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MEDIA IGNORE BLACK SUPPORT FOR MARRIAGE

Nowhere is media coverage more biased than on issues touching on homosexuality. Reporters and editors go out of their way to depict opponents of the militant homosexual agenda as hate-crazed ignoramuses. When news of this debate doesn’t fit the media worldview, it’s simply ignored.

Take a recent march in downtown Atlanta. The event was organized by a black church with 25,000 members and led by Reverend Bernice King, daughter of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet, outside the Atlanta area, the demonstration was virtually ignored by the mainstream media.

The reason? The African-American church members were marching in support of traditional marriage. In response, gay activists who lined the route called the descendents of slaves – whose people endured decades of segregation and worse – “bigots.”

If a dozen homosexuals held a protest at a Catholic church, rest assured that in the media’s eyes, this would have been big news. But when a people who’ve suffered more than any other from the decline of the family, stand up for a cause recently endorsed by voters in 14 states, the media consider it a non-event.

It’s hardly surprising that more and more Americans are getting their news from non-establishment sources – Fox News, the Internet and radio talk shows. As the establishment media demonstrated once again in the past election, they are in the camp of those determined to destroy the America Christians love.

CANDY CANES UNCENSORED

In a modest victory for religious freedom, the West Bend, Wisconsin Joint School District reversed an earlier decision and agreed to allow the distribution of Christmas cards with a Christian message.

The cards, prepared by a club organized by Christian students at the West Bend High School, explain the origins of the candy cane – that the confection is shaped like a “J” to represent Jesus, and the alternating stripes of white and red symbolize the Savior’s purity and the blood He shed for us on the cross.

The cards were to be distributed by the student-initiated and led group during non-classroom time. Still, Principal Cassandra Schug and Superintendent David Shapely initially decided the greetings were “too religious” and banned their distribution.

Whereupon, Liberty Counsel (http://www.lc.org) prepared a lawsuit that was scheduled to be filed on December 14. Faced with this threat, the district relented and allowed distribution of the cards.

It’s a pity that Christians need to threaten litigation to vindicate their rights. Dogmatically secular administrators are determined to purge any manifestation of faith from the schools, even those allowed by the courts.

During this holy season, there’s little peace in the public schools, and even less good will for the followers of Jesus.

CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL RETREATS ON “MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY” FOR STUDENTS

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer reversed an earlier position that public schools are required by law to maintain confidentiality when students leave the campus to seek abortions and medical treatment for AIDS or psychiatric disorders.

The attorney general’s opinion is based on state laws that emancipate minors for medical procedures.

Under intense public pressure generated by pro-family groups like the Sacramento-based Capitol Research Institute, Lockyer now says that while schools should keep such information in confidence, they will not be prosecuted for failure to do so.

What an incredible state of affairs. The chief law-enforcement officer of our largest state believes that if 14-year olds leave school to get an abortion or be treated for a sexually transmitted disease, it’s none of their parents’ business.

It’s one more fateful attack on parental rights, and a major step toward making all children, in effect, wards of the state. If such measures become the norm, the family cannot long endure.

A Democrat, Lockyer is part of an anti-family coalition that has made significant in-roads in the schools, courts and legislatures. Its pernicious doctrines, which seek to undermine the bedrock of our society, must be exposed, decried and resisted.

PERSECUTION OF PHILLY CHRISTIANS WILL PROCEED

A federal appeals court has refused to stop the Philadelphia city prosecutor from prosecuting 11 area Christians for engaging in the free exercise of their faith.

On October 10th, the Philadelphia 11 witnessed at a homosexual gathering – called an OutFest and supported by public funding. They displayed banners with Bible verses, prayed, sang and read from Scriptures.

The 11 were set upon by an angry mob of homosexuals calling themselves the Pink Angels. Even though the Christians complied with all police orders, they were still arrested, spent a night in jail, and were charged a variety of misdemeanors and felonies, including criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment, ethnic intimidation (?), riot, failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. If convicted on all counts, they could face up to 47 years in prison.

Naturally, the Pink Angels – the real threat to public order -- weren’t arrested or charged.

What transpired in Philadelphia may be contrasted to what occurred at the Atlanta march. In Philadelphia, Christians who were quietly protesting and reading from their Bibles were thrown in jail, hauled before a judge and charged with multiple offenses. In Atlanta, homosexual agitators who harassed black Christians – hurling insults at them – were in no way penalized. Double standard? You bet.

These are dangerous times, my friends. Our opponents aim at nothing less than banning Christianity. In the name of tolerance, the police and courts have become instruments for the suppression of Christian conscience.

Well, we’ve been in the catacombs before. It seems we’re headed there again.

The Philadelphia 11 are represented by the American Family Association’s Center for Law and Public Policy (http://www.afa.net/clp/)

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