Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Nov. 1st, 2006 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdThere would be a lot more Focus on the Family in this update, but their website is down for maintenance. So this is only a very partial update, as I suggested it might be. But I wanted to get at least a partial update online today, so here it is. More hopefully tomorrow.
But now, the news:
Focus on the Family - yet another get out the vote effort, also links to their endorsement sheets and their election site;
FotF: Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline gets some of the medical records he's been trying to get from abortion providers;
Focus on the Family worries that "more liberal churches" are too soft on queers, specifically regarding lesbian and gay couples with children;
Focus on the Family claims credit for a 1991-present trend of teen-birth reduction, claiming it's "abstinence-only" education;
FotF email-only bulletin advertising its election website and reminding everyone to vote theocon;
Focus on the Family Canada says there's lots of support for "revisiting" marriage rights in Canada, and also lots of support for business discrimination against GBLT people, fun; Canadians should note that Focus on the Family Canada has borrowed the US theoconservative movement's approach that if they can't discriminate against GBLT people, their religious liberty is being destroyed;
Canada Family Action Coalition version of the same story;
Institute for Canadian Values version of the same story;
Fundamentalist suing over college classwork requiring her to write in support of adoption rights for GBLT people; American Family Association supports the fundamentalist, of course, says colleges shouldn't be assigning material they find objectionable;
AFA predicts victory in Virginia anti-gay amendment - not exactly going out on a limb there, gaybashing is Virginia's national sport;
AFA scare article about videogames, talks about how The Sims (rated E for Everyone) can be turned into pr0n by t3h internets;
AFA runs article of the Traditional Values Coalition condeming Jim Webb (candidate for senate from Virginia) as a "pervert;"
AFA: U. Wisconsin discriminates against Christians in favour of neopagans; basically, there's a "Christian" group that wants to be recognised, but it requires that its leadership have certain religious beliefs. U. Wisconsin doesn't recognise clubs that discriminate on the basis of religion, so doesn't grant the group official status. Apparently the neopagan group doesn't do this, since they've been approved - some religious groups don't. But not allowing fundamentalists to discriminate against other people is, as always, presented as a violation of _their_ rights;
College Republicans at U. Wisconsin complain that they aren't a protected class;
AFA runs a series of attack newsbriefs on various Democratic candidates; I quote the one that implies Ted Strickland is gay (the "boy toy" claim) and condemns him for being endorsed by Equality Ohio, a GBLT political rights group. Plus, there's an appearance of the "special rights" language being used to refer to equal treatment under the law, which is one of their standard twistings of language;
Andrew Sullivan is surprised that theocons get their kids to write anti-gay letters to the editor, and points at this example in Virginia.
----- 1 -----
Dr. Dobson to Values Voters: 'Make Sure You Vote'
Focus on the Family
Online as of 1 November 2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/election/
Focus on the Family Chairman James C. Dobson, Ph.D., saying he is "concerned about my country," is devoting the next two days of his nationally syndicated radio show to urge fellow Christians to vote on Election Day.
"If people of faith — the so-called values voters — don't come out and let their voices be heard, there are going to be some major implications for this country," he says in the two-part broadcast that began today, much of it recorded at a rally earlier this week in Nashville, Tenn. "There are these statements from the media that values voters don't care this year and that they're going to stay home.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Abortion Records Released to Kansas AG
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000002857.cfm
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has obtained abortion records of 90 patients from two clinics to review them for possible criminal activity, The Associated Press reported.
Kline said his office will see whether they contain information that could lead to the investigation and conviction of rapists and sex offenders with minor victims. Officials will also see whether there is any indication of illegal activity by clinic doctors, including illegal late-term abortions or failure to report the abuse of a minor.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Catholic Bishops Consider Adopted Children of Gay Couples
What happens when homosexuals want children raised in the church?
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000002848.cfm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is considering new guidelines to tackle the issue of how the Roman Catholic Church handles gay couples who want adopted children to be raised in the Catholic faith.
The Rev. Tom Weinandy, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices, described how tough a decision it can be.
"It's a pastoral-prudent judgment in this case," he said, "that if there is some reasonable basis that the child will be brought up Catholic, that the child can be baptized."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Teen Abortion Rates and Births Down
The cost of teen births to the country is still in the billions.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000002846.cfm
Abortion rates among teen girls as well as birth rates have decreased dramatically over the last decade, and much of the success is credited to abstinence education. Still, the cost to society remains astronomical, according to a report from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Teen births are down a third since 1991, and teen abortions dropped 40 percent.
Bill Albert, spokesman for the campaign, said abstinence education played a major role.
"A significant proportion of young people are delaying sexual activity," he told Family News in Focus. "It is also true, at the same time, that among those teens that are sexually active, they are using contraception a bit more consistently and carefully."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Focus on the Family
From: citizenlink@family.org
Subject: Dr. Dobson Invites You to Visit the CitizenLink Election Site
Date: November 1, 2006 11:40:17 AM PST
Dear XXXXX,
As a subscriber to the CitizenLink Daily Update, you obviously care deeply about the direction our country is headed. You are, no doubt, one of the millions of "values voters" who turned out at the polls in November 2004 -- and I trust you'll be there again this Nov. 7.
The stakes this election season are high, as you know. Not only does the makeup of Congress -- and the future of legislation such as the federal Marriage Protection Amendment -- hang in the balance, but voters in several states will also decide how marriage will be defined, whether embryonic stem-cell research should be allowed and even if abortion should be banned.
You already know that the best way for you to have an impact on these issues is to make sure you cast a ballot next Tuesday. But where should you go for insight into the issues and races on the ballot -- and to keep track of what's happening across the country as those ballots are counted?
I'd like to invite you to visit our CitizenLink Election News Web site . Stop by today, and you'll find a voter scorecard that highlights how your U.S. representatives and senators voted on key issues -- as well as voter guides for your state (depending on where you live). Then, bookmark the site and visit it often on Election Night -- we'll offer up-to-the-minute results from across the country as well as news and analysis of the night's big stories from a pro-family perspective.
See you at the polls,
James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman
Focus on the Family
----- 6 -----
Canadians back gay marriage review
Focus on the Family Canada
November 1, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/religiousFreedom/stories/110106.html
Canadians want Parliament to take another look at the same-sex marriage law passed last year “to make sure that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are fully protected.” According to a COMPAS poll done for the Ottawa-based Institute for Canadian Values (ICV), 64 per cent were in favour of MPs revisiting the law.
The survey was conducted last week while traditional marriage advocates were on Parliament Hill to urge support for a government motion aimed at gauging the will of MPs on whether to re-open the definition of marriage debate. A free vote on the motion is expected later this year.
The poll also suggested even greater public support (72 per cent) for protecting the rights and religious convictions of clergy not to marry a same-sex couple.
“Those numbers are at the level of overwhelming support,” COMPAS president Conrad Winn told the National Post. “I mean, you can’t get three-quarters of Canadians to agree on the weather.”
“Even on complicated matters of public policy such as the redefinition of marriage, Canadians are pretty sophisticated and fair-minded,” said ICV executive director Joseph Ben-Ami. “I think they’re saying to our politicians and parliamentarians: ‘Look, go back to the drawing board and take another look at this.’”
He added: “What that solution is, we don’t know, but we need to take a long, considered look at it all.”
By similar margins, the poll found 68 per cent of Canadians support a teacher’s right to write a letter to a newspaper editor opposing same-sex marriage and 61 per cent support a printer’s right to refuse to accept work from a gay organization.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Canadians want marriage decision reopened!
Canada Family Action Coalition
30 October 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/10-30-2006-reopened.htm
An October 30 poll indicates very strong evidence that Canadians are seeing the consequences of calling marriage "any two people" and have deepening concerns. Issues about education, about children's rights, about freedoms of speech and religion have all shown the unsavory consequences of the fallen Liberal government's erosion of society with its social experiment that even France would not do.
What is concerning is that 24 % of Canadians do not want religious freedom protected, and 28% do not want freedom of speech protected. This in a country that prides itself on tolerance, diversity and equality. Who are these 24+% of Canadians who do not want the Charter freedoms for certain people?
-- CFAC
Same-Sex Marriage: Canadians want Parliament to protect freedom of religion - poll
Original Article
CanadianValues.ca
Oct 30, 2006
A new nation-wide poll conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the Institute for Canadian Values and National Post shows that a large majority of Canadians want Parliament to act to protect freedom of religion in the light of legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Same-Sex Marriage: Canadians want Parliament to protect freedom of religion - poll
Institute for Canadian Values
Date: Oct 30, 2006
http://canadianvalues.ca/news.aspx?aid=241
OTTAWA - A new nation-wide poll conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the Institute for Canadian Values and National Post shows that a large majority of Canadians want Parliament to act to protect freedom of religion in the light of legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.
64 percent of respondents to the survey, conducted October 18 - 27 said that Parliament should review existing legislation to ensure that freedom of religion is protected while 24 percent opposed such an initiative. Support for a review was nominally higher among women (67 percent in favour vs. 21 percent opposed) while among Francophones, support stood at 59 percent with 25 percent opposed.
"Canadians of all backgrounds cherish freedom of religion," said Joseph Ben-Ami, Executive Director and Director of Policy Development for the Institute. "They are concerned with the impact that same-sex marriage legislation is having on religious freedom, and they - quite sensibly - want Parliament to act to protect it."
The poll also found strong support (57 percent vs. 37 percent) for the right of marriage commissioners to not officiate at same-sex marriages, the right of teachers to express their opposition to same-sex marriage by, for instance, writing letters to their local newspapers (68 percent vs. 28 percent) and the right of business owners to decline business that promotes same-sex relationships in violation of their religious convictions (61 percent vs. 33 percent).
"These examples are significant in that they represent cases where the Courts and human rights bodies have actually ruled against religious rights," explained Ben-Ami. "In view of this, no-one can have confidence that the Judiciary alone will be able to protect religious freedom - that's why Parliament must act."
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
School 'Ethics' Group Punishes Student for Opposing Homosexual Adoption
She Sues Missouri State U., Claiming First Amendment Violations
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006a.asp
(AgapePress) - A social work student at Missouri State University has filed a lawsuit alleging the school required her to adopt a position in support of homosexual adoption as a precondition to getting her degree.
According to news reports, Dr. Frank Kaufman -- an assistant professor in MSU's School of Social Work on the Springfield campus and a member of the Faculty Senate at MSU -- assigned his students a project promoting homosexual foster homes and adoption. The students were required to write and individually sign a letter to the Missouri legislature in support of homosexual adoption. Emily Brooker says she refused to sign the letter because of her religious convictions, and alleges she was punished for taking that stand.
Brooker says the school subjected her to a grievance hearing where school officials told her she had violated three of the "Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education": diversity, interpersonal skills, and professional behavior. The social work student is now suing the university for a violation of her First Amendment rights. Her attorney, David French with the Alliance Defense Fund, claims his client was interrogated for two-and-a-half hours by faculty members about the matter.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Conservatives Confident About Virginia Marriage Amendment's Passage
By Jeff Johnson and Allie Martin
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Defense of marriage amendments are on the ballot in eight states next Tuesday, including the state of Virginia. Pro-family advocates there expect the marriage protection measure to pass, if only by a slim margin.
Victoria Cobb of Virginia4Marriage.org says current polling indicates only a two to six percent lead for the Virginia Defense of Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as only a legal union between one man and one woman. However, the pro-family activist says voter turnout for similar amendments has typically been higher than indicated by polls in the final days before an election.
Cobb feels fairly confident about the prospects for the Virginia marriage amendment's passage on November 7. "We believe a majority of Virginians support traditional marriage," she says, "and it's simply a matter of mobilizing them and getting them to bring their friends and their neighbors and everyone they know to the polls."
In fact the Virginia4Marriage.org spokeswoman says turnout in support of the amendment may increase in response to the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the legislature in that state must legalize either same-sex "civil unions" or so-called "gay marriage." She believes Virginia voters feel the people and their elected representatives, rather than judges, should decide such important issues.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Objective: Assist Christian Parents in Navigating the Video Game Arena
By Allie Martin
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006g.asp
(AgapePress) - Helping parents make informed decisions about interactive entertainment for their children -- that's the purpose of the Christian Game Developers Foundation.
The non-profit CGDF was formed to help parents track trends and to provide resources for video and computer games. Co-founder Ralph Bagley, known for developing the first high-quality Christian-themed video game, says parents must be informed and educated about video games.
"The video game industry is a dark, violent, satanic, sexually explicit place that is full of dangerous traps," says the video game veteran. "And so the CGDF is dedicated to informing and educating parents about that -- and also pointing them in the direction of some good, high-quality, alternative games."
According to Bagley, because of the popularity of video games among children -- Christian and non-Christian alike -- parents need to know what their children are getting into.
"Probably eight out of ten parents really don't understand the level of depravity in some of these games," he shares. "They don't understand that [with] games like 'The Sims,' which is rated 'E' for everyone, you can buy a modification on the Internet and modify it to be a completely pornographic game."
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
Pro-Family Group Blasts Va. Democrat Seeking Senate Seat as Pervert
By Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
American Family Association
October 31, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/afa/312006d.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-family group is calling on Democratic candidate Jim Webb, who is also a novelist and a former U.S. Navy Secretary, to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race in Virginia over sexually explicit passages appearing in some of his fiction writings.
Late last week, incumbent Senator George Allen's campaign brought attention to the passages, which occur in Vietnam War novels written by Webb. According to a CNN report, in a news release and a list of quotes posted last Friday on the Drudge Report website, Allen accused Webb, who is challenging the Republican incumbent for his Senate seat, of "dehumanizing women, men, and even children," through his fiction writings.
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Attorney Offers Evidence of Anti-Christian Bias at Univ. of Wisconsin
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
October 31, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/afa/312006c.asp
(AgapePress) - "Pagans, yes. Christians, no." That's how a constitutional attorney is describing the attitude permeating the public university system in Wisconsin.
Just in time for Halloween, a Pagan Student Alliance club has been formed at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. The group has already been recognized by the student government. Meanwhile, at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is currently banned from campus because it requires its leaders to be Christians.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
UW-La Crosse Accused of Discriminating Against Unprotected Campus Groups
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006e.asp
(AgapePress) - Yet another student group in the University of Wisconsin system says it has been victimized by liberal bias and hypocrisy. And in this case, he charges, the victimizer is a university office that exists to address discrimination on campus.
College Republicans President Mike Tellier filed a complaint with the Campus Climate Office at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse after the group's posters, which advertised a 3,000-flag 9/11 memorial, were defaced. However, he says that office, which is set up to address instances of "hate" on campus, told him it would not investigate the vandalism because the College Republicans were not a protected class.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
November 1, 2006
Compiled by Jenni Parker
American Family Association/Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006h.asp
[...]
...Investigative journalist and author Jerome Corsi says Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland has clearly been involved in a cover-up in connection with his handling of a former congressional staffer who had been arrested for a sex crime. Corsi has done an extensive investigation into the Strickland scandal -- a scandal that the journalist says has received virtually no national media coverage. He believes Strickland has not been forthright in explaining why his former staffer was kept on the payroll after being arrested in 1994, or why the congressman even took a trip to Italy with the same employee in 1998. "Strickland has intentionally covered this up and the Democrats have not cared," Corsi contends. They were up in arms over the Foley scandal, he observes, "yet when this comes up in their own party ... in Ohio, the Democrats have no moral courage; they're hypocrites. They want to bury the issue." However, the facts have been exposed by some Ohio media outlets, and Corsi says he thinks Ohio citizens are becoming outraged as they learn the details. "And Strickland's making the same mistake that John Kerry made," the author says; "he's not answering the charges, and he's letting this whole scandal build." In any event, Corsi believes Strickland's moral integrity must be called into question, considering the recent endorsement he received from Equality Ohio, a radical pro-homosexual group advocating special rights for homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people. [Chad Groening]
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
Modern or traditional marriage: which will you choose?
10/31/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
According to recent studies, children with homosexual parents are at a disadvantage when compared to children with heterosexual parents.
The length of homosexual relationships subject these children to a poor model of marriage. In their book, "Male and Female Homosexuality," M. Saghir and E. Robins state "Homosexuals ... model a poor view of marriage to children. They are taught by example and belief that marital relationships are transitory and mostly sexual in nature."
Such relationships also provide an unstable environment for children.
In addition to being subject to a negative example of marriage, children of homosexuals often witness domestic violence.
[...]
Clearly, we are doing a disservice to children by allowing homosexual marriage. Vote to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia.
Jillian Lowery, Grade 7
Brian Lowery, Grade 10
Allison Lowery, Grade 12
Amissville
[More at URL]
But now, the news:
Focus on the Family - yet another get out the vote effort, also links to their endorsement sheets and their election site;
FotF: Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline gets some of the medical records he's been trying to get from abortion providers;
Focus on the Family worries that "more liberal churches" are too soft on queers, specifically regarding lesbian and gay couples with children;
Focus on the Family claims credit for a 1991-present trend of teen-birth reduction, claiming it's "abstinence-only" education;
FotF email-only bulletin advertising its election website and reminding everyone to vote theocon;
Focus on the Family Canada says there's lots of support for "revisiting" marriage rights in Canada, and also lots of support for business discrimination against GBLT people, fun; Canadians should note that Focus on the Family Canada has borrowed the US theoconservative movement's approach that if they can't discriminate against GBLT people, their religious liberty is being destroyed;
Canada Family Action Coalition version of the same story;
Institute for Canadian Values version of the same story;
Fundamentalist suing over college classwork requiring her to write in support of adoption rights for GBLT people; American Family Association supports the fundamentalist, of course, says colleges shouldn't be assigning material they find objectionable;
AFA predicts victory in Virginia anti-gay amendment - not exactly going out on a limb there, gaybashing is Virginia's national sport;
AFA scare article about videogames, talks about how The Sims (rated E for Everyone) can be turned into pr0n by t3h internets;
AFA runs article of the Traditional Values Coalition condeming Jim Webb (candidate for senate from Virginia) as a "pervert;"
AFA: U. Wisconsin discriminates against Christians in favour of neopagans; basically, there's a "Christian" group that wants to be recognised, but it requires that its leadership have certain religious beliefs. U. Wisconsin doesn't recognise clubs that discriminate on the basis of religion, so doesn't grant the group official status. Apparently the neopagan group doesn't do this, since they've been approved - some religious groups don't. But not allowing fundamentalists to discriminate against other people is, as always, presented as a violation of _their_ rights;
College Republicans at U. Wisconsin complain that they aren't a protected class;
AFA runs a series of attack newsbriefs on various Democratic candidates; I quote the one that implies Ted Strickland is gay (the "boy toy" claim) and condemns him for being endorsed by Equality Ohio, a GBLT political rights group. Plus, there's an appearance of the "special rights" language being used to refer to equal treatment under the law, which is one of their standard twistings of language;
Andrew Sullivan is surprised that theocons get their kids to write anti-gay letters to the editor, and points at this example in Virginia.
----- 1 -----
Dr. Dobson to Values Voters: 'Make Sure You Vote'
Focus on the Family
Online as of 1 November 2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/election/
Focus on the Family Chairman James C. Dobson, Ph.D., saying he is "concerned about my country," is devoting the next two days of his nationally syndicated radio show to urge fellow Christians to vote on Election Day.
"If people of faith — the so-called values voters — don't come out and let their voices be heard, there are going to be some major implications for this country," he says in the two-part broadcast that began today, much of it recorded at a rally earlier this week in Nashville, Tenn. "There are these statements from the media that values voters don't care this year and that they're going to stay home.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Abortion Records Released to Kansas AG
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000002857.cfm
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has obtained abortion records of 90 patients from two clinics to review them for possible criminal activity, The Associated Press reported.
Kline said his office will see whether they contain information that could lead to the investigation and conviction of rapists and sex offenders with minor victims. Officials will also see whether there is any indication of illegal activity by clinic doctors, including illegal late-term abortions or failure to report the abuse of a minor.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Catholic Bishops Consider Adopted Children of Gay Couples
What happens when homosexuals want children raised in the church?
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000002848.cfm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is considering new guidelines to tackle the issue of how the Roman Catholic Church handles gay couples who want adopted children to be raised in the Catholic faith.
The Rev. Tom Weinandy, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices, described how tough a decision it can be.
"It's a pastoral-prudent judgment in this case," he said, "that if there is some reasonable basis that the child will be brought up Catholic, that the child can be baptized."
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Teen Abortion Rates and Births Down
The cost of teen births to the country is still in the billions.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
11/1/2006
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000002846.cfm
Abortion rates among teen girls as well as birth rates have decreased dramatically over the last decade, and much of the success is credited to abstinence education. Still, the cost to society remains astronomical, according to a report from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Teen births are down a third since 1991, and teen abortions dropped 40 percent.
Bill Albert, spokesman for the campaign, said abstinence education played a major role.
"A significant proportion of young people are delaying sexual activity," he told Family News in Focus. "It is also true, at the same time, that among those teens that are sexually active, they are using contraception a bit more consistently and carefully."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Focus on the Family
From: citizenlink@family.org
Subject: Dr. Dobson Invites You to Visit the CitizenLink Election Site
Date: November 1, 2006 11:40:17 AM PST
Dear XXXXX,
As a subscriber to the CitizenLink Daily Update, you obviously care deeply about the direction our country is headed. You are, no doubt, one of the millions of "values voters" who turned out at the polls in November 2004 -- and I trust you'll be there again this Nov. 7.
The stakes this election season are high, as you know. Not only does the makeup of Congress -- and the future of legislation such as the federal Marriage Protection Amendment -- hang in the balance, but voters in several states will also decide how marriage will be defined, whether embryonic stem-cell research should be allowed and even if abortion should be banned.
You already know that the best way for you to have an impact on these issues is to make sure you cast a ballot next Tuesday. But where should you go for insight into the issues and races on the ballot -- and to keep track of what's happening across the country as those ballots are counted?
I'd like to invite you to visit our CitizenLink Election News Web site . Stop by today, and you'll find a voter scorecard that highlights how your U.S. representatives and senators voted on key issues -- as well as voter guides for your state (depending on where you live). Then, bookmark the site and visit it often on Election Night -- we'll offer up-to-the-minute results from across the country as well as news and analysis of the night's big stories from a pro-family perspective.
See you at the polls,
James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman
Focus on the Family
----- 6 -----
Canadians back gay marriage review
Focus on the Family Canada
November 1, 2006
http://www.fotf.ca/tfn/religiousFreedom/stories/110106.html
Canadians want Parliament to take another look at the same-sex marriage law passed last year “to make sure that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are fully protected.” According to a COMPAS poll done for the Ottawa-based Institute for Canadian Values (ICV), 64 per cent were in favour of MPs revisiting the law.
The survey was conducted last week while traditional marriage advocates were on Parliament Hill to urge support for a government motion aimed at gauging the will of MPs on whether to re-open the definition of marriage debate. A free vote on the motion is expected later this year.
The poll also suggested even greater public support (72 per cent) for protecting the rights and religious convictions of clergy not to marry a same-sex couple.
“Those numbers are at the level of overwhelming support,” COMPAS president Conrad Winn told the National Post. “I mean, you can’t get three-quarters of Canadians to agree on the weather.”
“Even on complicated matters of public policy such as the redefinition of marriage, Canadians are pretty sophisticated and fair-minded,” said ICV executive director Joseph Ben-Ami. “I think they’re saying to our politicians and parliamentarians: ‘Look, go back to the drawing board and take another look at this.’”
He added: “What that solution is, we don’t know, but we need to take a long, considered look at it all.”
By similar margins, the poll found 68 per cent of Canadians support a teacher’s right to write a letter to a newspaper editor opposing same-sex marriage and 61 per cent support a printer’s right to refuse to accept work from a gay organization.
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Canadians want marriage decision reopened!
Canada Family Action Coalition
30 October 2006
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/10-30-2006-reopened.htm
An October 30 poll indicates very strong evidence that Canadians are seeing the consequences of calling marriage "any two people" and have deepening concerns. Issues about education, about children's rights, about freedoms of speech and religion have all shown the unsavory consequences of the fallen Liberal government's erosion of society with its social experiment that even France would not do.
What is concerning is that 24 % of Canadians do not want religious freedom protected, and 28% do not want freedom of speech protected. This in a country that prides itself on tolerance, diversity and equality. Who are these 24+% of Canadians who do not want the Charter freedoms for certain people?
-- CFAC
Same-Sex Marriage: Canadians want Parliament to protect freedom of religion - poll
Original Article
CanadianValues.ca
Oct 30, 2006
A new nation-wide poll conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the Institute for Canadian Values and National Post shows that a large majority of Canadians want Parliament to act to protect freedom of religion in the light of legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Same-Sex Marriage: Canadians want Parliament to protect freedom of religion - poll
Institute for Canadian Values
Date: Oct 30, 2006
http://canadianvalues.ca/news.aspx?aid=241
OTTAWA - A new nation-wide poll conducted by COMPAS Inc. for the Institute for Canadian Values and National Post shows that a large majority of Canadians want Parliament to act to protect freedom of religion in the light of legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.
64 percent of respondents to the survey, conducted October 18 - 27 said that Parliament should review existing legislation to ensure that freedom of religion is protected while 24 percent opposed such an initiative. Support for a review was nominally higher among women (67 percent in favour vs. 21 percent opposed) while among Francophones, support stood at 59 percent with 25 percent opposed.
"Canadians of all backgrounds cherish freedom of religion," said Joseph Ben-Ami, Executive Director and Director of Policy Development for the Institute. "They are concerned with the impact that same-sex marriage legislation is having on religious freedom, and they - quite sensibly - want Parliament to act to protect it."
The poll also found strong support (57 percent vs. 37 percent) for the right of marriage commissioners to not officiate at same-sex marriages, the right of teachers to express their opposition to same-sex marriage by, for instance, writing letters to their local newspapers (68 percent vs. 28 percent) and the right of business owners to decline business that promotes same-sex relationships in violation of their religious convictions (61 percent vs. 33 percent).
"These examples are significant in that they represent cases where the Courts and human rights bodies have actually ruled against religious rights," explained Ben-Ami. "In view of this, no-one can have confidence that the Judiciary alone will be able to protect religious freedom - that's why Parliament must act."
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School 'Ethics' Group Punishes Student for Opposing Homosexual Adoption
She Sues Missouri State U., Claiming First Amendment Violations
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006a.asp
(AgapePress) - A social work student at Missouri State University has filed a lawsuit alleging the school required her to adopt a position in support of homosexual adoption as a precondition to getting her degree.
According to news reports, Dr. Frank Kaufman -- an assistant professor in MSU's School of Social Work on the Springfield campus and a member of the Faculty Senate at MSU -- assigned his students a project promoting homosexual foster homes and adoption. The students were required to write and individually sign a letter to the Missouri legislature in support of homosexual adoption. Emily Brooker says she refused to sign the letter because of her religious convictions, and alleges she was punished for taking that stand.
Brooker says the school subjected her to a grievance hearing where school officials told her she had violated three of the "Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education": diversity, interpersonal skills, and professional behavior. The social work student is now suing the university for a violation of her First Amendment rights. Her attorney, David French with the Alliance Defense Fund, claims his client was interrogated for two-and-a-half hours by faculty members about the matter.
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Conservatives Confident About Virginia Marriage Amendment's Passage
By Jeff Johnson and Allie Martin
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006b.asp
(AgapePress) - Defense of marriage amendments are on the ballot in eight states next Tuesday, including the state of Virginia. Pro-family advocates there expect the marriage protection measure to pass, if only by a slim margin.
Victoria Cobb of Virginia4Marriage.org says current polling indicates only a two to six percent lead for the Virginia Defense of Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as only a legal union between one man and one woman. However, the pro-family activist says voter turnout for similar amendments has typically been higher than indicated by polls in the final days before an election.
Cobb feels fairly confident about the prospects for the Virginia marriage amendment's passage on November 7. "We believe a majority of Virginians support traditional marriage," she says, "and it's simply a matter of mobilizing them and getting them to bring their friends and their neighbors and everyone they know to the polls."
In fact the Virginia4Marriage.org spokeswoman says turnout in support of the amendment may increase in response to the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the legislature in that state must legalize either same-sex "civil unions" or so-called "gay marriage." She believes Virginia voters feel the people and their elected representatives, rather than judges, should decide such important issues.
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Objective: Assist Christian Parents in Navigating the Video Game Arena
By Allie Martin
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006g.asp
(AgapePress) - Helping parents make informed decisions about interactive entertainment for their children -- that's the purpose of the Christian Game Developers Foundation.
The non-profit CGDF was formed to help parents track trends and to provide resources for video and computer games. Co-founder Ralph Bagley, known for developing the first high-quality Christian-themed video game, says parents must be informed and educated about video games.
"The video game industry is a dark, violent, satanic, sexually explicit place that is full of dangerous traps," says the video game veteran. "And so the CGDF is dedicated to informing and educating parents about that -- and also pointing them in the direction of some good, high-quality, alternative games."
According to Bagley, because of the popularity of video games among children -- Christian and non-Christian alike -- parents need to know what their children are getting into.
"Probably eight out of ten parents really don't understand the level of depravity in some of these games," he shares. "They don't understand that [with] games like 'The Sims,' which is rated 'E' for everyone, you can buy a modification on the Internet and modify it to be a completely pornographic game."
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Pro-Family Group Blasts Va. Democrat Seeking Senate Seat as Pervert
By Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
American Family Association
October 31, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/afa/312006d.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-family group is calling on Democratic candidate Jim Webb, who is also a novelist and a former U.S. Navy Secretary, to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race in Virginia over sexually explicit passages appearing in some of his fiction writings.
Late last week, incumbent Senator George Allen's campaign brought attention to the passages, which occur in Vietnam War novels written by Webb. According to a CNN report, in a news release and a list of quotes posted last Friday on the Drudge Report website, Allen accused Webb, who is challenging the Republican incumbent for his Senate seat, of "dehumanizing women, men, and even children," through his fiction writings.
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Attorney Offers Evidence of Anti-Christian Bias at Univ. of Wisconsin
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
October 31, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/afa/312006c.asp
(AgapePress) - "Pagans, yes. Christians, no." That's how a constitutional attorney is describing the attitude permeating the public university system in Wisconsin.
Just in time for Halloween, a Pagan Student Alliance club has been formed at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. The group has already been recognized by the student government. Meanwhile, at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is currently banned from campus because it requires its leaders to be Christians.
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UW-La Crosse Accused of Discriminating Against Unprotected Campus Groups
By Jim Brown
American Family Association
November 1, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006e.asp
(AgapePress) - Yet another student group in the University of Wisconsin system says it has been victimized by liberal bias and hypocrisy. And in this case, he charges, the victimizer is a university office that exists to address discrimination on campus.
College Republicans President Mike Tellier filed a complaint with the Campus Climate Office at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse after the group's posters, which advertised a 3,000-flag 9/11 memorial, were defaced. However, he says that office, which is set up to address instances of "hate" on campus, told him it would not investigate the vandalism because the College Republicans were not a protected class.
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Commentary & News Briefs
November 1, 2006
Compiled by Jenni Parker
American Family Association/Agape Press
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/12006h.asp
[...]
...Investigative journalist and author Jerome Corsi says Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland has clearly been involved in a cover-up in connection with his handling of a former congressional staffer who had been arrested for a sex crime. Corsi has done an extensive investigation into the Strickland scandal -- a scandal that the journalist says has received virtually no national media coverage. He believes Strickland has not been forthright in explaining why his former staffer was kept on the payroll after being arrested in 1994, or why the congressman even took a trip to Italy with the same employee in 1998. "Strickland has intentionally covered this up and the Democrats have not cared," Corsi contends. They were up in arms over the Foley scandal, he observes, "yet when this comes up in their own party ... in Ohio, the Democrats have no moral courage; they're hypocrites. They want to bury the issue." However, the facts have been exposed by some Ohio media outlets, and Corsi says he thinks Ohio citizens are becoming outraged as they learn the details. "And Strickland's making the same mistake that John Kerry made," the author says; "he's not answering the charges, and he's letting this whole scandal build." In any event, Corsi believes Strickland's moral integrity must be called into question, considering the recent endorsement he received from Equality Ohio, a radical pro-homosexual group advocating special rights for homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people. [Chad Groening]
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Modern or traditional marriage: which will you choose?
10/31/2006
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According to recent studies, children with homosexual parents are at a disadvantage when compared to children with heterosexual parents.
The length of homosexual relationships subject these children to a poor model of marriage. In their book, "Male and Female Homosexuality," M. Saghir and E. Robins state "Homosexuals ... model a poor view of marriage to children. They are taught by example and belief that marital relationships are transitory and mostly sexual in nature."
Such relationships also provide an unstable environment for children.
In addition to being subject to a negative example of marriage, children of homosexuals often witness domestic violence.
[...]
Clearly, we are doing a disservice to children by allowing homosexual marriage. Vote to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia.
Jillian Lowery, Grade 7
Brian Lowery, Grade 10
Allison Lowery, Grade 12
Amissville
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Date: 2006-11-02 11:51 am (UTC)