BMAT Moral Action Committee Watchman Report #75 03/17/2006
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1. North Texas Parents challenge moment of silence in Texas School
2. Montana Rules against Church for Supporting Marriage Amendment
3. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has called for an investigation: at last, some common sense
4. Sad, But True Senators Cornyn and Kennedy Team Up On Guest Worker Amnesty
5. Some Governments Urged to Remember Christians in Islamic States
6. Classroom brainwashing: students report being propagandized
7. Non-Profits Tell Senate to 'Keep Off the Grassroots'
8. FCC fines CBS $3.6 million for 'Without a Trace'
9. Eighteen Conservative Groups Boycott Ford after Ford reneged on its Nov. 2005 agreement
10. Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America
11. Cornyn Demands Answers from Homeland Security
12. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of Order for relying on Foreign Law
13. Conflicting opinions on Abortion: It Depends on How You Ask the Question
14. Study: parental consent Law Lowered Abortion Rate in Texas
15. High rate of Hispanic teen pregnancies in Bexar County and across the U.S. remain stubbornly high
16. Border sheriffs warn they are outgunned and outmanned by smugglers' advantages
17. Teacher Retirement System votes to ban investments related to pornography
18. The most Important Biblical Artifacts Ever Found
19. Social Scientist: Biblical Marriage Matters, Freedom Depends on the Family
20. Canadian Sarnia Baptist Church may be Sued for "Intolerance" to homosexual official capacity in wedding ceremony
21. Gay Activists infiltrating influential professional groups are Using Bad Science
22. Twenty- four Gay Protesters Arrested at Liberty University
23. Schindler Family Seek to Establish National Day of Remembrance in Terri's name
24. Welcome to post-Christian Europe
25. Dolly Deception: Ethically challenged scientists want to "police" themselves
26. March 20 to 26, 2006: The beginning of a major World Crisis? A European Think Tank speculates
North Texas Parents challenge moment of silence in Texas School
Mar. 14 2006 Associated Press
A
North Texas couple has filed a complaint in federal district court charging the state's mandated moment of silence in public schools is unconstitutional.
David and Shannon Croft say in the complaint that one of their children was told by an elementary school teacher to keep quiet because the minute is a "time for prayer."
The complaint filed last week names Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which the Croft's three children attend in the suburbs of Dallas.
David Croft, a 37-year-old computer programmer, said there is no secular reason for a moment of silence.
"This is just a ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school," he said. "Is there any study showing a moment of silence helps education?"
A 2003 law established the moment of silence. It allows children to "reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities" for one minute after the American and Texas pledges at the beginning of each school day.
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said children can use the minute as they wish.
"If the student wants to review mentally to get ready for a test or pray silently, they can," she said. "The law does not set it up specifically as a moment for prayer."
A school district spokeswoman declined comment because the district had not received a copy of the complaint.
Dean Cook, a lawyer for the Crofts, said a precedent was established when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that a moment of silence in Alabama public schools was unconstitutional. He said the moment violates the establishment clause and church-state separation.
"This is an issue of trying to impose religion," he said. "There's nothing stopping students from silently praying during the day, so there's no need for this accommodation."
In 2001, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge backed by the American Civil Liberties Union to Virginia's moment of silence.
State lawmakers were aware of such debate when they wrote the Texas law, said Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a co-sponsor of the law. The measure designated the moment of silence as neutral time, despite arguments from some lawmakers that a verbal prayer should be included, Branch said.
Branch said that letting children pray in school makes them feel the school is not hostile toward their religion.
"I just wanted to create an opportunity for families who want their children to be able to pray at the beginning of the school day toward a higher being to be able to do so," Branch said.
David Croft, a Libertarian, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in 2002 and for the state Legislature in 2004. He said he has complained to his local school district about other perceived church-state violations, including objections to the songs "Silent Night" and "God Bless the U.S.A."
"I don't want my children exposed to people telling them the supernatural is real," Croft said. "I completely reject Judeo-Christian monotheism."
Walt and Branch said they believe this is the first challenge to the Texas law.
QUOTEWORTHY: "I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." -- George Washington (letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789)
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Montana Rules against Church for Supporting Marriage Amendment
Mar. 10 2006 Citizen Link
M
ontana's commissioner of political practices released an opinion this week declaring that East Helena Baptist church violated the state's Campaign Finance and Practices Act when it supported an amendment to define marriage.
Attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) are representing Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church, which is awaiting a ruling in a similar challenge. ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt said the state law runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
"The First Amendment protects the right to speak out in support of important social issues," he said. "Montana's campaign finance and practice laws put a very heavy price on any speech in support of a ballot issue like the marriage amendment. The laws clearly violate the First Amendment."
Schowengerdt said the complaint filed against the church was a politically motivated attack designed to muzzle marriage supporters.
"The law is so extreme that it can be triggered by 'anything of value' -- even a penny spent on the church electric bill," he said. "Once triggered, the law demands that the church register with the state, comply with comprehensive reporting requirements, and jump through state-mandated organization hoops, as would a political committee."
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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has called for an investigation: at last, some common sense
Mar. 16 2006 Jerry Falwell
L
eave it to the elites of academia to come up with a novel new way to address the modern terrorist movement.
Readers have probably heard by now that Yale University has added to its student body a former member of the Taliban. It’s one of those stories that, no matter how many times you hear/read it, you still have to shake your head in disbelief.
It seems there’s no real need for America’s enemies to utilize a Trojan Horse in an effort to defeat us. We’ve lowered our defenses and have invited our adversaries with open arms.
Yale’s action is ludicrous beyond measure. But now a Republican lawmaker is aiming to aggressively investigate this farcical move by Yale officials.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has called for an investigation into how the Taliban’s former ambassador Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi was able to get a student visa into our nation and then get accepted and admitted into Yale. (Mr. Hashemi gained entry into the school despite the fact that he reportedly has only a fourth grade education.)
Sen. Cornyn, no doubt speaking for a large majority of the American people — clear thinking ones, at least — said Mr. Hashemi should instead be deported.
Speaking on the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” this morning (Thursday), he said, “This is someone who has apparently provided material support for a terrorist organization.”
He added, “He is a member or representative of a terrorist organization and he has endorsed terrorist activity and tried to persuade others to do so. Those are grounds for deportation under the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act passed by Congress last year.”
I was so pleased to hear a national leader using such strong terms in regard to this situation. Since I learned of Yale’s open embrace of Mr. Hashemi, it has stuck in my craw. I simply cannot understand the reasoning that Yale officials utilized to determine that a member of the Taliban would make a good addition to the student body.
Have American liberals — locked into the gullible belief of unreserved diversity (except for conservative people of faith, of course) — truly descended to the level of cuddling with terrorists as they seek to establish their magic utopia?
What’s next — a scholarship for Osama bin Laden? Or a research grant for Mullah Mohammad Omar?
Contemporary academia has joined hands with Hollywood in an attempt to convince our fellow citizens that our enemies simply need to have our sympathy and understanding, and then the world will be all cozy and cheery.
I’m not buying it.
Our enemies despise us for who we are and the freedoms that we cherish. They kill innocent victims—including children. They are soulless in their attempt to destroy our nation.
To coddle people like Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi is a grave mistake.
I thank God that a clear-thinking individual like Sen. Cornyn is shining a spotlight on this troubling story. The chairman of the Senate Immigration Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, Mr. Cornyn has the credentials to make this a major issue — and it appears he will be doing just that.
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Sad, But True Senators Cornyn and Kennedy Team Up On Guest Worker Amnesty
Mar. 16 2006 Federation for American immigration Reform
T
oday the Senate Judiciary Committee met to again consider the guest worker amnesty proposal put forward by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA). No amendments were offered, only discussion of how the committee should proceed. What follows is a summary of today's proceedings.
Maybe We Should Outsource the Senate Judiciary Committee!
The session began 10 minutes late, but was well attended with most members present for most of the time.
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Sen. Specter (R-PA) opened the discussion by complaining about news coverage disparaging the slow progress of the committee and the fact that in four sessions the committee was unable to agree on even the least controversial provisions of the bill.
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Sen. Specter (R-PA) then suggested the committee meet again tomorrow or Monday 27th with the hope of reaching agreement on major issues and changing the majority leader's mind about bringing up an enforcement-only bill on the floor.
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Sen. Kyl (R-AZ), while approving of a deadline to pressure the committee to act in a timely fashion, he complained that Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) had gone a bit too far.
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Sen. Kyl asked Sen. Grassley (R-IA) if the social security and tax amendments offered earlier could be moved forward in the Finance Committee expeditiously. The Senate Finance Committee claims jurisdiction over these matters and Grassley is the committee chairman.
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Sen. Grassley offered that he had directed his Finance Committee staff and his Judiciary Committee staff to work with members on these matters.
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Sen. Specter asked Grassley if these matters, once resolved, could be taken up in the Judiciary Committee.
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Sen. Grassley responded that he had not yet decided, but that with the agreement of 11 members of the Finance Committee, he would consent to a floor amendment on these matters which would be managed by the Finance Committee.
McCain-Kennedy/Cornyn-Kyl-Who is the Fairest Guest Worker Amnesty of Them All?
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Sen. Specter (R-PA), as he has during previous sessions, voiced his view that it would be unfair to allow those who are currently present in the U.S. illegally to jump in line in front of those who were patiently applying for their green cards through legal channels.
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Sen. Durbin (R-IL) asked that there be a vote on the McCain-Kennedy amnesty guest worker program as a substitute amendment for the Specter amnesty guest worker program.
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Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) replied that the good work of the committee should not be effectively rejected by taking up McCain-Kennedy and that the committee should focus on the guest worker program, but not the amnesty.
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Sens. Schumer (D-NY) and Durbin argued that the committee needed to decide where it stood regarding "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens-amnesty.
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Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) was recognized by Chairman Specter to make a statement on a possible compromise. He gave an impassioned speech on the need for amnesty to bring illegal aliens out of the shadows. He asserted that the McCain-Kennedy bill would not let illegal aliens jump the line, because it required them to wait 6 years for green card status.
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Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) rebutted the Kennedy argument by pointing out that allowing illegal aliens to stay and work in the U.S. for 6 years while awaiting their green cards was tantamount to giving them a green card at the outset.
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Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) agreed with Sen. Kyl and argued that the Cornyn-Kyl amnesty guest worker bill is superior to McCain-Kennedy amnesty guest worker program and is not an amnesty.
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Sen. Durbin (D-IL) asserted that McCain-Kennedy did not let people jump the line and called it "tough, but fair."
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Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) asked Kennedy about the background checks required by his bill and indicated she did not believe DHS could complete all the background checks under his bill.
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Sen. Brownback (R-KS) commented that deferred mandatory departure in the Cornyn-Kyl bill also allowed aliens to remain in the country.
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Sen. Specter (R-PA) announced that the committee would meet again on March 27 at 10:00 a.m. for another session to try and reach agreement on an amnesty guest worker bill.
But We Forgot Amnesty for Agricultural Workers!
Saving the Worst For Last-A Cornyn-Kennedy Compromise Guest Worker Amnesty
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Sen. Specter (R-PA) announced just before ending the session that Sens. Cornyn and Kennedy had reached a tentative agreement on a guest worker program that would allow workers to stay for 2 years, go home for 1 year, and then return for 6 years. The annual number would be capped at 400,000. Specter asserted that this agreement had 9 firm votes of the 18 members of the committee.
Keep Those Calls Coming
Be sure to contact the members of the Committee if you haven't already done so. Their contact information is listed below.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) - 202-224-2934
Main Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
QUOTEWORTHY: "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." --Barry Goldwater
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Some Governments Urged to Remember Christians in Islamic States
Mar. 02 2006 Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor
A Christian group has launched a campaign urging governments to protect Christian minorities in Islamic countries.
I
t says hardships faced by these Christians are not getting attention at a time when the Mohammed cartoon controversy has led to an increasing emphasis on the protection of Islam.
The Barnabas Fund, a U.K.-based charity that works among Christians living in Muslim societies, said its campaign, The Right to Justice, aims to inform Western governments about anti-Christian persecution, and ask them to put pressure on the countries where the problem exists.
A petition that will be presented to Western government leaders, calls for Christian minorities to receive just and equal treatment with non-Christian majorities; and for an end to institutional and other religious discrimination denying Christians equal rights and freedoms.
The petition, which will be circulated through churches around the world and via the Internet for the next 12 months, also urges governments to raise these concerns with representatives of nations "where Christians suffer daily discrimination and injustice."
The furor over the publication of cartoons satirizing Mohammed, mostly in European newspapers, has brought an unprecedented push by Islamic governments to have international organizations, including the United Nations and European Union, to act to protect Islamic beliefs.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a grouping of 57 Muslim states and territories, wants the U.N. to adopt a General Assembly resolution prohibiting the "defamation of all prophets and faiths."
It has also called on the European Parliament to pass legislation "against Islamophobia," and for European media to adopt a "code of ethics" to deal with issues such as freedom of speech in the context of religious symbols.
The efforts of the OIC have already seen the last-minute inclusion in a draft resolution setting up a new U.N. human rights council of a clause referring to the importance of governments, media and others "promoting tolerance, respect for and freedom of religion and belief."
Some non-governmental organizations monitoring the U.N. worry that when Islamic states' rights violations are questioned in the future, they may invoke the clause and accuse critics are failing to respect religion.
In the view of the Barnabas Fund, embattled Christians are being forgotten while all the attention is on Muslims.
"Whilst protection of Islam is increasingly high on the agenda of national and international bodies, protection of Christianity is not."
"We very much hope to make a change, given that such campaigns highlight and bring
to the top of the public agenda the discriminatory nature of Islam and the sufferings of the Christian minority," said the group's international director, Patrick Sookhdeo.
"We believe that such a position is now intolerable and must be addressed."
Christians targeted, churches torched
In several countries, Christians and Christian symbols have been directly targeted during Muslim rioting over the cartoons.
The worst case was Nigeria, where churches were torched and Christians killed in the predominantly Muslim north by Muslim mobs roused over the cartoons and rumors that a Christian teacher had desecrated a Koran.
The violence prompted reprisal attacks against Muslims elsewhere in the country, and more than 100 people of both religions were killed.
Other countries where Christians have been victims of Muslim ire include Pakistan, where several Christian schools and a Christian hospital were attacked, and crosses set alight during protests; and Iraq, where at least four churches were bombed.
Churches were also targeted in Lebanon, Syria and Libya, and an Italian Catholic priest was shot dead in Turkey.
In Nigeria, where Muslims account for some 50 percent of the population and Christians for 40 percent, the country's main Christian body early on condemned the publication of the Mohammed cartoons.
But after the violence erupted, the Christian Association of Nigeria issued a strong statement accusing some Muslims of using the issue to push a "hidden agenda" to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.
In contrast to Nigeria, Christians in Pakistan account for just two percent of the country's mostly Muslim population. They face discriminatory legislation including blasphemy laws carrying the death penalty for anyone convicted of insulting the Muslim prophet.
Pakistani Christian leaders have taken a different approach to the problem, urging their Muslim compatriots not to identify them with Christians in the West.
"We are Pakistanis first and Pakistanis last," the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance said in a statement at a meeting on Tuesday which also criticized the publication of the cartoons and attacks against Christians.
Christian leaders also put their name to a Pakistani interfaith congress resolution urging U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to "prepare and implement a legal framework according to which nobody be allowed to desecrate the holiness of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), Jesus, Moses, David and other prophets."
The interfaith resolution also called for those involved in the publication of the caricatures to be punished.
On Wednesday, some 500 Christians held a rally in a city south of Islamabad where a Protestant church was set on fire a day earlier -- the latest of several attacks on churches in recent weeks.
Pakistan's Daily Times said some local Muslim leaders also took part to express solidarity with the Christians of Sargodha, Pakistan's eighth largest city.
'Drop the silence'
On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned all violence committed in the name of religion, citing both the violence in Nigeria and the destruction of a Shi'ite shrine in Iraq.
A week earlier, a leading Italian bishop, Rino Fisichella of Rome, said it was "unacceptable" that governments and international organizations were not speaking out against the fate of Christian minorities in Islamic lands.
Citing the violence in Nigeria and elsewhere, he told the Corriere della Sera daily "these episodes stress how difficult it is for Muslim societies to accept the principle of religious freedom which is for us a acquired right."
Fisichella said it was time to "drop the diplomatic silence" and called on the U.N. and other bodies to "remind the societies and governments of countries with a Muslim majority of their responsibilities."
According to the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, 10 of the 17 countries with the worst records on religious freedom are Islamic or mostly Islamic -- Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
(The others are Burma, China, Eritrea, North Korea, Vietnam, Belarus and Cuba.)
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Classroom brainwashing: students report being propagandized
Mar 14 2006 Thomas Sowell Townhall.com
G
overnor Bill Owens of Colorado has cut through the cant about "free speech" and come to the defense of a 16-year-old high school student who tape-recorded his geography teacher using class time to rant against President Bush and compare him to Hitler.
The teacher's lawyer talks about First Amendment rights to free speech but free speech has never meant speech free of consequences. Even aside from laws against libel or extortion, you can insult your boss or your spouse only at your own risk.
Unfortunately, there is much confusion about both free speech and academic freedom. At too many schools and colleges across the country, teachers feel free to use a captive audience to vent their politics when they are supposed to be teaching geography or math or other subjects.
While the public occasionally hears about weird rantings by some teacher or professor, what seldom gets any media attention is the far more pervasive classroom brainwashing by people whose views may not be so extreme, but are no less irrelevant to what they are being paid to teach. Some say teachers should give "both sides" -- but they should give neither side if it is off the subject.
Academic freedom is the freedom to do academic things -- teach chemistry or accounting the way you think chemistry or accounting should be taught. It is also freedom to engage in the political activities of other citizens -- on their own time, outside the classroom -- without being fired.
Nowhere else do people think that it is OK to engage in politics instead of doing the job for which they are being paid. When you hire a plumber to fix a leak, you don't want to find your home being flooded while he whiles away the hours talking about Congressional elections or foreign policy.
It doesn't matter whether his political opinions are good, bad, or indifferent if he is being paid to do a different job.
Only among "educators" is there such confusion that merely exposing what they are doing behind the backs of parents and taxpayers is regarded as a violation of their rights. Tenure is apparently supposed to confer carte blanche.
The Colorado geography teacher is not unique. A professor at UCLA wrote an indignant article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, denouncing organized efforts of students to record lectures of professors who impose their politics in class instead of teaching the subject they were hired to teach.
All across the country, from the elementary schools to the universities, students report being propagandized. That the propaganda is almost invariably from the political left is secondary. The fact that it is political propaganda instead of the subject matter of the class is what is crucial.
The lopsided imbalance among college professors in their political parties is a symptom of the problem, rather than the fundamental problem itself.
If physicists taught physics and economists taught economics, what they did on their own time politically would be no more relevant than whether they go swimming or sky diving on their days off. But politics is intruded, not only into the classroom, but into hiring decisions as well.
Even top scholars who are conservatives are unlikely to be hired by many colleges and universities. Likewise with people training to become public school teachers. Some in schools of education have said that, to be qualified, you have to see teaching as a means of social change -- meaning change in a leftward direction.
Such attitudes lead to lopsided politics among professors. At Stanford University, for example, the faculty includes 275 registered Democrats and 36 registered Republicans.
Such ratios are not uncommon at other universities -- despite all the rhetoric about "diversity." Only physical diversity seems to matter.
Inbred ideological narrowness shows up, not only in hiring and teaching, but also in restrictive campus speech codes for students, created by the very academics who complain loudly when their own "free speech" is challenged.
So long as voters, taxpayers, university trustees, and parents tolerate all this, so long it will continue.
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Non-Profits Tell Senate to 'Keep Off the Grassroots'
Mar. 03 2006 Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor
T
he U.S. Senate is moving to curtail the influence of non-profit interest groups that routinely contact citizens and urge them to petition their congressmen or senators on issues of concern.
The so-called Lieberman-Levin Amendment would impose "unconstitutional and unfair" restraints on non-profit grassroots lobbying activity, the Family Research Council warned.
The amendment passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee by a 10-6 vote on Thursday, and it's heading for the Senate floor next week.
Groups such as the Family Research Council say it targets the wrong people. "Folks have a right to petition their government, and it's unfortunate that the Senate is poised to infringe on that right," the FRC said in a message on its website.
"The Lieberman-Levin amendment grants Congress the authority to scrutinize and regulate the constitutionally protected efforts of groups to alert citizens regarding legislative developments in Congress," said FRC President Tony Perkins in a message to supporters.
The amendment is part of a larger bill (S. 2128) intended to address concerns raised by the Jack Abramoff scandal. But the scandal should not be used as an excuse for incumbent lawmakers to encroach on basic constitutional liberties, the FRC said.
According to Perkins, the Lieberman-Levin amendment violates the constitutionally protected right of citizens to petition government, stifles debate, and shuts out the voice of average citizens.
"This amendment is a red herring," Perkins said. "It takes the focus off the corruption surrounding high paid lobbyists, and attempts to make non-profit citizen groups the whipping boy.
Perkins urged the full Senate to strip the "misguided" amendment from the lobbying reform bill, when the measure reaches the Senate floor.
Another grassroots group, Gun Owners of America, has described similar legislation as a "gag act." Grassroots advocacy groups would have to "register" their communications with citizens and "file twice as many frivolous reports," GOA warned last week.
"For example, if we wanted to alert you to gun ban that is moving in our nation's capital, we could first have to tell [Congress] about what we're planning to do, who we're planning to alert (that is, grassroots folks like yourself), how much money we plan to spend, etc.... In effect, we would end up alerting Sarah Brady every time we plan to wage a grassroots campaign in opposition to gun control."
GOA called the move to stifle grassroots mobilization "ridiculous."
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FCC fines CBS $3.6 million for 'Without a Trace'
Mar. 16 2006 American Family Association
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n January, 2005, we asked you to join us in filing formal complaints against CBS and their affiliate stations for broadcasting Without A Trace, complete with an extended teen-age group sex scene. Within days, 165,997 AFA on-line supporters had filed formal complaints with the FCC.
This week, the FCC announced it agrees with you and is fining 111 CBS stations $32,500 each for broadcasting this indecency. This major accomplishment happened because you took action! This is the largest fine ever against the networks and their stations.
In addition, the FCC reaffirmed a $550,000 fine against CBS for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl.
I want to thank you for taking time to get involved. This proves we can make a difference when we join together!
The FCC will be bombarded with complaints by Hollywood, the media, and liberals such as the ACLU. They must get letters of thanks from those who appreciate their enforcement of the indecency laws! We must let them hear from us!
Please take time to thank the FCC for their actions by sending them a letter of support.
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Eighteen Conservative Groups Boycott Ford after Ford reneged on its Nov. 2005 agreement
Mar. 14 2006 Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor
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Ford has every right to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups promoting homosexual marriage. But those who oppose homosexual marriage have every right not to buy automobiles made by Ford Motor Company," said the American Family Association, which has reinstated its boycott against the car-maker.
AFA Founder and Chairman Don Wildmon says the year-long boycott will commence because Ford has backed out of a deal to avoid supporting the homosexual agenda.
Among other things, AFA wanted Ford to stop promotions in which homosexual groups earned cash based on vehicle purchases; it wanted Ford to stop making corporate donations to homosexual organizations that promote same-sex marriage; and it wants Ford to stop advertising in homosexual-oriented media. AFA also objected to mandatory "diversity training" for Ford employees.
But faced with the wrath of homosexual advocacy groups, Ford reneged on its Nov. 2005 agreement with AFA. It "caved in to the demands of the homosexuals," AFA said.
To counter the pro-family boycott of Ford, homosexuals have begun a "buycott" of Ford automobiles, AFA noted on its BoycottFord website.
"The success of the boycott will be determined by which group -- homosexuals or pro-family -- are able to get the most people to support their efforts. The homosexuals have shown that they are dedicated to their cause of homosexual marriage. It remains to be seen if pro-family people are as dedicated to their cause," the AFA website said.
The Ford boycott is a project of the AFA and 18 other pro-family organizations.
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Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America
Mar. 13 2006 Prophecy News Watch
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n a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.
It is being spread much faster than first predicted from one wild flock of birds to another, an airborne delivery system that no government can stop.
"There's no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said.
U.S. spy satellites are tracking the infected flocks, which started in Asia and are now heading north to Siberia and Alaska, where they will soon mingle with flocks from the North American flyways.
"What we're watching in real time is evolution," said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And it's a biological process, and it is, by definition, unpredictable."
America's poultry farms could become ground zero as infected flocks fly over. The industry says it is prepared for quick action.
"All the birds involved in it would be destroyed, and the area would be isolated and quarantined," said Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council. "It would very much look like a sort of military operation if it came to that."
Extraordinary precautions are already being taken at the huge chicken farms in Lancaster County, Pa., the site of the last great outbreak of a similar bird flu 20 years ago.
Other than the farmers, everyone there has to dress as if it were a visit to a hospital operating room.
"Back in 1983-1984, we had to kill 17 million birds at a cost of $60 million," said Dr. Sherrill Davison, a veterinary medicine expert at the University of Pennsylvania.
Even on a model farm, ABC News saw a pond just outside the protected barns attracting wild geese.
It is the droppings of infected waterfowl that carry the virus.
The bird flu virus, to date, is still not easily transmitted to humans. There have been lots of dead birds on three continents, but so far fewer than 100 reported human deaths.
But should that change, the spread could be rapid.
ABC News has obtained a mathematical projection prepared by federal scientists based on an initial outbreak on an East Coast chicken farm in which humans are infected. Within three months, with no vaccine, almost half of the country would have the flu.
That, of course, is a worst-case scenario -- one that Lobb says the poultry industry is determined to prevent with an aggressive strategy to contain and destroy infected flocks and deny the virus the opportunity to mutate to a more dangerous form but one that experts say cannot be completely discounted.
The current bird flu strain has been around for at least 10 years and has taken surprising twists and turns -- not the least of which is that it's now showing up in cats in Europe, where officials are advising owners to bring their cats inside. It's advice that might soon have to be considered here.
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Cornyn Demands Answers from Homeland Security
Mar. 16 2006 Gary Bauer American Values
Monday, Senator John Cornyn of Texas sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff demanding answers as to how Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, now attending Yale, got into this country. (Mr. Hashemi is a former spokesman for the Taliban.) Sen. Cornyn is asking to know what steps Homeland Security officials are taking to determine if Hashemi was properly admitted to the U.S. on a student visa, and whether or not the Department of Homeland Security plans to deport him now that we know he is here. Stay tuned!
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of Order for relying on Foreign Law
Mar. 16 2006 Gary Bauer American Values
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg apparently shares more than just ideology with Hillary Clinton. According to a recent speech, Ginsburg claims that she too is a victim of the “vast rightwing conspiracy,” citing death threats for her use of foreign law when interpreting our Constitution. Naturally, she blames conservatives in Congress for inciting “the irrational fringe.” Death threats against public officials are unacceptable. But the American people do not want foreign law superseding the authority of our Constitution. When the judiciary overreaches our elected representatives have an obligation to act. That is why Sen. Richard Shelby and Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama introduced the Constitution Restoration Act. While the main goal of this bill is to protect the free exercise of religion in the public square, it also prohibits judges from relying on foreign law. You can share your views on this issue by calling your representatives in Congress at (202) 224-3121.
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Conflicting opinions on Abortion: It Depends on How You Ask the Question
Mar. 13 2006 Tony perkins Family Research Council
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he Associated Press is headlining its latest abortion poll. "A solid majority of Americans feel that Roe v. Wade...should be upheld," the AP reports. "But most [Americans] support at least some restrictions on when abortion can be performed," the wire service says. No wonder most Americans report conflicting opinions on abortion - it follows the confusing or misleading media reporting. Americans demonstrably do not know that Roe struck down the abortion laws of all 50 states. They do not know that Roe gave us unfettered abortion-on-demand. Roe is responsible for partial-birth abortion; Roe has brought an increase in minor girls who have been preyed upon by older men, who often take these minors across state lines to have abortions without parental knowledge. This is Roe.
The media doesn't tell the public. Americans' "consent" to these radical changes was forced upon them by one court case. In only one state was abortion democratically established and even in that one case the campaign was marked by an unprecedented level of deception and bigotry. Poll after poll has shown that Americans favor parental notice, spousal consent, informed consent, an outright ban on partial-birth abortion, and a host of other commonsense reforms. This latest AP effort should be dismissed as disinformation intended to give state lawmakers cold feet.
Additional Resources
Poll: Americans Consistently Inconsistent About Abortion
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Study: parental consent Law Lowered Abortion Rate in Texas
Mar 8 2006 Linda Johnson Associated Press
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bortion rates declined significantly among Texas girls — though some got riskier abortions later in pregnancy — after the state enacted a parental notification law, researchers say.
The findings could have a strong influence on the abortion debate. Texas is the biggest of 35 states that require minors to notify their parents or get their consent before obtaining an abortion, although a judge can usually grant a waiver.
Researchers at Baruch College at City University of New York studied the records of teen abortions and births for the two years before the Texas law took effect on Jan. 1, 2000, and for three years afterward.
Abortion rates dropped for girls ages 15 through 18, even though the 18-year-olds were not subject to the law. But the drop was more pronounced among the younger girls. Their rates fell 11 percent to 20 percent more than the rate among the 18-year-olds did.
"The law has definite behavioral effects," said lead researcher Ted Joyce, a Baruch professor of economics.
The study was reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
In the study, birth rates declined for all ages in the 15- to 18-year-old group. At the same time, the abortion rate among 18-year-olds fell from 27.7 abortions per 1,000 girls before the law to 25.8 afterward. The rate dropped from 18.7 to 14.5 among 17-year-olds; 12.1 to 9.0 among 16-year-olds; and 6.5 to 5.4 among 15-year-olds.
Texas State Sen. Florence Shapiro, who sponsored the notification law, said the findings show that more parents are becoming involved in their daughters' "life-altering decisions."
"That was my intent," she said. Last year, Texas went further and enacted a law requiring parental consent.
In the study, girls 17 1/2 or slightly older were one-third more likely to have an abortion in the second trimester than girls already 18 when they became pregnant, indicating many waited until they turned 18 to escape the notification requirement.
Abortion later in pregnancy carries a much higher rate of deadly complications, though the overall risk is still extremely small.
The study "draws attention to the way that these kinds of laws can put teens in a compromised position that puts their health at risk," said Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research group that specializes in reproductive issues.
The abortion rate has been falling among all girls since 1991 both nationally and in Texas, as have teen birth rates.
Besides the 35 states with parental consent or notification laws in force, nine states have passed such laws but they have been found unconstitutional, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.
The Baruch researchers studied Texas because of its large and ethnically diverse population and because most girls there live far from states that do not require parental involvement before an abortion.
The New York Times conducted its own analysis of abortion rates in Texas and five other states and concluded in a story Monday that parental involvement laws have had little effect there.
Joyce said that analysis had a different outcome because it included two states with tiny populations, one state where the law was overturned, and two states near areas where abortion is easily accessible without parental involvement.
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High rate of Hispanic teen pregnancies in Bexar County and across the U.S. remain stubbornly high
Mar. 12 2006 Tracy Idell Hamilton Express-News Staff Writer
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een pregnancy rates among Hispanics in Bexar County and across the U.S. remain stubbornly high and are decreasing more slowly than teen birth rates overall, according to a recent report that seeks more culturally relevant ways to reach this growing population.
Fifty-one percent of Hispanic teen girls get pregnant at least once before age 20, says the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy's latest report, "Bridging Two Worlds: How Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Can Better Serve Latino Youth." That compares with the national average of 35 percent of all teens — still a high number, but one that has dropped dramatically in the past decade.
Though the overall teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. decreased almost 30 percent between 1990 and 2000, the rates for Hispanics dropped by just half that. And though more than a quarter of all teen pregnancies occur to Hispanic teens, they make up just 14 percent of the female teen population.
Because that population is projected to grow much more quickly over the next 25 years than the teen population overall, the National Campaign believes the high rate of teen pregnancy in the Hispanic community "merit(s) immediate, focused attention."
By reducing the rate, it concludes, more Hispanic teenagers will have the opportunity to get an education, participate in the work force and build strong families. Reducing unintended pregnancies also decreases the burden on taxpayers when the state must pick up the bill. Texas spends about $8,500 on pre- and post-natal care for low-income women and their babies — just in the first year.
"Our only mission is to reduce teen pregnancy," said Bill Albert, spokesman for the NCPTP, "so we want to go where the rates are highest. This study marks an intensification of that effort."
The term Hispanic, of course, masks a diverse population with varied circumstances. Most Hispanics living in the U.S. are Mexican, about 65 percent. Central and South Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and others round out the population. In 2000, nearly 40 percent were first generation, 281/2 were second and almost 33 percent were third generation.
The teen birth rate for Bexar County's mostly Mexican American population of Hispanic teens has dropped, from 80 births per 1,000 girls in 1994 to about 60 in 2003. That's still almost twice as high as the rate for black teens, and 5 times higher than for Anglos.
The reasons behind the higher rate are complex and overlapping.
In 2003, more than one in five Hispanics in the U.S. were living below the poverty line, with employment concentrated in the service and labor sectors. Only 43 percent have a high school education — and that percentage is slightly lower for Mexican Americans.
Both contribute to a lack of awareness and access to family planning care.
Behaviors and attitudes within families are often modeled not just by parents but older siblings as well. That 80 percent of Hispanic teen mothers live at home for at least a year after giving birth may help explain why younger siblings of teen parents are two to six times more likely to become teen parents themselves.
Also, motherhood is strongly valued in Hispanic culture, even among teens, who might not be encouraged to finish their educations or begin a career.
The NCPTP's Albert says earlier teen pregnancy prevention efforts may have inadvertently sent a message saying 'Don't have kids,' something that won't connect in a culture with such strong emphasis on family.
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Border sheriffs warn they are outgunned and outmanned by smugglers' advantages
Mar. 13 2006 Jerry Seper The Washington Times
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aw-enforcement officials along the Mexican border say they are outgunned and outmanned by drug smugglers armed with automatic weapons and grenades, and who use state-of-the-art communications and tracking systems.
"We recently received information that cartels immediately across our border are planning on killing as many police officers as possible on the United States side ... for the purpose of attempting to 'scare us' away from the border," said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr., head of the 16-member Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition.
"They have the money, equipment and stamina to do it," the sheriff said, adding that one confidential informant told coalition members the weapons available to U.S. authorities were "water guns compared to what we will have to come up against if we ever have to."
Coalition members told Senate and House members last week that the federal government's inability to secure the Southwest border has resulted in a dramatic rise in violence against U.S. authorities. They also said it has made it easier for terrorists planning attacks to enter the country.
"Terrorists have expressed an interest and a desire to exploit the existing vulnerabilities in our border security to enter or attack the United States," Sheriff Gonzalez said.
He said he does not blame the law-enforcement agents; rather, "we criticize the policies that they have to adhere to."
Sheriff Gonzalez said the Department of Homeland Security has issued bulletins to warn federal agents about Mexican drug cartels forming ties with members of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
He told The Washington Times that the coalition is concerned about terrorists using Mexican drug and alien smugglers to cross the border.
During testimony before a House subcommittee, Sheriff Gonzalez said law-enforcement officers have found many items along the banks of the Rio Grande indicating ties to terrorist organizations.
He said Border Patrol agents found a jacket near the border with Arabic military badges, one with an airplane flying over a building and heading toward a tower.
El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego told the House subcommittee that efforts to secure the border against narcoterrorism have not curbed the use of the border as the "most significant gateway of drugs" being smuggled.
"If illicit organizations can bring in tons of narcotics through this region and work a distribution network that spans the entire country, then they can bring in the resources for terrorism as well," Sheriff Samaniego said.
He said that on the Southwest border, the same organizations involved in smuggling drugs also have been found to smuggle illegal aliens. He said smuggling terrorists, weapons or weapons components "would not be a far reach for these established organizations."
Sheriff Samaniego said that although the federal government expects local law enforcement to help combat drugs and work to increase national security, it has reduced the resources available to state and local agencies.
Profits made by the drug cartels also have allowed them to hire and develop what Sheriff Gonzalez described as "experts" in explosives, wiretapping, countersurveillance, lock-picking and Global Positioning System technology.
"More and more we are seeing armed individuals entering our country," he said. "We feel it is a matter of time before a shootout will occur."
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Teacher Retirement System votes to ban investments related to pornography
Mar. 10 2006 Robert Elder Austin American Statesman
Provision sets revenue limits to define which companies qualify
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n a rare instance of social activism, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas board voted to cleanse its investment portfolio of pornography.
The investment staff, however, must still figure out which companies fall under the ban.
The $99 billion pension fund's new policy, adopted unanimously Thursday, says the agency "will not invest in . . . a company that derives a significant portion of its revenues from products or services intended exclusively to appeal to a prurient interest in sex.
"These would include, but not be limited to, sexually explicit (X- or NC17-rated) films, videos, publications, and software; topless bars and strip clubs; and sexually oriented telephone and Internet services."
Perhaps more significantly, though, the new investment policy also opened the door to so-called social investing, something the system has shied away from on concerns that it would hurt returns and attract publicity.
The policy now says "prudent portfolio management may require consideration of social or political issues," so long as those issues don't damage the "long-term interests of the company."
The pension fund, the fourth-largest in the nation, pays retirement, health insurance, disability and other benefits to 1.1 million active and retired Texas public school employees. It paid out $5.4 billion in benefits last year.
The fund's officials said they will define a "significant portion" of revenue at about 10 percent. That level is unlikely to prohibit investments in big cable, telecommunications and media firms.
Nonetheless, Executive Director Ronnie Jung said "it will be a tricky screen" to identify companies using the new language.
Trustee Greg Poole, a high-school principal in Conroe, proposed the ban on porn-related investments in January, saying educators had a special interest in minimizing the influence of pornography on society.
"When you're the first in the nation to do something like this, there has to be a reason," Poole said, referring to the difficulties in identifying what constitutes a substantial investment in pornography.
The vote represents "a good start on the part of the board to address this issue," he said.
Poole said the new language permitting social and political issues to be considered could spur proposals from interest groups.
"It opens the door but it doesn't ever prevent us from using good judgment" on a case-by-case basis, he said. "It opens the door, but it doesn't swing it wide open."
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The most Important Biblical Artifacts Ever Found
Mar. 13 Christian Newswire
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he most Important Biblical Artifacts Ever Found -- Coming from Jerusalem to the U.S. for the 1st Time -- In Exhibition on Shared Roots of Christianity and Judaism
Exhibition Will Showcase Jewish and Christian Treasures from the Israel Museum; Once in a Lifetime Opportunity to See the First and Only Presentation Outside of Israel of One of the Most Important Dead Sea Scrolls—the Temple Scroll
Photo: The Temple Scroll, Columns 19-21
CLEVELAND, The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage will premiere a major exhibition on April 1, 2006 tracing the shared roots of Judaism and Christianity, bringing to the U.S. for the first time the most significant biblical artifacts ever found, including the Temple Scroll, one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is newly restored and has never before been displayed outside of Israel. Excavated in Israel over the last century, these one- of-a-kind Christian and Jewish archeological treasures come together for the first time to reveal a story of intertwined roots and shared heritage in a world premiere exhibition, "Cradle of Christianity: Treasures from the Holy Land."
Unique archaeological finds excavated in Israel portray the world in which Jesus lived, as described by the scriptures and writings of Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Highlights include:
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The Temple Scroll (Dead Sea Scroll) Its scale and subject—calling for a new legal interpretation of the Torah—make the Temple Scroll one of the most historically important of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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The burial ossuary of Caiaphas the High Priest, who, according to the New Testament, delivered Jesus to the Romans
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A commemorative inscription bearing the name of Pontius Pilate, representing the only surviving physical testimony of these two prominent figures from the story of the trial of Jesus
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Heel bone of Yehohanan son of Hagkol punctured by an iron nail (replication) – the only tangible evidence of the practice of crucifixion to have been discovered in archaeological excavations
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A stone inscription from the Temple Mount reading “To the place of trumpeting . . .”
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Artifacts characteristic of the period in which the Last Supper, trial, and crucifixion are believed to have taken place which provide a new perspective on these events from the New Testament
Cradle of Christianity explores aspects of early Jewish life and the concurrent birth of Christianity by powerfully presenting artifacts drawn from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which houses the foremost collection of Biblical Archeology in the world. The exhibition will be on view at the Maltz Museum from April 1 – October 22, 2006.
In telling the story of early Christianity and its emergence as a religion, artifacts will illustrate the Jewish and Christian religious activities during the 4th through the 7th centuries CE of the Byzantine period. Highlights include:
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Souvenirs and mementos from early Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land, including vessels for oil and water from holy sites and amulets and tokens bearing religious motifs.
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A full-scale reconstruction of the Chancel of a Byzantine Era church comprised of an original altar, chancel screens, Baptisterium, reliquary, and pulpit, and adorned by mosaics.
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The remains of excavated Synagogues, including capitals, mosaics, and marble furnishings.
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The two largest three-dimensional Menorahs ever found in excavation (116cm x 87cm x 10cm and 44 cm x 61 cm x 14 cm)
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Social Scientist: Biblical Marriage Matters, Freedom Depends on the Family
March 9, 2006 Mary Rettig Agape Press
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sociologist and writer says America cannot afford to say no to traditional marriage. Brad Wilcox, co-author of The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals (Spence Publishing, 2006), believes how U.S. society defines marriage can affect everything from the nation's economy to its citizens' individual rights.
Wilcox, a sociologist from the University of Virginia, is encouraged to note that 19 U.S. states have adopted pro-traditional marriage amendments to their state constitutions, and nine more states will vote on similar issues this November. He says marriage relates to every aspect of a nation's life, whether social, economic, or political.
"We know that the success of marriage has a lot to do with how children turn out and has to do with things like criminal activity, teenage pregnancy and child poverty," Wilcox observes, "so if we're concerned about things like crime rates, teenage girls getting pregnant, and kids living in poverty, then we should be concerned about the health and the strength of marriage."
The sociology expert says strong families directly correspond to a strong economy, low crime, and low government interference. On the other hand, he asserts, weak families result in a weak economy, high crime, and other social problems that result in a welfare state and undermine a Republic form of government. Hence, failing to keep American families strong will be detrimental in several ways, he insists.
"Our liberties and our freedoms depend in a large part on our capacity to govern ourselves," Wilcox notes. "If people cannot govern themselves -- if families cannot govern themselves -- the government has to step in to take up the slack," he says.
"Our tradition in the United States has been to stress the limited character of government, the limited nature of government, and to really emphasize the importance of individual liberty and freedom," the author asserts. But as families break down, he continues, government grows and endangers America's representative form of government as well as the freedoms and opportunities that her citizens have come to associate with the American way of life.
That is why traditional marriage must be upheld, Wilcox insists. When marriages fail, the sociologist explains, people are more likely to fall into poverty, whether through divorce or illegitimacy. And when that happens, he says, the state often ends up having to pick up the tab through welfare programs, and American independence and liberty are undermined.
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Canadian Sarnia Baptist Church may be Sued for "Intolerance" to homosexual official capacity in wedding ceremony
Mar. 14 2006 Hilary White LifeSiteNews.com
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ARNIA/LAMBTON, The Observer, the local paper for Sarnia/Lambton Ontario, reports that the pastor of a local church is in hot legal water for his defence of Christian principles.
Tamara Bourgeois, 29, and Jerry Condie, 34, were to marry in June 2007 at Sovereign Grace Community Church and have told the Observer that they are considering legal action against Pastor Glenn Tomlinson when he refused to allow an active homosexual to be part of the wedding party.
Tomlinson said he believes that allowing an unrepentant homosexual in the ceremony is tantamount to sanctioning homosexuality. "I'm OK with a gay person attending in the congregation. We are all sinners," Tomlinson told The Observer. "But the key to me is that a gay man is standing up in an official capacity. If we allowed that, we'd be sanctioning something in the actual ceremony."
Sovereign Grace church bills itself on its website as a church that "believes, teaches, and rejoices in the historic doctrines of Christianity."
Allowing a gay man to stand up for the couple would send the "wrong message, "Tomlinson said. "As a Baptist church, we believe that the scripture is God's word, without error."
Bourgeois was apparently expecting the pastor of this conservative congregation to be in full agreement with the liberal doctrines of "tolerance" for sin. Bourgeois reacted with indignant astonishment when Tomlinson said yes when she asked him if having a "gay man" in the wedding party would be a problem.
"He said it is a problem. I couldn't believe it. I can't be part of a church that feels this way."
"Shouldn't the church be about tolerance?" she asked
The "tolerance" dogma of liberalism, however, only goes in one direction. Having found another church more to her theological taste - one in agreement with her support of the homosexual political agenda - Bourgeois is vowing to use the courts to persecute Sovereign Grace church for their adherence to Christian doctrine.
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Gay Activists infiltrating influential professional groups are Using Bad Science
Mar. 10 2006 Kim Trobee Family News In Focus
Gay activists are being accused of infiltrating influential professional groups and in the process, using bad science to turn them into political propaganda machines.
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nce a highly respected organization, the American Psychological Association now appears to be a front for the gay movement. Former President of the APA, Dr. Nicholas Cummings, takes exception with the group’s stance on some very political issues.
“Any scientific professional organization should not speak as a scientific professional organization unless it has psychological evidence.”
It appears the APA doesn’t subscribe to that belief any longer. Dr. Jeffrey Satinover studied APA briefs submitted to the US Supreme Court and says what was offered as legitimate scientific references turned out to be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
“For example, in the Romer brief, a full third of the citations came from this one person, Gregory Harek who obviously wrote the brief. If the person you look to to substantiate the claim is yourself, it’s kind of a joke.”
Satinover found many of the references were to opinion pieces or surveys. That’s especially troubling when used as evidence in cases before the High Court.
“The fact is, nobody at the Supreme Court, even a clerk for a conservative justice, took the trouble to actually check to see whether these influential briefs were worth the paper they were printed on.”
Satinover thinks the APA is at risk of becoming irrelevant by supporting a political agenda over scientific inquiry.
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Twenty-four Gay Protesters Arrested at Liberty University
Mar. 13 2006 Citizen Link
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wenty-four members of the Soulforce Equality Ride were arrested Friday when they attempted to enter the Liberty University (LU) campus in Lynchburg, Va. The protest was part of the gay-activists' 19-stop tour challenging moral policies at Christian colleges and other campuses.
The News & Advance reported that the activists took turns stepping toward the university gate and reading from a prepared statement until they were arrested for trespassing by the LU police department.
The university, the first stop on the activists' bus tour, had issued a release from the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week saying the riders would not be welcome on campus. He considered the demonstration an effort to gain publicity rather than an attempt at dialogue.
Falwell said that, for parents, LU represented a "home away from home" for their children.
"Most of the parents of our students would not invite gay activists into their homes," he said.
Equality Ride Co-Director Haven Herrin said she was "profoundly disappointed" by the arrests.
"What I want to do is discuss religion," she said. "I don't understand why we can't do that."
About a dozen LU students came by to talk with the demonstrators.
Trey Faulkner, an LU senior, told the demonstrators that he felt homosexuality was a sin.
"There's healing," Faulkner said. "God does not hate people who are homosexuals, but He does want to heal their broken hearts."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Equality Ride" is stopping at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., today and Tuesday. Wendy Cloyd, CitizenLink's assistant editor, is there and we will publish her report later this week.
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Schindler Family Seek to Establish National Day of Remembrance in Terri's name
Mar. 16 2006 LifeSiteNews.com
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LEARWATER, Mar. 16 2006 LifeSiteNews.com The family of Terri Schindler Schiavo are working to establish a national day of remembrance in her name to commemorate the growing number of patients who are being killed in hospitals by removal of food and hydration assistance. Robert Schindler and National Urban Policy Action Council president Kevin Fobbs have joined forces in an effort to help disabled people and other avoid Terri's fate.
The goal is to gather a million signatures to petition state officials to establish March 31 as a national day of remembrance, similar to the annual remembrance of the anniversary of the abortion decision, Roe v. Wade.
“Terri Schiavo’s legacy has taught us that life is precious and should be protected,” Fobbs, also a Michigan radio talk show host, said.
"One year ago the nation was emotionally torn apart with grief because of the life and untimely death of Terri Schiavo," Schindler and Fobbs said in a statement. "Some called it a pursuit of the culture of death, however Terri’s very life stood for the culture of life."
"Now a nation that still grieves in its heart will respectfully honour the life of Terri Schiavo by pledging support for an annual national day of remembrance on March 31," they said.
See website for Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation:
http://www.terrisfight.org/
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Welcome to post-Christian Europe
Feb 13 2006 Prophecy News Watch
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elcome to post-Christian Europe, a land filled with beautiful monuments to an ancient religion that few Europeans practice anymore or know much about.
While Christianity is still very relevant in the United States, and is exploding in the developing world, Europe today has sunk below unbelief, and is now labeled "Christophobic" and "anti-religious."
While an American might look at a church building and think nice thoughts, that's rarely the case with a European, especially here in France, where religion is more likely to be associated with oppression, irrelevance, or simply the past.
In France, as in much of Europe, only five percent go to church on a weekly basis, and most of them are the elderly. Only 10 percent think religion is "very important." For all Europeans, that figure is only 21 percent.
"As an American in Europe, when you tell Europeans that you go to church on Sunday, they look at you like a museum piece--something strange," said journalist Richard Miniter.
Near Brussels, at Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church, Belgian Pastor Paul Devos ministers to a culture in which Christianity is largely irrelevant.
"In the United States, people would more quickly turn toward at least Christ in general and Christianity, because it's still somewhat part of the culture in general. Here in Europe we have gone beyond that point, and we do not expect anything from religion apart from some very abstract hope that there is something after this life," Devos said.
Among the clergy in the state churches, unbelief is extraordinarily high.
Baylor Sociologist Rodney Stark said, "It's easy to have a negative religious experience going to church in Europe. The one place unbelief is rampant is in the churches."
The study "Fragmented Faith?" found that in Britain, one out of five Anglican pastors does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. And only 60 percent believe in the virgin birth--that's a lower level of belief than among churchgoers.
"It's the churches they don't go to. And one of the reasons is that they don't go is the people running them don't care if they don't go," Stark explained.
There have been reports recently that although church attendance in Europe is low, belief in God is actually very high, but belief in what sort of God? Judging from surveys, it's a new age faith with a large dose of moral relativism.
Vince Esterman, a Frenchman who grew up in Australia, has been a French pastor for almost 20 years, and has a dynamic street ministry in Paris. Although he has led a lot of Frenchmen to Christ, he doesn't talk much about revival. He speaks of a Europe that is still moving away from God.
"Europe that was the custodian of the gospel in the very early decades now is the continent that is rejecting the gospel and Christianity," Esterman said. "And so we have seen France go into decline and with it, Europe generally."
But instead of looking to faith for answers, the European media continue to mock America's high church attendance as weird. The British Economist Magazine wrote, "To Europeans, religion is the strangest and most disturbing feature about America."
Esterman said, "This last week in prime time television on one of the French national stations they had a program on God in America. And again it was Pentecostal Christians in the states, and they were ridiculed and treated as a simple minded naive people. But absolutely nothing can be said against Muslims of course because there's always retaliation."
Stark wrote in the Victory of Reason that Europe owes everything--its culture, its freedom, its science, and its wealth--to Christianity. But European leaders today are defiant in their efforts to keep God and Christian faith out of public life.
A sociologist at the Sorbonne in Paris summed it up this way: "We are not going to sacrifice women's equality, democracy, and individual freedoms on the altar of a new religion," said Patrick Weil, University of Paris-Sorbonne, Christian Science Monitor.
But some would say Europe has a new religion. Italy's Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione, a devout Catholic, calls it "a nihilistic fundamentalism against truth." Stark calls it hedonism, and says it is why Europe is dying. No Western European country is having enough babies to replace its current population.
"The loss of faith in Europe is like an unseen black star that still has a tremendous gravitational pull," Miniter said. "They don't understand why their culture is failing. They don't understand why divorce rates and suicide rates are so high. They don't understand why so few European women have more than one child, and why on most European streets, you see more dogs than children. This is the impact of the death of real Christian belief in Europe."
One writer described Europe today as a majority of Christian atheists and a minority of Muslim fanatics--an exaggeration. But there is a spiritual void on the continent that Islam waits to fill. It was this void in the life of a Belgian woman, a former drug addict named Muriel DeGauque that caused her to convert to Islam, go to Iraq, and blow herself up trying to kill U.S. troops.
"I have been an eyewitness to France becoming increasingly Islamicized. There is no longer an ability to morally resist a strong culture like Islam coming into the country," Esterman said.
Stark said, "Europe is going to get more religious than it is either because of a revival of Christianity or because they go Muslim…you can't sit there with no babies for ever."
And because belief impacts everything from culture, to economics, to the war on terror, religious America and anti-religious Europe are likely to drift farther apart unless Europe returns to God.
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Dolly Deception: Ethically challenged scientists want to "police" themselves
Mar 13 2006 Tony Perkins Family Research Council
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he London Daily Telegraph reported last week that Dr. Ian Wilmut, made famous for cloning the sheep Dolly in 1997, did not actually do the cloning. Dolly was cloned by "somatic cell nuclear transfer," cloning technology also used in embryonic stem cell research, but it has now come to light that Dr. Wilmut was not a major player; in fact he did little of the research. Wilmut was listed as "lead author" of the article he published on Dolly. Now, however, Dr. Wilmut is being sued by a former colleague who charges racial discrimination in employment. During the tribunal, Wilmut admitted he did not clone Dolly. His colleague, Dr. Campbell, actually did most of the cloning work to produce Dolly. Yet Wilmut took most of the credit. Based upon his claims, Dr. Wilmut received permission from the British government to clone human embryos
for destructive research. Dr. Wilmut is the same scientist who recently claimed that researchers should be able to perform stem cell experiments on dying patients, even though the research would not benefit the patient themselves. Last week here in Washington, the House Government Affairs Subcommittee looked into the South Korean cloning fraud case. These ethically challenged scientists want to "police" themselves when it comes to the ethics of cloning. "Let private Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) protect Americans," the cloning proponents testified, and they did it with a straight face. Considering the fundamentally unethical nature of creating and killing cloned human beings, and the unethical behavior of those advocating such science, the U.S. should quickly join countries like France, Canada, and Germany, and ban all human cloning.
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March 20 to 26, 2006: The beginning of a major World Crisis? A European Think Tank speculates
Feb. 27 2006 Prophecy News Watch
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he Laboratoire européen d'Anticipation Politique Europe 2020, LEAP/E2020, now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929. This last week of March 2006 will be the turning-point of a number of critical developments, resulting in an acceleration of all the factors leading to a major crisis, disregard any American or Israeli military intervention against Iran. In case such an intervention is conducted, the probability of a major crisis to start rises up to 100%, according to LEAP/E2020.
An Alarm based on 2 verifiable events
The announcement of this crisis results from the analysis of decisions taken by the two key-actors of the main on-going international crisis, i.e. the United States and Iran:
- on the one hand there is the Iranian decision of opening the first oil bourse priced in Euros on March 20th, 2006 in Teheran, available to all oil producers of the region ;
- on the other hand, there is the decision
