|
While battling on the same-sex marriage front, pro-family groups
also have to worry about another potential threat to the institution
of marriage: lawsuits attempting to legalize polygamy.
There have been numerous challenges to the ban on polygamy, most
notably in the state of Utah, where Mormons, many of whom practiced
polygamy in the 1800s as part of their religious faith, were especially
strong.
In 1878 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws banning polygamy
are constitutional. In that case, the high court said an appeal
to the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion was not
adequate grounds to legalize the practice.
According to the Deseret News, the Utah ban has drawn a number
of more recent challenges — all thus far unsuccessful. In cases
that reached the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985 and
2002, the 1878 case was cited as sufficient reason to deny the demands
of plaintiffs arguing for polygamy. A challenge before the Utah
Supreme Court last year was also rejected on similar grounds.
In 2001, in perhaps the biggest polygamy trial in Utah in nearly
50 years, Tom Green — who had five wives and 30 children —
was sentenced to five years in prison.
For those hoping that the courts will continue to reject attempts
to legalize polygamy, there was more good news in February. In another
federal lawsuit challenging Utah’s ban, U.S. District Judge
Ted Stewart brushed aside a suit filed by a married couple in that
state and the man’s prospective second wife. As in the earlier
cases, Stewart based his ruling on the 1878 U.S. Supreme Court case.
However, in a development that disturbs pro-family groups, some
recent challenges raise a new argument that may shake things up.
The three plaintiffs in that case are arguing that the U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 actually opens
the door for the legalization of polygamy.
In Lawrence, the high court struck down all state sodomy
laws, stating that the government had no right to interfere in private
sexual matters.
Brian Barnard, attorney for the trio of Utahans, said he will appeal
Stewart’s decision on the basis of Lawrence.
"The Utah statute makes criminal a married person living in a sexual
relationship with a person of the opposite gender to whom he is
not married," he said. "Such cohabiting is the crime of polygamy.
Such a choice is a private sexual decision which is protected by
Lawrence v. Texas. When Lawrence is applied to the
facts of our case, we hope the result will be different."
Another challenge to Utah’s polygamy ban has been heard by
the Utah Supreme Court. Press reports indicated at least some sympathy
among the justices to the argument that Lawrence might change
the way polygamy should be viewed.
www.deseretnews.com, 2/17/05; www.family.org,
2/18/05; www.casperstartribune.net, 2/3/05
AFA ACTIVISM
Pro-family
ads target Movie Gallery
In February, AFA and other pro-family groups ran full-page newspaper
ads targeting Movie Gallery as a hard-core porn provider and attacking
its planned merger with Hollywood Video, which would extend pornography
distribution to thousands of communities.
Movie Gallery has a history of profiting from the sexually-explicit
videos that the chain sometimes shelves in the notorious "back rooms"
of its stores.
The three full-page advertisements appeared in the Washington Post,
USA Today and Oregonian newspapers, with each ad addressing a separate
audience with a clear message. In USA Today, the advertisement warned
Hollywood Video patrons that the merger would bring hard-core porn
into their neighborhoods. The ad that appeared in the Oregonian
appealed to the Portland-based Hollywood Video board of directors
and shareholders to consider the concerns of their pro-family customers
above Movie Gallery’s financial interest in distributing pornography.
The Washington Post ad appealed to the Department of Justice, questioning
its failure to investigate Movie Gallery and enforce obscenity distribution
laws.
AFA has been encouraging supporters to boycott Movie Gallery because
of its trafficking in hard-core pornography.
AFA
video explains First Amendment issues in Philadelphia case
Criminal charges against the "Philly 4" have been dropped, but the
battle against the hate crimes law in Philadelphia is not over.
A new video/DVD from AFA highlights issues surrounding this attempt
to suppress the rights of Christians to preach the Gospel.
It is precisely because of the First Amendment issues involved
that the AFA Center for Law and Policy (CLP) has filed civil charges
in federal court against the city of Philadelphia.
"This is a story that must be told, not only because of the brave
Christians in Philadelphia who have risked so much, but to inspire
millions of other believers to stand firm for their faith," said
AFA Chairman Don Wildmon.
The 25-minute presentation helps viewers to understand the
need to proceed with the civil lawsuit. Actual footage of the incident
is included.
For a tax-deductible gift of $15, AFA will send either the video
or DVD. Call 1-800-844-5036, option 4 or visit www.afa.net.
CULTURE
Survey
shows religious polarization in U.S.
The nation appears to be split along religious lines
— even among faith traditions — according to a new poll
sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The polling data came from the Fourth National Survey of Religion
and Politics, in November and December 2004 by the Bliss Institute
of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.
"Both President Bush and Sen. Kerry benefited from strong support
among key religious constituencies," said Dr. John Green, director
of the Bliss Institute. "Yet there was strong polarization not only
between different religions as was common in the past, but also
within the major religious traditions, a relatively new phenomenon."
In fact, the survey showed a stark ideological split between conservative
and liberal Christians — or traditionalist and modernist, as
the Pew Forum called them. For example, while traditionalist evangelical
Protestants were solidly for Bush by an 88%-12% margin, modernist
evangelical Protestants went for Kerry, although by a narrower 52%-48%
gap. The same was true among Catholics: traditionalists went strongly
for Bush, 72%-28%, while modernist Catholics were solidly in Kerry’s
corner, 69%-31%.
Not only was Bush support among these traditionalists extremely
strong in 2004, but according to the study, more of them went to
the polls in the most recent election. Seven percent more traditionalist
evangelical Protestants voted in 2004 than in 2000, and traditionalist
Catholic turnout was larger too — 12% more in 2004.
The full report can be downloaded at www.pewforum.org.
EDUCATION
Self-esteem
movement runs out of steam
For almost an entire generation, the concept of self-esteem
has been tortured into an ideology so steeped in political correctness
as to drive people with common sense mad. Now, however, the proverbial
pendulum may be swinging back the other way.
An article in USA Today focused on the growing concern of more
and more parents, psychologists and educators who believe the self-esteem
message needs to be balanced with a generous dose of reality.
USA Today writer Sharon Jayson said no one is discounting the fact
that a healthy self-esteem is beneficial to children. But Jayson
said more adults are realizing that "empty praise — the kind
showered on many kids years ago in the name of self-esteem —
did more harm than good."
Years of such "empty praise," she said, often result in young adults
who cannot cope even with constructive criticism, have an inflated
sense of self-importance, and have a great sense of personal entitlement
— often without having paid their dues.
USA Today, 2/15/05
ENTERTAINMENT
MTV
peddling smut to kids, study says
A new report issued by the Parents Television Council
(PTC) quantifies what many parents probably suspected intuitively:
that MTV, the popular music and entertainment cable network, carries
a lot of sexualized programming.
Titled "MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs and Alcohol,"
the PTC report says MTV programming glamorizes sexual promiscuity,
violent behavior and substance abuse.
After analyzing 171 hours of programming during the cable channel’s
"Spring Break" coverage in 2004, the PTC report found that MTV’s
reality programs had an average of 13 sexual scenes per hour.
"To put this in perspective," the study says, "consider that in
its last study of sex on primetime network television, the PTC found
an average of only 5.8 instances of sexual content during the 10
o’clock hour when mostly adults are watching."
Music videos on MTV averaged 32 instances of foul language per
hour — more than four times the amount on network TV.
While violence on MTV was not as prevalent as sex and profanity,
it also exceeded — albeit barely — the average number
of violent instances per hour on network television.
Such content is problematic because MTV is bound to be influential.
It is watched by 73% of boys and 78% of girls ages 12 to 19.
"MTV is blatantly selling raunchy sex to kids," said PTC President
L. Brent Bozell. "Compared to broadcast television programs aimed
at adults, MTV’s programming contains substantially more sex,
foul language and violence, and MTV’s shows are aimed at children
as young as 12."
www.parentstv.org, 2/1/05
GOVERNMENT
Clash
brewing over indecency
Government officials who want less indecency on the airwaves
and those who want more unfettered expression in the media may be
headed for a showdown in federal court.
The federal government has definitely started taking a stronger
stand against indecency on network television and radio. For example,
in February, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved
a bill that would dramatically raise fines for indecency violations
on network television and radio, upping the ante in the battle for
broadcast decency.
With bipartisan support, the House voted 389-38 to increase the
indecency fines to as much as $500,000 per incident, thus enabling
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to levy steep fines
against broadcast violators.
AFA President Tim Wildmon said he believes that parents are fed
up with broadcasters bombarding their families with indecent programming
that continues to push the limits and ignores the FCC indecency
regulations.
There’s no question that the FCC is coming under increasing
pressure from the general public to rein in radio and network TV
indecency. The Washington Post said that the FCC received almost
1.2 million complaints about the matter in 2004. In contrast, the
FCC received only 111 complaints in 2000.
This remarkable explosion of viewer and listener discontent, driven
by AFA and other watchdog groups, has forced the FCC to streamline
its procedures. According to the Post’s Frank Ahrens, the FCC
is now "overhauling the system it uses to process complaints about
indecency on the public airwaves after struggling to deal with the
flood of concerns it received last year over the content of television
and radio shows."
However, this decency movement may be challenged in court. According
to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, there is
a discussion among the television broadcast networks and some Hollywood
unions about a possible legal challenge to the indecency laws themselves.
AgapePress, 2/17/05; Hollywood Reporter,
2/11/05; Washington Post, 2/9/05
HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA
New
study undermines theory of ‘gay’ gene
While new research claims to have found proof of a genetic
cause for homosexuality, some scientists say the actual words of
the study undermine that conclusion.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by University
of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) psychologist Brian Mustanski and published
in the March 2005 issue of the biomedical journal Human Genetics.
"In the first-ever study combing the entire human genome for genetic
determinants of male sexual orientation," said a UIC press release,
Mustanski "has identified several areas that appear to influence
whether a man is heterosexual or ‘gay.’"
Conservative critics were quick to respond. Dr. Warren Throckmorton,
associate professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania,
said the study itself actually undermines Mustanski’s claims.
In a press statement of his own, Throckmorton cites admissions by
the researchers that their evidence of genetic differences between
heterosexual and homosexual men falls short of being statistically
significant.
Three members of the scientific advisory committee for the National
Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) also
reviewed Mustanski’s study and found it lacking.
NARTH’s Dr. A. Dean Byrd, for example, said sexual orientation
involves complex behaviors which involve multiple factors. Homosexuality,
he added, might involve certain predispositions that are "strongly
influenced by cultural and environmental factors."
www.uic.edu, 1/27/05; www.drthrockmorton.com,
2/9/05; www.narth.com, 1/17/05, 2/1/05
PORNOGRAPHY
Adelphia
drops plans to distribute XXX porn
Adelphia Communications Corporation, the nation’s
fifth largest cable company, has dropped its plan to distribute
hard-core pornography supplied by Playboy Enterprises.
Adelphia’s initial decision to offer XXX pornography on their
cable systems in some markets, including Southern California, came
in early February. As the first major cable company to provide hard-core
pornography, Adelphia sparked an outcry from pro-family groups who
called on the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Adelphia
for potential obscenity violations.
AFA supporters sent over 130,000 E-mails to Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales requesting he begin obscenity investigations.
"We made the Justice Department fully aware of Adelphia's hard-core
pornography," said Randy Sharp, director of special projects for
AFA. "Did the DOJ become involved? We don’t know for sure.
What we do know is that distribution of obscenity is a crime and
Adelphia evidently recognized that too."
AgapePress, 2/7/05; www.denverpost.com,
2/24/05
Playboy
cell phones
Playboy Enterprises is teaming up with Dwango Wireless
to bring "wireless entertainment" to more than 170 million wireless
subscribers in North America.
The first of the wireless entertainment content offerings are expected
to be available some time in early 2005. The Playboy-branded materials
will include Playboy-themed games, images, video clips, voice clips
and ring tones and are intended to bring about the "fun and sexiness
of the classic Playboy lifestyle," the company said.
Pro-family activists are concerned about its effect on children,
especially since 33.2% of American cell phone users are between
the ages of 5 and 19, according to one independent study.
"If there is one thing I can guarantee, your child [already] knows
how or will be taught how to…download porn on [his own] personal
wireless devices," said Rich Schatz of the National Coalition for
the Protection of Children and Families (NCPCF).
NCPCF encourages parents to contact John Muleta, chief of the Wireless
Communications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission,
to express their concerns. Muleta can be reached by calling 202-418-0600.
www.playboyenterprises.com, 2/22/05;
AgapePress, 2/25/05
PRO-LIFE
Research
sheds new light on brain- injured patients
A new brain-imaging study recently published in the journal Neurology
suggests that thousands of brain-injured people who are treated
as if they have lost all awareness may actually hear and register
their surroundings, but they are not able to respond.
Not only could these findings have extensive implications for patient
care, they could also weigh heavily in court when it comes to cases
that dispute the mental state of what appears to be a vegetative
patient.
This brain-imaging technology is known as magnetic resonance imaging,
and, according to the research, it could prove to be a powerful
tool for family members and doctors as they seek to determine a
patient’s level of mental engagement.
However, other experts view the findings as more suggestive than
conclusive, meaning the study should not be interpreted as imposing
an increased chance of patient recovery or treatment. On the other
hand, the experts agreed the findings opened a window to an area
that has been neglected by medical research.
"This is extremely important work, for that reason alone," said
Dr. James Bernat, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth.
Bernat believes such findings are relevant to cases such as those
of Terri Schiavo and Sarah Scantlin.
Schiavo is a brain-damaged Florida woman who has been kept alive
for a number of years despite her estranged husband’s apparent
desire to end her life by withholding food and water. Scantlin is
a Kansas woman who suffered a critical head injury over 20 years
ago and recently started regaining her memory and showing verbal
responsiveness.
"The most consequential thing about this [study] is that we have
opened a door, we have found an objective voice for these patients,
which tells us they have some cognitive ability in a way they cannot
tell us themselves," said Dr. Joy Hirsch, director of the Functional
MRI Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center and the
study’s senior author.
These patients are "more human than we imagined in the past, and
it is unconscionable not to aggressively pursue research efforts
to evaluate them and develop therapeutic techniques," she added.
www.nytimes.com, 2/8/05; www.hutchnews.com,
2/10/05
RELIGION
ECUSA
members, money on the decline
The Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) continues to pay a price
for its decision to consecrate an openly homosexual man to the bishopric
of New Hampshire.
By its insistence in confirming V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the
Granite State, the ECUSA, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican
Communion, has alienated conservatives both inside and outside the
denomination.
Since Robinson’s consecration, many Episcopalians have withheld
or limited donations to the national church in protest. Some entire
dioceses, including Pittsburgh and Dallas, have refused to send
any money to the national church.
The treasurer of the ECUSA said giving by local dioceses to the
denomination dropped roughly $4 million dollars in 2004 — about
a 12% decline.
The denomination also released numbers indicating that it lost
85 parishes and almost 36,000 members in 2003, according to The
Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD). David Anderson of the
conservative American Anglican Council said he expected another
100 congregations to leave the denomination this year.
In addition, 54% of ECUSA churches reported a decline in average
Sunday attendance, IRD said. The rate of decline in attendance in
2003 was 450% greater than the year before.
Although he refused to admit that the ECUSA’s embrace of homosexuality
had anything to do with the decline in attendance, Rev. Charles
Fulton, the denom-ination’s director of congregational development,
said it was "the largest [decline] … we’ve experienced
since the late 1980s."
Meanwhile, conservative leaders within worldwide Anglicanism who
were meeting in Northern Ireland made a chilling request in February.
They asked leaders of the ECUSA and the equally pro-gay Canadian
Anglican denomination to withdraw from a church council until 2008.
That’s the year of the next Lambeth Conference, a worldwide
meeting of Anglican leaders that takes place every 10 years.
According to PlanetOut, a homosexual Internet news outlet, the
document released by the conservatives said that standards of Anglican
teaching "have been seriously undermined by recent developments
in North America." Leaders from the U.S. and Canadian churches have
been asked to explain themselves at another meeting in England this
June.
AgapePress, 2/14/05; www.ird-renew.org,
12/9/04; www.family.org, 2/16/05; www.planetout.com, 2/24/05
Study:
Christian teens theologically shallow
Results from a new survey conducted by a North Carolina researcher
reveal that the majority of America’s youth believe in God,
yet there is a shallowness in their religious knowledge, and they
have difficulty expressing their faith.
Christian Smith, a sociologist at University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, led 133 researchers and consultants in conducting
a project that involved telephone surveys of 3,370 English- and
Spanish-speaking Americans and face-to-face interviews with 267
of the participants — all ages 13 to 17. Protracted funding
will allow the researchers to track these young people through 2007.
Thus far, telephone surveys reveal that young people have a broad
fondness for religion, although their religious knowledge is labeled
as "meager, nebulous and often fallacious" as found through the
personal interview portion of the study.
In other words, teens were unable to coherently express their beliefs
and the impact of faith on their lives. In addition, many participants
appeared so separated from the traditions of their faith that they
viewed God as a feel-good problem solver who merely existed for
that purpose. There were no indications of an absolute truth-based
theology among the teens.
"God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist
who is available when needed," Smith wrote in his new book titled
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American
Teenagers, co-authored with Melinda Lundquist Denton.
Smith credits parental tendencies of Baby Boomers, poor educational
and youth programs, and responsibilities and activities that vie
for teenagers’ time as reasons for their skewed view of the
Almighty.
AP, 2/23/05
Study
reveals media bias…again
It’s certainly beginning to look like the liberal media has
no place left to hide its bias.
In "A Measure of Media Bias," political science professor Tim Groseclose
of the University of California at Los Angeles and Jeff Milyo of
the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago
ranked major media outlets to determine whether they had an observable
political bias.
Groseclose and Milyo used an objective standard by which members
of Congress are regularly ranked according to their political views.
The report stated: "Our results show a very significant liberal
bias. All of the news outlets except Fox News’ Special Report
received a score to the left of the average member of Congress."
(See chart below.)
Groseclose and Milyo said, "Although we expected to find that most
media lean left, we were astounded by the degree."
In the report, media outlets were given scores according to the
objective standards designed for the study. On a scale of 0-100,
the higher the score, the more liberal the outlet. Also included
were the average scores for members of Congress.
In another look at the media, analysts for Fox News’ The
O’Reilly Factor examined the nation’s 10 major newspapers
in terms of circulation, and focused on their op-ed columnists.
With one exception, all the newspapers carried more liberal columnists
than conservative. The New York Times, for example, has four liberal
columnists but only one conservative. Liberals at the Washington
Post outnumber conservatives 11-4; and at the Chicago Tribune, there
are six liberals to one conservative.
Only the New York Post had a conservative dominance, with 10 conservative
and no liberal op-ed columnists.
|
