From the Desk of Pastor Rick Scarborough

MERRY CHRISTMAS – NOW LEGAL IN ILLINOIS

Thanks to the unflagging efforts of the Alliance Defense Fund, just before Christmas, the Attorney General of Illinois issued an opinion that public employees in the state are free to say “Merry Christmas”… “along with other religious messages in their seasonal greetings at work.”

In November, the Rock Island County Health Department directed employees to refrain from wishing each other a “Merry Christmas” or putting up decorations that acknowledged the holiday’s religious significance.

The rationale? You guessed it – concern about the so-called separation of church and state!

On December 15, ADF attorney Timothy Chandler wrote to the department on behalf of an aggrieved employee. Chandler pointed out that the United States Supreme Court has never declared such salutations or decorations to be in violation of the First Amendment. The ADF’s complaint prompted the Attorney General’s opinion.

While I’m grateful for the fine work ADF is doing, and relieved by the Illinois Attorney General’s statement, the Rock Island victory represents success in a skirmish.

The war on Christmas gets more intense every year. Whether it’s carols sung in a public school, mangers in a public place, or the right of county employees to decorate their work place and say “Merry Christmas,” the struggle never ends.

With Christmas now past, there’s a lull in the fighting. But, as our attention shifts to other fronts in the culture war (like the Supreme Court taking up the constitutionality of public display of The Ten Commandments), Christians must be prepared to defend our faith again next year.


For more information on the invaluable work of The Affiance Defense Fund, call toll-free 1-877-TELL-ADF, or go to http://www.telladf.org.


PRESIDENT WILL RE-NOMINATE 20 PRO-LIFE JUDGES

The White House gave Christians an early Christmas present this year, when it announced on December 23 that, in the next Congress, the president will re-nominate 20 pro-life judicial candidates the Senate failed to vote on 2004.

The Democrats have launched an unprecedented (and unconstitutional) filibuster against judicial nominees who were in every way outstanding, but lacked what the left considers an indispensable qualification for the judiciary – a willingness to rewrite the Constitution to advance liberal causes, like abortion on demand and homosexual rights.

With a one-vote GOP margin in the Senate, there wasn’t much Mr. Bush could do. After the Republican victory in November, the new Senate will have 55 Republicans. Moreover, one of the chief architects of the illegal filibuster – former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle – was himself defeated in his bid for reelection.

You’d think that would have taught the obstructionists a lesson. Regrettably, it did not.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the incoming Minority Leader, reacted to the White House announcement with rancor, “ I was extremely disappointed to learn today that the president intends to begin the new Congress by resubmitting extremist judicial nominees,” the Senator intoned.

By extremist, Reid means: “Believes the Constitution means what it says. Understands that the job of judges is to interpret the law, rather than to make laws (i.e., legislate from the bench).

Democrats have brazenly used a permanent filibuster to block constitutionalist nominees from reaching the floor for a vote. In so doing, they have short-circuited the democratic process.

Republicans are considering a number of procedural changes to remove the roadblocks – including changing the Senate rules to disallow filibusters, which can be done by a simple majority, instead the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture.

President Bush has done an exceptional job of nominating the right men and women for the federal courts. His failure has been follow-through – an unwillingness to fight for his nominees.

For the sake of his supporters, as well as his legacy, that must change in his second term. It’s time for the president to spend some of the political capital he amassed in the last election to get his nominees confirmed. Nothing he does in the next four years will have more of an impact on this nation’s future.

ADVERTISING PUBLICATION ACKNOWLEDGES WILDMON’S INFLUENCE

To those who say it’s impossible for Christians to influence a behemoth like Hollywood, I offer the sterling example of my friend Don Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association.

Based in Mississippi, and with over two million online supporters, Brother Don and AFA have spent decades battling for family values in the entertainment media.

Now comes an acknowledgment of their impact from an informed source.

Advertising Age – the industry’s most prestigious journal – recently named Wildmon one of the ten most influential people in marketing. He joins a distinguished roster that includes presidential strategist Karl Rove and actor/producer Mel Gibson.

Among other achievements, the periodical noted that Wildmon’s OneMillionMoms and OneMillionDads e-mail networks persuaded several advertisers (including Tyson and Lowe’s) to pull their spots from the disgusting ABC series “Desperate Housewives” – which celebrates adultery, among other sins.

AFA also led the effort to get the FCC to levy the largest fine in history for broadcast indecency, over Janet Jackson’s exhibitionism during the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show. (2004 long will be remembered as the year when not one, but two Jacksons managed to disgrace themselves.)

Don Wildmon – who’s also the moving force behind the Arlington Group – has a legion of detractors, and many more admirers. His fight for decency on the airwaves is proof positive of what one David from Tupelo, Mississippi, armed with righteousness, can do against a thousand media Goliaths.

THE PROPHET FROM GEORGIA

Retiring U.S. Senator Zell Miller made one of the most influential political speeches of 2004, when he addressed the Republican Nominating Convention in support of President George W. Bush.

When it comes to family values, Democrat Miller puts many Republicans to shame.

This past session, Miller delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor that deserves to be read and heeded by every American.

Miller quoted a line from The Book of Amos (Chapter 8, verse 11), which applies so well to America today, when the prophet proclaimed: “That the days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.”

Well, that famine is upon us, the Senator declared. “Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse or a Nativity scene from a city square. Whether it is eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage between a man and a woman or, yes, telecasting around the world made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment . . .” We are in the midst of a famine of “hearing the words of the Lord.”

To those who justify our national tragedy with the myth of a separation of church and state, Miller suggests that they actually read the First Amendment. Miller: “It says, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Where is the word ‘separate’? Where are the words ‘church’ or ‘state’?

“They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the Amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly the intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican, Catholic or some other,” and not to keep the government for acknowledging God’s sovereignty.

Like the prophets of Old, Zell Miller is neither shy nor retiring. Though he leaves the Senate, surely there is important work in store for this mighty man of God.

 You can read the entire text of the speech at http://www.visionamerica.us .

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In the last Patriot Pastor Alert, we noted that Jesus was nowhere to be seen in this year's White House Christmas celebration. The story originated with World Net Daily (http://www.worldnetdaily.com). As we believe in giving credit where credit is due, we should have noted that. By the way, WND is an excellent site for news of interest to concerned Christians.
 

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