AFA Activism
New law upgrades indecency fines
In June President Bush signed a bill that substantially increased the fines that can be levied against broadcasters who violate established standards of decency. The signing concluded a two-year campaign by AFA and other groups.
The new measure, called the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, is expected to give added weight to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) enforcement powers.
The law increases by ten times the financial penalty that the FCC can impose on broadcasters that violate indecency standards, from $32,500 per cited offense to $325,000.
In attendance at the signing were members of Congress, FCC commissioners and representatives of several pro-family and faith-based groups, including AFA director of special projects Randy Sharp.
CULTURE
Has Europe gone crazy?
As the culture war in the U.S. grows ever more intense, it might give us pause, here on this side of the Atlantic, to note what sort of inanities are occurring on the continent of Europe – where secularists have already won. Some examples:
A Netherlands – Pedophiles are in the process of registering their own political party in order to more efficiently push their agenda there.
According to WorldNetDaily, that agenda includes legalized child porn, bestiality and, initially at least, lowering the legal age of sexual consent from 16 to 12. Later, say leaders of the group, they want to remove age of consent laws altogether.
The good news, according to the article, is that a survey of Dutch public opinion found that 82% believe that the government should do something to prevent the party from forming.
A Spain – The ruling socialist faction has proposed a law which would give fundamental legal rights to “great apes.”
The socialists got the idea from the Great Ape Project (www.greatapeproject.org), which demands “the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.”
What would those rights entail? The Web site defines them as: the right not to be killed unless an ape threatens someone’s life; the right not to be tortured or used in medical tests; and the right “not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty.”
This latter “right” means that apes cannot be kept in zoos, unless moving those currently dwelling there might cause more harm than good. Apes should not be “imprisoned” if they “have not been convicted of any crime, or … are not criminally liable.” For apes who are incarcerated, they “have the right to appeal” through a human legal advocate.
An article in the London Telegraph said the law, if passed, would make Spain the first nation in the world – and, no doubt, in history – to grant such rights to apes.
A Germany – Women who are unemployed must be willing to work as a prostitute or risk losing unemployment benefits.
Prostitution is legal in Germany and, according to the Catholic news outlet Zenit, brothel owners have access to official databases of those who have registered for unemployment benefits.
“Germany’s welfare laws oblige women under 55 who have been out of work for more than a year to take an available job – including the sex industry – or lose benefits,” Zenit said. “The government had considered making brothels an exception, but eventually ruled this out.”
www.worldnetdaily.com, 5/30/06;
www.telegraph.co.uk, 6/10/06; www.zenit.org, 6/10/06
EDUCATION
NEA halts gay marriage push
Caught red-handed, the nation’s largest teachers union pulled a resolution calling for the legalization of homosexual marriage, after AFA publicly exposed the measure.
In advance of its annual June convention, the National Education Association (NEA), which claims 2.8 million members, sent out a copy to delegates of proposed resolutions and amendments. AFA obtained a copy of the document, in which someone had highlighted Resolution B-8, which called for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
After including “sexual orientation” and “gender identification” in a list of the diverse groups that make up the nation, the resolution stated: “The Association believes that legal rights and responsibilities with regard to medical decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, legal immigration, domestic partnerships, and civil unions and/or marriage belong to all of these diverse groups and individuals.” (Emphases added.)
AFA immediately sent out an Action Alert to supporters, informing them of the wording of B-8 and including a link to NEA’s online version of the resolution.
Within two days of the AFA alert, the NEA Web site changed the wording of B-8, deleting the controversial paragraph. An alternative resolution, B-10, was substituted. The new version simply said the NEA supported same-sex marriages and civil unions where they were already legal. That version passed overhwlemingly at the convention.
Meanwhile, NEA officials angrily denied that the union was calling for the legalization of homosexual marriage. NEA President Reg Weaver also accused AFA of engaging in a “malicious e-mail campaign distorting the facts related to proposed amendment changes.”
However, when asked by Cybercast News Service to explain exactly how AFA had distorted the wording of B-8, NEA spokesman Andy Linebaugh couldn’t.
Linebaugh denied that the NEA had changed the wording of B-8 in response to AFA. “We didn’t respond to the AFA by changing the original amendment,” he said. “We responded to the AFA by saying the NEA has no position on same-sex marriage.”
On related issues, the NEA Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification issued a report demanding that the study of homosexual issues be required for teacher credentialing.
The committee report said the NEA should “advocate for the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education teacher education program review process.”
The NEA has reportedly already contacted the accreditation council about the requirement.
And finally, after heated debate, the union voted to replace the word “tolerance” with the word “acceptance” in all policy language when it comes to the subject of homosexuality.
Because of the NEA’s radical ideology, AFA is encouraging pro-family teachers and administrators to withdraw from NEA membership and join other educational associations more in line with their beliefs.
State rejects politically correct curricula
The Kentucky state board of education backed off plans to change public school curricula to reflect a more secular dating scheme in history classes, after getting an earful from irate citizens.
Traditional dating methods use the abbreviations “B.C.” (“Before Christ”) and “A.D.” (“Anno Domini,” Latin for “Year of the Lord”). But in April the state board approved a plan to include the more secularized versions, “C.E.” (“Common Era”) and “B.C.E.” (“Before Common Era”), which are now commonly used on college and university campuses.
The change was authorized because it was assumed that non-Christians might object to the traditional abbreviations, since they are linked to Jesus Christ.
Ministers and religious groups opposed the politically correct change, however, and argued that it was a further attempt to sterilize the culture of all references to Christianity.
In the end, the state board listened to the complaints: It ruled 10-0 to continue using the designations “B.C.” and “A.D.”
www.agapepress.org, 6/15/06
Study: Professors urge schools to teach Bible
A survey of English professors at 34 top U.S. colleges and universities yielded a surprising result: Almost every single one said that young people need to know more about the Bible if they were to adequately understand both the classics of Western literature and contemporary work.
“Loss of recognition [of the Bible] in the last three or four decades has put much of Western literature beyond the reach of many readers,” said Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey, who is distinguished professor of literature and the humanities at Baylor University.
What surprised Dr. Marie Wachlin, who did the research for the study on behalf of the Bible Literacy Project, was how much agreement there was among the 39 English professors surveyed.
“The virtual unanimity and depth of their responses on this question were striking,” Wachlin said. “The Bible is not only a sacred scripture to millions of Americans, it is also arguably, as one professor put it, the most influential text in all of Western culture.”
The professors who were surveyed teach at universities which included Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton.
The report suggested that high schools make available to students courses that would promote Bible literacy.
www.bibleliteracy.org
GOVERNMENT
FAA employee files free-speech lawsuit
One employee of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) thought he had the right to express his own opinion about homosexuality while speaking with a coworker. He was wrong and, after being disciplined by a manager, he has filed a federal lawsuit.
Lary Dombrowski, who worked for the FAA in Louisville, Kentucky, for almost 20 years, according to Focus on the Family, got into a discussion with a coworker about whether or not homosexuals are born gay. Dombrowski told the woman that he had attended a church seminar where he was taught that homosexuality was not innate.
After the coworker related the conversation to a manager, the official suspended Dombrowski for a week. Dombrowski was also relocated to Alabama for expressing what the manager called insulting or offensive views. “I thought it was a joke,” Dombrowski said.
It wasn’t, and now he isn’t joking, either. Dombrowski has filed a federal lawsuit against the FAA, alleging violations of his First Amendment rights.
www.family.org, 6/28/06
HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA
Do homosexuals really want to get married?
Gay and lesbian activists in the U.S. are fighting ferociously for the legal right to marry, and are equalled in their tenacity only by their pro-family opponents. But when and where they are given the legal right, do homosexuals really want to get married?
Statistics appear to answer in the negative. That is the conclusion reached in a report issued by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (iMAPP). The report was written by the group’s president, Maggie Gallagher, and policy director, Joshua K. Baker. (The report is available at www.imapp.org.)
The iMAPP policy paper, “Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe,” indicates that immediately following the legalization of gay marriage, “the number of same-sex marriages, after an initial burst, appears to [decrease] with each year the legal option is available.”
In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. They were quickly followed by Belgium, Canada, Spain and South Africa. According to Caleb H. Price, research analyst in the Government and Public Policy Division at Focus on the Family, civil unions or other forms of domestic partnerships are allowed in an additional 11 nations.
But Gallagher and Baker found that gays and lesbians don’t seem very enthusiastic about taking part in the institution of marriage. (See chart.) In the Netherlands, for example, only 6.3% of homosexuals in that nation have gotten married. Only 2.1% of the total Dutch population is homosexual.
In contrast, in U.S. states that have some form of same-sex benefits, a majority of heterosexuals are married: California (52%), Connecticut (55%), Massachusetts (52%), New Jersey (54%), Vermont (55%).
Even when they couple, homosexual relationships are relatively short-lived. A study of gay couples in Holland found that same-sex unions lasted an average of 18 months and included an average of eight additional sex partners outside the “monogamous” relationship.
Surprisingly, in France, despite the legalization of gay civil unions in 1999, a government commission issued its report in January of this year and recommended against legalizing same-sex marriage. The “Parliamentary Report on the Family and the Rights of Children” said the government should “affirm and protect children’s rights and the primacy of those rights over adults’ aspirations.”
After canvassing experts in France, and traveling to Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in order to assess the reforms that have occurred in those nations, the commission said that the best interests of children argue against same-sex marriage.
The commission determined that it “is not possible to think about marriage separately from filiation: the two questions are closely connected, in that marriage is organized around the child.”
As a result of that determination, the experts on the government panel realized that the right of homosexuals to marry would simultaneously or subsequently also have to include the right to adopt. “A majority of [the commission] does not wish to question the fundamental principles of the law of filiation, which are based on the tripartite unit of ‘a father, a mother, a child,’ citing the principle of caution,” the report said. “For that reason, that majority also, logically, chose to deny access to marriage to same-sex couples.”
If so few homosexuals want to get married when they are given the opportunity, why are gay and lesbian activists fighting so hard for legalizing gay marriage? Probably because homosexual activists are interested in the cultural victory that legalized same-sex marriage would represent, said Price.
“While winning the right to marry may be the ‘crown jewel’ of the gay-rights movement, what homosexuals really want is for homosexuality to be declared normative, natural and God-ordained,” he said. “Their deepest desire is that homosexual behavior would no longer be sin.”
EPA promotes gay pride celebration
Despite hundreds of thousands of e-mail complaints, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went ahead with plans to celebrate Gay and Lesbian Pride Month at taxpayer expense.
When the EPA Office of Civil Rights announced in May that it would sponsor several celebrations in honor of Gay Pride Month, AFA sent out an “Action Alert” to let supporters know. According to gay media outlets, the EPA received 800,000 e-mails and thousands of phone calls protesting the sponsorship.
Nevertheless, EPA spokesman Bob Zachariasiewicz said, “We’re moving ahead with these events as planned. There are no plans to change anything.”
The EPA was not the only federal government department to promote Gay Pride Month. HoustonVoice.com said the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, State and Justice, the National Institutions of Health and the U.S. Bureau of the Census all were expected to sponsor or host gay pride events in June.
Gay Pride Month is held in June to honor the inauguration of the homosexual political movement, which was triggered in June 1969 in response to police actions in New York City.
www.houstonvoice.com, 6/14/06
PORNOGRAPHY
Credit cards cancel porn
The Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography is teaming up with the U.S. credit card market in an attempt to take the profitability out of online child porn, a multibillion-dollar, international business.
Participating credit card companies will report child porn sites they find that are accepting their cards as a means of payment for the porn. They will also block these transactions or possibly help track sellers and buyers if an investigation by law enforcement results.
Ernie Allen, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) brought the coalition together.
“The scope of the problem is much greater than we ever thought,” Allen said. “It’s mind-boggling.”
Allen explained how one Web site can attract thousands of customers, predominantly male, who purchase $29 monthly subscriptions on their credit cards.
“People are getting into this because they see children as a commodity,” Allen added. “There’s no question organized crime is involved.”
Participating companies include Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. In addition, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup and PayPal are involved. However, MasterCard and American Express do not intend to reveal customer identities unless subpoenaed to do so.
“This is the broadest, most comprehensive coalition we’ve been involved in,” said MasterCard executive Joshua Peirez. “This is not a competitiveness issue. This is about protecting children.”
USA Today, 5/26/06
PRO-LIFE
South Dakota votes pro-life
South Dakota residents ousted four abortion-rights lawmakers from office during a recent primary election. Strong pro-life politicians replaced these four lawmakers.
One of those voted out of office was State Senator Stan Adelstein, who as a Republican, was known as “the most pro-abortion and pro-gay legislator in the state Legislature,” said Chris Hupke, Family Policy Council representative for Focus on the Family Action. Elli Schwiesow, who ran as an outspoken pro-life Christian in favor of family values, defeated Adelstein.
Clarence Kooistra, J. P. Duniphan and Duane Sutton were the other three lawmakers defeated.
“We got rid of Tom Daschle in ’04 and we’re slowly getting rid of the liberal vestiges in both parties,” said Robert Regier, executive director of the South Dakota Family Policy Council. “It’s refreshing to see that pro-lifers in that party are finally making a stand to the point where it’s making even the Democratic Party uneasy.”
“The bottom line is it’s about issues, and it’s about the policy we’re going to make,” added Lee Schoenbeck, leader of the South Dakota Senate. “Citizens of our state spoke pretty strongly about their pro-life perspective.”
Citzenlink.org, 6/8/06
RELIGION
PCUSA decisions rile conservatives
At its annual General Assembly in June, the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) gave leeway to local churches regarding the ordination of gay clergy and altered the names of the Trinity, allowing a dozen different combinations.
At 2.3 million members, the PCUSA is the largest Presbyterian denomination, but like other mainline Protestant churches has seen a protracted battle between conservatives and liberals. Decisions by the recent General Assembly continued to exasperate many conservatives.
In a move seen by some as circumventing the plain meaning of the denomination’s church laws, an Associated Press story said delegates voted to allow local PCUSA congregations and regional presbyteries the flexibility of deciding for themselves whether to ordain gay clergy.
In 1996, the PCUSA’s General Assembly banned the ordination of homosexual clergy. The new measure, approved by a 298-221 vote, keeps that law on the books but basically allows progressive presbyteries to ordain gay clergy anyway.
Conservative delegates balked. “When the constitution is set aside and something mandatory is reduced to something optional, it destroys the constitution,” said Robert Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of the book The Bible and Homosexual Practice.
The PCUSA assembly also angered some conservatives by giving local churches the freedom to use other trinitarian formulas in its services.
Besides the traditional and Biblical language of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” the PCUSA voted to “receive” a paper suggesting that a list of 12 other combinations be allowed. According to USA Today, the act of receiving such a policy paper is one step short of approving it as mandatory.
Some of the alternate trinitarian titles are: “Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb,” “Sun, Light and Burning Ray,” and “Overflowing Font, Living Water, Flowing River.”
The changes in language were meant to address what the denomination’s assembly believes is the patriarchal nature of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” PCUSA pastors and theologians, who had worked on the paper, said they thought the traditional Trinitarian formula portrays God as male and implies the inferiority of women, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The decision was “very odd and bizarre,” said one longtime Presbyterian, California psychotherapist Sherie Zander. “It’s very clear that God refers to Himself as the Father. Jesus, when He walked on the Earth, referred to Himself as the Son. All through Scripture, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit. What would give any of us the right to change that?”
Gagnon said PCUSA officials admitted at the General Assembly that the denomination was expected to lose as many as 85,000 members next year, and he predicted that it would be “undoubtedly in large measure because of actions taken at the [General Assembly] 2006.”
www.latimes, 6/30/06; USA Today, 6/12/06, 6/19/06, 6/20/06; www.planetout.com, 6/20/06
State rejects politically correct curricula
Study: Professors urge schools to teach Bible
FAA employee files free-speech lawsuit
Do homosexuals really want to get married?
