Tuesday
ANALYSES OF SOME OF TODAY’S ISSUES
AS WE DID A FEW WEEKS AGO, AGAIN TODAY
WE OMIT A MAIN ESSAY SO AS TO PRESENT
ANALYSES OF SOME OF TODAY’S ISSUES
This is the season when we send and receive Christmas
cards – perhaps somewhat less than in the past due to the
41 cent postage rate. Some of us can remember the purple
Abraham Lincoln 3 cent stamp for first class mail, a down
to earth illustration of inflation. But here is a free
Christmas greeting from the U.S. Congress, the House of
Representatives. Last week the House passed a bill
(H.Res. 847) by a vote of 372-9. Among other things it
resolved that the House "recognizes the Christian faith
as one of the great religions of the world"..."acknowledges
the international religious and historical importance of
Christmas and the Christian faith" ... "expresses its
deepest respect to American Christians and Christians
throughout the world." Nine members voted against it
(all Democrats). But it passed by a strong margin, and
that is good news now or at any season of the year.
Too often we tend to ignore reactions that are
taking place in churches about homosexuality. Many
denominations are ignoring clear Bible teaching and
are ordaining homosexual clergy. In the American
Episcopal church the ordination of a homosexual
bishop is threatening to split the church. Many local
churches have left the denomination to come under
conservative orthodox Anglican leadership in other
parts of the world. Now for the first time an entire
diocese – San Joaquin in California – has voted to
secede from the denomination. Action of this sort
requires courage and faith by clergy and members.
This isn’t exactly a religious issue, but it does
have serious moral implications. Much talked about in
all the media has been former Senator George Mitchell’s
report on the use of performance enhancing drugs by
professional baseball players. If those obscenely high
paid stars – 88 of them from all 30 major league teams –
want to damage their minds and bodies through drug
abuse, that could be considered their problem – not ours.
But this is our national sport, and these greatly admired
athletes have become role models for millions of American
young people. This drug use is a moral stain on sports and
athleticism. It has already made an international impact
on the Olympics. Now it becomes a serious domestic issue
with our own national sport. It should not be passed over
and ignored. Moral depravity has become all too common
in too many areas of American life.
The 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade will occur on
Jan. 22 – the outrageous Supreme Court decision which
legalized abortion, and which has already resulted in the
killing of more than 45 million preborn babies. But how
much do the American people really know about that
ruling? At what stage of her pregnancy can a woman have
an abortion? Does Roe permit-late term abortions? What
percentage are for rape or inquest? Believing that many
Americans do not understand the details of the ruling,
four family organizations, Focus on the Family, Alliance
Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America and Family
Research Council have developed an on-line test of Roe
IQ . . . the results will be available before the upcoming
anniversary. Contact any of those organizations on line
to take the test yourself. The results will be important.
Al Gore’s "Global Warming" campaign this past
week made its appearance under the aegis of the UN at
their big global climate conference in Bali. As might be
expected, all is not on the up-and-up at this UN affair,
and for the second time in a week the International
Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) was kicked off the
schedule. The ICSC is a group of recognized international
scientists who hold that sound science does not support
the outrageous claims and weird regulations being
proposed in Bali. It appears to be part of the censorship
by the UN of any dissenting voices from their prearranged
agenda and conclusions. All this could adversely affect us.
We need to keep informed as to what is going on.
An appropriate comment: we are sticking by our
promise to stay off the presidential campaign until 2008,
which is the election year. But this comment applies not
to any one candidate, but rather to the increasing theme
of religion in all the campaigns. It is from Ann Coulter,
whom we often quote: "Liberals claim to be terrified that
the Religious Right is going to take over the culture in a
country where more than a million babies are being
exterminated every year, kindergarteners can be expelled
from school for mentioning God, and Islamic fascists are
welcomed on college campuses while speakers opposed to
Islamic fascism are met with angry protests." It sounds
like the Religious Right should be taking over!
Afterthoughts . . .
If it happens in Britain, it can happen here: give
some thought to these effects of immigration running
wild – the London Telegraph reported this week that
English is a minority language in 1,338 elementary
schools (one fifth of all schools in Britain). And in 112 of
the 3,343 secondary schools, children without English
as their first language make up 51 - 70 percent of all
students. That is Great Britain, the birthplace of the
English language, not a "melting pot" like America.
Two views of Christmas greetings. First there is
Barbara Walters, on the ABC-TV program "The View"
which used to feature Rosie O’Donnell and her strange
views on just about everything. Ms. Walters showed
off her Christmas card from the Bushes in the White
House, and expressed her dismay over the fact that it
contained a verse of Scripture. She said she couldn’t
remember ever getting a religious Christmas card. But
on the other side of public opinion, a recent Rasmussen
Reports poll showed that 67% of the respondents
preferred the greeting "Merry Christmas" with 26%
preferring "Happy Holidays." Apparently Ms. Walters
is in the minority . . . way in the minority.
Immigrants, where they come from. In the year
2005, according to the Department of Homeland
Security, the majority of immigrants came from only
10 countries – none of which had sent any immigrants
during America’s first 200 years. They are, in order:
Mexico, India, China, Philippines, Cuba, Viet Nam,
Dominican Republic, Korea, Colombia and Ukraine.
And the face of America is changing. In 1960 whites
represented 90% of this country. The Census Bureau
estimates that now whites represent less than 2/3 of
the population, and will be a minority by the year 2050.
Present immigration laws, whether or not enforced, in
effect are committing a form of genocide on whites in
America by reducing their percentage of the population.
Top issues of concern for Evangelicals, according
to a recent survey by the National Association of
Evangelicals (NAE). Culture concerns, headed by the
need for reducing the rate of abortions, and preserving
traditional families, rated highest. Next was helping the
hurting, including HIV/AIDS, poverty and reform of
immigration. The third highest response was evangelism.
Fourth in the list of concerns was restoring the definition
and value of the term "Evangelical." And rounding off
the top five concerns was a controversial one, "creation
care" or environmental stewardship. Good question:
now that we know what the concerns are, what are we
going to do about them?
A Founding Father’s quotation: "If there is a form
of government, then, whose principle and foundation is
virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better
calculated to promote the general happiness than any
other form?" – John Adams, 1776
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