Today's Cultural Warfare Update
May. 15th, 2006 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI've got a copy of a paper-mail-based mailing from the Faith and Freedom Network trying to rally everybody to get those signatures in, saying that they're well under their targets and need to really step it up. It's possible this is true, but just as likely (if not more likely) that they're lying about that; we just don't know. I also have a letter from a group raising money for the referendum battle, which is assuming it makes it to the ballot - they specifically talk about how they think the FFN is lying, and that they're actually on signature goal track, and are saying otherwise so they can claim a huge comeback just in time to make it to the ballot. I don't know what good this would do, but, well, now you have it.
And now, today's news.
Supreme Court allows Washington State decision regarding lesbian child custody to stand;
Evangelical Patrick Henry College fires some faculty, loses others, all over challenging students too hard to think - one was fired for telling a student that a scripture quotation in response to a question was "simplistic";
Another article on Patrick Henry College, which sends more interns to the Bush White House than any other college;
Focus on the Family and "Medical Institute for Sexual Health," a medical group set up to push abstinence-only approaches to sexual health issues, claim that studies showing abstinence-only education doesn't work are wrong;
Slate article on the Medical Institute for Sexual Health;
Focus on the Family attacks San Francisco sexual health text-message-driven service;
FotF ACTION ITEM against CBS; they're getting involved with the Traditional Values Coalition, which, amoungst other things, wants transgendered people to be involuntarily institutionalised as delusional - it's very Soviet of them, it really is - to condemn the GLAAD PSAs that CBS is running; FotF has not traditionally been involved with the more coarsely-spoken TVC, preferring to put a softer edge on its anti-gay activism;
FotF condemns Democratic efforts to get a vote on a stem cell research bill;
Focus on the Family keeps the drumbeat going on the lie that emergency contraception causes abortions;
Howard Dean sticks his foot in his mouth again, Focus on the Family likes it and uses it to warn that Democratic votes in the fall will lead to FAG MARRIAGE!!!1!;
Focus on the Family displeased that the US Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a Washington State case which granted joint custody of a child she and her former partner had;
***** It's not a fluke; Concerned Women for America are again attacking "transhumanism" by name, condemning any attempt to enhance human capabilities via genetic research;
CWA links to a story about an effort by a local fundamentalist in northern Georgia to get the Harry Potter books banned;
Concerned Women for America attack morning-after pill and condoms both in the same article;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM: the anti-marriage-rights "Marriage Protection Amendment" vote will be on June 6th; they're trying to get another around of anti-gay calls and letters to Congress before then;
AFA goes over the End of the Spear film again, with the controversy amoungst the fundamentalist movement over the casting of a gay actor in one of the major roles; various groups assert that no lesbian or gay actor should ever be cast in a "Christian" film;
AFA condemns use of Plan B, the emergency-contraception pill - see above also;
Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight condemn California education bill SB 1437, which has now passed the Senate; they're calling for a veto;
AFA/Agape Press worry about VP Cheney's opposition to the anti-marriage "Marriage Protection Amendment," and also that Laura Bush doesn't want it used as a campaign issue;
Palm Beach County (Florida) school district blocks access to GBLT group websites, but does not block access to anti-gay groups such as NARTH, the AFA, Focus on the Family, and so on;
Andrew Sullivan gives his take on the latest permutation in the Air Force religious-harassment scandal and the various revisions to the guidelines - and the way that the fundamentalists keep getting them re-revised.
----- 1 -----
High court declines to hear gay parent case
Move leaves intact state ruling that OKs a lesbian to seek parental rights
Associated Press
Updated: 11:36 a.m. ET May 15, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12700602/
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to block a gay woman from seeking parental rights to a child she had helped raise with her partner.
Justices could have used the case to clarify the rights of gays in child custody disputes stemming from nontraditional families.
They declined, without comment, to disturb a ruling of Washington state’s highest court that said Sue Ellen Carvin could pursue ties to the girl as a “de facto parent.” The girl is now 11.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
A Clash of Ideas at Evangelical College
Five of Patrick Henry's 16 faculty members leave over its mission and curriculum.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
May 13, 2006
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON — Patrick Henry College, the small evangelical Christian school founded six years ago to train students for careers in public life, gained national prominence for placing many students in White House internships and other government positions. Now five of the school's 16 faculty members have left, saying the school's approach is too doctrinaire to prepare students for the realities of American politics.
[...]
The controversy began last fall after M. Todd Bates, a professor of rhetoric, delivered a lecture about St. Augustine's search for truth that Farris faulted for not mentioning the Bible or the college's Christian mission. Patrick Henry does not offer its professors tenure, and after Bates was criticized, he and eight other professors made a pact that if one of them was dismissed, the rest would leave in protest, Noe said.
The pact took effect this spring after Farris told government professor Erik Root he would not be rehired next year unless Root explained why he told a student, in the presence of one of her parents, that responding to a question by quoting Scripture was "simplistic."
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Debating The Fundamentals: Professors Leave PHC in Rift
Charlie Jackson
Online as of 15 May 2006
http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=5&newsid=12026
May 12, 2006 -- It’s mid-day at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville and Professor Erik Root sits behind his office door with a student. Outside, two other students wait for Root, but for the moment grades and assignments aren’t on their minds—Root’s door is.
[...]
Sophomore Farahn Morgan, who is intent on leaving the school, summed up the academic debate.
“The faculty has said the Bible is the ultimate truth and what we base our faith on,” she said. “But also that God endows people with natural reasoning abilities, what we call General Revelation, in addition to scripture to come to truth.”
[...]
More than anything, what bothers Hoskins is the tone of the discussion on campus. Debate is fine, the students say, but minority viewpoints, or viewpoints contrary to those held by Farris, are shot down.
“They will characterize those that disagree as bad people,” Hoskins said. “They will say ‘You are destroying our unity.’”
[...]
Since the college’s inception, Stacey was a popular figure on campus. He taught the school’s flagship course, Freedom’s Foundations. But shortly after the brouhaha over academic freedom began, Stacey says he told his students that if they thought he was not teaching them in a Christian worldview, they ought to leave. And one student did. Stacey said this wasn’t the first time he asked students this question. But this time, the consequences were dire. Stacey was fired.
[...]
“I’ve been told there are things I cannot teach,” Root said. “There are things I cannot ask.” At most any liberal arts college, political science students study Thomas Hobbes and his State of Nature, in which the lack of government causes chaos and an ugly, every-man-for-himself state.
[...]
“We don’t know from day to day, what is going to be accepted or what is not going to be accepted,” Root said. “It’s a moving target.”
That “moving target” has had an impact on discussion, the professors say.
“Students are afraid to raise questions or criticize the school,” Noe said.
[...]
Among the thousands of colleges and universities across the country, Patrick Henry, during various semesters, has sent more interns to the White House than any other. The school doesn’t stray from its present-day vision to spawn Christian conservatives who will work in government and politics.
Students flock to the school located 6,500-resident town set on leading a Christian lifestyle and creating change. Browning, however, sees a shade of irony.
“They’re not so much conservatives,” she said. “They’re progressives trying to [create] change.”
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Analysis of Negative Abstinence Reports Reveals Faulty Logic
Study shows attacks are rooted in false representation of scientific evidence.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040477.cfm
A flurry of news stories proclaiming abstinence education does not decrease unwanted pregnancies among unmarried teens, and that teaching it is dangerous, prompted one group to investigate the source of those claims.
The Medical Institute for Sexual Health — a nonprofit organization dedicated to evaluating scientific evidence — examined two recent reports in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The position papers, written by a team headed by John Santelli, maintained that abstinence education is "scientifically and ethically problematic."
[More at URL]
[Editor's Note: "The Medical Institute for Sexual Health" was set up to push abstinence as the solution to all sexual issues. Their Federal funding has come via earmarks, a classic source of tasty, tasty pork. See next article.]
----- 5 -----
Chastity, M.D.
Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, Congress.
By Amanda Schaffer
Slate
Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006, at 12:08 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2139675/
As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents. But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use the institute's work.
Based in Texas and Washington, D.C., the Medical Institute provides technical material on sexual health to youth organizations and educators. Its founder, Dr. Joe McIlhaney, served as adviser to President George W. Bush while he was governor of Texas and now sits on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, as well as on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC. Unlike some conservative groups, the Medical Institute strives for medical respectability, focusing on public-health arguments in favor of virginity rather than moral virtues. The institute objects to being called "abstinence-only," perhaps because it wants to distance itself from more blatantly ideological groups, or perhaps because according to a recent poll, most Americans believe that abstinence-only education doesn't work. Yet the institute mainly discusses condoms to disparage them and sexually transmitted diseases to assert that only abstinence offers reliable protection. Its core message is that "the behavior choices necessary for optimal health are sexual abstinence for unmarried individuals and faithfulness within marriage."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Health Agency Targets Pre-Teens with Sexual Information
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040475.cfm
The San Francisco Department of Health has developed a text-messaging service to provide children as young as 12 with "sexual health information" -- without their parents' knowledge.
The "SexInfo" service, according to CNSNews.com, allows users to seek sex-related information by using the typical shorthand employed in cell-phone text messaging: "SEXIBFO: reply with code for answrs. 'A1' if ur condom broke 'B2' if u think ur pregnant 'C3' to find out about STDs 'D4' to find out about HIV."
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
CBS Airing Pro-Gay Spots for Free
The announcements are being run during lucrative daytime soap operas.
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink Features
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040472.cfm
CBS is teaming up with a radical gay-activist group to air public service announcements (PSAs) during daytime soap operas. Pro-family groups are asking the network to pull the spots that, unlike commercials, are carried by the network for free.
One spot, backed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), features two General Hospital actors saying "every day people young and old face hatred, discrimination and even violence because they're gay. Prejudice and discrimination of any kind is wrong…"
[...]
"The networks have to run these PSAs, but they usually run them at night when most people don't see them" she told Family News in Focus. "This is nothing more than to try to promote homosexuality and the acceptance of homosexuality."
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
You can contact CBS through this form on the network's Web site.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Senate Democrats Press for Life-Destroying Research
Call to fund embryonic stem-cell experiments ignores success with adult stem cells.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040473.cfm
Senate Democrats made a final attempt Thursday to get the controversial Stem Cell Enhancement Act to the floor for a vote — even though President Bush promises a veto.
Democrats called on Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to bring the legislation up for a vote.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Christian Pharmacy Students Pit Ethics Against Employment
Advances by abortion advocates reverberate in the classroom.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 15, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040489.cfm
Christian pharmacy students are facing a career that may find them at odds with the demands of customers and abortion-activist groups; they may find their employers or their states demanding that they prescribe pills that could induce an abortion.
Cristina Gonzalez, a pharmacy student at Christ-centered Palm Beach Atlantic University, said her classes are tackling the issues head on. She's already decided where she stands on prescribing drugs such as the morning-after pill that can sometimes cause an early abortion.
[Editor's note: THIS IS A LIE. The way the morning-after pill works means that chemically, it cannot work in the event of an active pregnancy. What they're doing is trying to date "pregnancy" back to "fertilised egg," despite the fact that around 70% of fertilised eggs fail to implant. This is also an attack against most forms of birth control, and no, that's not an accident. See previous CWUs for details.]
----- 10 -----
Gay-Activist Group Returns DNC Donation Over Marriage Misstatement
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) returned a $5,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee after DNC chairman Howard Dean incorrectly said the party's 2004 platform declared "marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says." — a remark he later corrected.
According to The Associated Press, Dean's mischaracterization came during an interview with Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network News last week in which he attempted to court religious conservatives.
[...]
Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issues analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said she hopes the effort to mislead will bolster support for marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Gay Parental-Rights Case Troubles Pro-Family Groups
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040495.cfm
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a 2004 Washington State Supreme Court ruling which granted a lesbian permission to pursue some parental rights with the daughter of her ex-partner.
Ellen Carvin and Page Britain lived together in the 1990s, and during that time Britain conceived a child through artificial insemination. In 2001, Britain left the relationship and later married the child's biological father. Both parents agree that they want to raise the girl, who is now 11 years old, in a traditional household and do not wish Carvin to have parental rights.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Case Western Professor Awarded Grant for ‘Human Enhancement’ Research
Concerned Women for America
5/12/2006
By Cara Cook
CWA and others shocked by NIH backing of transhumanist ideology.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10745/CWA/misc/index.htm
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $773,000 grant to Maxwell Mehlman, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, to develop ethical guidelines for the use of humans in “genetic enhancement” research, which seeks to develop human beings who are smarter, stronger and more attractive.
Genetic enhancement, an application of so-called transhumanism, moves beyond treatment to heal or restore so as to develop technology that will perfect and add to normal human functioning.
[...]
The WTA Web site lists Maxwell Mehlman as a scholar who supports transhumanist study, which includes human enhancement research. According to Mehlman, genetic techniques currently used for therapeutic purposes have the potential to be used for human enhancement. One such treatment is erythropoietin, a substance that can boost athletic performance. Mehlman hopes to develop “legitimate, approved ways of conducting research” so that substances like erythropoietin cannot go underground for criminal use.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
School board to make decision about Harry Potter books
The Associated Press - SUWANEE, Ga.
Online as of 15 May 2006
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=75060
The Gwinnett County Board of Education is expected to make a decision this week on whether "Harry Potter" books should remain on public school shelves.
An evangelical Christian who has three children at J-C Magill Elementary School -- Laura Mallory -- has objected to the books. She says in complaint forms she objects to what she calls the books -- quote -- "evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
ACOG Tells Women to Get Morning-After Pill Prescriptions in Advance
Physicians’ association perpetuates risky sexual ideology.
Concerned Women for America
5/15/2006
By Cara Cook
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10753/CWA/life/index.htm
In the wake of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision not to sell Plan B (the morning-after pill) over the counter, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is advising women to get prescriptions for the emergency contraception before a possible unwanted pregnancy. The pill, claims the group of gynecologists, is the perfect solution to condom failure, forgetting to take one’s usual contraception, and rape.
ACOG’s lack of confidence in condoms and a woman’s capacity to remember is interesting in light of the widespread confidence among health and reproductive rights groups that condoms and contraception are the best solution to curbing STDs and preventing unintended pregnancies.
[...]
For example, condoms have a 15 percent failure rate, prevent the spread of only about one-fifth of the more than 25 currently identified sexually transmitted diseases, and the outpouring of contraceptive devices over the past two decades has clearly increased rather than controlled reckless sexual behavior. These same groups that masquerade as the objective servants of science and medicine will not give an inch of credit to abstinence education, despite its past and current success in getting to the root of the problem of reckless sexual behavior: not waiting until marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
U.S. Senate To Vote On Homosexual Marriage June 6TH
The most important vote in the Senate this year! The future of our children is at stake.
American Family Association
Online as of March 15, 2006
http://www3.capwiz.com/afanet/8762656.html
On June 6th the U.S. Senate will vote on the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Time is short! It is critical that you contact your senators and ask them to vote for the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA).
Once homosexual marriage is legal, our religious liberties will be stripped away. Even pro-homosexual marriage advocates agree with that statement. To understand how this will happen, please take time read Dr. Maggie Gallagher’s rather long and accurate article by clicking here. Print it out and give a copy to your pastor!
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
A Blunted Spear? Controversy Over Film Challenges Evangelical Community
Analysis by Ed Vitagliano
American Family Association
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006a.asp
(AgapePress) - It must have seemed like a slam-dunk, a no-brainer. Take what is arguably the most famous -- even iconic -- missionary story of the last century and make it into a major motion picture. It could inspire Christians and perhaps even reach unbelievers with the Gospel.
[...]
After all, if actors aren't perfect messengers, neither are preachers. Is it biblical to say, then, as Green and Saint do, that the message is what is important, not the messenger? Is this a defensible New Testament position?
Absolutely not, says Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum and founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and the Christian Filmmakers Academy. He insists that there is a difference between End of the Spear -- produced by Christians with a Christ-centered message -- and movies like Lord of the Rings or Chariots of Fire, "both of which were secular productions from beginning to end that cast homosexuals in lead roles."
[...]
"Not only did they knowingly and wholeheartedly embrace this homosexual activist as their lead actor, but they are now telling the world that their decision was loving, correct and biblical," Phillips added. "For this reason, I believe we can objectively describe their actions as reprehensible."
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Christian Doctor Critical of Physicians' Push for 'Morning-After' Pill
By Mary Rettig
American Family Association
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A Christian OB-GYN in Kentucky says the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is taking a bold step with its new "Ask Me" campaign. He contends the doctors association didn't examine all of the evidence before promoting the "morning-after" pill.
Last week the ACOG launched the campaign urging doctors to encourage women of child-bearing age to get prescriptions of the morning-after pill before they needed it. Dr. Iffath Hoskins, an ACOG spokesman, says the campaign is his group's way of "standing up for our patients." One of the goals of the campaign, he says, is "to make awareness of EC [emergency contraception] so widespread that it's no longer a best-kept secret in medicine." The theme of the campaign is "Accidents happen. Morning afters can be tough."
Christian physician Dr. David Hager contends the ACOG's motive behind its campaign is to push for over-the-counter sales of the drug. In fact, ACOG President Michael T. Mennuti states that his group's "proactive approach -- by promoting advance prescriptions for EC -- will improve wider access and greater usage of EC." He also describes unplanned pregnancy as a "major public health issue" in the U.S.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Groups Condemn California Senate's Passage of Pro-Homosexual Education Bill
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006b.asp
(AgapePress) - The governor of California could be all that stands in the way of a proposed new law that would endorse and promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools statewide. The bill has already passed the California Senate and, if it gains Assembly approval as well, only a veto will be able to stop it.
The legislation known as SB 1437 requires California education officials to re-write textbooks to include "gay" themes and homosexual people, positively emphasizing their contributions and their place in history. It also bans any negative reference to homosexuals based on religious beliefs, which is why Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute sees the law as an attack on biblical values.
[Ed. Note: The Culture and Family Institute is an office of Concerned Women for America.]
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
May 15, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
Agape press/American Family Association
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006h.asp
...Christian conservatives hoping to stop courts from legalizing homosexual "marriage" are getting mixed signals from the White House on a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution. President Bush supports the amendment, but Vice President Cheney does not. On "Fox News Sunday," First Lady Laura Bush would only say that Americans want to debate the issue, adding that it must be done with "a lot of sensitivity" and not "as a campaign tool." She was joined by Mary Cheney, the vice president's lesbian daughter, who said defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman would be "writing discrimination into the Constitution." But on CNN's "Late Edition," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pledged to bring the amendment before the Senate next month to stop judges from redefining marriage. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
District's uneven blocking of Web sites draws criticism
By Christina DeNardo
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Long URL elided
Millions of Web sites are off limits to Palm Beach County students because they promote violence, racism and pornography, but some are criticizing the district for taking censoring too far.
The district has blocked access to gay and lesbian advocacy Web sites, including one belonging to a local group that serves gay youth, while allowing students to surf sites for the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association and Focus on the Family — organizations that oppose gay rights.
[...]
Inlet Grove High senior Joe Dellosa recently wrote about the censorship in a story for the school's online news site, www.inletspin.com/text/11.htm. Last week, he won an award for the story. Those wanting to read his article, however, will have some problems.
It's been blocked.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Christianism and the Military
15 May 2006 12:10 pm
Andrew Sullivan
http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/05/christianism_an.html
One of the most disturbing aspects of the rise of Christianism has been the attempt to coopt the armed forces. We have already seen what happened at the Air Force Academy, where Christianists corralled individuals, Christian and otherwise, into public praying along the lines of the religious right. We have seen a top army general publicly depicting the war on Islamist terrorism as a fight between Christ and Muhammed. We have another general sending out campaign pamphlets from his work computer, urging the election of Christianists to Congress. No one objects to private and voluntary prayer groups that allow servicemembers a choice as to how they collectively pray. But in public meetings, where everyone is present, the prayers should indeed be non-sectarian, inclusive, perhaps ideally be a moment of silence, as current military rules insist. That's what the Christianists object to. They seek to impose their faith as the public one for all Americans, and have slipped such a provision into the military appropriations bill. The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces opposes it. Others do too:
[More at URL]
And now, today's news.
Supreme Court allows Washington State decision regarding lesbian child custody to stand;
Evangelical Patrick Henry College fires some faculty, loses others, all over challenging students too hard to think - one was fired for telling a student that a scripture quotation in response to a question was "simplistic";
Another article on Patrick Henry College, which sends more interns to the Bush White House than any other college;
Focus on the Family and "Medical Institute for Sexual Health," a medical group set up to push abstinence-only approaches to sexual health issues, claim that studies showing abstinence-only education doesn't work are wrong;
Slate article on the Medical Institute for Sexual Health;
Focus on the Family attacks San Francisco sexual health text-message-driven service;
FotF ACTION ITEM against CBS; they're getting involved with the Traditional Values Coalition, which, amoungst other things, wants transgendered people to be involuntarily institutionalised as delusional - it's very Soviet of them, it really is - to condemn the GLAAD PSAs that CBS is running; FotF has not traditionally been involved with the more coarsely-spoken TVC, preferring to put a softer edge on its anti-gay activism;
FotF condemns Democratic efforts to get a vote on a stem cell research bill;
Focus on the Family keeps the drumbeat going on the lie that emergency contraception causes abortions;
Howard Dean sticks his foot in his mouth again, Focus on the Family likes it and uses it to warn that Democratic votes in the fall will lead to FAG MARRIAGE!!!1!;
Focus on the Family displeased that the US Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a Washington State case which granted joint custody of a child she and her former partner had;
***** It's not a fluke; Concerned Women for America are again attacking "transhumanism" by name, condemning any attempt to enhance human capabilities via genetic research;
CWA links to a story about an effort by a local fundamentalist in northern Georgia to get the Harry Potter books banned;
Concerned Women for America attack morning-after pill and condoms both in the same article;
American Family Association ACTION ITEM: the anti-marriage-rights "Marriage Protection Amendment" vote will be on June 6th; they're trying to get another around of anti-gay calls and letters to Congress before then;
AFA goes over the End of the Spear film again, with the controversy amoungst the fundamentalist movement over the casting of a gay actor in one of the major roles; various groups assert that no lesbian or gay actor should ever be cast in a "Christian" film;
AFA condemns use of Plan B, the emergency-contraception pill - see above also;
Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight condemn California education bill SB 1437, which has now passed the Senate; they're calling for a veto;
AFA/Agape Press worry about VP Cheney's opposition to the anti-marriage "Marriage Protection Amendment," and also that Laura Bush doesn't want it used as a campaign issue;
Palm Beach County (Florida) school district blocks access to GBLT group websites, but does not block access to anti-gay groups such as NARTH, the AFA, Focus on the Family, and so on;
Andrew Sullivan gives his take on the latest permutation in the Air Force religious-harassment scandal and the various revisions to the guidelines - and the way that the fundamentalists keep getting them re-revised.
----- 1 -----
High court declines to hear gay parent case
Move leaves intact state ruling that OKs a lesbian to seek parental rights
Associated Press
Updated: 11:36 a.m. ET May 15, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12700602/
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to block a gay woman from seeking parental rights to a child she had helped raise with her partner.
Justices could have used the case to clarify the rights of gays in child custody disputes stemming from nontraditional families.
They declined, without comment, to disturb a ruling of Washington state’s highest court that said Sue Ellen Carvin could pursue ties to the girl as a “de facto parent.” The girl is now 11.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
A Clash of Ideas at Evangelical College
Five of Patrick Henry's 16 faculty members leave over its mission and curriculum.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
May 13, 2006
Long URL elided
WASHINGTON — Patrick Henry College, the small evangelical Christian school founded six years ago to train students for careers in public life, gained national prominence for placing many students in White House internships and other government positions. Now five of the school's 16 faculty members have left, saying the school's approach is too doctrinaire to prepare students for the realities of American politics.
[...]
The controversy began last fall after M. Todd Bates, a professor of rhetoric, delivered a lecture about St. Augustine's search for truth that Farris faulted for not mentioning the Bible or the college's Christian mission. Patrick Henry does not offer its professors tenure, and after Bates was criticized, he and eight other professors made a pact that if one of them was dismissed, the rest would leave in protest, Noe said.
The pact took effect this spring after Farris told government professor Erik Root he would not be rehired next year unless Root explained why he told a student, in the presence of one of her parents, that responding to a question by quoting Scripture was "simplistic."
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Debating The Fundamentals: Professors Leave PHC in Rift
Charlie Jackson
Online as of 15 May 2006
http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=5&newsid=12026
May 12, 2006 -- It’s mid-day at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville and Professor Erik Root sits behind his office door with a student. Outside, two other students wait for Root, but for the moment grades and assignments aren’t on their minds—Root’s door is.
[...]
Sophomore Farahn Morgan, who is intent on leaving the school, summed up the academic debate.
“The faculty has said the Bible is the ultimate truth and what we base our faith on,” she said. “But also that God endows people with natural reasoning abilities, what we call General Revelation, in addition to scripture to come to truth.”
[...]
More than anything, what bothers Hoskins is the tone of the discussion on campus. Debate is fine, the students say, but minority viewpoints, or viewpoints contrary to those held by Farris, are shot down.
“They will characterize those that disagree as bad people,” Hoskins said. “They will say ‘You are destroying our unity.’”
[...]
Since the college’s inception, Stacey was a popular figure on campus. He taught the school’s flagship course, Freedom’s Foundations. But shortly after the brouhaha over academic freedom began, Stacey says he told his students that if they thought he was not teaching them in a Christian worldview, they ought to leave. And one student did. Stacey said this wasn’t the first time he asked students this question. But this time, the consequences were dire. Stacey was fired.
[...]
“I’ve been told there are things I cannot teach,” Root said. “There are things I cannot ask.” At most any liberal arts college, political science students study Thomas Hobbes and his State of Nature, in which the lack of government causes chaos and an ugly, every-man-for-himself state.
[...]
“We don’t know from day to day, what is going to be accepted or what is not going to be accepted,” Root said. “It’s a moving target.”
That “moving target” has had an impact on discussion, the professors say.
“Students are afraid to raise questions or criticize the school,” Noe said.
[...]
Among the thousands of colleges and universities across the country, Patrick Henry, during various semesters, has sent more interns to the White House than any other. The school doesn’t stray from its present-day vision to spawn Christian conservatives who will work in government and politics.
Students flock to the school located 6,500-resident town set on leading a Christian lifestyle and creating change. Browning, however, sees a shade of irony.
“They’re not so much conservatives,” she said. “They’re progressives trying to [create] change.”
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Analysis of Negative Abstinence Reports Reveals Faulty Logic
Study shows attacks are rooted in false representation of scientific evidence.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040477.cfm
A flurry of news stories proclaiming abstinence education does not decrease unwanted pregnancies among unmarried teens, and that teaching it is dangerous, prompted one group to investigate the source of those claims.
The Medical Institute for Sexual Health — a nonprofit organization dedicated to evaluating scientific evidence — examined two recent reports in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The position papers, written by a team headed by John Santelli, maintained that abstinence education is "scientifically and ethically problematic."
[More at URL]
[Editor's Note: "The Medical Institute for Sexual Health" was set up to push abstinence as the solution to all sexual issues. Their Federal funding has come via earmarks, a classic source of tasty, tasty pork. See next article.]
----- 5 -----
Chastity, M.D.
Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, Congress.
By Amanda Schaffer
Slate
Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006, at 12:08 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2139675/
As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents. But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use the institute's work.
Based in Texas and Washington, D.C., the Medical Institute provides technical material on sexual health to youth organizations and educators. Its founder, Dr. Joe McIlhaney, served as adviser to President George W. Bush while he was governor of Texas and now sits on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, as well as on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC. Unlike some conservative groups, the Medical Institute strives for medical respectability, focusing on public-health arguments in favor of virginity rather than moral virtues. The institute objects to being called "abstinence-only," perhaps because it wants to distance itself from more blatantly ideological groups, or perhaps because according to a recent poll, most Americans believe that abstinence-only education doesn't work. Yet the institute mainly discusses condoms to disparage them and sexually transmitted diseases to assert that only abstinence offers reliable protection. Its core message is that "the behavior choices necessary for optimal health are sexual abstinence for unmarried individuals and faithfulness within marriage."
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Health Agency Targets Pre-Teens with Sexual Information
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040475.cfm
The San Francisco Department of Health has developed a text-messaging service to provide children as young as 12 with "sexual health information" -- without their parents' knowledge.
The "SexInfo" service, according to CNSNews.com, allows users to seek sex-related information by using the typical shorthand employed in cell-phone text messaging: "SEXIBFO: reply with code for answrs. 'A1' if ur condom broke 'B2' if u think ur pregnant 'C3' to find out about STDs 'D4' to find out about HIV."
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
CBS Airing Pro-Gay Spots for Free
The announcements are being run during lucrative daytime soap operas.
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink Features
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040472.cfm
CBS is teaming up with a radical gay-activist group to air public service announcements (PSAs) during daytime soap operas. Pro-family groups are asking the network to pull the spots that, unlike commercials, are carried by the network for free.
One spot, backed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), features two General Hospital actors saying "every day people young and old face hatred, discrimination and even violence because they're gay. Prejudice and discrimination of any kind is wrong…"
[...]
"The networks have to run these PSAs, but they usually run them at night when most people don't see them" she told Family News in Focus. "This is nothing more than to try to promote homosexuality and the acceptance of homosexuality."
[...]
TAKE ACTION:
You can contact CBS through this form on the network's Web site.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Senate Democrats Press for Life-Destroying Research
Call to fund embryonic stem-cell experiments ignores success with adult stem cells.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040473.cfm
Senate Democrats made a final attempt Thursday to get the controversial Stem Cell Enhancement Act to the floor for a vote — even though President Bush promises a veto.
Democrats called on Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to bring the legislation up for a vote.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Christian Pharmacy Students Pit Ethics Against Employment
Advances by abortion advocates reverberate in the classroom.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 15, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040489.cfm
Christian pharmacy students are facing a career that may find them at odds with the demands of customers and abortion-activist groups; they may find their employers or their states demanding that they prescribe pills that could induce an abortion.
Cristina Gonzalez, a pharmacy student at Christ-centered Palm Beach Atlantic University, said her classes are tackling the issues head on. She's already decided where she stands on prescribing drugs such as the morning-after pill that can sometimes cause an early abortion.
[Editor's note: THIS IS A LIE. The way the morning-after pill works means that chemically, it cannot work in the event of an active pregnancy. What they're doing is trying to date "pregnancy" back to "fertilised egg," despite the fact that around 70% of fertilised eggs fail to implant. This is also an attack against most forms of birth control, and no, that's not an accident. See previous CWUs for details.]
----- 10 -----
Gay-Activist Group Returns DNC Donation Over Marriage Misstatement
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) returned a $5,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee after DNC chairman Howard Dean incorrectly said the party's 2004 platform declared "marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says." — a remark he later corrected.
According to The Associated Press, Dean's mischaracterization came during an interview with Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network News last week in which he attempted to court religious conservatives.
[...]
Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issues analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said she hopes the effort to mislead will bolster support for marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Gay Parental-Rights Case Troubles Pro-Family Groups
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006
http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040495.cfm
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a 2004 Washington State Supreme Court ruling which granted a lesbian permission to pursue some parental rights with the daughter of her ex-partner.
Ellen Carvin and Page Britain lived together in the 1990s, and during that time Britain conceived a child through artificial insemination. In 2001, Britain left the relationship and later married the child's biological father. Both parents agree that they want to raise the girl, who is now 11 years old, in a traditional household and do not wish Carvin to have parental rights.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Case Western Professor Awarded Grant for ‘Human Enhancement’ Research
Concerned Women for America
5/12/2006
By Cara Cook
CWA and others shocked by NIH backing of transhumanist ideology.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10745/CWA/misc/index.htm
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $773,000 grant to Maxwell Mehlman, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, to develop ethical guidelines for the use of humans in “genetic enhancement” research, which seeks to develop human beings who are smarter, stronger and more attractive.
Genetic enhancement, an application of so-called transhumanism, moves beyond treatment to heal or restore so as to develop technology that will perfect and add to normal human functioning.
[...]
The WTA Web site lists Maxwell Mehlman as a scholar who supports transhumanist study, which includes human enhancement research. According to Mehlman, genetic techniques currently used for therapeutic purposes have the potential to be used for human enhancement. One such treatment is erythropoietin, a substance that can boost athletic performance. Mehlman hopes to develop “legitimate, approved ways of conducting research” so that substances like erythropoietin cannot go underground for criminal use.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
School board to make decision about Harry Potter books
The Associated Press - SUWANEE, Ga.
Online as of 15 May 2006
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=75060
The Gwinnett County Board of Education is expected to make a decision this week on whether "Harry Potter" books should remain on public school shelves.
An evangelical Christian who has three children at J-C Magill Elementary School -- Laura Mallory -- has objected to the books. She says in complaint forms she objects to what she calls the books -- quote -- "evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
ACOG Tells Women to Get Morning-After Pill Prescriptions in Advance
Physicians’ association perpetuates risky sexual ideology.
Concerned Women for America
5/15/2006
By Cara Cook
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10753/CWA/life/index.htm
In the wake of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision not to sell Plan B (the morning-after pill) over the counter, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is advising women to get prescriptions for the emergency contraception before a possible unwanted pregnancy. The pill, claims the group of gynecologists, is the perfect solution to condom failure, forgetting to take one’s usual contraception, and rape.
ACOG’s lack of confidence in condoms and a woman’s capacity to remember is interesting in light of the widespread confidence among health and reproductive rights groups that condoms and contraception are the best solution to curbing STDs and preventing unintended pregnancies.
[...]
For example, condoms have a 15 percent failure rate, prevent the spread of only about one-fifth of the more than 25 currently identified sexually transmitted diseases, and the outpouring of contraceptive devices over the past two decades has clearly increased rather than controlled reckless sexual behavior. These same groups that masquerade as the objective servants of science and medicine will not give an inch of credit to abstinence education, despite its past and current success in getting to the root of the problem of reckless sexual behavior: not waiting until marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
U.S. Senate To Vote On Homosexual Marriage June 6TH
The most important vote in the Senate this year! The future of our children is at stake.
American Family Association
Online as of March 15, 2006
http://www3.capwiz.com/afanet/8762656.html
On June 6th the U.S. Senate will vote on the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Time is short! It is critical that you contact your senators and ask them to vote for the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA).
Once homosexual marriage is legal, our religious liberties will be stripped away. Even pro-homosexual marriage advocates agree with that statement. To understand how this will happen, please take time read Dr. Maggie Gallagher’s rather long and accurate article by clicking here. Print it out and give a copy to your pastor!
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
A Blunted Spear? Controversy Over Film Challenges Evangelical Community
Analysis by Ed Vitagliano
American Family Association
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006a.asp
(AgapePress) - It must have seemed like a slam-dunk, a no-brainer. Take what is arguably the most famous -- even iconic -- missionary story of the last century and make it into a major motion picture. It could inspire Christians and perhaps even reach unbelievers with the Gospel.
[...]
After all, if actors aren't perfect messengers, neither are preachers. Is it biblical to say, then, as Green and Saint do, that the message is what is important, not the messenger? Is this a defensible New Testament position?
Absolutely not, says Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum and founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and the Christian Filmmakers Academy. He insists that there is a difference between End of the Spear -- produced by Christians with a Christ-centered message -- and movies like Lord of the Rings or Chariots of Fire, "both of which were secular productions from beginning to end that cast homosexuals in lead roles."
[...]
"Not only did they knowingly and wholeheartedly embrace this homosexual activist as their lead actor, but they are now telling the world that their decision was loving, correct and biblical," Phillips added. "For this reason, I believe we can objectively describe their actions as reprehensible."
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
Christian Doctor Critical of Physicians' Push for 'Morning-After' Pill
By Mary Rettig
American Family Association
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A Christian OB-GYN in Kentucky says the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is taking a bold step with its new "Ask Me" campaign. He contends the doctors association didn't examine all of the evidence before promoting the "morning-after" pill.
Last week the ACOG launched the campaign urging doctors to encourage women of child-bearing age to get prescriptions of the morning-after pill before they needed it. Dr. Iffath Hoskins, an ACOG spokesman, says the campaign is his group's way of "standing up for our patients." One of the goals of the campaign, he says, is "to make awareness of EC [emergency contraception] so widespread that it's no longer a best-kept secret in medicine." The theme of the campaign is "Accidents happen. Morning afters can be tough."
Christian physician Dr. David Hager contends the ACOG's motive behind its campaign is to push for over-the-counter sales of the drug. In fact, ACOG President Michael T. Mennuti states that his group's "proactive approach -- by promoting advance prescriptions for EC -- will improve wider access and greater usage of EC." He also describes unplanned pregnancy as a "major public health issue" in the U.S.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Groups Condemn California Senate's Passage of Pro-Homosexual Education Bill
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
May 15, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006b.asp
(AgapePress) - The governor of California could be all that stands in the way of a proposed new law that would endorse and promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools statewide. The bill has already passed the California Senate and, if it gains Assembly approval as well, only a veto will be able to stop it.
The legislation known as SB 1437 requires California education officials to re-write textbooks to include "gay" themes and homosexual people, positively emphasizing their contributions and their place in history. It also bans any negative reference to homosexuals based on religious beliefs, which is why Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute sees the law as an attack on biblical values.
[Ed. Note: The Culture and Family Institute is an office of Concerned Women for America.]
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
May 15, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
Agape press/American Family Association
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006h.asp
...Christian conservatives hoping to stop courts from legalizing homosexual "marriage" are getting mixed signals from the White House on a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution. President Bush supports the amendment, but Vice President Cheney does not. On "Fox News Sunday," First Lady Laura Bush would only say that Americans want to debate the issue, adding that it must be done with "a lot of sensitivity" and not "as a campaign tool." She was joined by Mary Cheney, the vice president's lesbian daughter, who said defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman would be "writing discrimination into the Constitution." But on CNN's "Late Edition," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pledged to bring the amendment before the Senate next month to stop judges from redefining marriage. [AP]
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
District's uneven blocking of Web sites draws criticism
By Christina DeNardo
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Long URL elided
Millions of Web sites are off limits to Palm Beach County students because they promote violence, racism and pornography, but some are criticizing the district for taking censoring too far.
The district has blocked access to gay and lesbian advocacy Web sites, including one belonging to a local group that serves gay youth, while allowing students to surf sites for the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association and Focus on the Family — organizations that oppose gay rights.
[...]
Inlet Grove High senior Joe Dellosa recently wrote about the censorship in a story for the school's online news site, www.inletspin.com/text/11.htm. Last week, he won an award for the story. Those wanting to read his article, however, will have some problems.
It's been blocked.
[More at URL]
----- 21 -----
Christianism and the Military
15 May 2006 12:10 pm
Andrew Sullivan
http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/05/christianism_an.html
One of the most disturbing aspects of the rise of Christianism has been the attempt to coopt the armed forces. We have already seen what happened at the Air Force Academy, where Christianists corralled individuals, Christian and otherwise, into public praying along the lines of the religious right. We have seen a top army general publicly depicting the war on Islamist terrorism as a fight between Christ and Muhammed. We have another general sending out campaign pamphlets from his work computer, urging the election of Christianists to Congress. No one objects to private and voluntary prayer groups that allow servicemembers a choice as to how they collectively pray. But in public meetings, where everyone is present, the prayers should indeed be non-sectarian, inclusive, perhaps ideally be a moment of silence, as current military rules insist. That's what the Christianists object to. They seek to impose their faith as the public one for all Americans, and have slipped such a provision into the military appropriations bill. The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces opposes it. Others do too:
[More at URL]
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 03:12 pm (UTC)Yes, there is an effort to actively intertwine and confuse the two. Once you do that, all chemical forms of birth control are in play.