Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
Quote of the Week: "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged." ~Pres. Ronald Reagan
Illinois Family Institute
5/14/2008
ACLU Challenges Indiana Law that Regulates Porn Shops
Businesses must register with the state before selling sexually explicit materials.
A new Indiana law that requires retailers to register with the state and pay a $250 fee before selling sexually explicit materials is being challenged in court. The American Civil Liberties Union claims it violates freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Democratic state Rep. Terry Goodin wrote the law to protect communities with weak zoning ordinances that allow the porn industry to sneak in and hide its intent until it’s too late.
“They slip in under the cover of night," Goodin said. "They’re telling individuals that it’s going to be a grocery store or some other kind of store, and they’re opening up a pornography store. At that point, it’s too late to do anything about it.”
The law, which is set to take effect July 1, will keep the community informed, he said.
“The secretary of state’s office is going to notify the local authorities and tell those folks, 'Hey, this group’s coming your way,' " Goodin said. "That way, the local authorities can say, 'No.' ”
Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, said lawmakers are protecting families.
“They give tools to local officials," he said, "who are accountable to their constituencies to try to restrain or at least retard this flood of pornography that’s coming.”
Rutherford Institute attorneys defend students’ free speech rights
Freedom of speech in America is now endangered enough that students can get in trouble for wearing T-shirts that promote abstinence.
Students at two high schools in Virginia were told, under threat of punishment, to turn T-shirts inside out which said "Virginity Rocks" on the front, and "I'm loving my Husband -- And I haven't even Met Him!" on the back.
John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute said, "In light of the fact that nearly 26 percent of American girls aged 14-19 have at least one sexually transmitted disease, I can't imagine why any school would object to a message that promotes abstinence."
The Rutherford Institute was asked to intervene after teenagers wearing abstinence t-shirts at both Albemarle High School and Charlottesville High School were allegedly ordered by school officials to change their shirts or turn the shirts inside out. The censored t-shirts, which proclaim “Virginity Rocks” on the front and “I’m loving my Husband And I haven’t even Met Him! MyLifeMyCall.com” on the back, are part of a campaign developed by Worth Your Wait, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and well-being of students in Central Virginia. A primary goal of the campaign is to empower students to resist negative peer pressure when making decisions about sexual activity and to inform students about the physical risks of having sex. Worth Your Wait provides free t-shirts to any students who identify themselves as abstinent teens.
In his letter to Albemarle County school officials, Whitehead pointed out that the school’s decision to prohibit the abstinence t-shirts contradicts the Commonwealth’s curriculum guidelines for family life education. Whitehead also reminded school officials that in keeping with U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, they may only restrict student speech if it would cause a substantial disturbance in the school, invade the rights of others or if it is vulgar, lewd or plainly offensive. Thus, observed Whitehead, “It is difficult to imagine how the shirts worn by Albemarle students-shirts promoting the message of abstinence for public health purposes-could reasonably be considered to be so disturbing as to produce in school officials a well-founded expectation of disruption.”
The value of a stay-at-home Mom is literally priceless. It's simply impossible to buy an adult with the same indescribable love and nurturing commitment to a child that his own mother has.
But if you had to purchase the services that stay-at-home Moms supply for free -- everything from housekeeper, day care operator, van driver, psychologist and CEO, it would cost you $117,000 a year.
Even a Mom who works outside the home provides $68,405 in free benefits to her children. The average work week for an ordinary Mom: 94.4 hours. Said a stay-at-home Mom, "The rewards aren't monetary, but it's a reward knowing that they're safe and happy. It's worth it all."
Certainly state policy makers should do everything in their power to keep taxes low to reduce the burden on families so more mothers can enjoy such incredible intangible rewards.
Watch Congressman Tom Feeney’s (R-FL) eloquent defense of the “forgotten man” on the House floor yesterday afternoon.
Feeney’s speech was delivered in opposition to the proposed mortgage bailout bills that would expose innocent & forgotten taxpayers to over $300 billion worth of risk in order to bail out speculators and those who participated in mortgage fraud.
Answers offered by second graders about their mothers:
Why did God make mothers?
- She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is. - Mostly to clean the house. - To help us out of there when we were getting born.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?
- We're related. - God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.
If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
- She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that. - I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me. - I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
Las Vegas seeing casino revenues drop for only 2nd time since 1970 -- Only once since 1970 has Las Vegas seen gambling revenues fall (1 percent post-9/11 in 2002), leading most to believe that the city was impervious to recessions. However, gambling revenues are already down 4 percent this year, with the number of conventions down 10.4 percent, and average daily room rates off 3.8 percent in the first two months of 2008.
Two gambling bills defeated in South Carolina -- Two gambling bills died in the South Carolina House recently, the latest in a string of defeats for the gambling industry including Kentucky and Massachusetts.
One bill would have legalized arcade games, but opponents say it would have lead to video poker or a return to video gambling. The other would have legalized high-stakes poker games, which was killed in committee. "We won statewide referendums-10 in a row over three years," said Tom Grey, spokesman and field director for the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "Citizens are saying, 'Enough is Enough. We don't want to go any further with casino-style gambling.'"
Last week the United Methodist Church, the second largest denomination in America rejected efforts to embrace same-sex marriage at its General Conference. The chief rulemaking body of the United Methodist churches voted 501-417 to affirm marriage in its Book of Discipline as a "covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage."
The conference meets every four years and brings together delegates from around the world. Some observers noted that while there may be some decline in the size of the Methodist church in the US, in Africa there has been a growth of the denomination. Almost 30 percent of the delegates in this session were from Africa. They forged an alliance with Evangelical US delegates to protect marriage. The internationals may comprise up to 40 percent of the 2012 delegation, which may help protect marriage and Biblical morality questions at the next conference.
Mark Tooley, Executive Director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy's UMAction Committee, observed:
"The vote today in affirmation of traditional marriage represents the will of the international United Methodist Church. Those who demand acceptance of homosexual behavior maximized their campaign this year knowing it was their last chance to win in United Methodism."
Tooley also noted that those delegates who defended marriage, "are working for a renewed denomination faithful to historic Christian teaching, and culturally transformative instead of culturally accommodating."
Despite the widely circulated myth that 8-10 percent (or even more) of our nation's population is homosexual, a new study by New York's Hunter College has determined that less than 3 percent of Americans older than 18 identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Ironically, the poll was funded by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's leading homosexual activist organization in the country (with an annual budget of +$30 million).
Just last week, this small but vocal group of homosexual activists bullied the American Psychiatric Association (APA) into cancelling a symposium on homosexuality and faith. The event would have featured a wide spectrum of viewpoints -- including those of conservatives --on "reparative therapy."
But homosexual activists could not tolerate the ex-gay message -- they did not want this truth to be heard or legitimized, so they pushed the APA hard to cancel, despite the fact that it was organized by one of its own. David Scasta, a former APA president, said that his goal was to have a "balanced discussion about religion's role in therapy." "We wanted to talk rationally... but the external forces made it into a divisive debate it never intended to be."
In other news, rioting lesbians stormed an address being given by "Born Gay Hoax" author Ryan Sorba at Smith College, physically taking over the stage and shutting down his speech entirely. They shouted, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" So much for tolerance, freedom of speech, and respect for differences. Said Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth points out:
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington D.C. is absolutely correct when he suggest that "values voters could stand to learn a few things from the peaceable side of [homosexual activism] as we try to transform the culture. Imagine the influence Christians could have if we all resolved to engage the public square and speak the truth!"
NASA has joined other scientists who are now predicting a period of global cooling.
The space agency is predicting much colder temperatures for the next 15 to 30 years, based on a developing large scale ocean pattern called PDO for short. In other words, "natural climate phenomena" will drive global temperatures, not CO2 emissions.
NASA predicts that the problems growers will have will be shorter growing seasons and more threats of frost, which coupled with the late start of an expected increase in solar output has some scientists now speculating about an impending "little ice age."
A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country. ~~~ Well, there's a very simple answer. ~~~ Nobody bothered to check the oil. ~~~ We just didn't know we were getting low. ~~~ The reason for that is purely geographical. ~~~ Our OIL is located in: ~~~ ALASKA ~~~ California ~~~ Coastal Florida ~~~ Coastal Louisiana ~~~ Wyoming ~~~ Colorado ~~~ Kansas ~~~ Oklahoma ~~~ Pennsylvania and Texas ~~~ Our dipsticks are located in DC
A win for family values in Britain, as Parliament's House of Lords voted 81-57 that no one should face jail time for criticizing homosexual behavior or for urging homosexuals to change their sexual orientation.
This clearly demonstrates how dangerous hate-crimes laws are to anyone who wants to live out traditional values or religious beliefs or even exercise free speech. If this law had not been amended, anyone criticizing homosexuality could have faced up to seven years in jail.
Under the existing law, one woman was interrogated by police for questioning homosexual adoption on a radio call-in program, another couple was interrogated by police for challenging their city council's gay rights policies, and one man was arrested for handing out leaflets that contained quotations from the Bible on homosexual behavior.
A supporter of the original law said it would allow Christians to criticize homosexuality as long as they were "temperate and polite," which is obviously an intensely subjective standard.
National Day of Prayer celebrated across the nation today
Today marks the National Day of Prayer, when citizens and public officials gather together to beseech God for His wisdom and protection of our nation.
The occasion reminds us not only of our true Sovereign, but also to be grateful for the freedom we possess in openly assembling and acknowledging God as Supreme. Today, President Bush proclaimed from the U.S. White House that "America trusts in the abiding power of prayer and asks for the wisdom to discern God's will in times of joy and trial."
We are grateful for leaders who do seek guidance from God and also are committed to protecting our freedom to openly live out faith without fear. Events across Illinois and the nation again demonstrate that American's not only believe in the Creator, but that we acknowledge our dependence on Him for our very existence.
I have to respectfully disagree with the recent quote from State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago) in The State Journal-Register concerning gay marriage.
Harris said, “We don’t affect marriage at all.”
Yes, I agree with him that gay marriage won’t affect my marriage, but expanding the definition of marriage will affect everyone and topple a longstanding system of shared values.
It will affect curriculum taught in public schools, adoption laws, business and churches that want to live by their own moral creed. Right now a church in New Jersey is being taken to court for not allowing two lesbians to perform a ceremony at the church. This means that constitutional religious freedom is at risk because of this type of legislation.
This agenda demonizes individuals and groups for following a moral and faith tradition that has served humanity well for centuries. Gay rights and discrimination laws could allow cross dressers to use the same camp ground shower facility or restrooms that women and girls use. Even our civil right to object to homosexuality is in jeopardy as the entire country could be forced to fully accept this behavior. Therefore, gay rights legislation will affect society in many different ways.
Registered voters in the state of Illinois should be given an opportunity to vote on a marriage amendment. Twenty-seven states have mandated the amendment of state constitutions specifically defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Even in Illinois, Cartwright Township was an example of how people really feel about the marriage issue. The marriage protection ballot passed, with 502 voting yes and 166 voting no (75 percent to 25 percent).
These polls demonstrate the public’s overwhelming support to protecting the definition of traditional marriage, which is worth defending.
As our lawmakers in Washington D.C. are debating the need for abstinence education, a study of 7th graders in Virginia released last week shows that abstinence education programs cut the rate of sexual initiation among students almost in half.
Further, the Heritage Foundation recently published a background paper that reviewed 21 abstinence education programs and found that 16 of them reported statistically positive results such as delayed sexual initiation and a reduction in levels of early sexual activity.
The Left is not telling the truth when they claim that So don't abstinence programs don't work. Consider the fact that public schools across the nation hammer home (with good reason) the ills associated with smoking and drugs. School officials know they can't keep every student from developing a smoking or meth habit, but it doesn't stop them from trying.
So-called "comprehensive sex ed" and "safer sex" programs are really more like a driver's training course for early sexual activity, have been proven not to work. The more money spent on comprehensive sex ed, the higher the rates of teen sexual activity, teen pregnancy, abortions and STDs.
STDs and teenage pregnancies are NOT a result of abstinence. Young people who contract STDs or become pregnant are obviously practicing something other than abstinence-only-until-marriage.
The failures of "safe sex" are clear -- unwanted pregnancies, abortion, disease, not to mention the devastating emotional consequences for our youth. Abstinence until marriage is the only truthful safe-sex message taxpayers of Illinois should be promoting in our schools. There are no teenage pregnancy epidemics or STD outbreaks when abstinence is practiced.
Last December, I had the privilege of seeing an advance preview of a movie that I am very excited about. It is in theatres now, and I hope you go to see it. I also hope that it stirs up a hornet's nest because we as a culture need to deal with the issue this film raises and we need to deal with it honestly and openly.
I am speaking of Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" and the controversy it tackles is the hidden, but deep hostility that exists in science and academia toward those who dare raise problematic issues with evolutionary theory or thought. Ben documents the consequences that have fallen upon even evolutionists who have raised honest questions - questions that the scientific method is supposed to embrace. If evidence exists that contradicts a hypothesis or theory, that evidence should not only be allowed into the discussion, but its discovery should be celebrated.
The problem is that modern science has sequestered itself within the walls of the cosmic cube. Any evidence that would point to a transcendent force beyond the natural realm is forbidden and banned from consideration. ...
