Today's Cultural Warfare Update
May. 8th, 2006 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdToday's Cultural Warfare Update has a comics page! Well, a comic, anyway. Okay, well, it's today's Malfunction Junction. But it made me laff. Yay! It'll be at the end.
And now, today's news:
Vatican official astronomer calls creationism "a form of superstitious paganism," at which I have to go, "Hey, this shit isn't our fault, leave us out of it" ( ^_^ );
The Weekly Standard's Maggie Gallagher, who has become quite the anti-marriage-rights battler, fiercely condemns marriage rights in a long article supporting discrimination against married gay and lesbian couples; her thesis is that marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples, by interfering with licensed agencies of the state's abilities to discriminate against GBLT people, destroys religious liberty. She also warns that it could become as unfashionable to discriminate against GBLT people as it is now to be an overt racist;
Focus on the Family news article on state abortion bans;
FotF cranky about Harvard study on "abstinence pledges";
FotF starts their November election push with a large article on how all their religious issues "hinge on the mid-term election";
I stridently disagree with European hate speech laws, but they have them and have had them for a long time. Now that they're being applied to anti-gay hate speech (and it is hate speech, even if I don't think it should be illegal), Focus on the Family loves talking about them; also note in this article that the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, Focus on the Family, and other fundamentalist groups are getting involved in European court cases;
Focus on the Family upset about pork - because they want that money;
Focus on the Family Dispatches includes an ACTION ITEM to ban embryonic stem-cell research; also includes mini articles containing talking points against marriage rights, accusations that Planned Parenthood supports child molesters, and promotion of their "ex-gay" conferences;
Focus on the Family promotes Concerned Women for America wonk Warren Throckmorton's ex-gay ministry video, I Do Exist;
Focus on the Family: we just need on more judge; we really wish Samuel Alito had attacked Roe v. Wade in his confirmation testimony but understand that "for tactical reasons" he couldn't; the article also attacks decisions overriding laws against birth control;
FotF: Planned Parenthood uses National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month "to generate more business" by not teaching abstinence-only;
9th Circuit throws out DOMA challenge;
Focus on the Family, CWA, the AFA, and others butter up Bill Frist over his support of anti-"indecency" legislation in the Senate; includes ACTION ITEM to support the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act;
Anti-marriage activists deliver signatures for anti-marriage state amendment initiative in Illinois; my first quick reading from their excerpt from it would indicate that it bans civil unions/domestic partnerships too, tho' not by name;
AFA Action Alert demanding Federal intervention on Mt. Soledad Cross;
Liberty Council to defend Virginia businessman who violated county civil rights law by refusing a lesbian customer;
And finally, the Cultural Warfare Update Comic.
----- 1 -----
Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer
IAN JOHNSTON
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=674042006
BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.
Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.
He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.
Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Banned in Boston
The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty.
by Maggie Gallagher
05/15/2006, Volume 011, Issue 33
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/191kgwgh.asp
CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF BOSTON made the announcement on March 10: It was getting out of the adoption business. "We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve. . . . The issue is adoption to same-sex couples."
It was shocking news. Catholic Charities of Boston, one of the nation's oldest adoption agencies, had long specialized in finding good homes for hard to place kids. "Catholic Charities was always at the top of the list," Paula Wisnewski, director of adoption for the Home for Little Wanderers, told the Boston Globe. "It's a shame because it is certainly going to mean that fewer children from foster care are going to find permanent homes." Marylou Sudders, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said simply, "This is a tragedy for kids."
How did this tragedy happen?
It's a complicated story. Massachusetts law prohibited "orientation discrimination" over a decade ago. Then in November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered gay marriage. The majority ruled that only animus against gay people could explain why anyone would want to treat opposite-sex and same-sex couples differently. That same year, partly in response to growing pressure for gay marriage and adoption both here and in Europe, a Vatican statement made clear that placing children with same-sex couples violates Catholic teaching.
Then in October 2005, the Boston Globe broke the news: Boston Catholic Charities had placed a small number of children with same-sex couples. Sean Cardinal O'Malley, who has authority over Catholic Charities of Boston, responded by stating that
the agency would no longer do so.
Seven members of the Boston Catholic Charities board (about one-sixth of the membership) resigned in protest. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights, issued a thundering denunciation of the Catholic hierarchy: "These bishops are putting an ugly political agenda before the needs of very vulnerable children. Every one of the nation's leading children's welfare groups agrees that a parent's sexual orientation is irrelevant to his or her ability to raise a child. What these bishops are doing is shameful, wrong, and has nothing to do whatsoever with faith."
But getting square with the church didn't end Catholic Charities' woes. To operate in Massachusetts, an adoption agency must be licensed by the state. And to get a license, an agency must pledge to obey state laws barring discrimination--including the decade-old ban on orientation discrimination. With the legalization of gay marriage in the state, discrimination against same-sex couples would be outlawed, too.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Many States Continue Fighting to Outlaw Abortion
A recap of what's happening.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040394.cfm
From South Dakota to Hawaii, state legislatures are looking at ways to place limits on abortion, from outright bans to trigger-mechanisms in case Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
South Dakota's Legislature voted to ban abortion earlier this year, with the only exception being when the life of the mother is in danger. Not surprisingly, that law is now caught up in the courts. Eleven other states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio and Kentucky have either banned the practice or have pending legislation to do so.
Meanwhile, six states have codified Roe, guaranteeing the right to abortion should the ruling ever be overturned: California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Nevada and Washington. Hawaii has been dubbed the "abortion state" after the passage of a law eliminating of residency requirements and ending a ban on late-term abortions.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Harvard Virginity-Pledge Study Challenged
Research examined decade-old data.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040393.cfm
Half the teens who take virginity pledges deny they did as early as one year later, at least according to a Harvard University study published in the American Journal of Public Health Research.
Janet Rosenbaum, author of the Harvard study, told Family News in Focus the goal was not to refute virginity pledges.
"This isn't an evaluation of virginity pledges," she said. "It really deals with a methodological issue that you think about when designing a study."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Family Issues Hinge on the Mid-Term Election
Values Voters need to register to vote and be heard.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040402.cfm
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is promising a new day if Democrats win seats and take control of Congress in the November election. Pelosi, who stands to become the first female Speaker of the House, told MSNBC's Tim Russert on Meet the Press Sunday that Democrats would push for a full liberal agenda "from the first day."
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, meanwhile, has been telling Republicans what life would be like under a Democratic Congress: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would again become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., would take over the House Judiciary Committee — both have been antagonists of the president and his judicial nominees.
[...]
"If, indeed, the Republicans do lose the majority in November, we are going to see a total upheaval of social conservative values," she added. "I know there's been a lot of talk of late in terms of how little progress we've seen in the Senate, but if Democrats controlled either chamber — or both chambers — I think there would be a complete halt on those issues."
[...]
"Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., would take over the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee," McClusky told CitizenLink. "Once he took over, abstinence funding would go out the window."
[...]
Swann said the fact of the matter is, even though there are a few liberal Republicans who undermine family values, as well as some Democrats who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, overall, the Democratic Party platform is incredibly liberal.
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
"Dead" Europe Still Kicking
Hundreds of pastors say they will follow Ake Green's example and defy political correctness.
by Stephen Adams reporting from Stockholm and Paris
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040173.cfm
I showed up at a courtroom in the far north of France on a raw January day for Christian Vanneste's sentencing--which was more than he was willing to do.
Vanneste, a member of the French Parliament facing up to six months in jail and a fine of 30,000 euros for alleged "hate speech" against homosexuals, was a no-show. You'd think a personal appearance for such an occasion would be de rigueur. But Monsieur Vanneste was expressing disdain for the government's case against him by sitting it out, and under French law it's optional.
The judge simply read off the sentence--a fine of 12,000 euros (about $14,400) and costs, including 3,000 euros in damages to each of three homosexual organizations that had complained, including Act Up Paris. There was no jail time, but still it was an expensive slapdown for mere words--simply saying heterosexuality was "morally superior" and that homosexuality "endangers the survival of humanity."
[...]
Who would have thought it would be European newspapers, led by the melancholy Danes, defending freedom of the press against Islamic lynch mobs--and American journalists cowering behind the skirts of political correctness over the Muhammad cartoons? While Southern Decadence revelers in New Orleans commit crimes against nature by the score in broad daylight, the mayor of Warsaw, Poland, bans a gay pride parade in his city. And Latvia becomes the first nation in Europe to amend its constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
[...]
Christian legal groups recognize the importance of the legal threat facing Christians in Europe. In winning his freedom, Green received a lot of behind-the-scenes legal help from America and Britain. The Swedish court accepted friend-of-the-court briefs from ADF, Focus on the Family, the Beckett Fund and Christian Lawyers Fellowship (CLF).
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Pork Chop
There's hope yet that Congress will stop funding "Bridges to Nowhere" and give the money to faith-based ministries instead.
by Dale D. Buss
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040175.cfm
Peel back the layers from most social conservatives and there's a fiscal conservative underneath. Support for a balanced federal budget, tax cuts and smaller government is likely to reside with their stalwart opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and judicial tyranny.
That's why one of the most interesting dynamics in Washington these days is how the Republicans' drift from limited-government principles--as infamously embodied in controversy over "earmarks" and the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal--may affect the Christian-conservative backing that has formed the political base for Congress and President Bush over the last six years.
[...]
"At times we've looked past other things because judges are our No. 1 issue," concedes Tom McCluskey, acting vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council, in Washington. "And if there's any category where this administration gets an A-plus, it's in the nomination of judges."
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Planned Parenthood defies investigators - Answering critics of the Marriage Amendment - Liberals ignore stem-cell scandal
Dispatches
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040192.cfm
Planned Parenthood defies investigators
When underage girls have sex, the law calls that rape, because minors are legally incapable of consent. Some of these rape victims become pregnant and show up at abortion clinics seeking an abortion. But rather than notify law enforcement, Planned Parenthood pockets the victims' money, then refuses to assist state investigations of the sexual predators.
[...]
'I can answer that'
If you've followed the debate over same-sex marriage, you've probably seen liberal activists disparage the Marriage Protection Amendment. To people who don't know much beyond what they've heard or read in the media, some of these criticisms can sound convinving. But in every case, there are good answers which reflect the values of most Americans.
Below are five of the more common criticisms. In each case, we offer responses that should give the skeptic you know reason to reconsider. What other responses can you think of? E-mail them to us at citizeneditor@fotf.org.
[...]
Liberals, media shrug off cloning scandal
Only a few short months ago, South Korean stem-cell researcher Woo-suk Hwang seemed on the fast track to winning a Nobel Prize. Less than 10 years after the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, he claimed in two papers published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science to have created the first human cloned embryonic stem-cell lines. This purported feat made international headlines and elevated him from relative obscurity outside of South Korea to the scientific equivalent of an international rock star.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Urge your senators to co-sponsor the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 658)
What it would do: Prohibits human cloning of any kind within the United States.
Why it's necessary: Think of Dolly the cloned sheep, created in 1997 after researchers sacrificed 275 embryos. Dolly later developed crippling arthritis and lung cancer and was euthanized in 2003. Sheep of her kind-Finn Dorset-typically live 11 to 12 years.
Where it stands: Awaiting action from seemingly indifferent GOP leadership in the Senate, who are acting like a clone of biotech companies.
Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle and consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
[...]
Vandalism helps fuel record turnout
Protesters threw a few eggs at the building and defaced billboards announcing the event, but First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County refused to cancel a February date for Love Won Out--a conference that deals with the struggle of same-sex attraction.
And on the day of the conference, the community turned out in force--1,760 people listened to speakers who themselves had struggled with same-sex attraction and found escape from the bondage they felt. That attendance set a record for Love Won Out, now in its eighth year.
----- 9 -----
They Do Exist
Looking for a succinct case that proves homosexuals can change their orientation? A Pennsylvania psychology professor has just the film for you.
Focus on the Family
Citizen Magazine
by Gary Schneeberger
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040218.cfm
You've read in the past, on these very pages, about Focus on the Family's Love Won Out conference and how it is led by men and women who identify themselves as "ex-gays." We've tried to explain to you, over the years, exactly what that term means, and exactly how those men and women left behind homosexuality and the despair they felt while living the lifestyle.
[...]
That leads to some moving stories, like that of Sarah Lipp, who says her same-sex attractions started before she was 10, when she become aware of wanting to get attention from women. Feeling "overwhelmed and trapped" because she wasn't like other little girls, she began to sexualize her thoughts and began acting on those fantasies soon thereafter. Her secret life as a lesbian continued through her time as a seminary student. Even after coming out of homosexuality several years later, she confesses to falling back into an inappropriate relationship with a woman she met at a Christian sports camp.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Final Word
Just One More
by Tom Minnery
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040230.cfm
Looking back on the historic confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, I have only one regret. I wanted him, in his testimony, to blow over the house of cards that is Roe v. Wade. For tactical reasons, he didn't.
Had he done so, people would have been shocked at how flimsy was the argument behind the decision that has permitted the deaths of more than 40 million innocents.
[...]
Let me summarize, for you should know this history. The path toward legalized abortion began in the '60s, when a Planned Parenthood doctor prescribed contraceptives to a married couple in Connecticut, in violation of that state's law. He and the group's executive director, Estelle Griswold, were each fined $100. They appealed and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965.
[...]
And there you have it. The president needs only one more nominee to give the court a majority to overturn Roe, end our national disgrace and once again allow the states to pass laws prohibiting abortion. Please pray that the president gets this opportunity, and that he takes full advantage of it.
Tom Minnery is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy for Focus on the Family and author of Why You Can't Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Q&A: How to Prevent Pregnancy for Unwed Teens
May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, but backers are not teaching the best path.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0040395.cfm
Planned Parenthood wants to leverage National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM) to generate more business. The group is disseminating information on how to get and properly use condoms and where to go for an abortion. But the healthy message of abstinence is left on the back burner.
[...]
Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, yet it claims to want to reduce teen pregnancy. Aren't those conflicting goals?
The mission statement of Planned Parenthood says, "Our mission is to ensure that every individual has the knowledge and freedom to make every child a wanted child and every family a healthy family." But Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the U.S. and around the world. Their belief that every child must be wanted or else killed by abortion is not God's plan for sexuality. Focus on the Family believes that every child is a wanted child from the moment of conception because God is the Creator of that child. It is God's plan to create children from the sexual union of a husband and wife.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Federal Judge Throws Out Challenge to Marriage Laws
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040406.cfm
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge by two gay men to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and to the laws defining marriage in California. The men, who were denied a marriage license in Orange County, claimed that limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman is unconstitutional.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Senate Majority Leader Presses for Decency Enforcement Act
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040404.cfm
The U.S. Senate continues to delay voting on the Broadcasting Decency Enforcement Act -- which would boost fines to as much as $500,000 per violation -- despite pressure to pass the bill from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Christian Post reported.
Lanier Swann, director of government relations for Concerned Women for America, said despite the "great efforts" by Frist, senators are ignoring the wishes of constituents by stalling the legislation.
"We wholeheartedly praise Majority Leader Frist for pushing for unanimous consent of this great piece of legislation," Swann said. "He has shown great leadership on this issue and we commend him for taking a bold stand for the desires of American families."
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
Encourage your senators to support the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. You can contact them through our new CitizenLink Action Center.
[More at URL]
----- 14 ------
Illinois: Petitions Delivered to Put Marriage Amendment on Ballot
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040403.cfm
Protect Marriage Illinois volunteers visited the state Capitol today to hand deliver more than 300,000 signatures requesting a referendum to protect marriage on November's ballot.
They're seeking to amend the state constitution to declare that "marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Help Save the Cross! Take a Stand Against Liberal Activist Judges
American Family Association
May 6, 2006
http://www.afa.net/soledad.asp
A liberal activist judge has ordered the city of San Diego to remove a cross from Mt. Soledad or be fined $5000 a day. Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr., ordered the cross removed because, he said, it violated the separation of church and state. One atheist had complained about the cross in a battle that has been going on for years.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Liberty Counsel Defends Christian Ordered to Copy Pro-Homosexual Videos
By Allie Martin
American Family Association/Agape Press
May 8, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/82006a.asp
(AgapePress) - A Virginia businessman has been ordered by the Arlington Human Rights Commission to duplicate pro-homosexual videos, even though he says reproducing the material would violate his biblical values.
Earlier this year, Tim Bono, owner of Bono Film and Video, was contacted via e-mail by a potential customer, Lilli Vincenz, who asked him to reproduce two documentaries entitled Gay and Proud and Second Largest Minority. Bono informed Vincenz that he was refusing the job as his company does not copy material that is obscene or that could embarrass employees, hurt the company's reputation, or material that otherwise runs counter to the company's Christian values.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
MALFUNCTION JUNCTION - by Matt Milby
And now, today's news:
Vatican official astronomer calls creationism "a form of superstitious paganism," at which I have to go, "Hey, this shit isn't our fault, leave us out of it" ( ^_^ );
The Weekly Standard's Maggie Gallagher, who has become quite the anti-marriage-rights battler, fiercely condemns marriage rights in a long article supporting discrimination against married gay and lesbian couples; her thesis is that marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples, by interfering with licensed agencies of the state's abilities to discriminate against GBLT people, destroys religious liberty. She also warns that it could become as unfashionable to discriminate against GBLT people as it is now to be an overt racist;
Focus on the Family news article on state abortion bans;
FotF cranky about Harvard study on "abstinence pledges";
FotF starts their November election push with a large article on how all their religious issues "hinge on the mid-term election";
I stridently disagree with European hate speech laws, but they have them and have had them for a long time. Now that they're being applied to anti-gay hate speech (and it is hate speech, even if I don't think it should be illegal), Focus on the Family loves talking about them; also note in this article that the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, Focus on the Family, and other fundamentalist groups are getting involved in European court cases;
Focus on the Family upset about pork - because they want that money;
Focus on the Family Dispatches includes an ACTION ITEM to ban embryonic stem-cell research; also includes mini articles containing talking points against marriage rights, accusations that Planned Parenthood supports child molesters, and promotion of their "ex-gay" conferences;
Focus on the Family promotes Concerned Women for America wonk Warren Throckmorton's ex-gay ministry video, I Do Exist;
Focus on the Family: we just need on more judge; we really wish Samuel Alito had attacked Roe v. Wade in his confirmation testimony but understand that "for tactical reasons" he couldn't; the article also attacks decisions overriding laws against birth control;
FotF: Planned Parenthood uses National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month "to generate more business" by not teaching abstinence-only;
9th Circuit throws out DOMA challenge;
Focus on the Family, CWA, the AFA, and others butter up Bill Frist over his support of anti-"indecency" legislation in the Senate; includes ACTION ITEM to support the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act;
Anti-marriage activists deliver signatures for anti-marriage state amendment initiative in Illinois; my first quick reading from their excerpt from it would indicate that it bans civil unions/domestic partnerships too, tho' not by name;
AFA Action Alert demanding Federal intervention on Mt. Soledad Cross;
Liberty Council to defend Virginia businessman who violated county civil rights law by refusing a lesbian customer;
And finally, the Cultural Warfare Update Comic.
----- 1 -----
Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer
IAN JOHNSTON
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=674042006
BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.
Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.
He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.
Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Banned in Boston
The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty.
by Maggie Gallagher
05/15/2006, Volume 011, Issue 33
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/191kgwgh.asp
CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF BOSTON made the announcement on March 10: It was getting out of the adoption business. "We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve. . . . The issue is adoption to same-sex couples."
It was shocking news. Catholic Charities of Boston, one of the nation's oldest adoption agencies, had long specialized in finding good homes for hard to place kids. "Catholic Charities was always at the top of the list," Paula Wisnewski, director of adoption for the Home for Little Wanderers, told the Boston Globe. "It's a shame because it is certainly going to mean that fewer children from foster care are going to find permanent homes." Marylou Sudders, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said simply, "This is a tragedy for kids."
How did this tragedy happen?
It's a complicated story. Massachusetts law prohibited "orientation discrimination" over a decade ago. Then in November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered gay marriage. The majority ruled that only animus against gay people could explain why anyone would want to treat opposite-sex and same-sex couples differently. That same year, partly in response to growing pressure for gay marriage and adoption both here and in Europe, a Vatican statement made clear that placing children with same-sex couples violates Catholic teaching.
Then in October 2005, the Boston Globe broke the news: Boston Catholic Charities had placed a small number of children with same-sex couples. Sean Cardinal O'Malley, who has authority over Catholic Charities of Boston, responded by stating that
the agency would no longer do so.
Seven members of the Boston Catholic Charities board (about one-sixth of the membership) resigned in protest. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights, issued a thundering denunciation of the Catholic hierarchy: "These bishops are putting an ugly political agenda before the needs of very vulnerable children. Every one of the nation's leading children's welfare groups agrees that a parent's sexual orientation is irrelevant to his or her ability to raise a child. What these bishops are doing is shameful, wrong, and has nothing to do whatsoever with faith."
But getting square with the church didn't end Catholic Charities' woes. To operate in Massachusetts, an adoption agency must be licensed by the state. And to get a license, an agency must pledge to obey state laws barring discrimination--including the decade-old ban on orientation discrimination. With the legalization of gay marriage in the state, discrimination against same-sex couples would be outlawed, too.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Many States Continue Fighting to Outlaw Abortion
A recap of what's happening.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040394.cfm
From South Dakota to Hawaii, state legislatures are looking at ways to place limits on abortion, from outright bans to trigger-mechanisms in case Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
South Dakota's Legislature voted to ban abortion earlier this year, with the only exception being when the life of the mother is in danger. Not surprisingly, that law is now caught up in the courts. Eleven other states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio and Kentucky have either banned the practice or have pending legislation to do so.
Meanwhile, six states have codified Roe, guaranteeing the right to abortion should the ruling ever be overturned: California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Nevada and Washington. Hawaii has been dubbed the "abortion state" after the passage of a law eliminating of residency requirements and ending a ban on late-term abortions.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Harvard Virginity-Pledge Study Challenged
Research examined decade-old data.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040393.cfm
Half the teens who take virginity pledges deny they did as early as one year later, at least according to a Harvard University study published in the American Journal of Public Health Research.
Janet Rosenbaum, author of the Harvard study, told Family News in Focus the goal was not to refute virginity pledges.
"This isn't an evaluation of virginity pledges," she said. "It really deals with a methodological issue that you think about when designing a study."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Family Issues Hinge on the Mid-Term Election
Values Voters need to register to vote and be heard.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040402.cfm
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is promising a new day if Democrats win seats and take control of Congress in the November election. Pelosi, who stands to become the first female Speaker of the House, told MSNBC's Tim Russert on Meet the Press Sunday that Democrats would push for a full liberal agenda "from the first day."
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, meanwhile, has been telling Republicans what life would be like under a Democratic Congress: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would again become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., would take over the House Judiciary Committee — both have been antagonists of the president and his judicial nominees.
[...]
"If, indeed, the Republicans do lose the majority in November, we are going to see a total upheaval of social conservative values," she added. "I know there's been a lot of talk of late in terms of how little progress we've seen in the Senate, but if Democrats controlled either chamber — or both chambers — I think there would be a complete halt on those issues."
[...]
"Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., would take over the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee," McClusky told CitizenLink. "Once he took over, abstinence funding would go out the window."
[...]
Swann said the fact of the matter is, even though there are a few liberal Republicans who undermine family values, as well as some Democrats who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, overall, the Democratic Party platform is incredibly liberal.
[More at URL]
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"Dead" Europe Still Kicking
Hundreds of pastors say they will follow Ake Green's example and defy political correctness.
by Stephen Adams reporting from Stockholm and Paris
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040173.cfm
I showed up at a courtroom in the far north of France on a raw January day for Christian Vanneste's sentencing--which was more than he was willing to do.
Vanneste, a member of the French Parliament facing up to six months in jail and a fine of 30,000 euros for alleged "hate speech" against homosexuals, was a no-show. You'd think a personal appearance for such an occasion would be de rigueur. But Monsieur Vanneste was expressing disdain for the government's case against him by sitting it out, and under French law it's optional.
The judge simply read off the sentence--a fine of 12,000 euros (about $14,400) and costs, including 3,000 euros in damages to each of three homosexual organizations that had complained, including Act Up Paris. There was no jail time, but still it was an expensive slapdown for mere words--simply saying heterosexuality was "morally superior" and that homosexuality "endangers the survival of humanity."
[...]
Who would have thought it would be European newspapers, led by the melancholy Danes, defending freedom of the press against Islamic lynch mobs--and American journalists cowering behind the skirts of political correctness over the Muhammad cartoons? While Southern Decadence revelers in New Orleans commit crimes against nature by the score in broad daylight, the mayor of Warsaw, Poland, bans a gay pride parade in his city. And Latvia becomes the first nation in Europe to amend its constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
[...]
Christian legal groups recognize the importance of the legal threat facing Christians in Europe. In winning his freedom, Green received a lot of behind-the-scenes legal help from America and Britain. The Swedish court accepted friend-of-the-court briefs from ADF, Focus on the Family, the Beckett Fund and Christian Lawyers Fellowship (CLF).
[More at URL]
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Pork Chop
There's hope yet that Congress will stop funding "Bridges to Nowhere" and give the money to faith-based ministries instead.
by Dale D. Buss
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0040175.cfm
Peel back the layers from most social conservatives and there's a fiscal conservative underneath. Support for a balanced federal budget, tax cuts and smaller government is likely to reside with their stalwart opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and judicial tyranny.
That's why one of the most interesting dynamics in Washington these days is how the Republicans' drift from limited-government principles--as infamously embodied in controversy over "earmarks" and the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal--may affect the Christian-conservative backing that has formed the political base for Congress and President Bush over the last six years.
[...]
"At times we've looked past other things because judges are our No. 1 issue," concedes Tom McCluskey, acting vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council, in Washington. "And if there's any category where this administration gets an A-plus, it's in the nomination of judges."
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Planned Parenthood defies investigators - Answering critics of the Marriage Amendment - Liberals ignore stem-cell scandal
Dispatches
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040192.cfm
Planned Parenthood defies investigators
When underage girls have sex, the law calls that rape, because minors are legally incapable of consent. Some of these rape victims become pregnant and show up at abortion clinics seeking an abortion. But rather than notify law enforcement, Planned Parenthood pockets the victims' money, then refuses to assist state investigations of the sexual predators.
[...]
'I can answer that'
If you've followed the debate over same-sex marriage, you've probably seen liberal activists disparage the Marriage Protection Amendment. To people who don't know much beyond what they've heard or read in the media, some of these criticisms can sound convinving. But in every case, there are good answers which reflect the values of most Americans.
Below are five of the more common criticisms. In each case, we offer responses that should give the skeptic you know reason to reconsider. What other responses can you think of? E-mail them to us at citizeneditor@fotf.org.
[...]
Liberals, media shrug off cloning scandal
Only a few short months ago, South Korean stem-cell researcher Woo-suk Hwang seemed on the fast track to winning a Nobel Prize. Less than 10 years after the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, he claimed in two papers published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science to have created the first human cloned embryonic stem-cell lines. This purported feat made international headlines and elevated him from relative obscurity outside of South Korea to the scientific equivalent of an international rock star.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Urge your senators to co-sponsor the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 658)
What it would do: Prohibits human cloning of any kind within the United States.
Why it's necessary: Think of Dolly the cloned sheep, created in 1997 after researchers sacrificed 275 embryos. Dolly later developed crippling arthritis and lung cancer and was euthanized in 2003. Sheep of her kind-Finn Dorset-typically live 11 to 12 years.
Where it stands: Awaiting action from seemingly indifferent GOP leadership in the Senate, who are acting like a clone of biotech companies.
Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle and consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
[...]
Vandalism helps fuel record turnout
Protesters threw a few eggs at the building and defaced billboards announcing the event, but First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County refused to cancel a February date for Love Won Out--a conference that deals with the struggle of same-sex attraction.
And on the day of the conference, the community turned out in force--1,760 people listened to speakers who themselves had struggled with same-sex attraction and found escape from the bondage they felt. That attendance set a record for Love Won Out, now in its eighth year.
----- 9 -----
They Do Exist
Looking for a succinct case that proves homosexuals can change their orientation? A Pennsylvania psychology professor has just the film for you.
Focus on the Family
Citizen Magazine
by Gary Schneeberger
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040218.cfm
You've read in the past, on these very pages, about Focus on the Family's Love Won Out conference and how it is led by men and women who identify themselves as "ex-gays." We've tried to explain to you, over the years, exactly what that term means, and exactly how those men and women left behind homosexuality and the despair they felt while living the lifestyle.
[...]
That leads to some moving stories, like that of Sarah Lipp, who says her same-sex attractions started before she was 10, when she become aware of wanting to get attention from women. Feeling "overwhelmed and trapped" because she wasn't like other little girls, she began to sexualize her thoughts and began acting on those fantasies soon thereafter. Her secret life as a lesbian continued through her time as a seminary student. Even after coming out of homosexuality several years later, she confesses to falling back into an inappropriate relationship with a woman she met at a Christian sports camp.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Final Word
Just One More
by Tom Minnery
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
May 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/departments/a0040230.cfm
Looking back on the historic confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, I have only one regret. I wanted him, in his testimony, to blow over the house of cards that is Roe v. Wade. For tactical reasons, he didn't.
Had he done so, people would have been shocked at how flimsy was the argument behind the decision that has permitted the deaths of more than 40 million innocents.
[...]
Let me summarize, for you should know this history. The path toward legalized abortion began in the '60s, when a Planned Parenthood doctor prescribed contraceptives to a married couple in Connecticut, in violation of that state's law. He and the group's executive director, Estelle Griswold, were each fined $100. They appealed and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965.
[...]
And there you have it. The president needs only one more nominee to give the court a majority to overturn Roe, end our national disgrace and once again allow the states to pass laws prohibiting abortion. Please pray that the president gets this opportunity, and that he takes full advantage of it.
Tom Minnery is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy for Focus on the Family and author of Why You Can't Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture.
[More at URL]
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Q&A: How to Prevent Pregnancy for Unwed Teens
May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, but backers are not teaching the best path.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0040395.cfm
Planned Parenthood wants to leverage National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM) to generate more business. The group is disseminating information on how to get and properly use condoms and where to go for an abortion. But the healthy message of abstinence is left on the back burner.
[...]
Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, yet it claims to want to reduce teen pregnancy. Aren't those conflicting goals?
The mission statement of Planned Parenthood says, "Our mission is to ensure that every individual has the knowledge and freedom to make every child a wanted child and every family a healthy family." But Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the U.S. and around the world. Their belief that every child must be wanted or else killed by abortion is not God's plan for sexuality. Focus on the Family believes that every child is a wanted child from the moment of conception because God is the Creator of that child. It is God's plan to create children from the sexual union of a husband and wife.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Federal Judge Throws Out Challenge to Marriage Laws
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040406.cfm
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge by two gay men to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and to the laws defining marriage in California. The men, who were denied a marriage license in Orange County, claimed that limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman is unconstitutional.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Senate Majority Leader Presses for Decency Enforcement Act
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040404.cfm
The U.S. Senate continues to delay voting on the Broadcasting Decency Enforcement Act -- which would boost fines to as much as $500,000 per violation -- despite pressure to pass the bill from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Christian Post reported.
Lanier Swann, director of government relations for Concerned Women for America, said despite the "great efforts" by Frist, senators are ignoring the wishes of constituents by stalling the legislation.
"We wholeheartedly praise Majority Leader Frist for pushing for unanimous consent of this great piece of legislation," Swann said. "He has shown great leadership on this issue and we commend him for taking a bold stand for the desires of American families."
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
Encourage your senators to support the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. You can contact them through our new CitizenLink Action Center.
[More at URL]
----- 14 ------
Illinois: Petitions Delivered to Put Marriage Amendment on Ballot
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 8, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040403.cfm
Protect Marriage Illinois volunteers visited the state Capitol today to hand deliver more than 300,000 signatures requesting a referendum to protect marriage on November's ballot.
They're seeking to amend the state constitution to declare that "marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Help Save the Cross! Take a Stand Against Liberal Activist Judges
American Family Association
May 6, 2006
http://www.afa.net/soledad.asp
A liberal activist judge has ordered the city of San Diego to remove a cross from Mt. Soledad or be fined $5000 a day. Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr., ordered the cross removed because, he said, it violated the separation of church and state. One atheist had complained about the cross in a battle that has been going on for years.
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Liberty Counsel Defends Christian Ordered to Copy Pro-Homosexual Videos
By Allie Martin
American Family Association/Agape Press
May 8, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/82006a.asp
(AgapePress) - A Virginia businessman has been ordered by the Arlington Human Rights Commission to duplicate pro-homosexual videos, even though he says reproducing the material would violate his biblical values.
Earlier this year, Tim Bono, owner of Bono Film and Video, was contacted via e-mail by a potential customer, Lilli Vincenz, who asked him to reproduce two documentaries entitled Gay and Proud and Second Largest Minority. Bono informed Vincenz that he was refusing the job as his company does not copy material that is obscene or that could embarrass employees, hurt the company's reputation, or material that otherwise runs counter to the company's Christian values.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
MALFUNCTION JUNCTION - by Matt Milby
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 01:35 pm (UTC)He and I are both on the GT-PFRC e-mail list. Brother Guy groused that the person quoting him was more interested in controversial soundbites than information.
The e-list also includes some self-proclaimed pagans. Who are arguing over what the words he used mean, since they (the pagans on the list) have different definitions. They haven't really challenged his basic point. Which was something a number of other Christians - including me - have said: That Creationism does not fit in with mainstream Christian beliefs.
*blinks.*
Date: 2006-05-09 02:34 pm (UTC)Our response
Marriage between two people of the same sex was not legal anywhere in America throughout or history until 2003. That's the year when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court voted 4-3 to allow same-sex couples to wed. But society has long recognized many limits on who could marry. A man cannot legally marry more than one woman, nor can a parent marry his or her child. The institution of marriage has always, in every society, meant the union of one man and one woman. Marriage predates the ACLU, the U.S. Constitution, even the Bible itself.
... Do they really believe that? Some African cultures and several Middle Eastern ones practiced polygamy, usually polygyny rather than polyandry. We'll not dwell on the Mormons, for that matter. Sometimes I just have to ask whether they're knowingly lying or truly that ignorant.
Re: *blinks.*
Date: 2006-05-09 03:13 pm (UTC)What're you, new? Of course they're lying. Read previous CWU body texts for details. Search for "Editor's Note:" - when there's a particularly interesting or novel lie, I point out how, where, and why they're doing it. I think Friday's CWU talked about Paul Cameron, whose entire career is built around lying about GBLT people so fundamentalist leaders can quote him to attack right rights of lesbian and gay people, including the right to exist. (He's pro-death penalty - tho' he lies about that now, too. Thing is, I've been handed a copy of his "Death Penalty for Homosexuality" pamphlet, so I know firsthand.)
So YES, for the love of god, they're lying. Continually. If they say the sky is blue, check.
This is a huge part of the "worldview" thing. Their criterion for "is it true" is "does it match what we think about the Bible," not "does it match observable reality." I presume this lets them lie nonstop with assuaged consciences, since they're convinced they're serving God.
Re: *blinks.*
Date: 2006-05-09 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 02:16 am (UTC)On the other hand, do you think these guys could maybe stop saying “the homosexual agenda” over and over as if they were tape loops?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 06:49 pm (UTC)How do you feel about pharmacists refusing to dispense birth control?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-12 10:38 pm (UTC)I wouldn't want to print creationist stuff either, but if the only printer in town refuses to print material for one side or another, the printer is put into a position of undue (imo) exclusionary power over public debate.