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January 5, 2006
Volume 2, Number 1
1) Chaplain Fasts For Right To Pray In Jesus’ Name
2) Judge Says No Prayers In Jesus' Name In Indiana Legislature
3) NEA Uses Forced Dues To Back Liberal Causes
4) Noted In Passing Judge Alito’s ABA Rating
My New Year Resolution:
Boycott Liberal Media
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as we resolve for 2006 to
"Boycott Liberal Media."
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U.S. Navy Religious Discrimination
Click here to take immediate action in support of Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who has been punished for publicly praying in the name of Jesus Christ.
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The War on Christians
and the
Values Voter
in 2006 |
Vision America continues to receive commitments from prominent speakers for its March 27-28 “The War on Christians And The Values Voter 2006” conference. Those committed to date include: Senator Sam Brownback, Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Tom DeLay, Congressman Todd Akin, Congressman Louis Gohmert, Rod Parsley, Ron Luce, Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes, Phyllis Schlafly and Janet Folger.
Click here for conference details
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A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR READERS: On March 27-28, Vision America will hold the very first-ever conference of its kind in Washington, D.C. -- The War On Faith And Values Voter 2006. For concerned Christians, it may just be the most important conference of the year. There is a concerted effort to silence America’s Christians. The first two items in today’s Rick Scarborough Report illustrate the growing challenge we face. Please make plans to attend this important event.
You can register online at http://www.visionamerica.us/
CHAPLAIN FASTS FOR RIGHT TO
PRAY IN JESUS’ NAME
Navy Lt. Gordon Klingenschmitt has been fasting for two weeks. Klingenschmitt says his fast will continue until the president signs an executive order allowing uniformed chaplains to pray in their own tradition.
A graduate of the Air Force Academy who transferred to the Navy three years ago to serve as a chaplain, Klingenschmitt is protesting a 1998 Navy policy which requires chaplains to say only nondenominational prayers outside of church services.
The policy is another example of “pluralism” gone mad. Christian chaplains wear a cross on their uniform. Is there even the slightest doubt in whose name they pray?
Why should anyone be offended when a man of God prays according to his faith? If a Catholic priest says The Hail Mary, are Protestants offended? When a rabbi pronounces the ancient prayer, “Hear ‘O Israel, the Lord our God, The Lord is One,” do gentiles feel excluded?
The Navy’s policy is an attempt by military bureaucrats to make religious expression homogenized and bland -- and therefore meaningless and worthless. Christians did not fight and die for this country so that other Christians in uniform could be denied their First Amendment right to invoke the name of Jesus in public prayer.
In October, my friend Congressman Walter Jones wrote a letter urging the president to reverse the Navy’s policy. He was joined by 74 of his colleagues.
More must be done. These are perilous times, indeed. Our Lord warned of a day when “all men will be offended by my name.” Those days have come. It’s time for the church to be the church, and bear witness on behalf of the Savior.
This good chaplain is willing to go without food to bear witness. Will you join me and send a letter to your Senators, Representatives and the President in support of Rev. Klingenschmitt? You can click here and send a letter now.
After all, the men Chaplain Klingenschmitt is ministering to one day may have to die for the right to freely worship the God that judges and bureaucrats are forbidding us to call by His great and glorious name.
JUDGE SAYS NO PRAYERS IN JESUS' NAME
IN INDIANA LEGISLATURE
Last week, U.S. District Judge David Hamilton confirmed his earlier ruling that bans the use of Jesus' name in prayers offered at the opening of sessions of the Indiana House of Representatives.
The quintessential activist judge, Hamilton has decided that too many of the prayers offered are either given in Jesus' name or refer to “the Savior.” This, the judge decreed, constitutes an unconstitutional state endorsement of religion. Henceforth, there will only be nondenominational prayers before the legislature, the judge ruled.
The Bloomberg report notes that during the 2005 session, 29 of 45 invocations before the Indiana House referred to Jesus. On the other hand, if Indiana follows national trends, almost 80% of its citizens worship in the name of Jesus as do the overwhelming majority of state legislators themselves.
Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma has pledged to appeal Hamilton’s decision all the way to the Supreme Court. (Here’s yet another reason to press for Judge Alito’s confirmation.)
“The forces that want to take religious faith out of our government and our society are nibbling away at our liberty,” Bosma declared. An editorial in The Indianapolis Star observed: “Hamilton was terribly intolerant of those Christians who believe that their faith instructs them to pray in the name of Jesus.”
I couldn’t have said it better. All of this is part of a coordinated, far-reaching campaign to drive Christianity underground.
As an important step toward reversing these ominous trends, Vision America is having a conference in Washington, D.C. on March 27-28, 2006, called “The War On Christians And The Values Voter 2006.” Speakers include Senators John Cornyn and Sam Brownback, Congressmen Tom DeLay, Todd Akin and Louis Ghomert, Phyllis Schlafly, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes.
To register online, please click here.
NEA USES FORCED DUES TO PUSH LIBERAL CAUSES
As an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal notes, there’s more than readin’ writin’ and ‘rithmatic going on at the National Education Association.
The nation’s largest teachers’ union, the NEA lavishes millions of dollars a year on liberal causes --causes that have nothing to do with collective bargaining or members’ pension benefits.
Last year, the NEA gave $15,000 to the homosexual Human Rights Campaign Fund. A group opposing the Alito nomination got $5,000. But that was peanuts compared to the $51,000 the NEA bestowed on People for The American Way.
All told, the teachers’ union shelled out $65 million for political activities last year -- money taken from members’ paychecks.
Liberals constantly complain about the power of money in politics. By that they mean individual donors who voluntarily give their money to causes they believe in, not money taken from the paychecks of hardworking rank and file and bestowed by union bosses on organizations working against the values of most union households.
NOTED IN PASSING
Yesterday, the American Bar Association gave its highest rating (“well qualified”) to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, the same rating it gave Alito when he was nominated to the 3rd. U.S. Circuit Appeals Court by President Bush’s father in 1990.
How could they not? In terms of tenure on the federal bench, Alito is the most experienced Supreme Court nominee is a half century. Naturally, none of this will stop the left from attacking Judge Alito when his confirmation hearings begin next week. Have you told your Senators how you feel about the Alito nomination? You can do so by clicking here.
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