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Friday, December 31, 2010

Education Headline Archives (2008-2010)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2010:


2009:


2008:


  • Our Entitled Youth



Healthcare Headline Archives (2010)



For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2010:

Taxes/Economics/Stewardship Headline Archives (2010)


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2010:

Apologetics/Religion Headline Archives (2010)

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2010:



Elections Headline Archives (2010)


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2010:


Energy/Environment Headline Archives (2010)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2010:

Politics Headline Archives (2010)

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2010:




News/Media/Entertainment Headline Archives (2010)


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2010:



Marriage/Family/Sexuality Headline Archives (2010)

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2010:



Abortion/Pro-Life Headline Archives (2010)


For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2010:



Saturday, December 18, 2010

His Peace

Job, in the middle of being rebuked by his “friends,” declared, “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” In other words, from Job’s point of view, life is rather short and sour. Who could blame him for such an observation? Job had just lost virtually all of his worldly possessions, including every one of his children.

Certainly few, if any, of us have suffered or are suffering as Job did. Nevertheless, these are difficult days for many. Trying times such as these make it quite apparent that this life is “full of trouble.” Currently, for most, the source of such trouble is financial. Virtually every opinion poll that surveys Americans on national priorities reveals that U.S. citizens overwhelmingly see the economy as the number one priority. Nothing reveals the harshness of life quite as clearly as financial difficulties. After all, as the Book of Job describes, when Satan was given permission to test Job, his first strike was against Job’s financial well being.

Satan then took Job’s children from him. Is there any heavier burden in this world than the one carried by the parent who must bury his child? Job had to bury many. Being a “righteous man,” and having the proper perspective on life and possessions, upon hearing of the death of his children, Job’s prior losses almost certainly vanished from his mind. All of his other sufferings surely paled in comparison. Yet, Job persevered. He fell down and worshipped God, declaring, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Unemployment, business failure, divorce, sickness, hunger, poverty, pain, death—there is virtually no limit to the tribulations facing us in this dark world. This should come as no surprise, as Scripture frequently reveals. The Apostle John tells us that “the world around us is under control of the evil one.” As C.S. Lewis, a veteran of World War I, put it, “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what the world is.” Jesus Himself noted that, “In this world (we) will have trouble.”

However, Christ also tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” In spite of what this world will bring us, Christ tells us that we have no reason to fear or doubt. Whatever our circumstances or situation, He will give us His peace.

Peace. Isn’t that what so many of us are searching for? As we pursue money, relationships, good health, notoriety, retirement, and so on, are we not really striving for that “peace… that passes all understanding”? Whatever trials, whatever evil may come our way, don’t we really just want to know that everything is going to be alright?

As Job and others reveal, human beings can be amazingly resilient, able to cope with most anything—even death—as long as we have peace about it. And there is no peace like God’s peace.

Of course, God’s peace is nothing like the hippy-liberal-Code Pink-flower child idea of peace. God never tells us that following Him will mean an end to all conflict and struggle in this fallen world. His peace comes as a result of His righteousness and justice, and as with all good things, His love.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” sang the angels announcing the coming of the Christ child. Thus God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy and righteousness, decided to invade this “enemy-occupied” territory and make things right.

However, Jesus didn’t simply come into the world “to make bad people good,” notes Ravi Zacharias. “He came into the world to make dead people live.” What greater comfort, what greater peace, is there than to know that, even if the valley of the shadow of death overcomes us, we will yet live? “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?”

What a reason for a celebration! What a time for a holiday! As Christmas approaches, may the “Prince of Peace” give you all that you truly need and are longing for.

Copyright 2010, Trevor Grant Thomas

Monday, November 22, 2010

Giving Thanks

Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempts at settling the New World were disastrous. The English, who were now trying to gain a foothold on the New World, were succumbing to the same greed that had earlier blinded the Spaniards. Starvation, disease, hostile Indians, and other hardships, including a whole colony lost (the Lost Colony of Roanoke), led to dampened enthusiasm for New World expeditions.

It would be nearly 20 years after Raleigh’s initial ventures before enough English interest could again be sparked for more New World adventure. In 1602, one of Raleigh’s captains, Bartholomew Gosnold, sailed to what is now Maine with 32 men. Fearing the natives, disease, and the coming winter, they returned to England less than four months after leaving.

Undeterred, Gosnold obtained an exclusive charter from King James I to form The Virginia Company with the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in North America. He and his fellow adventurers on December 16, 1606 again sailed for North America.

Despite recruiting “sermons” that contained messages of evangelical outreach, and the preamble of the Company’s charter, written by King James I, which contained the words, “…propagating of Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages, living in these parts, to human civility and to a settled and quiet government,” the lust for gold was, again, what drove the men of this expedition.

Evidence of this fact was that this first expedition sent by The Virginia Company contained exclusively men, 144 of them. Among them were no women or families, nor were these men heads of households going to prepare a homestead. Also, among these 144 was only one minister. In the words of David Marshall and Peter Manuel, these 144 men “were interested in one thing: getting their gold chamber pots and returning to England as soon as possible.”

On May 14, 1607, headed by a seven-man council, which included John Smith, these 144 men settled Jamestown. Because of their misguided efforts it was a disaster from the beginning. These men battled the elements, disease (including malaria), Indians, starvation, and one another. The lone minister on the adventure, Robert Hunt, did his best to keep the others focused on God. His sermons went mostly unheeded; however, he persevered. By February of 1608 only 38 of the 144 remained alive.

News of what was really happening in Virginia began to get back to England. To counteract this news The Virginia Company increased its propaganda campaign. They were successful for a while, and therefore investors continued to invest and settlers continued to settle. According to Marshall and Manuel, “The death rate in Virginia that second year was—incredibly—even higher than the first: out of every ten people that embarked for the New World, nine would die!”

The death rate did not abate with time. Marshall and Manuel add, “For example, of the 1,200 people who went out to Virginia in 1619, only 200 were left alive by 1620. Why this horrible continuing death rate? There is no logical explanation, except one: year after year they steadfastly refused to trust God—or indeed to include Him in any of their deliberations.”

The next settlers to cross the Atlantic would not make the same mistakes. They were not seeking wealth and prosperity, but a new home. They believed that America was their destiny. The Pilgrims, and the Puritans who followed them, knew better than to undertake anything without God.

On November 11, 1620, after dropping anchor in Cape Cod, the Pilgrims drafted a compact that would embody the same principles of government upon which American Democracy would rest. It read,

“In the name of God, amen. We whose names are under-written…Having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic…constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony…the 11th of November…Anno Domini 1620.”

On November 29, 1623, two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving. In it Governor Bradford thanked God for their abundant harvest, bountiful game, protection from “the ravages of savages…and disease,” and for the “freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.”

The Pilgrims, and the Puritans who followed them, had the proper perspective. As Bradford would so discernibly note, “As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shown unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation…We have noted these things so that you might see their worth and not negligently lose what your fathers have obtained with so much hardship.”

On June 11, 1630, aboard the Arbella, John Winthrop, the leader of the first Puritans, wrote A Model of Christian Charity, which became a model for future constitutional covenants of the Colonies. It reads:

“We are a Company, professing ourselves fellow members of Christ, (and thus) we ought to account ourselves knit together by this bond of love…For the work we have in mind, it is by a mutual consent through a special overruling providence, and a more than an ordinary approbation of the Churches of Christ to seek out a place of Cohabitation and Consortship under a due form of Government both civil and ecclesiastical…

“Thus stands the cause between God and us: we are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a Commission; the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles…

“We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when He shall make us a praise and glory, that men of succeeding plantations shall say, ‘The Lord make it like that of New England.’

“For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

As we sit down this Thanksgiving Day, we should recognize and remember, as did the Puritans and the Pilgrims before them, the One who is most deserving of our thanks. Let us not lose sight of Him who is the giver of all good things. Scripture says that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” He created us and everything around us. He gave us life, and through His Son, salvation. As the Psalmist notes, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Have truly happy and memorable Thanksgiving.
 
Copyright 2010, Trevor Grant Thomas

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Inconvenient Science

For decades now, liberals have been preaching to us the “science” behind “global warming”—I mean “climate change”—I mean “global climate disruption.” (It’s hard to keep up. Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) has had almost as many labels as Al Gore has private jets!) “The science is settled,” we’ve been told. Those of us who doubt are branded with numerous labels as well: “deniers,” “flat-earthers,” “anti-science,” “know-nothings,” and so on.

The name-calling is even worse when it comes to “deniers” of Darwinian evolution (D.E.). Here, the ridicule is truly rampant. Of course, this is to be expected when it comes to the holiest of all liberal doctrines—the guiding philosophy of their prevailing worldview. (Nothing gets a liberal more worked up than a creationist!)

It is quite unsurprising, then, that liberals have united behind both the “science” of AGW and D.E. The worldview behind D.E. in almost every way agrees with those who have turned their eyes toward “Mother Earth”—worshipping and serving “created things rather than the Creator.”

After all, D.E. teaches that, since all life sprang from the same single-celled source, all living things are related. Darwinian evolutionists see humans, along with all other living things, strictly as a product of nature and natural processes. Therefore, to see humans on equal footing with all other life and owing our very existence to the earth are very logical conclusions for such a philosophy. Thus, the earth-worshipping environmentalist is almost always a Darwinist, as well.

As much as liberals disparage religion, especially Christianity, how ironic it is that D.E. and AGW inspire such a religious-like following. Eminent geologist, Ian Plimer, a Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (University of Adelaide), Emeritus Professor in the School of Earth Sciences (University of Melbourne), and ardent atheist, is also a vehement opponent of AGW.

Plimer calls AGW “the new religion of First World urban elites,” adding that “Environmentalism has many of the hallmarks of failed European socialism and Western (failed) Christianity. It has a holy book which few have read (IPCC reports), has prophets (Gore) who cannot be challenged, relies on dogma, ignores contrary evidence, has armies of wide-eyed missionaries...; imposes guilt, has a catastrophist view of the planet, and seeks indulgences.”

D.E. also has many of the marks of religion. Evolutionists, themselves, admit as much. Dr. Michael Ruse, a philosopher of biology at Florida State University, previously a philosopher of science, especially evolutionary science, at the University of Guelph in Ontario, has authored several books on Darwinism and evolutionary theory. Ruse, also an atheist, regularly debates, and has testified in federal court, in support of D.E. In a May, 2000 article in the National Post he wrote, “Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality. . . . Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today.”

Leave it to atheists to recognize a religion when they see one!

Darwinian evolution attempts to explain the past. Global warming alarmists speculate about the future. But what about the science of the here-and-now? Surely those who hold themselves up as “champions for science” would not ignore what they can see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. Surely someone so reliant on and trusting of what “science” reveals to us would not allow himself to be led astray by elegant language, foolish logic, and downright propaganda.

Oh, but they have—for as zealously as liberals believe in AGW and D.E., they also passionately support the “right” of a woman to end the life of her unborn child and are enthusiastically behind the homosexual agenda.

Life in the womb for a child is as well documented as anything in science. With ultrasound and Doppler machines, as well as other technology, one can monitor the life of a baby in the womb from very near the beginning until birth.

Moments after conception (hardly a serious biologist in the world would argue that life does not begin at conception), the resulting single cell contains all 46 chromosomes necessary to grow into an adult human being. Within 48 hours of conception, the mother’s body starts producing a hormone to let her know that she is pregnant. In the beginning of the third week, the baby’s heart begins to beat with a blood type that is often different from its mother’s.

During week five, eyes, legs, and hands have begun to develop. By week six, brain waves are detectable. Week eight, has every organ in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and the baby can begin to hear. By week 12, the baby is nearing the end of the first trimester. She has all the necessary parts to experience pain, including her nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus. She can grasp objects placed in her hand and has fingerprints, a skeletal structure, and circulation.

By week 15, she has an adult’s taste buds. Week 20, the earliest stage at which partial-birth abortion is performed, the child can recognize her mother’s voice. She is within one or two weeks of the stage where babies can routinely be saved outside the womb.

Yet, in spite of all that science clearly reveals here, for decades now, liberals, driven by their (usually) godless philosophy of Darwinian evolution, have denied or ignored the science of the human womb. In the name of money—Planned Parenthood is a billion dollar-plus industry, not to mention the other capitalistic forces that profit from abortion—and sexual “freedom,” liberals have placed their wallets and their libidos above science and morality.

Speaking of a liberal’s libido, real science does no favors for the homosexual movement either. As White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett recently learned, even well established liberals can draw the ire of the homosexual community by simply implying that homosexuality is not innate (meaning genetic), but is rather a “lifestyle choice.” (Of course, Jarrett quickly back-tracked and apologized.) We’ve been told for nearly 20 years now that homosexuality is a genetic and unchangeable behavior—that people are born gay.

In 1993, when the journal Science published a study by Dean Hamer (et al) which strongly suggested there was a gene for homosexuality, an eager and complicit media celebrated. National Public Radio trumpeted the findings. Newsweek’s cover asked, “Gay Gene?” The Wall Street Journal announced, “Research Points Toward a Gay Gene…” The New York Times noted, “Report Suggests Homosexuality Is Linked to Genes.”

However, noted psychiatrist, physicist, and author (Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth) Jeffrey Satinover concluded that “the Hamer study is seriously flawed.” Many genetic researchers also quickly took issue with Hamer’s study. However, the myth grew.

Today, it is commonplace for liberals in the media, Hollywood, and like-minded politicians again to ignore the real science and continue to perpetuate the falsehood that homosexuality is strictly genetic.

Dr. Satinover notes that, “The notion that ‘homosexuals’ are in effect a ‘different species’ (different genes) is ludicrous beyond belief. There is not the slightest evidence for that as anyone who actually reads the studies (not reports on the studies) knows.” What science does reveal is that homosexuality is a rather unhealthy and quite dangerous lifestyle.

According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men account for more than 60 percent of all syphilis cases, and more than 82 percent of all known sexually-transmitted AIDS cases in 2006 were the result of male-to-male sexual contact. During its 2010 National STD Prevention Conference, the CDC revealed that the rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) is more than 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women. Also, the rate of primary and secondary syphilis among MSM is more than 46 times that of other men and more than 71 times that of women.

According to Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, “While the heavy toll of HIV and syphilis among gay and bisexual men has been long recognized, this analysis shows just how stark the health disparities are between this and other populations.” Just weeks ago, a CDC study revealed that 1 in 5 gay men in U.S. cities has HIV.

Also occurring at a much higher rate among MSM are gonorrhea, various forms of hepatitis, and anal and genital warts. In 2007 the Los Angeles Times reported the frequency of methamphetamine use is 20 times greater among MSM than in the general population. What’s more, homosexuals have a twenty-five to thirty-year decrease in life expectancy and a much higher than usual incidence of suicide.

All of this, and I haven’t even mentioned the shaky science that is behind AGW and D.E.! So, the next time you hear or read of someone holding up liberalism as a bastion of science and reason, remember it is their side that is blinded by ideology and their “religion.” Perhaps even point out some of the “inconvenient truths” mentioned above.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Fruit of Islam

(See also: Two Shades of Dismay: The Perverse Bondage Wrought by Liberalism and Islam)

The 9th anniversary of 9/11, continued hostilities abroad, a Ground Zero mosque, Koran burnings—tensions between Americans and Muslims have never been higher. We should not be surprised. As the renowned and pioneering historian Bernard Lewis noted 20 years ago in The Roots of Muslim Rage, “the classical Islamic view, to which many Muslims are beginning to return, [is that] the world and all mankind are divided into two: the House of Islam, where the Muslim law and faith prevail, and the rest, known as the House of Unbelief or the House of War, which it is the duty of Muslims ultimately to bring to Islam.”

After the events of 9/11, Professor Lewis, in The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, also noted that much of the animosity directed toward the West, particularly the United States, is due to old-fashioned envy—stemming from Western progress and Islamic decline. As one reviewer put it, the crux of Lewis's argument is “the sources of rage among Muslims stem from the deep frustration over the loss of a cultural primacy that was once theirs and has now been lost to the forces of modernity, especially as represented by the United States.”

It is rather telling to examine “the loss of cultural primacy” within Islam, along with the overall effect Islam is having on nations and individuals the world over. Of the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), as rated by the Economists Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, none are full democracies, while 35 are authoritarian regimes (dictatorships). Of the Index’s 10 most authoritarian regimes, 7 of them are members of the OIC.

Muslims are 23 percent of the world population and produce barely seven percent of global GDP. The median GDP rank for the members of the OIC is 124 (out of 181 nations). The total GDP of the 57 member OIC is approximately $4.2 trillion. That is less than one-third of the GDP of the U.S. alone ($14.3 trillion).

According to the United Nations’ Arab Development Report: More than half of Arab women cannot read; One in five Arabs lives on less than $2 per day; There are less than 18 computers per 1,000 persons in the Arab world, compared to the global average of 78.3; and only 1.6 percent of Arabs use the Internet.

In the 57 nations in the OIC there are a total of about 500 universities. There are over 5,700 in the U.S. In just over 100 years, the Muslim world has produced eight Nobel Laureates while a mere 14 million Jews have produced 167. There are about 400 scientists and engineers per 1 million people in research and development in Arab countries, compared to about 4,000 per million people in North America.

Particularly disturbing, and most telling, as one examines Islam, is the role of women in Islamic society. Islamic law (ShariÛ¥a) prohibits women from looking men in the eye, forbids them from wearing shoes that make noise, and forbids them from becoming educated. As Ergun and Emir Caner note in Unveiling Islam, “women are considered possessions in any orthodox Islamic regime…The wife is considered the husband’s sex object.” Also, one of the most alarming admonitions in the Koran allows the husband to punish his wife physically.

Of the 8 nations that the U.S. has placed on its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, 6 of them are Islamic regimes. Of the 20 nations the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has under its Country of Particular Concern designation, or on its watch list, half are Islamic regimes (all of the others are differing authoritarian regimes, along with India, Russia, and Venezuela). Nice company, huh?

Religious freedom in Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia is virtually non-existent. Like many other Muslim countries, Saudi law states that Islamic apostasy—denying the faith or converting to another religion—is a crime punishable by death. In 2006, Afghan citizen Abdul Rahman was arrested (after it was discovered that he possessed a Bible) and faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity. Intervention by Afghan president Hamid Karzai resulted in the charges against Rahman being dismissed.

Leading Afghan clerics were highly critical of Karzai, noting that “The Qur'an is very clear and the words of our prophet are very clear. There can only be one outcome: death.” This attitude is very prevalent across the Arab world, validating Professor Lewis’s notion that “many Muslims are beginning to return” to the “classical [violent and repressive] Islamic view.”

In Turkey in 2007, two Turkish converts to Christianity were killed in the Malatya Bible Publishing Firm murders. Also in 2007, Mohammed Hegazy became the first Egyptian Muslim officially to seek to convert to Christianity. An Egyptian judge ruled that, “He can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can't convert.” Muslim clerics issued fatwas calling for his death. His wife’s family has sworn to kill her because she married a non-Muslim. They are both currently in hiding.

All of this pales to the slaughter in Sudan. The Institute on Religion and Democracy reports that “since 1983 Sudan has been devastated by a jihad or holy war led by the militant National Islamic Front, the ruling regime in Khartoum, against all in Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains who opposed the imposition of ShariÛ¥a, or Islamic law. The government-sponsored terror has resulted in the deaths of at least two million moderate Muslims, animists, and Christians.”

Of course, as the Caners point out, “Any major religion must first be seen through the eyes of its founder…Muhammad commanded in the QurÛ¥an, ‘Fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them’ (surah 9:5)…in a world searching for peace, following the life of this warrior brings about bloodshed.” Moments before Abu Mus'ad Al Zarqawi cut off the head of American Nicholas Berg, he said these words in Arabic: “The Prophet, the master of the merciful has ordered to cut off the heads of some of the prisoners of Badr in patience. He is our example and a good role model.”

Zarqawi knew that Muhammad had often used beheading as the means of executing his enemies. Thus, Zarqawi was unmistakably choosing to emulate his “good role model” and spiritual leader.

Clearly, by and large, Islam is an enforced religion with a violent founder, a violent founding, and a very violent past and present. Islam is generally repressive to women and to those of other faiths. Islam is typically financially devastating and technologically backwards. Jesus Christ said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart (Luke 6:43-45a).” The fruit of Islam is bitter, indeed.

Copyright 2010, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Barack’s Candy Mountain (sung to Big Rock Candy Mountain)


One evening as the sun went down and the American Dream was burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning.
I'm headin for a land not so far away beside the Scandal Fountains.
So come with me, we'll go and see Barack’s Candy Mountains

In Barack’s Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you step out every night,
Where the TEA Parties are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the marijuana trees,
Where the lemonade springs where Common sings
In Barack’s Candy Mountains.

In Barack’s Candy Mountains the people have no guns,
But the Mexican bandits do ‘cause Holder sold them some.
The ambassador in Libya was killed because of a video.
Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow,
’Cause Al Gore says that Global Warming is so
In Barack’s Candy Mountains

In Barack’s Candy Mountains all support the liberal press,
otherwise our phones are tapped and we’re audited by the IRS.
The conservatives have to tip their hats and the talk show hosts are mute.
Where illegal immigrants play and the abortionists slay,
You can find them all at the gay wedding ball
In Barack’s Candy Mountains.

In Barack’s Candy Mountains the doctors all are free,
And you may keep your health plan—any one you please.
There ain't no nuclear power plants, no oil, gas, or coal.
I'm a goin’ to stay where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In Barack’s Candy Mountains.

I'll see you all next election fall to bring down Barack’s Candy Mountains.

Copyright 2010, Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Monday, August 16, 2010

Gay Marriage: The End Game

In the last 15 years, the battle for the definition of marriage has been waged full force. It has supplanted abortion (though they are related to one another) as the principal cultural conflict in our society. The courts, where liberals have had more success, and the electorate, where conservatives have dominated, have both experienced dozens of skirmishes between the warring parties.

Tens of millions of people have voted. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent. Preachers have preached; politicians and pundits have pontificated. The weak and the dispassionate certainly have grown weary. But many have been deceived. For you see, ultimately, this battle is not, nor has it ever been, about marriage.

Dan Brown of the National Organization for Marriage hints at this when, after the Proposition 8 ruling, he declared that, “The goal of this movement is to use the law to reshape the culture so that disagreement with their views on sex and marriage gets stigmatized and repressed like bigotry.”

It’s not as if we haven’t been warned. From a column I wrote in 2006: “In December of 2005 The Becket Fund, a nonprofit institute dedicated to protecting freedom of religion, held a conference to discuss the legal ramifications of redefining marriage. Ten of the nation’s top First Amendment scholars, liberal, conservative, and moderate, were brought in to present their views of same-sex marriage and the likely outcomes if it is legalized. As a result of the conference a series of papers was published.

“The conference focused on four topics: Can the government force religious institutions to recognize same-sex unions? Can the government withhold benefits, such as tax exemption, from religious institutions that refuse to recognize same-sex unions? How will freedom of religion arguments fare against legal same-sex marriage? What are the effects on biblical (traditional) marriage?

“Mark Stern, general counsel for the liberal leaning American Jewish Congress and a supporter of gay marriage, wrote in his paper that, ‘Same-sex marriage would…work a sea change in American law. That change will reverberate across the legal and religious landscape in some ways that are today unpredictable.’ According to Peter Steinfels, writing for The New York Times, what Mr. Stern has in mind are ‘schools, health care centers, social service agencies, summer camps, homeless shelters, nursing homes, orphanages, retreat houses, community centers, athletic programs and private businesses or services that operate by religious standards, like kosher caterers and marriage counselors.’

“George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley, also a supporter of gay marriage, in his Becket paper noted that, ‘As states accept same-sex marriage and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, conflicts will grow between the government and discriminatory organizations. There will be many religious-based organizations that will refuse to hire individuals who are homosexual or members of a same-sex marriage. If those individuals are holding a state license of marriage or civil union, it will result in a discriminatory act that was not only based on sexual orientation, but a lawful state status.’

“Doug Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University, and an opponent of gay marriage, participated in the Becket conference and wrote, ‘Were federal equal protection or substantive due process to be construed to require states to license same-sex marriage, those who have profound moral or religious objection to the social affirmation of homosexual conduct would be argued to be the out-liers of civil society.’ Therefore, he argues that churches could be targeted for legal penalties and disadvantages as were universities that participated in racial discrimination decades ago.

“He adds that, ‘This is hardly a far-fetched (idea), as apparently one of the main aspirations of the homosexual movement is retaliation against the defenders of traditional marriage.’”

There you have it. Marriage is just the means to a more sinister end for the homosexual movement. This is about sex and about legitimizing, through the American judicial system, a sexual lifestyle many Americans find immoral. And, as Kmiec implies, this is also about vengeance.

Additionally, as one supporter of gay marriage has put it, it’s not as if most (especially male) homosexuals are interested in (traditional) marriage anyway. “There are many gays and lesbians who strongly value the right to marry, but few (none, more or less) who think of it as a gay ideal to have relationships that are as close as possible to the traditional hetero myth/ideal. The possibilities for different types of relationships have been common currency in the gay community and gay press for as long as there has been an open gay community.”

Once the homosexual community has the law behind it, the full force of the federal government will be at their disposal. Their lust for revenge will have little to restrain it. Churches, schools, private businesses, and organizations of all types who object to homosexuality would be not only “out-liers of civil society” but also out-liers of the law. Above all, Christians who see homosexuality as a sin will be squarely in the crosshairs of the homosexual community.

Again, if you think this is far-fetched, consider the case of Dale McAlpine, a Baptist preacher in England. He was arrested in May of this year under the Public Order Act for causing “harassment, alarm or distress,” and “using abusive or insulting language” by calling homosexuality a sin.

Also, consider the case of U.S. evangelist Shawn Holes, who was arrested in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 18 of this year for remarks that were deemed “homophobic.” (See, The Dumbest Word in theEnglish Language: Homophobia.) Just as with universal health care and staggering federal debt, Europe has preceded the U.S. down the progressive path of legitimizing homosexuality, and again gives us a glance into what lies ahead for America.

Marriage, as God created it, is the foundation of every institution that the world has ever known. Thus, at the foundation of any great nation there must be a healthy view of and a great respect for marriage. Strong and healthy marriages lead to strong and healthy families. Strong and healthy families lead to strong and healthy communities. Strong and healthy communities lead to strong and healthy churches, schools, businesses, governments, and so on. Each of these institutions lies at the heart of a great nation.

Outside of an individual’s relationship with his or her Creator, the priority relationship in the universe is the husband/wife relationship. If this foundational relationship is redefined, the consequences for our nation will be staggering.

Copyright 2010, Trevor Grant Thomas