL]
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National Day of Prayer Asks America to Honor God
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
April 28, 2006
This year's observance is set for Thursday, May 4 — and there's still time to get involved.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040313.cfm
The National Day of Prayer (NDP) is just six days away, and Jim Weidmann, vice chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, said this year's observance will be a bit different than in previous years — different, he said, because of where we find ourselves as a nation.
"I was listening to a representative from the White House the other day," he told CitizenLink, "and he was talking about the fact that we are in one of the most dangerous times we've ever had as a nation — we are now being threatened on our own shores with terrorist activity. And so, this is really a time where we need to be dependent upon the Lord."
This year's NDP theme is " America, Honor God."
"It really comes out of 1 Samuel 2:30, which says: 'Those who honor me, I will honor,' " Weidmann said. "To honor God means to fear and obey God.
"We have lost the fear of God in today's culture. Jeremiah 5:22 says this: 'Should you not fear me? declares the Lord.' "
[...]
"We are living in a culture of personal choice: homosexuality, abortion, pornography, divorce, gambling. What we've done is we've walked away from God at the time of our greatest threat. That's why this National Day of Prayer is so important."
But if we, as a nation, have lost the fear of God, can we regain it? We can, Weidmann maintained.
"God will stay His hand if the people repent," he said. "If not, He passes judgment and then the people repent. But we really don't want to be on the receiving end of the latter."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
More Gays Hope to Adopt
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
April 28, 2006
Family advocates say the result could be devastating for children.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040309.cfm
A new Syracuse University survey has found that two-thirds of lesbians and a third of homosexual men in the U.S. plan to adopt - a significant increase from four years ago, and the impact of which could be devastating.
Dawn Stefanowicz knows that devastation firsthand. She grew up in a household headed by two homosexuals.
"There was a tremendous impact on my gender identity, my sexual feelings and my value towards specific gender roles," she told Family News in Focus, adding that gay couples often have an ulterior motive in adding children to their household.
"Children right now are being used," she said, "to advance a political agenda that will create for the children, I believe, a great deal of harm."
----- 7 -----
Christian Ordered to Do Business with Gay Activists
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
April 28, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040312.cfm
An Arlington, Va., man who refused to duplicate videos containing homosexual content has been ordered by a government commission to complete the job, World Net Daily reported.
Lesbian activist Lillian Vincenz asked Tim Bono of Bono Film and Video to make copies of videos Gay and Proud and Second Largest Minority.
[...]
Refusing to take Vincenz's business, the commission concluded, violated the county's ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
The Scientists’ Crusade
Once they saw themselves as under God. Today, many of them want to take His place. And they won’t tolerate anyone who objects.
by Matt Kaufman
Citizen magazine
Focus on the Family
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040017.cfm
We all know the plot to the standard media “science vs. religion” story. The details change with the topic (abortion, embryonic stem cells, creationism, intelligent design), but the basic outline seldom varies: It’s about scientists and medical professionals devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and the service of humanity versus those backward, dogmatic religious folk.
And this brings us to one the latest journalists to take on the topic, Pamela R. Winnick. She’s got a master’s degree from decidedly liberal Columbia Journalism School, and describes herself as “a New York liberal Democrat who is Jewish and not religious.” So she’s telling the same story as usual, right?
Wrong.
Winnick, author of A Jealous God: Science’s Crusade Against Religion (Nelson Current, 2005; 334 pages), has a very different story to tell. As she sees it, the religious folk have gotten a bum rap from the media—and the forces of “science” have gotten a free ride.
Where others paint Christians as power-hungry censors, more interested in playing God than in serving Him, Winnick sees the scientific establishment as far more likely to assume that role, especially in recent years.
The Galileo prototype of the scientist martyred by religion is now purely myth. Science long ago won its war against religion, not just traditional religion, but any faith in a power outside the modern mind. Now it wants more.
[More at URL]
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Action May Come on Filibustered Court Nominee
Brett Kavanaugh, who has been blockaded for three years by Senate Democrats, could finally get a shot at confirmation.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink
April 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040291.cfm
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is making plans to move forward with Brett Kavanaugh’s long-stalled nomination to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Top Senate aides say Frist, R-Tenn., will make "every effort" to get the Senate to confirm Kavanaugh, currently serving as White House staff secretary, before the Memorial Day recess.
First nominated in July 2003, Kavanaugh has been waiting ever since for an up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate because of opposition from chamber Democrats, according to Jan LaRue, chief legal counsel for Concerned Women for America (CWA).
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
'Christmas Break' Back in Colorado
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
April 27, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/A0040294.cfm
A Colorado school district has taken a stand in the nationwide war on Christmas by reversing its decision to change the name of "Christmas break" to "Winter Break."
The Falcon School District near Colorado Springs made the decision after receiving advice from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which was contacted by a school board member looking for legal cover to restore the name "Christmas Break."
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Send in your petitions to protect marriage in Illinois
Deadline to submit petitions for marriage amendment nears in Illinois
Family Research Council
April 28, 2006 - Friday
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06D18
It has just been reported in the Chicago Tribune that Equality Illinois plans to challenge the Protect Marriage Illinois signatures that will soon be submitted. Because of this, it is important that thousands of "insurance" signatures be gathered.
If you have not yet signed the petition to protect marriage, please take the time to download the petition today, sign it and send it to Protect Marriage Illinois (address below). If you are not able to download this file, please call the PMI office at 877-787-8011 (toll-free), or call the Illinois Family Institute at 630-790-8370.
Please do the following to help:
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Ask Congress to Put Children First
Ask Congress to Put Children First - Sign our Marriage Petition
Family Research Council
April 27, 2006 - Thursday
Forward to a Friend!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06D17
By now you've already received two messages from me requesting your support of Family Research Council's marriage amendment petition. My sincere appreciation goes to the more than 28,000 men and women who have responded. However, having reached only half of our stated goal, much work remains to be done. If you haven't already done so, I hope you'll join in our historic effort.
Attempts by those seeking to redefine the institution of marriage are well underway across the country. Today, 10 states face legal challenges to their state policy defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman. In four of these states lower courts have already ruled traditional marriage to be unconstitutional. However, these are only state courts.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Few Homosexuals Choose to "Marry"
Family Research Council
by: Tim Dailey
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=CU06D06&f=PG03I03
Despite insistent demands by Homosexuals and lesbians to have the "right" to marry, a new study by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy shows that few avail themselves of the opportunity when the option is legally available. The study, "Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe," compared the estimated population of homosexuals and lesbians with the number of same-sex "marriages" in jurisdictions which permit homosexual "marriage."
----- 14 -----
Courts, Governors Siding with Ten Commandments Displays
Christian Attorney Sees Tide Turning Against ACLU's War on Decalogue
By Allie Martin
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 28, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006g.asp
(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney says he's confident that public displays of the Ten Commandments will continue to be more acceptable in the legal arena.
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed a bill permitting the display of God's sacred laws in public buildings. And the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Ten Commandments display in Elkhart County, Indiana v. Brooks. Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, says courts are approving historic rulings when it comes to the public display of the Ten Commandments.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Spurned Massachusetts Parents File Suit Against Local School System
They Say Schools Have Violated State's Parental Notification Law
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 28, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Parents in Lexington, Massachusetts, have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town and school officials over their refusal to notify parents before classroom discussions with students regarding homosexuality. The two families bringing the suit claim school officials' actions violated the state's Parental Notification law.
The suit was filed yesterday (April 27) by parents David and Tonia Parker and Rob and Robin Wirthlin accuses school officials of violating their federal and Massachusetts civil rights in addition to the charge concerning the state Parental Notification law. Last year David Parker was arrested and spent the night in jail for refusing to leave Estabrook Elementary School until officials acknowledged his right to be notified when his six-year-old son is subjected to discussions about same-sex relationships.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Minnesota House Approves Ban on Taxpayer Funding of Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 28, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/state1627.html
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) -- The Minnesota state House easily overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban using state taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. The measure is designed to overturn a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling forcing the state's taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions for poor women.
House lawmakers signed off on the measure by an 81-50 vote. Sponsored by Rep. Laura Brod, a Republican, it would require the state's high court to re-examine its 1995 decision in Doe v. Gomez.
"I know many taxpayers in my district and throughout Minnesota would be very concerned that their hard-earned tax dollars are being used to fund abortions in this state," Brod said, according to an AP report.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 28, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
American Family Association
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/282006h.asp
[...]
...Senator Sam Brownback says he is angered by the seven deaths connected to the abortion drug RU 486. The Kansas Republican wants to see the drug taken off the shelves. "The public wouldn't stand for this level of failures if a drug had anything else that it was involved with other than abortion and life issues," he points out. "RU 486 must be pulled off the market before another woman dies." Brownback supports an effort being led by Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting the drug be pulled off the market until government authorities can review the drug's approval process, which was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration in the waning days of the Clinton administration. [Bill Fancher]
...Senator Robert Byrd has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow, but not require, voluntary prayer in public schools and extracurricular events. The West Virginia Democrat says the First Amendment was never intended to bar voluntary expressions of religion. It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Byrd says many people focus only on the first clause, "at the expense of the second clause, which protects the right of Americans to worship as they please." The 88-year-old senator is seeking re-election this year to another six-year term. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
"Day of Silence" in schools this Wednesday despite parents' outrage. A day of homosexual indoctrination.
Coming to a high school near you on Wednesday: The "Day of Silence"
Online as of 28 April 2006
Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance
http://www.massresistance.com/latest_email.html
The "Day of Silence" is an odious propaganda event held each April in high schools and middle schools across the country. The day-long event (now becoming multi-day) is promoted by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a well-financed national homosexual organization aimed at promoting homosexuality among schoolchildren, and organized in high schools and many middle schools through their (government financed) "Gay-Straight" alliance clubs and homosexual faculty members.
During an entire school day, children (and teachers) are asked to wear pro-homosexual rainbow stickers on their clothes, and remain silent during the school day in solidarity of the national homosexual movement. We cannot exaggerate how odious this is. Children are told by teachers and administrators that this is a noble cause, equated to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. They are told that homosexuality is normal and natural and that they must help fight all the "haters" and "bigots" out there. There are posters and speeches and pamphlets and free stuff, but no tolerance at all for any dissent.
In recent years, it's become quite sophisticated in the way they persuade vulnerable kids to participate with great passion. During the Day of Silence last year at Lexington High School, kids who wore traditional marriage stickers on their shirts endured a stream of hateful profanity during the day, and one girl was assaulted in front of teachers - who did nothing to stop it.
And this year, it promises to be even bigger. In some schools, it will encompass up to three days of events. Here's more info:
[...]
CALL YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL OFFICIALS. Ask them if they are having any "Day of Silence" activities. Let them know that they don't have a right to impose such depraved state-sponsored propaganda on vulnerable kids. If you can, pick up literature, take pictures, and help us expose it.
----- 19 -----
Groups Endorse ‘School Risk Audit’ to Expose ‘Gay’ Agenda in Schools
Concerned Women for America
4/25/2006
By Robert Knight
CWA is part of coalition urging parents to use new survey to alert their communities.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10593/CFI/family/index.htm
Are your local schools promoting homosexuality?
There’s a new way to find out.
A coalition of pro-family groups is urging parents to do a “School Risk Audit” to determine whether and how the schools have become conduits for homosexual activism.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) has joined with Mission America, American Family Association, Citizens for Community Values, Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, Americans for Truth, Exodus Mandate, and several state organizations (see below at end of article) to recommend a “School Risk Audit” inspired by a resolution passed in 2005 by the Southern Baptist Convention and developed by Mission America President Linda Harvey.
Parents can download the audit form and use any portion they wish or the entire document. The Audit includes recommendations for parental action in the wake of the survey, such as how to alert school authorities and how to issue a press release.
The release of the School Risk Audit has been timed to counter homosexual activists’ promotion of the 10th annual occurrence of “The Day of Silence,” in which students in kindergarten through college are encouraged to stay silent all day in support of “gay kids.” The Day of Silence, which proponents claim will be observed in more than 4,000 schools nationwide, is slated for Wednesday, April 26.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
CWA: Senate Must End Recess on Judges
Concerned Women for America
4/27/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10603/MEDIA/misc/index.htm
Washington, D.C.— Concerned Women for America (CWA) is encouraged to hear that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) intends to bring Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court to a floor vote before the Memorial Day recess. Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, needs a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing before proceeding to an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Number of marriages, births dropping
Focus on the Family Canada
Today’s Family News
April 28, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/family/stories/042806_01.html
Fewer couples are marrying, and women who do marry are having fewer children. Adding to these statistics, the Ottawa Citizen reported that many more children are living with common-law parents.
These alarming trends come from a new report by the Canadian Council on Social Development. It offers disturbing evidence of the continuing deterioration of traditional family ideals.
The number of marriages per year plummeted by nine per cent, while the number of births fell 14 per cent, between 1994 and 2003.
The fact is that women are delaying motherhood. In 2003, 48 per cent of the women who gave birth for the first time were aged 30 or older.
[More at URL]
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Kentucky Promotes A Secularized America
Faith and Freedom Network
Thursday, April 27, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/kentucky-promotes-secularized-america.html
The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to take the first step in redefining how America dates its time.
The board has voted to include a new secular system of dating the calendar. They want to add to the traditional B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anto Domini, “The year of our Lord”) a secularized, B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era).
This new secular system of time dating will appear in the curriculum and other materials used by Kentucky educators. This new system is already being included in new versions of text books being used across the country.
[More at URL]
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Real Women Lobby Congress
Concerned Women for America
4/27/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10605/CWA/misc/index.htm
Grassroots women from across the nation gathered in Washington this week for “Real Women’s Lobby Day.” The event, co-sponsored by Concerned Women for America, focused on promoting pro-life legislation. Maureen Gregory, a CWA Prayer and Action Chapter leader in Georgia attended this year’s event and shares her experiences. Click here to listen.
[Met with Senator Brownback during their morning training session, who "revved [them] up, like a cheerleader" "we will win this war"; talks about how their prayer chapter's representative is already "pro-life"]
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King and King: Homosexual Marriage Promoted in Second Grade Class
Concerned Women for America
4/26/2006
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10606/CWA/misc/index.htm
A second grade teacher in Lexington, Massachusetts chose the fairy tale “King and King” to read to her class. The teacher said the tale, about a prince who must choose a bride but chooses another prince instead, is completely appropriate for the class’s theme day on weddings, because homosexual marriage was legal in the state. Bob Knight, Director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, disagrees but notes this battle is one parents are facing nationwide. Click here to listen.
[Robert Knight: "A second grade teacher in Massachusetts apparently took advantage of "Wedding Day" where they're discussing weddings and read to the children a book called King and King; and this book is a fairy-tale type book with pictures, and it's about a prince who is told to look for his princess, and he rejects all the women in the book, as something wrong with them, and decides he really wants to marry another prince. So he marries another prince and they become "King and King," and then they acquire children after that. And this second-grade teacher thought this was suitable to read to seven year olds. And parents found out about it, and went to the school and complained, and the teacher's response was, well, gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, so I don't have to inform parents before I read materials like this."
Martha Kleider: "That's a very valid point by the part of the teacher. Apparently this was approved by the legislature, the representative body of the people of that state."
RK: "Well, it makes it harder for parents to object when it's the law of the land, although just because something's legal doesn't mean it's right and that it's appropriate to share it with children knowing that many of them come from backgrounds where parents have traditional beliefs about marriage, in fact, I would wager most of them. Just because cigarette smoking is legal doesn't mean the teacher should next read them a book about the joys of cigarette smoking. So legality isn't the only consideration. When you're reading a book to small children that will confuse them about something as basic as marriage and about the difference between men and women and how men and women interact, you're missing with their minds. It's immoral, if it isn't illegal."
"We've been warning this for years... we've said, you know, if gay marriage is legal, then the schools will say they have the right to teach kids that homosexuality is normal and healthy. They'll even bring in materials showing that gay weddings are normal, and of course, here it's happening in Massachusetts. But it's not must Massachusetts, in California there's a bill that our CWA chapters are fighting fiercely, and the bill would introduce the homosexual, bisexual, and transgender agenda to schools throughout the curricula from K through 12. Now you're talking about kindergardeners having elements of homosexuality in their arithmetic lessons. And the way they do it is, Bill and Bob live together, and they buy three apples, and Bill gives one to Bob, that sort of thing. I was asked a similar question like this, I just taped a segment for National Public Radio on this King and King book in Massachusetts, and the reporter said, well, how do you answer this, what about the homosexual activists say it's not about sex, it's just about relationships, and they read books like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and would you say they're about sex, because the heterosexual couple gets together? It's a very disarming question, and my answer is YES (emphasis in original), because we're talking about normal relations between men and women, and we're pointing to the institution of marriage, which was constructed to channel sex into a stable male-female, hopefully-for-life relationship, for the good of the couple and for bringing children into the world. And bringing them into a family. Of course it's about sex, ultimately. And kids look around, they know boys are different from girls - and so, if they're confronted with a book like King and King, where two men get together and act like a husband and wife, the first question the kids are gonna ask is, well, what do they do, exactly? And that's what's intended here, that's what the homosexual activists hope to do, to destroy the children's innocence, to confuse them about gender and sexuality, and to do it in such a disarming way - who could object, it's just a children's book."
MK: "And of course the next logical question for most children is, which one's the mommy? Because there's the construct of mommy and daddy as roles, whether it's there - beyond the actual gender, It's the role of each parent."
RK: "That's right. The NPR reporter, Tovia Smith, asked me this question as well; she said, well, I understand in Massachusetts they're going to have like math problems and just mention homosexual couples; Massachusetts has a parental notification law. In which case the parents have to be informed if controversial subjects, particularly about sexuality, are brought up. And she asked me, well, what do you think should trigger it? Any mention of homosexuality at all? In any context? Such as something that doesn't outright say it but implies it? And I said yes, because it's such an explosive topic, it's all about perceptions, and these are vulnerable children who are trying to figure out who they are, and when you have something that directly contradicts what their parents and their churches and their synagogs are teaching them, that should be considered an intrusion of a religious point of view. [!!!!! Ed note: This argument applies directly against science that contradicts religions teachings, too! Man, what a pandora's box this opens up! They've been aiming for this for years, but they haven't pulled it off yet, and they rarely put it in this clear a way. If it doesn't agree with their religion, it can't be taught.] You know, the secularists are always watchful that we don't establish religion in the public schools, and they establish the secular faith of sexual adventurism, as opposed to the Judeo-Christian point of view that really governs our laws - to me, that's establishing a religious viewpoint, because it is the doctrine of secular humanism that there is no norm in sexuality, that anything goes. So I think that might be a possible legal route for parents who are despairing of doing anything to stop this.
MK: [Is this just Massachusetts and California?]
RK: "It's all over the place, Martha, in fact, this is the week of the Day of Silence, in which students from elementary schools - in fact kindergarten, they're aiming at kindergarten this year - all the way up through college, are supposed to remain silent and not return inquiries from teachers or administrators or their classmates, and it's supposed to be in solidarity of their "gay friends" who are being "oppressed in this heterosexist society." It's really an intrusion in the learning process; it's a way to force kids to deal with homosexuality whether they want to or not; and it's - I don't know of any other event that disrupts the school day like this. The day after the Day of Silence is the Day of Truth, and that's the counter-offensive, but the sponsours of that, Alliance Defense Fund, are very careful to point out that activities are scheduled for after school hours, and that the kids are not to disrupt normal instruction. In other words, they're respectful of the atmosphere, they're respectful of kids, and their parents, as opposed to the Day of Silence, where they want to walk all over everybody else. [Ed. Note: Okay, so. First, from The Day of Silence FAQ: "GLSEN encourages students to participate in the Day of Silence in cooperation with their schools. We encourage students to get support from their principals and educators and participate in the school day as needed." The implication that there is massive disruption of the school day has not, in my experience, been substantiated with facts. Most of the protest is silence and handing out cards. The Day of Truth anti-GBLT response effort people do exactly the same thing, only they also wear T-shirts. Their language on school co-operation is similar in several ways: "While it is not necessary for students participating in the “Day of Truth” to ask permission of school officials, they are encouraged to do so. ADF has prepared a letter for participants to share with school officials informing them of the event."]
MK: "Bob, What can parents do if they notice something like this being snuck in to their child's curriculum?"
RK: "Well, they can do a lot of things. They can first bring it to the attention of the school officials, and - they should bring it to the attention of other parents first, so there's strength in numbers, you really shouldn't do something just on your own, it's best if you inform a couple of other parents - because school officials in public schools have a habit of telling you, you're, looking at you sideways, making it out like you're the one crazy one in the barrel, and no one else has complained, they love saying things like that, so you get a few other people to complain, it really helps. And then, if that doesn't help, you go to the school board, and if the school board is not responsive, you take them out! You replace them with people who respect parental rights and respect children's innocence!"
no subject
The article says 6.3% of gays and lesbians had married in the first four years that such marriage was legal in the Netherlands, that is 1.6% per year. That marriage rate is not low. In a population that lives on average to 75 years old with 100% one-in-a-lifetime marriage, the average marriage rate would be 1.3%. And 100% of heterosexuals do not get married, so the rate is even lower. So my back-of-the-envelope calculation show that gays are marrying at roughly twice the rate of heterosexuals.
This rate is low only in one limited sense. I would have expected many gays to have been eagerly waiting for a chance to marry, so a lot of people previously denied marriage would have gotten married in one big spree in the first year. I guess this didn't happen. That is the only news.
Item 8, the book "The Scientist's Crusade," truly irks me. I hate it when self-appointed Christian activists draw dividing lines separating my friends into two groups supposedly opposed to each other. This dividing line, however, is drawn right through the middle of me, a Christian and a scientist. I will gripe more about this later, but I have to run off to teach Sunday School soon. I would have loved the irony if today were one of the days I do a science project as a Sunday School craft project, but we are only baking sugar cookies.
Erin Schram
no subject
The problem with your number, though, is that 75 years needs to exclude the first 16 years, say, to exclude those years in which you can't marry because of your age. Still, I think the GBLT rate is pretty reasonable, despite that. Iirc, the heterosexual marriage rate for a lot of Scandinavian countries is below 50% (and, amusingly, has reportedly now leveled off its decline - something that happened only after lesbian and gay people got marriage rights. Take that, fundamentalist assholes!)
no subject
For the life of me I cannot understand this utterly disproportionate interest/concern with what gays and lesbians are up to at any given moment. I can see making us maybe one or two "action items" but almost -all- of these? What the...?
Or maybe it's just that this is working so well to smokescreen all the other problems that "their" administration is having.
As far as the peer reviewed article being published, as I recall not too long ago there were a couple of students who created a paper that was absolutely incoherent made up of nothing but randomly chosen industry buzzwords and submitted it to hundreds of peer reviewed industry journals - and eleven published it. They then admitted that they hadn't actually -read- it but since the title was plausible and timely, they included it. Now I'm not saying that this is what happened with the Journal of Biosocial Science but I wouldn't be surprised if it were.
no subject
I know. And also, given that they've made being anti-gay a core element of their modern theology, I have to ask, Is this all you have to hold onto? Is this all your religion can offer? But the thing that you have to remember is that you have to accept that this whole thing - that this is God's Will and will will be punished for not obeying it - is utterly real for them. That's how it works. It doesn't seem rational because it's not. It's theological, which is quite different.
Similarly, it's important to note that "not rational" is not a synonym for "not sane." Rational thought was a skill they used to teach in schools back in the 14th and 15th centuries - it was an advanced class. You learned how to engage in rational thought for the purposes of advancing knowledge. Eventually, that flowered into the Enlightenment of the 18th century, the benefits of which we are still enjoying - democratic societies, modern engineering and medicine, and all those good things. What the real hard-liners in their movement - c.f. the creationists and "intelligent design" people - are doing is attacking that, with the intent of replacing it, for most purposes, with religious/magical thought. They want to keep it for science, maybe - as long as it doesn't contradict the Bible - but otherwise, no.
This is what Terry Randall was talking about when he said that things first started to go wrong at the Renaissance. This is what the Intelligent Design people are talking about when they say say that every field of science will have to be re-examined from an "intelligent design" standpoint, because the step and then a miracle occurred is completely acceptable in that framework. That's religious/magical thinking, and it's what predated rational thought.
(Please believe me when I say I'm serious about this. It's the philosophical core of the movement at its most raw level. See many citations within the Dover decision if you want specific examples, if you want who is saying this and where really nailed down about how this is what ID is really, specifically, and intentionally about, by the people who are behind the movement. You have to dig for this stuff because it's the philosophical backbone, not the propaganda - they don't tend to throw this stuff up on every website.)
This is why they can make up whatever crap they want to and slap the word "science" on it and sleep at night. It's because rationalist thought isn't the point; the truth of a matter is decided by the Word of God, as they think they understand it. Therefore, anything agreeing with that Word must be, by definition, true. Anything that opposes it must be, by definition, false - and in their hyper-dualist worldview, wrong and evil.
Now, because most people are not theorists, most people who are rank-and-file membership in this movement haven't thought this out, and aren't in that kind of conscious understanding of what's going on. In the 90s, I'd have said that I strongly suspect that even some of the leadership isn't fully cognizant of it; there was a guest on Concerned Women for America's now-defunct radio show in the late 1990s who I heard and realised that he was the most dangerous member of the fundamentalist right I'd ever heard, because he did understand that there was a difference both in method of thought and method of speaking, and Dr. Beverly did not. That was kind of illuminating.
no subject
Honestly, I keep asking myself the questions " Have these people nothing better to do? Have we solved poverty and homelessness in this country? Has New Orleans been rebuilt? Have all the kids languishing in foster homes been adopted by good Christians? "
For the life of me I cannot understand this utterly disproportionate interest/concern with what gays and lesbians are up to at any given moment.
I can't figure it out myself. Last year when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was considering changing its stance on homosexuality, some people at our church were upset. But they were traditionalists defending traditional doctrine, an internal church matter. That is the closest I have ever gotten face-to-face with an anti-gay agenda. Why would any Christians make a fuss over gay marriage when in all truth it is not going to affect our traditional marriages? How did it become a political football in the last Presidential campaign?
My best guess is that though most Christians are content with helping the poor and spreading God's good news as worthy Christian service, a few Christians want something dramatic. They want to fight evil. They want an enemy, especially an enemy that they can oppose from the comfort of their own home. (Half-heartedness and hypocrisy are common flaws among us American religious folk.) Give them a political enemy, whether it is gays with a civil-rights agenda or the ACLU trying to ban Christian symbols from public spaces, and they rally to the cause.
Moreover, helping the poor is not a good way to get rich or acquire power. Consider Focus on the Family as an example. Dr. James Dobson wrote some books on straight-laced Christ-centered ways to manage a marriage and children, and Focus on the Family started as business that provides such information to customers. As such a business, it is a fine organization. They also make an excellent radio drama, "Adventures in Odyssey." However, it grew to have a political agenda. Dr. Dobson was not content to give advice to only the people who wanted it, he wanted to spread his ideas to the whole country, willing or not. And his efforts to do so provide free publicity that helps his business. I think he is too passionate about his cause to be motivated by greed; nevertheless, the trickle of power, wealth, and fame must be tempting. It lures him into extreme positions and distracts him from asking whether his agenda is really serving God.
Erin Schram