Tuesday
A SIX WEEK UNTIL APRIL 22
IT’S A WELCOME RELIEF TO HAVE A SIX WEEK
BREAK IN THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS UNTIL
APRIL 22 AND THE PENNSYLVANIA VOTE
One commentator expressed it well this way: "Today’s
newspapers and talking TV heads all agree: the
Democratic presidential race is a mess. Super Tuesday
settled nothing. March 4 settled nothing. The road to
the White House is now filled with dangerous potholes
for the Democrats."
John McCain, who cinched the Republican nomination
by winning all 4 primaries on March 4 will now very
probably become the "invisible man," as the media
begins to ignore him and turn their focus instead on
their political favorites, the battling Democrats, Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama.
But until the potentially decisive primary on April 22
in Pennsylvania, we can heave a sigh of relief and
consider the other important happenings in the world
around us. Well, there was the Wyoming Democrat
caucus on Mar. 8, which Obama won for a net gain of
a few delegate votes, and the Mississippi primary just
yesterday where Obama also won conclusively.
The margin by which Obama leads Clinton did not
show any appreciable change. He still leads in every
category, but now she has suggested he be her vice
president candidate. Obama promptly rejected her
proposal, saying "You won’t be seeing me as a vice
presidential candidate." So much for news from the
campaign circuit. Now let’s look at other events of
interest to Christians.
Home schooling; a furore in California: about
170,000 children in California are "home schooled,"
essentially because the parents – usually for religious
convictions – do not approve of the public school
instruction about homosexuality. On February 28
district court judge Walter Croskey issued the
decision, "Parents do not have a constitutional right
to home school their children." The state law is vague
at best, but does indicate that teachers must have a
formal teaching degree. There are some instances
where home schooled students do as well as their
public schooled counterparts, but there are also
instances where some parents are just not qualified to
provide the standard of education children deserve.
Naturally that decision will be appealed, probably to
the state Supreme Court, and already the battle lines
are being drawn. Dr. James Dobson, of "Focus on the
Family" expressed "outrage," and declared that,"This
is an all-out assault on the family, and it must be met
with a concerted effort to defend parents and their
children," and also said the decision was a "miscarriage
of justice." No one will be going to jail until the matter
is settled in the state’s highest court, but the attempt to
be sure that children receive an adequate education
doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. One wonders if
California – or any state -- should establish academic
standards that parents must meet in order to do home
schooling, will Dr. Dobson insist that every parent
should be allowed to provide schooling for their
children, regardless of their lack of education? This is
more than an emotional, knee-jerk issue, and it is to be
hoped that logic and reason will prevail in any future
court action, and that the best interests of children will
be given major consideration.
An interesting headline on an old familiar theme:
"Global Warming is Over; Throw a Party." Part of the
news story in capoliticalnews.com, Mar. 5, which
followed the headline said, "That does not mean that
we should not create alternative energy sources for
economic reasons. That does not mean that we should
exploit the planet; we need to be good stewards. The
problem is that legislation is killing jobs, harming
families, making real people poorer, in the name of
Global Warming." Also, at a conference in New York
City last week, Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech
Republic, an economist, warned that "Advocates of
man-made Global Warming theories in Europe and
the U.S. are pushing cynical political schemes that
will erode individual liberty, curtail the standard of
living, and stymie economic growth." At the close of
last week’s conference, the 500 delegates issued the
"Manhattan Declaration" stating that attempts by
governments to reduce CO2 emissions would
"markedly diminish further prosperity while having
no appreciable impact" on the earth’s warming. Our
elected officials in the Congress should read scientific
reports, not Al Gore science fiction. (See also the
comment under "Afterthoughts.")
We sometimes tend to forget that the majority of
Americans support legally defining marriage as being
between a man and a woman. In fact, 64% of all
registered voters oppose "same-sex" marriages by a
more than two to one majority. Additionally, 67% of
Hispanic Americans support defining marriage as
between a man and a woman, as do 67% of African
Americans. 80% of Americans agree that it is better
for children if their parents are married, while 66%
of women voters support marriage as between a man
and a woman. It would seem that our presidential
candidates should take these facts into account in
establishing their political positions.
It’s happening all over the world. According to
"The Australian" newspaper, Muslim students have
asked universities in Melbourne to change class times
so they can pray on Islamic worship schedules. At
least one university has rejected their demand, but
one other has responded by doubling the size of the
Muslim prayer room on the campus. Meanwhile, at
Harvard, men have been banned from use of one of
its gyms for certain hours so that Muslim women can
work out in privacy. To one student’s objections, that
half the campus is denied a resource that is supposed
to be for every one, a Muslim student responded, "The
majority should be willing to compromise. I think
that’s just plain courtesy." But this is clearly religious
favoritism because it benefits only Muslim women –
not women, per se, but Muslim women. Muslims are
apparently increasingly willing to demand special
treatment based on their Islamic beliefs. The Founding
Fathers tried to keep religion free from such public
conflicts because they knew that religion could involve
so many interpretations and thus erode the unity of
this new nation.
Brief and to the point from an overseas observer:
"Our loss of the right to govern ourselves has been
shrouded in such layers of obfuscation and deceit
that most of our politicians no longer realize how
dishonest this has made them." – Christopher Booker
in the London Telegraph.
Afterthoughts . . .
We are all well aware of politicians turning to the
church for help in their campaigns, but now the UN is
doing the same thing. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
has declared that the church’s cooperation is vital to
the UN in its efforts in behalf of Global Warming, and
has asked the World Council of Churches (WCC) for
help. His appeal: "You have high moral power and
what you are doing is based on your Christian
beliefs." The Rev. Samuel Kobia, head of the WCC
replied that "Working on Global Warming is a matter
of faith. You can count on the WCC as a strong partner
in acting together for the sake of humankind, and the
rest of creation." They apparently find some measure
of spiritual agreement with Al Gore based on his
"religious" comments in the founding meeting of the
Carter, Clinton, Gore association of Baptist churches.
And on Monday of this week, leaders of the Southern
Baptist Convention – America’s largest Protestant
church – issued a formal statement endorsing Al
Gore’s Global Warming theory, insisting that the
church has a Biblical duty to stop Global Warming.
It seems to be sort of a fulfillment of the old saying
that "diversity makes strange bedfellows."
Poor grades for the UN’s work in Sudan.
Speaking for the Institute on Religion and Democracy,
the Director of one of its affiliates, Church Alliance for
a New Sudan, Faith McDonnell accused the UN of
squandering millions of dollars in war ravaged Sudan.
According to this report UN workers in Juba, capitol
of Southern Sudan, are regularly being served
luxurious meals by five star chefs, while the people
they are there to help are starving in the streets.
Ms.McDonnell said that many mission groups and
Ms.McDonnell said that many mission groups and
Christian agencies, non-governmental organizations,
are doing much needed relief work, and are doing so
with little resources. Somehow, this doesn’t come as
much of a surprise to any of us.
Lest we forget: here in America we are still able to
worship quite freely, despite some limitations put upon
us by Liberals, Atheists, the ACLU, and others. The
intent of the Founding Fathers that freedom of worship
is a basic right of all Americans is essentially true today,
as always. But this is not true elsewhere in the world.
The Voice of the Martyrs - VOM - in their monthly
report of Christian persecution lists some areas where
recent persecution of Christians has been very severe:
Sri Lanka, Iraq, China, Ethiopia and India. Let us
focus prayer for our fellow believers in those areas
of the world this week.
of the world this week.
This week’s Founding Father’s quote: "Without
morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time,
they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion,
whose morality is so sublime and pure and which
insures to the good eternal happiness, are
undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best
security for the duration of free governments." – by
Charles Carroll, in 1790, signer of the Declaration of
Independence.
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