"My only enemy is right-wing religious fundamentalism." – Clinton per Marquez (Jerusalem Post 3/28/99)

Washington Post 7/95 Stephen Higgins (Director BATF – WACO) "…The day has long passed when we can afford to ignore the threat that is posed by individuals who believe they are subject only to the laws of their god and not those of our government…. …."

9/26/98 Freeper reports ".. MSNBC quotes a White House source saying that not even "a delegation made up of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost" could persuade the president to step down.."

New York Post Deborah Orin "PRESIDENT Clinton would go ballistic if anyone slurred a White House aide's religion - but he's winking at aide Sid Blumenthal's attack on Ken Starr's top deputy as a "fanatic" evangelical Christian..In a speech at Harvard, Blumenthal said Starr deputy Hickman Ewing is a "religious fanatic" - apparently because he's an evangelical who prays daily. He also branded Starr a "zealot on a mission divined from a higher authority." And he painted Starr's probe as a "perverse episode" that will come to be seen as a "reign of witches" - a phrase borrowed from Thomas Jefferson..You'd think Clinton, a regular Sunday churchgoer and passionate critic of divisive rhetoric, might be a tad embarrassed by Blumenthal's cracks. But when the president was asked, he just dodged: "I don't have any comment about that."."

IRS AUDIT: Christian Film and Television Commission

TAX EXEMPT STATUS CHALLENGED: Christian Coalition, Three chapters of American Family Association, Life Legal Defense Foundation, Pierce Creek Church (Vestal, NY), Second Baptist Church (Lake Jackson, Texas)

The Winds Website 8/1998 "The only church in history to have its federal tax-exempt status revoked is a small country church in Vestal, New York called The Church at Pierce Creek. Their crime that resulted in that revocation was simply mentioning the name of then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in an advertisement the church placed in USA Today and The Washington Times.. "As a result of the Times editorial the IRS included pejorative language in their reports, such as 'militant right' or 'radical Christian right' to describe the church--terms that were never used in the actual New York Times editorial."To us this revealed that the government really had an ill motive in picking on this church.".Ironically, the IRS tax code Section 508(c)(1)(A) entitled, "Special rules with respect to section 501(c)(3) organizations" specifically exempts churches from the restrictions enumerated under 501(c)(3). "Since only in 501(c)(3) do you have the restrictions about political activity," May elaborated, "churches are exempt organizations, and don't even have to abide by the restrictions of 501(c)(3)."

Freeper followup note on the above: "Pastor John Hagee in Texas, who has 13,000 members of his church is also being defended by the ACLJ. Pastor Hagee calls them the way he sees them, and he has Billie a sinner many times from the pulpit. He wrote a book called Day of Deception He tells about how our government is deceiving us and the darkness around us. In Matthew 24 it states that the cardinal indicator of the terminal generation would be deception. The first 5 chapters are about deception in government. They are about Hillary and Bill--The death of Vince Foster, The village wants your children, etc. This for some reason did not set well with our dictators. So he sent the post office after him. They won't let him mail his monthly magazine under the non-profit status. They claim that taking people on a trip to the Holy Land has nothing to do with religion, nor did a lecture on Matthew, or something similar I can get the exact issue if desired, have anything to do with the church. So he must mail first class postage."

The Village Voice Nat Hentoff 8/18/98 "When the president and his spiritual adviser, Jesse Jackson, were in Africa earlier this year, a group of fifth-graders in Denver intently followed the coverage of the journey on television. They desperately hoped Clinton and Jackson would say something about the thousands upon thousands of black Christians and animists who have been enslaved in the Sudan with the encouragement and support of the totalitarian fundamentalist National Islamic Front--the government based in the North. These fifth-graders have become very knowledgeable about the horrifying chattel slavery in the Sudan. And when Clinton acted as if it didn't exist, they were furious, and one of the students wrote him, ''Why aren't you doing anything about this?'' There was, of course, no answer. As for Jesse Jackson's continued silence, he knows about the slavery in the Sudan. I have left him several messages, as have others. It may be that he doesn't have the courage to speak out because he doesn't want to offend Minister Farrakhan, who has been honored in Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan. Jackson has been careful in the past not to directly antagonize the commander in chief of the Nation of Islam.."

Underground Roman Catholic Bishop Su Zhimin spent 15 years in prison before his release in 1993; he was tortured throughout and then re-arrested shortly before President Jiang Zhemin's state visit to the United States in October, 1997 and remains in detention In 1997, Protestant leaders reported that about 40% of the inmates in labor camps in Henan Province are there for belonging to the Christian underground. In Henan Number One Labor Camp, for example, approximately 50 out of 126 inmates are imprisoned for underground church activities. On March 16, 1997, Peter Xu Yongze, Protestant leader with millions of followers, was arrested and jailed with seven others in Henan. Ambassador Sasser did not know what a house church is.

CNS Bruce Sullivan 8/12/98 "A Christian pastor and four men were handing out religious leaflets last week in a section of Las Vegas frequented by drug dealers and street walkers, when they were arrested, jailed, and strip-searched by the police. They were charged with blocking the sidewalk, then handcuffed, and thrown into a paddy wagon as denizens of "Crack Alley," which is what that part of Fremont Street is nicknamed, watched.." 'Sing your Christian hymns now,'" Robinson says one of the police officers said. "They compared us to the folks in Waco," Robinson told CNS referring to the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. ."

The Federal Election Commission sued the Christian Coalition, claiming its political support for specific candidates violated campaign finance rules.

The London Telegraph Ambrose Evans-Pritchard ".What if he puts on one of his magnificent, lip-biting, teary acts of contrition in the Oval Office, with the whole nation watching bewitched on television, and ends with an admission of the Lewinsky affair and a plea for forgiveness? . It would be utterly nauseating, yet it might very well work in the mushy, sentimental, post-Christian morality of fin de siŠcle America. He may skate yet, as they say in Arkansas."

Daily Press Briefing 9/23/98 Mike McCurry ".Q: Your use of the phrase of the "jihad caucus" -- do you think some people up there think they are engaged in a holy war against the President? MR. MCCURRY: I don't know. You'd have to ask them. Q: But it was your phrase. (Laughter.) Q: We have to ask you. MR. MCCURRY: I don't think it's necessarily inappropriate."

Freeper observation by The Oregon Homeboy "Frankly, I don't think the problem is with the Clinton Administration. While I detest Clinton and everything he stands for, he uses -- co-opts -- religion in a manner that does not directly attack it. For example, his work with the two pastors on "healing his soul" -- an example of using religion for the effect it has upon the religion's adherents. The deeper problem is in the mainstream media, many of which are not religious and thus contemptuous of the notion that a person can have a personal relationship with God."

AP Sonya Ross 4/7/98 "The White House said Monday that President Clinton has no regrets about taking Communion from a Catholic priest during his visit to South Africa, a move that was criticized by some American Catholics. .In a Palm Sunday homily, Cardinal John O'Connor said it was wrong for the officiating priest to give Clinton the sacrament, "however well-intentioned" his actions were. "Cardinal O'Connor may not be familiar with the doctrinal attitude towards the Holy Eucharist that the Conference of Bishops in South Africa brings to that question," McCurry said in response..."

9/26/98 Jewish World Review Binyamin Jolkovsky ".But now, as we've been banging on foundations' doors, our main rival -- an outfit called JCN18 -- and a former employee of that company who now writes for a commie weekly -- no hyperbole! -- are launching an attack on JWR because -- get this! -- Republican and Christian sites link to us. Because I don't want contributions from individuals who write pieces exclusively for us on the Jewish Sabbath (thus desecrating it), and because of of our positions on morality.."

Provencial Proverbs 3/4/98 ACE ".And today the pundits of popular culture tell us that good and evil are not absolute, but open to personal interpretation. The modern liberal believes it, and the classical liberal is adamant about it. We are encouraged to take it onto ourselves to determine what is right, and what is wrong. And on the surface, there's no denying it seems a philosophy that has logical and reasonable potential. Even the fundamental principles of the universe itself seem mathematically relative. There's just one problem. If I take it onto myself to determine what's right for me, how do you actually defend yourself if it isn't right for you? What if I decide it's right for me to deceive you in order to take advantage of you? I mean, it is relative, isn't it? And what if you don't find out until it's too late for you? Of course therein lies the rub.."

Freeper CitizenX reports ".I for one am sickened by the attacks on my faith. I have seen time and time again where when I speak out on a issue from a moral standpoint I am attacked for "forcing my faith down their throat". Even though I am choosing my words to speak from a scientific viewpoint. Example: If I do not mention my Faith in God, and state that abortion is wrong because the unborn child is not "a blob of tissue" but a living Human being, genetically unique from the mother. It meets all the criteria of life: cellular division, exchange of O2 and CO2, assimilation of nutrients, etc. If I point out that this life begins at the beginning, which is conception, and the willful destruction of a unique human life is murder, the woman who pays for this surgical procedure has in fact contracted for a murder, and the abortionist is guilty of not only murder but is in truth a serial murderer of children! If I say that I am told "Don't force YOUR religion down my throat!" ."

Reagan Information Interchange 9/28/98 Mary Mostert "Apparently word went out last week to the Clinton troops to try to defend Clinton by announcing a "Christian coup" that plans to "take over the government." Obviously they hope to convince America that lying under oath about sex is not an impeachable offense. The very idea, according to Alan Dershowitz on the Geraldo Rivera show, as he attacked the Rev. Jerry Falwell, is proof of a "Christian coup" that plans "to take over the U.S. Government by impeaching Clinton or forcing him to resign "merely for lying." According to Dershowitz, the sinister "Christian coup" is based on what he considers the perfectly outrageous notion that "lying about sex" an "impeachable offense." The message here is that any of you out there who are asking for resignation or impeachment of Bill Clinton, are part of "Christian coup" that is trying to "take over" America. Makes one wonder if Bill Clinton was part of some "Christian coup" back in 1974 when he was saying that lying - not under oath - just lying to the media was definitely an impeachable offense.It must be noted that Richard Nixon was not lying under oath. He was lying basically to the media before an election, covering up what he considered to be a national security operation gone awry as a group of younger aides tried to carry out his directive to find out how national security information was being leaked to the media.."

WorldNetDaily 10/16/98 Alan Keyes ".The hate crimes legislation movement is bogus, but the existence of hateful attitudes toward the Christian conscience is undeniable. This is a very dangerous world that we are moving into. And sadly speaking, it is clear that opponents of the Christian conscience will use every opportunity, and will even make use of terrible and tragic events, in order to promote their political agenda. And that is what is happening in the Wyoming case. We face the promotion of a political ideology that aims at arming the liberal left with coercive force of law as its advocates come after those who disagree with their immorality.."

The Washington Times 10/19/98 Robert Stacy McCain ".David Horowitz spent the 1960s as a radical leftist, urging the overthrow of the U.S. government. Nowadays, he's a conservative who would be content with the overthrow of the Clinton administration..As the son of Communist Party members - a so-called "red diaper baby" - Mr. Horowitz studied the works of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky from an early age. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, he said, "those ideas are alive and well today in America." ..But such movements - which Mr. Horowitz described as "kitsch Marxism" - have proven powerful in the 1990s. "The reason for the tenacity of the Marxist world view is because it's really a religion," he said, "a movement of people who think that government can create the kingdom of heaven on earth." This religion is most powerful, Mr. Horowitz said, in American universities. "There are more Marxists in our universities today than ever before," he said. "The university now defines itself as an agent of social change. . . . Everything is about power." Conservatives, he said, should not underestimate the left. "These are very smart people. They are very ruthless. . . . They're not going to tell you what their agenda is."."

Roll Call 10/19/98 Morton M. Kondracke "The Monica Lewinsky scandal has hit the high culture. Distinguished writers regard it not as a tale of tawdry sex and perjury, but of American freedom menaced by ayatollahs, Tourquemadas, McCarthyites and Salem witch hunters. The menace is Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who is pictured as the leading agent in a right-wing Puritan conspiracy to remove that most precious of all American liberties. It's not freedom of belief or expression, according to the authors ventilating in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The New York Times, but the right to engage in sex anywhere, anytime, including in the Oval Office during working hours.The archetypes being drawn by authors such as Toni Morrison, Arthur Miller, E.L. Doctorow and Ethan Canin are of Clinton as a flawed but humanistic leader entrapped, victimized and, possibly, martyred by forces of antediluvian religiosity.."

Provincial Proverbs 3/4/98 ACE c 1998 from Freeper Coyote ".On June 17, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court forbade Bible reading and prayer in the public schools. One of the nation's most popular magazines later echoed the spirit of this sentiment by running a cover article, entitled "Is God Dead?" It was then followed in the early 1990's by another cover entitled "The Cultural Elite," virtually exhorting the success of the Gramscian thesis. Few knew enough to even take notice. Christian bashing became the norm in popular intellectual circles. New age values became the catch morality. And since that 1963 ruling, the number of U.S. violent crime offenses exploded upward by 700%. The U.S. now has the highest per-capita rate of felony incarceration of all the industrialized First World nations. Premarital sex among 18 year olds jumped from 30% of the population, to 70%. Tax rates for a family of four skyrocket 500% to consume a fourth of their income. Divorce rates quadrupled. Illegitimate births among the black population soared from about 23% to more than 68%, leaving mothers contained by the state and fatherless children to roam the streets in search of trouble. Illegitimacy as a whole has jumped from 5% to nearly 30% nationwide for a total rise of 600%! On July 17, 1994, the New York Times even quoted liberal Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan saying that overall American illegitimacy could rise to 50% by the year 2000! Cases of sexually transmitted disease rose 150%. Virtually lethal sexually transmitted plagues like AIDS and Hepatitis C swept through the nation, even tainting the blood supply. Teen age illegitimate pregnancies are up by several thousand percent, and teen age suicides have increased by 200%. Even the president himself is accused of sexual harassment, and having orax sex with a 21 year old intern in the Oval Office of the White House. Between 1950 and 1979, serious crime committed by children under 15 increased 11,000%! That's eleven thousand percent! Say it again: ELEVEN THOUSAND PERCENT!."

National Review On-line 10/26/98 Jonah Goldberg ".In today's New York Times, Bill Safire rightly scolds President Clinton for telling a group of black ministers that reaching peace in the Middle East was part of his "personal journey of atonement." Safire calls Clinton "smarmy and solipsistic" for making the peace agreement a self-centered achievement. But this is Bill Clinton's way. There's a larger point to be made here, too. Clinton's spinners consistently and constantly say that the President has not been distracted by the scandal. But now the President says he's going for peace in the Middle East to make amends for Monica. You can't have it both ways.."

Freeper black cloud 10/31/98 reports ".It is not that religion is under attack; it is the Christian Religion under attack. All the other religions including Secular Humanism are free to do whatever they wish including attacks on Christians.The prize is the return of slavery and Feudalism to the whole world. It is Christianity alone that brought about the connection of man as being part of God with a human, personal family relationship with Jesus, the Son of God. Whether this is fact or fiction is a matter of faith. However, the result of the belief is that Kings and other dictators lost control of the masses when man started giving his allegiance to a Heavenly Father instead of the ruling elite..People who accept that their nearest relative is a chimpanzee and their fartherest relatives were simple amoebas, can only expect the rights relegated to chimps and amoebas. This is the legacy of the sixties counter culture and this is the legacy of their hero in the White House.."

New York Times 11/8/98 Maureen Dowd ".There's a new spirit wafting through the land. Hey, baby, we're talking about love power. The voters have chosen the lovers over the haters. The meanies with the jangly names -- Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Lauch Faircloth, Fob James, "B-1" Bob Dornan -- are toast. So are the guys like Al D'Amato, who sneered and jeered and used ethnic and anatomical epithets. So are the Christian zealots. And obsessive special prosecutors. The Democratic lover boys, like Bill Clinton, and the Republican preachers of compassion, like the Bush boys, are being embraced.."

Freeper robnoel 11/8/98 reports ".Just when I thought I have heard everything....on CNN Roberts.. of US News and World Report...said the Republicans need to get rid of the Hamas -Wing of the Republican Party....add that to Comrade Reno putting a FBI Police force to got after "pro- life"orgainizations (Bob Barr exposed this FBI expansion hidden in the budget bills).....Christians attacked in America...whats wrong with this picture....."

Reuters 11/9/98 ".California Congresswoman Mary Bono has long had ties with the Church of Scientology and is still linked with the organization, according to several sources. Bono has taken at least six courses in the religion, according to Celebrity, a Scientology publication that chronicles activities of prominent members. One course, which she took in 1990, was on family counseling...The church has been at the center of several controversies recently; critics accuse it of cultlike tactics and attempts to influence government. Defenders and members of the church, which not long ago received tax-exempt status as a religion from the IRS, say it is the victim of harassment and violation of constitutional rights to religious freedom.."

Larry Margasak 11/10/98 AP ".Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Republicans "haven't read the election results'' and referred to Starr's perjury and obstruction-of-justice investigation as a "jihad'' - the Arabic word for a holy war.."

The Dallas Morning News 11/11/98 ".A word of sympathy, brethren, for the "religious right." And before I proceed, one innocent question: Anybody remember the last time our all-knowing media dissected something called the "secular left"? Just asking."

Newsmax.com 11/27/98 Pat Buchanan ".Buried in the editorial page of the Nov. 16 Wall Street Journal was a remarkable essay, which exposes the true, and hidden, story of who is really "underrepresented" in our elite schools, and who are the real victims of ethnic bigotry in America. The author is Ron Unz, a Harvardian 20 years ago, now a California political activist and entrepreneur, who led the successful state initiative to abolish bilingual education. According to Unz, today at Harvard College, Hispanic and black enrollment has reached 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively, slightly less than the 10 percent and 12 percent of the U.S. population that is Hispanic and black. This has been a cause of protests at Harvard, as Hispanics and African-Americans insist on more proportional representation. But Unz does not stop there. He goes on to report that nearly 20 percent of the Harvard College student body is Asian- American, and 25 percent to 33 percent is Jewish, though Asian-Americans make up only 3 percent of the U.S. population and Jewish-Americans even less than 3 percent. Thus, 50 percent of Harvard's student body is drawn from about 5 percent of the U.S. population! When one adds foreign students, students from our tiny WASP elite and children of graduates, what emerges is a Harvard student body where non-Jewish whites -- 75 percent of the U.S. population -- get just 25 percent of the slots. Talk about underrepresentation! Now we know who really gets the shaft at Harvard -- white Christians. The same situation, says Unz, exists at other elite schools like Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley and Stanford, where Chelsea Clinton goes. As Hispanics, Asians, African-American and Jewish-Americans also vote overwhelming Democratic, the picture that emerges is not a pretty one. A liberal elite is salving its social conscience by robbing America's white middle class of its birthright, and handing it over to minorities, who just happen to vote Democratic."

Wall Street Journal 11/30/98 ".The following statement--"Declaration Concerning Religion, Ethics, and the Crisis in the Clinton [the known liar] Presidency"--was signed by 95 religion scholars including Paul J. Achtemeier (Union Theological Seminary), Karl Paul Donfried (Smith College), Jean Bethke Elshtain (University of Chicago), Stanley M. Hauerwas (Duke University), Robert Peter Imbelli (Boston College), Max L. Stackhouse (Princeton Theological Seminary), and Harry Yeide (George Washington University): As scholars interested in religion and public life, we protest the manipulation of religion and the debasing of moral language in the discussion about presidential responsibility. We believe that serious misunderstandings of repentance and forgiveness are being exploited for political advantage. The resulting moral confusion is a threat to the integrity of American religion and to the foundations of a civil society. In the conviction that politics and morality cannot be separated, we consider the current crisis to be a critical moment in the life of our country and, therefore, offer the following points for consideration: 1. Many of us worry about the political misuse of religion and religious symbols even as we endorse the public mission of our churches, synagogues, and mosques... 2. We challenge the widespread assumption that forgiveness relieves a person of further responsibility and serious consequences...3. We are aware that certain moral qualities are central to the survival of our political system, among which are truthfulness, integrity, respect for the law, respect for the dignity of others, adherence to the constitutional process, and a willingness to avoid the abuse of power...4. We are concerned about the impact of this crisis on our children and on our students.. 5. We urge the society as a whole to take account of the ethical commitments necessary for a civil society and to seek the integrity of both public and private morality..6. While some of us think that a presidential resignation or impeachment would be appropriate and others envision less drastic consequences, we are all convinced that extended discussion about constitutional, ethical, and religious issues will be required to clarify the situation and to enable a wise decision to be made. We hope to provide an arena in which such discussion can occur in an atmosphere of scholarly integrity and civility without partisan bias.."

USA Journal 12/4/98 Jon E. Dougherty ".Here now, at the close of the paganistic Twentieth Century, you can be a pillar of your community - and be granted the amenities that distinction affords - so long as you never mention God, never assert your right to be a Christian, and never openly display any tangible Christian insignia. Arlington, Texas Patrol Sergeant George Daniels, a former recipient of the "Rookie of the Year" and "Officer of the Year" awards, is the latest victim of this pagan mentality. Though his Rutheford Institute attorney Jennifer Schans fully expected the city to reject his latest appeal effort to win his job back after being fired this summer for wearing a small cross on his uniform lapel, she also vowed to take the case to federal court when all the appropriate local appeals through the department have been exhausted. Sgt. Daniels had served his community with honor and distinction for some 13 years, and had been working diligently to obtain the rank of lieutenant - the next step on his career ladder. His fellow officers had described his persona and his job performance as `exemplary'. His superiors had consistently rated his work as excellent. And then Sgt. Daniels went and did it. He decided to pin a small cross on his lapel - right next to the DARE pins, the department rank insignia, his first aid training patches, and, ironically, the American flag. For that, his police chief, David Kunkle, sacrificed one of his best patrol sergeants at the altar of paganistic political correctness. Sgt. Daniels seems to be a very wise man; he had to know that the action he took might have cost him his career - at least in Arlington, Texas. After all, this is the end of the Twentieth Century, when Christ no longer dwells in the halls of officialdom, protected by the Constitution. But because he is a Christian - one of God's children and a believer in Jesus Christ - he did what his heart and his faith directed him to do and put his whole life on the line, this time in a different way..What about the employee at work who can be assured a sex joke won't be tolerated but a joke about his or her religion will be? Where are Christians at work supposed to turn for solace? Hat's off to the Rutheford Institute for taking up Sgt. Daniels' case and for their vision to know ahead of time that his legal action will end up in federal court. When it came to matters of strict constitutionality - such as this one - Americans used to be fairly confidant that the federal courts would uphold a citizen's right to utilize a constitutional right. But in all honesty, when it comes to matters of Christian religion, the federal courts are no help anymore. The real travesty here is that Sgt. Daniels has to take his issue to court in the first place.."

Agence France Presse 12/4/98 ".The Dalai Lama .came under attack from an official Chinese newspaper Friday which dubbed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader a "terrorist" for supporting India's nuclear tests in May. "The Dalai Lama's words only remind people of a terrorist who greatly admires violence and shows no respect for the well-known world rules," the Tibet Daily said in an editorial, excerpts of which were published in the English-language China Daily. The Dalai Lama had called for "full understanding" of the tests conducted by India in the face of global condemnation, it said. "Peace is just a cloak for him to cheat the world," the article said. "Granting Dalai the (Nobel Peace) prize shed discredit on the prize." "Dalai's 'smart' comments on the nuclear tests tore off his mask and showed the nature of a faked pacifist," it said. "Black turns into white and threats are called peace in his mouth." London-based pressure group the Tibet Information Network (TIN) said last month that China had intensified a campaign against the Dalai Lama's followers in Lhasa, searching their homes and cracking down on Tibetan children studying in India..."

UPI 12/6/98 ".The nation's top health officer says Americans have ``to get real'' about educating their children about sex. At the interim meeting of the American Medical Associations House of Delegates in Honolulu (Sunday), Surgeon General David Satcher urged sex education to teach children responsible sexual behavior that includes ``abstinence where appropriate.'' Satcher says in an education vacuum children are learning about sex in all the wrong places: from people on the street, from movies and television shows and from the Internet.."

Washington Times 12/7/98 John McCaslin ".We've intercepted a U.S. Navy internal memo about "Christmas," advising that "new guidelines on expression of religious beliefs in the workplace has [sic] been issued by President Clinton. "As such, religious displays in working areas or offices that are accessible to the public, or where it would appear that the government has endorsed a particular religious point of view, is [sic] not permitted." If that's not enough to put a damper on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, ."

Chicago Sun-Times 12/11/98 Lynn Sweet Ernest Tucker ".A Wheaton congregation is among a group of eight churches nationwide whose tax-exempt status is being challenged by a group that claims they broke election laws. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed formal complaints Thursday with the Internal Revenue Service, seeking to strip the exemptions because they say the churches distributed Christian Coalition material two days before last November's election. ``These houses of worship are breaking federal tax law and penalties must be imposed,'' said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Americans United group. A spokesman for the Wheaton Evangelical Free Church, 520 Roosevelt Rd., called the charges ``baseless.'' William Miller, a former associate pastor of the church and spokesman, said, ``we are familiar with the IRS regulations and we have abided by those.'' Miller said he had been unaware of the group's charges. Joseph Conn said his group filed the complaints because the material from the Christian Coalition ``was clearly to endorse Republican candidates.'' He said his group had done an extensive education campaign for churches before the Nov. 3 election to ``educate'' clergy on the boundaries for participating.``We chose eight that we knew of, but obviously there were more,'' he said. ``We just didn't have information on all.''."

Freeper oddither 12/14/98 recalls watching FoxNews ".Yesterday, I commented to a friend, if he took communion from a Priest, the only thing left, is to wear the Jewish religious garb and pray to mecca while he is in the middle east. Sho-nuff there he was dressed like a jew and soon was whisked off so he could be seen as a muslim. Has this man no shame? strike that I know the answer. .."

Irish news 12/14/98 Freeper Big Dog summary ".The Irish News is reporting tonight that the IRA are ready to resume a violent campaign of Bombing and shooting as we approach Christmas. The move comes in spite of North south Elected governments, a withdrawel of British troops, 400 terrorists released, and a United Ireland in it's embyonic stage. The IRA has had all of it's demands met and now it is time to see what happens when a president and a Prime Minister decide to grant terrorists all of their wishes. According to the Good Friday agreement, in exchange for all of the above concessions, the IRA would give up their weapons of Mass destruction. I visited N.Irealnd less than a month ago and I witnessed the most unbelievable turn of events. The Orange order, an organization founded on Christianity requiring it's members to be Christians was not allowed to March home from Church. ."

USA Journal 12/21/98Jon E. Dougherty by Freeper Peggy ".Christians and conservatives would do well to refute what is dishonestly said about them. Unless and until they do, the bogus claims made about how "intolerant" we are will be overshadowed by the intolerance of the Left.."

Washington Times 12/24/98 Joyce Howard Price and Bill Sammon ".A new media report by a liberal on-line magazine about the sex life of a Republican congressman has fueled the debate over the role of private morality in public life, even as President Clinton condemns what he called the "politics of personal destruction." "The left routinely accuses religious conservatives of sexual McCarthyism, but it's the left that is outing gays and exposing the private lives of others. It's not Gary Bauer. It's not the Christian Coalition. It's not the Weekly Standard," said William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard. "The politics of personal destruction is the politics of Bill Clinton," he said. Salon, the liberal on-line magazine, and Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine have been responsible for most of the recent character assassinations. Victims have included three top House Republicans -- former Speaker-elect Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana; Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Some Republicans have charged that the White House fed Salon and Hustler the information. The White House and the two publications deny that... Conservative pundit Cal Thomas contrasted Mr. Clinton's current talk about the need for "reconciliation" and "healing" with the attacks his political adviser James Carville has leveled against independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Clinton. "While his minions slime his enemies, [Mr. Clinton] pleaded for the sliming to end," Mr. Thomas wrote in a column that appeared yesterday in The Washington Times. The New York Post's Dick Morris assailed Mr. Carville's "crazed strategy," which he says has hurt the president. Mr. Carville yesterday blamed Republicans for initiating destructive politics by refusing to back off their investigations of Mr. Clinton. "There are doors in life which are best left shut, and they insisted on opening them," he told The Washington Times. "At every point, people begged these people to stop it, and at every point they ignored them." Mr. Carville bemoaned the fact that Hustler's publisher, Mr. Flynt, a staunch Clinton defender, offered $1 million to women who came forward with proof of extramarital affairs with congressional Republicans. In a new development, Salon ran a story Tuesday that accused Mr. Burton of groping a female lobbyist for a family planning organization in the mid-1990s.. The story by Russ Baker, a free-lance writer who penned an earlier Salon article that discussed an extramarital fling Mr. Hyde had with a beautician in the late 1960s and early 1970s, also raised questions about Mr. Burton's ties with a former model, Claudia Keller...A separate report in Tuesday's issue of Salon blamed liberals for "hypocrisy" in "backing a president who lied under oath in a sexual harassment lawsuit." "Before the rest of us get too misty-eyed about ending the politics of character assassination, we might want to take a closer look at our own record in this area," Andrew Ross, a Salon founder and vice president, wrote in an article titled "What if it were President Packwood?" ..Mr. Ross also cited liberal opposition to the nomination of the late Texas Sen. John Tower as defense secretary. His "crime," Mr. Ross said, was that "he enjoyed a drink or two." Others targeted for destruction by liberals, the Salon writer said, included failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, "whose video rental receipts were paraded in front of the world," and Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was hit with a "sex harassment smear" during confirmation hearings. Paul McMasters, ombudsman for the Freedom Forum, says: "The bar hasn't just been lowered. It's been done away with." .."

AP Larry Margasak 12/24/98 ".With the nation's second presidential impeachment trial looming next month, key senators acknowledged Wednesday that bipartisan talks were under way on how to decide the president's fate..Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a Clinton ally and former boss to presidential Chief of Staff John Podesta, was among the senators Wednesday who said they wanted no White House interference. Leahy said he agreed with the Senate's senior Democrat, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, that only senators should craft a deal. .``I do believe there will come a time when people of good will in Senate will want to resolve this,'' Hatch said. Hatch, who has advocated censure if it appears certain that Clinton can't be convicted, said, ``It's up to the Democrats to show there's no way there will be 67 votes for conviction. Once that is shown to the satisfaction of most Republicans, then people have to see what has to be done in a way that punishes him, but still resolves it.'' ."

NY Times 12/25/98 A. M. Rosenthal "."Millions of American Christians pray in their churches each week, oblivious to the fact that Christians in many parts of the world suffer brutal torture, arrest, imprisonment and even death . . . for no other reason than that they are Christians. . . . They have been persecuted and martyred before an unknowing, indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community. "Eleven countries where Christians are currently enduring religious persecution are China, the Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria, Cuba, Laos and Uzbekistan. They evidence a worldwide trend of anti-Christian persecution based on two political ideologies -- Communism and militant Islam." I quoted that in my first column on religious persecution, in 1997 -- from "In the Lion's Den," by Nina Shea, a human rights army in herself, now director of the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House. Unknowing, indifferent -- only a few months ago at a dinner, one of America's richest and pleasantest men and the headmaster of a noted private school, a minister, both said they knew nothing about the persecution of their fellow Christians. Governments know. They are silent for 30 billion pieces of trade silver. In 1994 Bill Clinton, breaking his pre-election promises, sold to China the American commitment to human rights for Chinese and Tibetans. What he got in return was the permission to continue business with China, a kindness that costs America $50 billion annually in export-import loss, strengthens China with American missile technique and escorts Beijing into U.S. politics. And it frees China from Administration action or denunciation for the arrests of more Christians who refuse to worship in government-regulated churches, and more long prison sentences to Chinese who believed the Communists might allow another political party. For the price America paid, read "Year of the Rat" by Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett 2d (Regnery) and learn as much as your stomach can bear. Tibet got something in return for the Clintonian assurances of Chinese reasonableness. It got a Chinese stonewall to the Dalai Lama's eagerness for talks, and more repression. But millions of American Christians backed by many Jews and Buddhists rebelled against the persecution. In China, in the Sudan, where Christians are slaughtered by government armies -- everywhere..."

James Gerstenzang 12/25/98 San Francisco Chronicle ".The battle over President Clinton's impeachment, nasty during the House debate, threatened yesterday to grow nastier as the president's trial looms in the Senate. The White House and its Democratic allies cried foul over unpublished and uncorroborated evidence collected by investigators about Clinton's private life. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said senators should consider the material, in addition to the formal record compiled as part of the House debate that led to the president's impeachment. Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, responded by calling DeLay ``a frustrated moral ayatollah.' .``He wants to impose his twisted morals on everyone else,'' Harkin said, adding that out of frustration of failing to gain popular support for his position, ``DeLay must be approaching an apoplectic state.'' ``We know what the evidence is'' against Clinton, said Harkin. ``What the Republicans are afraid of is (that) Clinton will win big.'' ."

The Hindu 12/28/98 "..Led by the Congress(I), the entire political spectrum has spoken with one voice against the unabated violence against the Christians in Gujarat. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have been severely criticized by almost all political parties and various citizens forums for the sangh parivar's current violent campaign against Christian organizations and educational institutions in Gujarat, especially in the Surat and Dangs districts. Even the BJP has found itself constrained to disapprove the attacks...The CPI(M) politburo in a statement said it was shocking that Christian missionary schools and churches in the BJP-ruled Gujarat continued to be targeted despite ``assurances to the contrary'' by Union Ministers. ``The inability to rein in the culprits smacks of a connivance of both the State and the Union Government in permitting, if not encouraging, such attacks'', it alleged. The politburo pointed out that after the ``earlier round'' of violence, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani had claimed that there was no law and order problem in Gujarat. He should now take note of what was happening and order ``necessary action'', it said squarely blaming the ``saffron brigade'' for the violence. It appealed to the people not to get provoked by attempts to fuel social tension.."

NY Times Elaine Sciolino 4/28/98 ".President Clinton on Monday criticized laws that automatically impose sanctions on countries for behavior that Americans find unacceptable. He said such legislation put pressure on the executive branch to "fudge," or overlook, violations so that it would not have to carry out the sanctions. Clinton made his unusually frank remarks during an appearance before a group of about 60 evangelical Christian leaders at the White House. They were meeting with Sandy Berger, the national security adviser, in the Roosevelt Room. Specifically, Clinton asked the group to withdraw its support for pending legislation that aims to reduce religious persecution overseas by imposing trade and aid sanctions on repressive regimes. Last week the House International Relations Committee approved, by 31 to 5, a bill that would impose export and aid sanctions on countries that endorse or permit violent attacks on religious believers. Among other provisions, the sanctions would ban imports from such countries, prohibit loans by multilateral institutions and make it easier for victims of religious persecution overseas to qualify for asylum or refugee status.."

Arab News 12/26/98 Fahmi Howaidi, Cairo ".How stupid was the American explanation for rushing to attack Iraq! It was that the U.S., out of respect for the feelings of Muslims, did not want to attack a Muslim country in Ramadan. Does this mean that America considers Ramadan a time in which the shedding of Muslim blood is not allowed? This seemed to be the explanation given by...Clinton in his statement attempting to justify the attack. His explanation was picked up and repeated by most of the commentators and so-called experts invited by Western television networks to comment on the situation. This American explanation implies that killing Muslims is forbidden only in Ramadan but allowed in other months. I cannot imagine which of the so-called experts convinced the Americans of this but it unfortunately reveals the shallow thinking and shameful ignorance of some decision makers regarding the Muslim world. ."

Underground Roman Catholic Bishop Su Zhimin spent 15 years in prison before his release in 1993; he was tortured throughout and then re-arrested shortly before President Jiang Zhemin's state visit to the United States in October, 1997 and remains in detention In 1997, Protestant leaders reported that about 40% of the inmates in labor camps in Henan Province are there for belonging to the Christian underground. In Henan Number One Labor Camp, for example, approximately 50 out of 126 inmates are imprisoned for underground church activities. On March 16, 1997, Peter Xu Yongze, Protestant leader with millions of followers, was arrested and jailed with seven others in Henan. Ambassador Sasser did not know what a house church is.

Foxnews.com 2/27/99 Lisa Holewa "...After a case that started with an arson fire in a waterfront mansion, the head of one of the nation's most influential black denominations was convicted Saturday on charges of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. The Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, also was found guilty of grand theft in the disappearance of almost $250,000 from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, money intended to rebuild burned black churches in the South.... "

Reuters 3/3/99 Freeper Brian Mosely "…An Arkansas minister was charged Wednesday with setting his church on fire more than two years ago in a case authorities at first thought was connected to a rash of blazes at African-American churches…."

Seattle Times 12/31/98 John Hanchette Gannett News Service ".More than 150 theology professors and ethics scholars have published a withering protest of President Clinton's "manipulation of religion and debasing of moral language" during the national discussion about his impeachment. .The controversial declaration was published just before Christmas in a book titled "Judgment Day at the White House" (edited by Gabriel Fackre; Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mich.). The three-page declaration opens the book, which includes supporting essays from about a dozen of the 157 signers of the declaration, plus a half dozen rebuttals from opponents of the presidential criticism..Authors of the declaration - including seven signers from the liberal Princeton Theological Seminary, among them President Thomas Gillespie - were very direct in their accusations: "We believe that serious misunderstandings of repentance and forgiveness are being exploited for political advantage." .."We fear," wrote declaration signers, "that the religious community is in danger of being called upon to provide authentication for a politically motivated and incomplete repentance that seeks to avert serious consequences for wrongful acts." .. -- "The moral character of a people is more important than the tenure of a particular politician or the protection of a particular political agenda." ..Elshtain attacked White House spin that the impeachment case is based on something private: "This was no `discreet affair,' with the two principals doing their utmost to try to protect the feelings, moral concerns, and sensitivities of all involved. A small army of staffers was enlisted by the president to facilitate these assignations and an even larger number to cover matters up once things turned sour. Surely this has crossed the boundary into the public domain on every possible scale - ethical, legal, and political." Stackhouse went after counselors of ministerial silence: "I disagree with those who have refused to offer public criticism of his behavior because they think it may further disrupt the programs that they want him (Clinton) to advance or may give comfort to his political enemies. . . ."."

Imus In The Morning 1/7/99 Radio Show by Freeper paul in cape2 ".At approx. 8:15 AM e.s.t. Sen. John Kerry insulted the majority Party in the House of Representatives by equating them to the Ayatollah."

Centre Daily Times 1/3/99 Vincent Velotta ".In short, their goal is to promote a theory pointing out that American immorality has run amok. But to suggest that 250 million people are immoral is pushing the lever a bit too far. Our president, however, has provided them with the excuse they were seeking. Yet, the decent and moderate members of the Republican party have added to the problem by their unwillingness to confront these radicals and by allowing them to go unchallenged in their quest for control of the leadership. Whether it be the Taliban that now controls Afghanistan, or the religious zealots in Iran, or perhaps the inquisitors of old Spain, and now the American Taliban, they are all alike. These new American fanatics are no different. They are all from the same cloth. They all belong to the same club. Scorch the earth. Give no quarter. Never, never compromise. "We are the moral giants, we are the soldiers of God and in order to gain our ends, we will, with malicious intent, do our best to damage the relationship between the American people and what we consider to be their corrupt representatives in the Congress." .Moderate conservative Republicans, as well as all decent and fair-minded Americans, should wake up to the fact that there is indeed a group of ideological extremists, and they are bent on forcing their brand of radical politics down the throats of the American people. We Americans cannot allow these ideological extremists to enlarge their base by lulling us with such terms as "constitutional obligation" and "duty to God and country." We must look with skepticism upon their moralistic rhetoric of fairness and forgiveness and look at what they do and how they do it. We, as free Americans, must always be alert to those who would attempt to subvert or distort our political system. It may not always be to our liking, but it is all we have. Hitler did it in Germany over 60 years ago. Don't let it happen here, and don't you think it can't..."

Chicago Sun-Times 1/31/99 Dennis Byrne ".There he goes again: this pope guy instructing Americans about morality. Who does he think he is? ``Pope John Paul II--9th Century Thinker,'' proclaimed one sign held by a protester. ``Not everyone favors the political agenda that this man has for America,'' said Ellen Johnson, who was picketing the pope in St. Louis. But wait. With all this preaching about morality going on, now comes the Clinton administration talking about morality. Secretary of Defense William Cohen told a Downstate Springfield audience on Thursday that Americans have a moral obligation to treat its military better. Amen to that.."

Politically Incorrect 2/1/99 Freeper bobf reports ".Then, as James kept standing his ground, especially about the morality issues at work in Clinton's impeachment process, Mahr gave his worst, most reprehensible line... "Christians are PARASITES on the Republican party, and like PARASITES, they will KILL it!!" Our man James would not let that slide: "Christians have a right to gather, express their opinions, and VOTE, just like anyone else..."...evoking applause from the apparently liberal-tilted crowd..."

Newsmax 2/2/99 Freeper FISHHOG ".IMUS: Does a taped interview exist between Lisa Myers and this woman? RUSSERT: ah, er, ah, I'm not going to get into where we are. It's a work in progress about a whole lot of things. IMUS: In other words, the answer is yes. Thank you. RUSSERT: Well, ah, er, alright Mr. Falwell. IMUS: (laughing) No, I just wondered. RUSSERT: I mean, you know - there's a videotape available if you want that says President Clinton murdered people. I mean, put it on the screen.After Russert left, Imus said he doubted NBC would be a party to any Rapegate cover-up, then tossed this barb at his erstwhile friend: "It would be as if they set a truck on fire, or accused somebody of planting a bomb." The references were to past NBC News debacles involving a staged car explosion passed off as spontaneous and a false report fingering Richard Jewel as the Olympic Park bomber. ."

World Magazine Marvin Olasky 2/6/99 Freeper Stand Watch Listen ".Second, the disdainers clearly have no fear of the Lord, but they fear conservative Christians. That no member of the Clinton Administration has resigned in protest, and that congressional Democrats almost unanimously shamed themselves, can partly be explained by the moral bankruptcy of a once-great party, along with knowledge of how Clinton partisans harass those who cross them. But there's more: A lot of folks on the left truly fear that if Bill Clinton falls to those who believe in biblical right and wrong, they will be next. Hence their furious defense of the indefensible.."

Insight Magazine 2/22/99 James Lucier ".Progressive Democrats have a strategy of labeling GOP conservatives as extremists, but the ideology of the House Progressive Caucus may be the most extreme in Congress. Immediately after the impeachment of Bill Clinton last December the president called together a private gathering of supporters at the White House. Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, a denizen of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the House's Progressive Caucus, emerged to tell the New York Post that Clinton himself told the meeting that "the Constitution was being trashed by Republican ex- tremists." And California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, another fiery-tongued Judiciary member who also is on the Progressive Caucus, said, "Bill and Hillary are the real targets, and the Republicans are the vehicles being used by the right-wing Christian Coalition extremists to direct and control our culture.".."

FoxNews Reuters 2/4/99 Freeper holly ".Calling the remark "pure nonsense,'' a Roman Catholic group Thursday asked President Clinton to apologize for saying Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler preached a "perverted form of Christianity.'' During a speech Thursday at the annual prayer breakfast hosted by members of Congress, Clinton observed that ''throughout history people have prayed to God to aid them in war. People have claimed repeatedly that it was God's will that they prevail in conflict.'' "I do believe that even though Adolf Hitler preached a perverted form of Christianity, God did not want him to prevail,'' Clinton said. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, asked Clinton to apologize for what he called "a remarkably ignorant comment about Hitler and Christianity.'' "Anyone who has studied Hitler knows that this is pure nonsense,'' Donohue said in a statement issued from his New York office. "Hitler was a neo-pagan terrorist whose conscience was not informed by Christianity, but by pseudo-scientific racist philosophies,'' he said.."

National Post 2/5/99 Mark Steyn Freeper praise ".In other breakfast news, Mr. Clinton yesterday attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast, one of those opportunities to flaunt his faith he can never resist. The president's religion is an undemanding one. In one of the most striking examples of his ability to "compartmentalize," he strolled out of his church after the Easter service, waved his trusty Bible to the crowds, and then went back to the Oval Office to observe the resurrection with Monica in a more personal sense.."

Washington Times 2/5/99 Letters to the Editor June 7 - Arlington, VA ". During the past several months in the American press, the Democrats have frequently denounced the Republicans as Nazis due to their attempts to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic. I remember the Nazis. Let me share a little about them and recall some of their exploits. First of all, 'Nazi' was gutter slang for the verb 'to nationalize'. The Bider-Mienhoff gang gave themselves this moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was 'The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany'. Hitler and the Brownshirts advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, national resources, manufacturing, distribution and law enforcement. Hitler came to power by turning the working class, unemployed, and academic elite against the conservative republic... Being a Nazi was 'politically correct'. They called themselves 'The Children of the New Age of World Order' and looked down their noses at everyone else. As Hitler acquired more power, he referred to his critics as 'The Dark Forces of Anarchy and Hatred'.. The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the Jews, Bohemians and Gypses who were said to be arming themselves to overthrow the 'New World Order'. Hitler demanded that all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of 'terrorists and madmen'.Right-wing fanatics of the 'Old Order' who protested firearms registration were arrested by the S.S. and put in jail for 'fomenting hatred against the Government of the German people'. Then the Reichstag (government building) was blown up and Hitler ram-rodded an 'Emergency Anti-Terrorist Act' through Parliament that gave the Gestapo extraordinary powers. The leader then declared that for the well-being of the German people, all private firearms were to be confiscated by the Gestapo and the Wermotten (federal law enforcement and military.Public schools rewrote history and Hitler youth groups taught the children to report their parents to their teachers for anti-Nazi remarks. Such parents disappeared. Pagan animism became the state religion of the Third Reich and Christians were widely condemned as 'right wing fanatics'.. Evil was declared as being good, and good was condemned as being evil. World Order was coming and the German people were going to be the 'peacekeepers'. Yes, indeed, I remember the Nazis and they weren't Republicans, or 'right wing', or 'patriots' or 'militias'. They were Socialist monsters.."

Fox newswire / AP 2/6/99 ".An appeals court has overturned a rapist's 51-year prison sentence because a judge turned to the Bible while deciding his punishment. The Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ruled Friday that James Arnett can return to court and seek a lesser sentence. Arnett, 33, pleaded guilty to raping and molesting the 8-year-old daughter of his fiancee. In handing down the 51-year sentence in January 1998, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh Marsh referred to a Bible verse that says anyone who offends a child would be better off if "a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.''.."

Grassroot Republicans Website 2/7/99 Ken Carroll ".At least two groups composed of people vocally opposed to Clinton have been hit this week. Clinton is already trying to make life tougher on gun owners, bringing the National Rifle Association into a conflict, but it is his remarks regarding Christianity which are truly distressing. At an annual prayer breakfast hosted by congressional members, Clinton proclaimed that "Adolf Hitler preached a perverted form of Christianity." Not only is Clinton's statement historically inaccurate, but the context of his speech shows it aimed at Christian conservatives. Clinton said, " . . . throughout history people have prayed to God to aid them in war. People have claimed repeatedly that it was God's will that they prevail in conflict. I do believe that even though Adolf Hitler preached a perverted form of Christianity, God did not want him to prevail." Claiming what Hitler did, by any stretch of the imagination, could be referred to as "Christianity" whether it was "perverted" or not is extremely insulting to followers of Christ. The insinuation is that Christianity is not that far from Nazi beliefs. If you think those are innocent words, replace "Christian" with any other religion and see if it jogs your conscience a little. Would you openly tell a believer of any faith that Hitler preached a perverted form of their religion? Would you say it to a Moslem or a Jewish person? Clinton supporters may say it was a slip of the tongue, but that boat won't float. This is a man so careful in his phrasing and parsing of public words that he claims he misled and deceived people and still did not lie. Bill Clinton knew exactly what the ramifications of his words were and how this message would be taken. ."

The American Spectator 2/5/99 R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. ".It is interesting that the twentieth anniversary of the Rev. Jim Jones' Jonestown holocaust has come and gone, unremarked by such liberal thought leaders as Professor Alan Dershowitz and the Hon. Barney Frank. Located in the steamy jungles of Guyana, Jonestown was the site of the People's Temple, "an interracial sharing community" that originated in San Francisco. Over 900 of the Rev. Jones' followers died there late in 1978. At his orders they drank poison or had it imposed on them... Letters found in the vast killing field that had been the People's Temple, "dedicated against the evils of racism, hunger, and injustice," maundered on about his followers' dread of "the capitalist U.S." and their affection for "the beauty of Communism." None of the thousands of letters found among their paltry possessions betrayed any interest in Christianity or any other organized religion but in "Communism." Yet when their corpses were found I cannot recall any major news report calling them "Communists." As I say, the notion spread that they were some sort of Christian believers run amok..Midst the corpses other laudatory letters were found, from California's Governor Jerry Brown, Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Senator Mike Gravel, and from Mrs. Jimmy Carter, who wrote from the White House that "your comments about Cuba are helpful." ."

Florida Times-Union 2/9/99 Freeper newsman ".Though the Senate will likely acquit President Clinton this week, he'll be relegated to the status now held by O.J. Simpson, said the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority. Falwell, in Jacksonville to speak at a pastors conference at First Baptist Church, spared little in assessing Clinton's impact on the nation's character. "He's lowered the moral bar in this country more than Hollywood, the television industry and the drug industry combined," he said. "Can future leaders lift the bar?"."

Time Daily 2/9/99 Frank Pellegrini ". Senate Democrats know the verdict they want: Not guilty, with an explanation. But when to do the explaining? The deliberations set to span the next two days will be held behind closed doors - proponents of an open session admitted Tuesday that they were six votes (and one majority leader) short of the 67 needed... For Democrats, censure remains the mother of all political flak jackets. Though they've already successfully cast Republicans as the repressive party of the Ayatollah, they're not particularly eager to be the party of Oval Office sex, either. .."

New York Post 2/10/99 Jack Newfield ".IT IS now clear that a few right-wing Republican senators are trying to block a tough censure of President Clinton. This is moral absolutism and irrational partisanship run amok. It doesn't make sense politically, constitutionally or morally. It is the kind of warped reasoning that characterizes the fundamentalist, Hezbollah faction of the GOP.."

Catholic World News 2/11/99 ".The Ohio American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court this week seeking a court order to have four public schools remove outdoor monuments that include the Ten Commandments..."

Salon Magazine 2/2/1999 GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ Freeper imdoug ".but Carlos Fuentes took it further by asking the president who he thought of as his enemies. His reply was immediate and abrupt: "My only enemy is right-wing religious fundamentalism.".."

People for the American Way 2/11/99 Freeper Bob J ".People For the American Way Foundation President Carole Shields issued the following statement today in response to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's assertion that the popular cartoon character, Tinky Winky the Teletubby, is gay: "Jerry Falwell is no longer taken seriously in the political arena, so now he has to go after cartoon characters. If Tinky Winky the Teletubby cannot measure up to Mr. Falwell's standards of morality, than who among us can?.." and ".People For the American Way and its affiliated PAC, People For the American Way Voters Alliance, today launched national voter education and mobilization campaigns aimed at ending the Religious Right's occupation of Congress. Relying on a mix of TV, grassroots organizing and education, the $5 million campaigns will give voice to the millions of Americans alarmed by the Republican impeachment trial and other radical, Religious-Right-driven initiatives in Congress over the past four years. The Voters Alliance unveiled its first TV ad in the campaign today. "Impeachment was the catalyst that shocked and angered voters," said PFAW President Carole Shields. "But the Religious Right's agenda on so many other issues also is of paramount concern. The same Religious Right that drove the impeachment train is trying to force Congress to adopt vouchers, pass a captive audience school prayer amendment and roll back civil rights for women and minorities.".."

US Newswire 2/17/99 Freeper Brian Mosely ".``The kind of raw anti-Catholic bigotry contained in Ted Turner's remarks is something we had all hoped was a relic of the last century. ``To begin to repair the damage, Ted Turner must only retract his remarks but also issue a full and complete apology to the Holy Father and all American Catholics. This is the worst form of religious bigotry,'' said Bauer. Bauer also charged that Turner insulted all American Christians and Jews when he belittled the Ten Commandments, saying the commandments are ``a little out of date. If you're only going to have 10 rules, I don't know if (prohibiting) adultery should be one of them.'' ."

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Press Release 2/17/99 ".TV-mogul Ted Turner received an award yesterday at the 27th annual meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. According to a report in the Washington Times, he drew laughter and applause with remarks about sex, the Ten Commandments and Pope John Paul II. Turner, who has five children, commented that everyone should promise to have no more than two children. He said he came to this conclusion years ago after talking to doomsayer Paul Ehrlich; this was after Turner contributed to the "population explosion." He also dubbed the Ten Commandments "a little out of date," adding that "If you're only going to have 10 rules, I don't know if prohibiting adultery should be one of them." Of the pope, Turner showed his idea of ethnic humor: "Ever seen a Polish mine detector?" He then said the pope should "get with it. Welcome to the 20th century." Catholic League president William Donohue took note: "Ted Turner embarrassed himself yesterday with his silly remarks, though it is doubtful he even recognizes what he did. Any man who thinks that the pope needs to `get with it' while quoting Paul Ehrlich is a true embarrassment. Thirty years ago Ehrlich predicted that pesticide-induced cancers would soon cause life expectancy in the U.S. to plummet to 42 years. `If I were a gambler,' he said back then, `I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000.' If that wasn't bad enough, in 1980 Ehrlich wagered a $1,000 bet with economist Julian Simon over the availability of scarce commodities in the year 1990; Simon collected the money in 1991. But no matter, Ehrlich is the same guy that Turner continues to quote as a reliable source. "."

CNS 2/1/99 Charles Colson Freeper hope ".At the National Prayer Breakfast this month, President Clinton described how hard his administration had worked to pass the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998--a law designed to fight the torture and murder of people of faith around the world. A few days later, the president's budget was unveiled. How much money did the president earmark to enforce the Religious Freedom Act? Not one plug nickel.."

Insight Magazine 3/15/99 Aimee Howd Freeper Stand Watch Listen "...But the American people went ballistic when President Clinton took this idea to its logical conclusion and proudly displayed a sample national health-care I.D. card during the nationally televised summary of his health-care plan in 1993. Few consumers could stomach the thought of allowing even the most altruistic federal bureaucrat to assign them a "unique health identifier" -- a computerized code that could be used not only to track the medical records of every citizen from birth, but potentially could link those records to financial data, tax information, employment history, educational databases and anything else of interest to a would-be Big Brother...."

newsmax 3/4/99 Schlafly "…I'm fed up with the liberals telling me that I can't be judgmental about crimes and sins, even when committed by the President. We have every right to be judgmental, and the liberals have their nerve trying to dictate a "Thou shalt not be judgmental" commandment. I'm fed up with the liberals telling me I must be nonpartisan. Do we have political freedom in America or don't we? … I'm fed up with the liberals imposing their values on us about perjury, along with their absurd caveat that "everybody lies about sex." If it's just "he says, she says" and everybody lies, we should toss out all the sexual harassment cases, enjoy sex in the workplace, and then lie about it…I'm fed up with the liberals blaming the Republicans for Clinton's impeachment and trial…. I'm fed up with the liberals dictating their new moral imperative that we must "move on" and "become moderate," or else they will label us "extremist." Who gave them the right to enforce a new law of moderation and extremism and to brand people with their judgments? ….I'm fed up with the liberals telling us we have a moral obligation to spend American blood and money in ethnic conflicts all around the world. Where did the interventionist liberals get any authority to impose their foreign-policy morality on us? ….I'm fed up with the liberals saying it is OUR moral duty to spend OUR money for THEIR pet projects (it's called taxes) in order to provide benefits to special constituencies that are expected to vote liberal…. I'm fed up with the liberals and the teachers unions imposing their Whole Language, School-to-Work, "comprehensive" sex education, and diversity curricula on other people's children. The educrats won't even allow parents a choice for phonics, abstinence classes, or traditional academic basics. I'm fed up with the liberals telling me I have to respect their gods: the Presidency and his "wag the dog" foreign policy, the Imperial Judiciary and its activist decisions, and the public schools with their failed methods. Who gave the liberals the authority to substitute those gods for God and His Ten Commandments? …"

Rep. Traficant, Democrat 6/19/98: "Mr. Speaker, Mildred Rosario, a sixth grade teacher in the Bronx, was fired. Mildred was fired for attempting to comfort her students over the drowning loss of a fellow classmate by simply saying he was in heaven. Mildred was fired for saying, I quote, he was in heaven. Unbelievable. In America teachers can pass out condoms in school. Teachers can pass out needles. Teachers can even have forums and discussions on devil worship. But in America teachers cannot even mention God. Beam me up. "

CNS Bruce Sullivan 8/12/98 "A Christian pastor and four men were handing out religious leaflets last week in a section of Las Vegas frequented by drug dealers and street walkers, when they were arrested, jailed, and strip-searched by the police. They were charged with blocking the sidewalk, then handcuffed, and thrown into a paddy wagon as denizens of "Crack Alley," which is what that part of Fremont Street is nicknamed, watched.." 'Sing your Christian hymns now,'" Robinson says one of the police officers said. "They compared us to the folks in Waco," Robinson told CNS referring to the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. ."

Global Intelligence Update 11/9/98 ".The past week has demonstrated that Bill Clinton is the most extraordinary politician of our time. He took a draw in the 1998 by-elections in which the Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress, and managed to define it as an overwhelming defeat for the Republicans and a major personal victory for himself. The generally accepted consensus was that the elections ended any chance of an impeachment of the President. As pure icing on the cake, the elections destroyed his archenemy, Newt Gingrich and with it, redefined the Republican Party. The President achieved his tremendous victory by defining the basic issue as whether having sex with Monica Lewinsky was or was not an impeachable offense..There are two domestic political results here. The Christian Right sees itself as engaged in a struggle for the cultural soul of the United States. They have just been handed an overwhelming defeat.. The second political result is the effective collapse of feminism as a political force.. The feminists have now created the Clinton Test for sexual harassment. Unwanted sexual advances, actual exposure of private parts, and taking advantage of a powerful office to seduce young women, do not constitute sexual harassment if you support the feminist agenda.. Thus we will make an extreme but we think defensible statement: the cultural wars that have defined much of the nation's politics since about 1980 are over. Both sides have lost and have lost decisively. .It is interesting to note that issues like the power of the IMF are increasingly motivating the Christian Right as much as cultural issues. There is a deep and growing distrust on the part of the Christian Right of the trend toward multilateral solutions, like NAFTA, IMF, UN, WTO and so on, that the Democrats are so fond of."

New York Times 11/8/98 Maureen Dowd ".There's a new spirit wafting through the land. Hey, baby, we're talking about love power. The voters have chosen the lovers over the haters. The meanies with the jangly names -- Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Lauch Faircloth, Fob James, "B-1" Bob Dornan -- are toast. So are the guys like Al D'Amato, who sneered and jeered and used ethnic and anatomical epithets. So are the Christian zealots. And obsessive special prosecutors. The Democratic lover boys, like Bill Clinton, and the Republican preachers of compassion, like the Bush boys, are being embraced.."

Jewish Task Force 3/10/99 "…We were all taught to believe that major corporations are run by conservative Republicans. This myth has been refuted on numerous occasions on this web site. The multinational corporations, who have no loyalty whatsoever to the United States, use bogus tax-free foundations to fund socialist groups that are working to destroy this country. For instance, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of the most evil anti-American, anti-white, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel groups in existence. The ACLU is dominated by people like attorney Alan Dershowitz, who recently boasted that he would have represented Adolf Hitler and gotten him off. ere are some of the ACLU's surprising benefactors: the Carnegie Corporation - $1,000,000; the Clark Foundation - $975,000; the Ford Foundation - $2,265,000; the MacArthur Foundation - $300,000; the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation - $140,000; and the Rockefeller Foundation - $110,000. These are only partial contributions from these foundations from 1993 to 1995. The total figures are much larger….Immediately after the ACLU announced that they would represent neo-Nazi scum who wanted to march in Skokie, Illinois as a provocation to that town's several thousand concentration camp survivors, Lear responded by making a $250,000 contribution to the ACLU which he averred was in direct response to the ACLU's pro-Nazi stance. Lear himself formed a Bolshevik group called People for the "American" Way. Of course, there is nothing "American" about this hideous Marxist organization. Its main focus is attacking all attempts to inspire religious faith and spirituality in the lives of Americans. Any time someone suggests placing a Christian or Jewish symbol on public property or even private corporate property, Lear's group has a fit. They proclaim such symbols to be "un-American" because of the so-called separation of church and state. Lear's despicable People for the "American" Way has received the following curious support: the Carnegie Corporation - $200,000; the Clark Foundation - $150,000; the Joyce Foundation - $50,000; the MacArthur Foundation - $25,000; the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation - $35,000; and the Rockefeller Foundation - $75,000. Why do these multinational corporate giants back left-wing groups that are undermining America's moral and spiritual values? Because an America devoid of values is easier to control when you are a small clique of mega-billionaires who want no competition, massive profits and total power. People with values, especially religious ones, will educate their children and raise strong families who will ultimately become competitors in the free-market arena…."

Christian Citizen 3/99Robert Holland - Richmond Times Dispatch Freeper Stand Watch Listen "…Armed with backing from private foundations and the federal government, advocates of Hillary Clinton’s It-Takes-a-Village ideology are beginning to implement a plan for cradle-to-grave tracking of the newborns of first-time parents. Part of the scheme entails sending agents into private homes to "train" parents for up to 50 visits annually per family. Expectant parents are enlisted by being asked to sign permission forms at the hospital, where amid all the excitement of a first birth, they may not be aware of the implications for their privacy and parental rights......Information that the agents collect from families will be put in a nationwide computerized system called the Program Information Management System (PIMS), which will contain medical and psychological entries and observations on family relationships.....Eventually the information in a comprehensive, permanent record could be shared with employers when an individual applies for a job…"

Drudge 3/14/99 "…AID is funding programs that endorse or legitimize what amounts to witchcraft The paper is reporting that Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a Feb. 8 letter to Secretary of State Albright that the committee had spent a lot of time recently reviewing U.S. aid programs to Haiti and it has found that US taxpayers are "funding programs that endorse or legitimize what amounts to witchcraft." Helms cited as the basis for his concern a recent exchange between U.S. AID and the Foreign Relations Committee, in which AID was asked if it provided "any assistance to any group, like IPPF's affiliate PROFAMIL, which, according to IPPF's 1995 Annual Report, undertook 'a campaign to reach voodoo followers with sexual and reproductive health information... by performing short song-prayers about STDs sexually transmitted diseases and the benefits of family planning during voodoo ceremonies.'" AID acknowledged providing $295,000 from April 1998 to March 1999 to PROFAMIL. The agency said many AID "partners and implementing organizations use this important social network voodoo ceremonies as the medium for disseminating health sector messages and information."…"

American Family Association Center for Law & Policy 3/15/99 "… Today, four members of the Adams County Ministerial Alliance filed papers in federal court seeking to intervene in the lawsuit challenging the placement of monuments displaying the Ten Commandments at four high schools in Adams County, Ohio. The ministers, Kenneth W. Johnson, Thomas D. Claibourne, Ronald D. Stephens, and Douglas W. Ferguson, say that the Ministerial Alliance was responsible for erecting the monuments and continues to maintain them. …The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on February 9, 1999, on behalf of a disgruntled citizen, Berry Baker, who was denied permission to erect his own display, two six foot tall phallic symbols with a plaque explaining that they represent an ancient religion. Mr. Baker had previously praised the School Board for its "leadership role in an apparent spiritual and cultural revival." "Mr. Baker is apparently upset, not that Adams County is displaying a religious symbol, but that it is not displaying his religious symbol," commented Mr. Crampton. …."

Catholic World News 3/17/99 Freeper marshmallow "… Six people have been killed in fighting in the southern Philippines this week between Catholic and Muslim villagers, a provincial governor said on Wednesday…." NEW DELHI Over 200 Christian houses were torched Tuesday night in Gajapati district of eastern Orissa state that has seen several cases of anti-Christian violence including the arson death of an Australian missionary and his two sons in January…." AKARTA A group of hundreds of Muslims attacked a police station and burned vehicles in a province of Indonesia on Wednesday after a group of foreigners tried to distribute Bibles and then sought refuge in the station…."

Reuters 3/17/99 "…The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco has had it with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The ``order'' of drag performance artists who, clad in nun's habits and vibrant face-paint, have shocked and amused the city for 20 years is being damned by Catholic leaders for planning to stage a public celebration of their troupe's anniversary on Easter Sunday. Archdiocese spokesman Maurice Healy said Wednesday allowing a group which ``mocks the Catholic Church'' to close a public street on the holiest day of the Christian year was just as reprehensible as ``allowing a group of neo-Nazis to close a city street for the celebration on the Jewish Feast of Passover.'' ``In terms of offensiveness, it's very similar,'' he told Reuters…."

Conservative News Service 3/18/99 William Lind "…Once again, the U.S. government is siding with Moslems against Christians. The place is again the Balkans, where we are supporting the Islamic Albanians' grab for Kosovo, the historic heartland of the Christian Serbs. We did the same thing in nearby Bosnia, where we again supported Moslems against the Serbs, including by bombing Serbian forces. I wonder how many American Christians have thought about the fact that their defense dollars now go to attacking other Christians on behalf of Islam? Over and over again, the U.S. government has showed a bias against Christianity and in favor of Islam. In Africa, where thousands of Christians have been martyred at the hands of Islamics, our government has maintained a careful silence. The same is true in Indonesia, where much of the recent rioting has been directed against Christians. Perhaps the most grotesque example is Saudi Arabia, a country we fought to defend against Iraq in the Gulf War and also a country where anyone who converts to Christianity is beheaded. (In contrast, Iraq's current foreign minister is a Christian). The U.S. State Department is so anxious to kiss the Saudis' robes that it banned Christian religious services at the U.S. consulate in Jeddah. Those services had given American citizens in Saudi Arabia a place to worship. All Christian services are illegal in Saudi Arabia, but the consulate is legally American soil, so the Saudis could not stop them. The consulate offered weekly Protestant and Mormon services as well as Catholic Mass…."

The Oklahoman 3/25/99 "...BILL Clinton didn't want to bomb Iraqis "during the holy month of Ramadan" -- but he's raining bombs during the Great and Holy Lent, a sacred time for the Orthodox who comprise much of the Serbian population. That note came yesterday from a clergyman in Texas. His point hits both U.S. policy and Clinton's lack of discernable principles...."

Hellenic Orthodox Traditionalist Church of America 3/23/99 Metropolitan Archbishop PAVLOS to Clinton "...Again I write to you as a Christian and as an American. Sir, we are poised on the brink of disaster, a disaster that is manifold in its dimensions and character. As I expressed to you in my previous letter this imminent and unprovoked attack against Yugoslavia is immoral. Even the trepidation alone that we have instilled in the people of Yugoslavia is a horror. The fact that this is exactly one of our intentions is offensive. Legally speaking our country is heading toward the perpetration of a crime of international proportions. We are acting without a UN mandate. We are violating the very charter of the NATO Pact. NATO is acting without a UN mandate. We are violating every international law governing respect for the sovereignty of nations. We are acting without the mandate of the American people. Do the American people truly believe our national interests are at stake? A recent CBS Radio broadcast quoted a poll that said 50% of Americans cannot find Kosovo on a map! Is this the well-informed constituency that gives us a mandate to attack Yugoslavia? I ask again by what authority do we act? Is it the authority of the law of God, the law of our country, or international law? ..."

Washington Post 3/31/99 Peter Slevin "…The Internal Revenue Service properly stripped tax breaks from a New York church that opposed candidate Bill Clinton in full-page newspaper advertisements during the 1992 campaign, a federal judge here ruled yesterday. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman decided that the IRS acted lawfully when it took away tax-exempt status from The Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, N.Y. He dismissed the church's claims that the IRS violated religious freedoms and engaged in selective prosecution. Churches that claim exemption from taxation cannot take sides in an election campaign, the federal tax code states. The IRS concluded after a two-year investigation that the nondenominational Christian church had done just that and no longer was entitled to the exemption. The case centered on a full-page advertisement that appeared in USA Today and the Washington Times four days before the 1992 general election. The advertisement said, "Bill Clinton is promoting policies that are in rebellion to God's laws."…"

http://www.the700club.org/cwn/980807.asp 8/7/98 Freeper DonMorgan "…Meanwhile, Sudanese Christians in Africa are suffering from the twin afflictions of persecution and famine, and that's not all. They still face the problem of slavery. Stan Jeter brings us this brief update. Stan Jeter, reporter Human life is cheap in the Sudan. First, a bitter civil war and now a spreading famine that's put over 2 1/2 million people at risk of starvation. Christian Freedom International recently sponsored a relief flight to one of the areas overlooked by the United Nations' aid efforts. But then they found another tragedy. In this slave market are many Christian women and children kidnapped from their villages in the south by Muslim raiders from the north. Some are branded so they can't escape their masters. Village leaders keep records of their kidnap victims. There are thousands still missing. On this visit, CFI's Jim Jacobson brought enough cash to redeem 12 slaves and reunite them with their families. The price: about $100 each….."

The Jerusalem Post 3/28/99 Thomas O’Dwyer Freeper bessellieu "…At the end of the ceremony the Clintons plunged in among the guests, spreading that famous empathy with unforced glee. When he met Clinton, Marquez had the nerve to ask him directly who he thought his enemies were. The writer reported that Clinton's reply was immediate and abrupt: "My only enemy is right-wing religious fundamentalism."…"

Reuters 3/29/99 "…A national Catholic organization Monday called for a boycott of San Francisco, saying the city was promoting intolerance by allowing a group of drag queen ''nuns'' to hold a street party on Easter Sunday. ``Many people think that San Francisco is the city of tolerance. But it is a lie -- an outrageous lie,'' William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in a half-page advertisement taken in the San Francisco Chronicle. The league, which has 350,000 members and fights what it sees as anti-Catholic prejudice, said San Francisco's plan to allow the ``Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence'' to close a public street on April 4 for a party to celebrate their 20th anniversary was tantamount to an attack on Catholic faith ``Our objection to the 'Sisters' does not center on men dressing as nuns: it centers on their obscene assaults on the Eucharist, the very nucleus of Catholicism. That is why we are outraged,'' the league advertisement said…. The group says it is not anti-Catholic but simply irreverent, and that it exists primarily as a fund-raiser for nonprofit organizations which serve the community…."

Washington Post 4/1/99 Press Conference "...From a news briefing yesterday by White House spokesman Joe Lockhart: Q: The president's fellow Democrat, Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco, has just requested a group of actors who mock nuns and the Catholic sacraments to cancel their plans to do this on Easter. Does the president agree? And will he ask Mr. [James C.] Hormel, his nominee to be ambassador to Luxembourg, to join Mayor Brown in asking these people, who Hormel saluted, not to do this on Easter? Mr. Lockhart: I -- it would take 10 minutes for me to unravel all of the deception that's in that question. So we'll do it another time. [Cross talk.] Q: Do you think it's appropriate, Joe? You don't want to speak to this? A: This is -- you know, that sort of ad hominem attack on Mr. Hormel has been -- Q: Ad hominem? A: -- has come from various sources over the last year. It has no basis in fact -- Q: No, he saluted these people -- A: It has no basis in fact -- Q: It does, Joe! A: Well, having -- Q: We've been reporting on it. A: Well, having spoken to Mr. Hormel directly on this subject, it has no basis in fact...."

Conservative News Org 4/1/99 Scott Hogenson "...The American Psychological Association is trying to correct what it called misrepresentations of the organization's positions on child sexual abuse and the findings of a report on the topic published by the organization. But the association appears to be selective in who it publicly criticizes for their use of the report. The APA found itself at the center of a burgeoning controversy after publishing the report A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples, which concluded that child sexual abuse "does not cause intense harm on a pervasive basis," among victims.....Rhea Farberman, Director of Communications for the American Psychological Association, told CNS that the organization's publication of the report in the APA's Psychological Bulletin, does not constitute an endorsement or validation of its findings. The APA states that "sexual abuse of children is wrong and harmful to its victims," and the 155,000 member association published a clarification of its official position on child sexual abuse following Schlessinger's broadcast, noting that the findings of the report "are being misreported by some in the media."...While Schlessinger is being criticized for real or perceived misinterpretations of scientific fact and conclusion, the APA is taking no public action regarding the use of its published documents by one particular group which promotes an agenda of sex between adults and children.... The North American Man Boy Love Association cites the APA-published study and other research documents as justification for sex between children and adults, saying that sexual encounters between men and boys "are often quite positive and beneficial for the participants, regardless of their ages," according to the group's Internet web site. ..."

Associated Press 3-31-99 Karen Testa "...Boca Raton can tear down crosses, stars of David and other monuments on grave sites in the city's municipal cemetery because the decorations are not essential for religious practice, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling was believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, and the first under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1998, which says governments cannot impose a ``substantial burden'' on people's freedom of religious expression. Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said that families who decorated the final resting places of their loved ones with religious symbols, plants, stones and other items will not have their religious rights trampled if they cannot keep the decorations...."

WorldNetDaily 4/2/99 Kaye Corvett Freeper Mercuria "...When a pipe bomb package blew up at a U.S. Postal Service center in Dallas last Sunday, to many it signified the growing persecution of Christians both home and abroad. The target of the blast was one of the world's most controversial televangelists, John Hagee, pastor of San Antonio's 17,000-member Cornerstone Church and seen by millions on TV around the globe each week...."

Wall Street Journal 4/2/99 "...Remember the old Hollywood films like "Ben-Hur" and "The Robe," which would always include a scene with a sneering Roman emperor or centurion spitting out the word "Christian" as though it were a slur? In those days the intended effect was irony, a reminder to audiences that there was a time when the Christian faith so publicly honored in American life was looked upon by authorities as low and unnatural. As Christians the world over Friday commemorate the passion and crucifixion of their Lord, it may be a good moment to reflect on the caricature that has come to dominate public treatment of America's predominant faith. Clearly, Americans continue to rank among the most religious peoples in the world. Year after year the Bible outsells all other books. More Americans go to church each Sunday than watch the Super Bowl. Yet our public squares are increasingly dominated by elites who look upon Christian expression in much the same way Hollywood's centurions did in the 1950s and 1960s. Just this February, for example, Ted Turner used a Washington forum to mock the Ten Commandments, particularly the injunction against adultery, a return performance from a man who has in the past dissed Christianity as "a religion for losers." He is not alone. In a speech at Harvard last April, Sidney Blumenthal denounced Hickman Ewing, then one of Kenneth Starr's deputies, as "a religious fanatic," evidently on the grounds that Mr. Ewing helped found a church where he worships and occasionally preaches. During her "20/20" interview with the independent counsel himself, Diane Sawyer wrinkled her nose in disbelief when she asked Mr. Starr to confirm reports that "you jog and sing hymns and pray" -- the last two evidently constituting pretty serious misdemeanors if not high crimes in the ABC canon. Later still, a "CBS Evening News" report on the selection of House impeachment managers noted ominously that "all 13 are white, all 13 males, all 13 Christians." As the CBS reporter understood, this wasn't just a description. It was an indictment. The distinguishing feature here is not the contempt but the license to express it in an American milieu otherwise disposed to hypersensitivity. When Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott made offensive remarks about blacks a few years ago, baseball suspended her for a year. But Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who spent this past weekend with Fidel Castro, confined baseball's disapproval of Mr. Turner, who owns the Atlanta Braves, to a $25,000 fine, not likely to be much felt by a man donating a billion dollars to the U.N. Ditto for Mr. Blumenthal. Though forced to apologize, the White House aide retained his post. As the syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote, Mr. Blumenthal's crack "caused barely a ripple -- nothing like the uproar that routinely accompanies a personal insult regarding, say, race or gender or sexual orientation."..."

The Charlotte Observer 4/5/99 Michelle Locke "...Fishnet was big, heels were high and emotions ran deep as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence -- drag queens dressed as nuns -- threw a 20th anniversary bash here Sunday despite criticism from Roman Catholics that their rituals smacked of heresy. The typically irreverent street party -- which featured bands, Easter bonnets and a ``Hunky Jesus'' beauty contest -- infuriated church officials, who said holding the parody on Easter Sunday was like neo-Nazis partying on Passover..... ``City government has gone out of its way to associate itself with this ridicule and blasphemy,'' Archbishop William Levada wrote Friday in Catholic San Francisco, a church newspaper. Some officials, including Mayor Willie Brown, then tried to rescind the permit. It didn't work, but Ammiano is expected to meet with Levada in a peace talk of sorts...."

AP 4/6/99 "…A federal judge who has been overruled twice has again thrown out a lawsuit by an atheist who wants the Ten Commandments removed from a courtroom. Richard Suhre sued over marble tablets displayed on a wall at the Haywood County courthouse four years ago, claiming they violate his constitutional right to freedom of religion. U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg dismissed the lawsuit on Friday…."

The Times of India 4/8/99 Freeper Jai "…It is regrettable that the US-led bombing campaign of Yugoslavia is continuing despite Belgrade's unilateral cessation of hostilities against militants of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Sunday is Easter for Orthodox Christians and several countries, including Greece and the Vatican, had called on NATO to halt its airstrikes in deference to the religious holiday. The US, however, has no intention of stopping the bombing . . ."

4/10/99 Voice of Russia Freeper Thanatos "…We are addressing the servicemen by the NATO policy-makers to action against Yugoslavia/ It is a shame that you’ve been ordered to continue bombing Yugoslavia on Easter. You are committing a serious sin. Your bombs and missiles are killing people just as they are getting ready to celebrate Easter either this week or in a week. Why should this be? Just because NATO leaders and US President Clinton have refused to meet calls by Pope John Paul II and Russian Patriarch Alexiy for suspension of attacks during Easter. Neither the NATO leaders nor President Clinton are likely to be worried if this Easter happens to be the last in your lives. They don’t care if your missiles and bombs turn Easter into a nightmare and spell death for men, women and children of Yugoslavia. Use your brains…"

The Nando Times - AP 4/17/99 Amir Shah "...The Taliban religious militia on Saturday warned President Clinton that criticizing Afghanistan's human rights record damages the countries' relations. "This criticism will only be bad for relations between Afghanistan and the United States," said a Foreign Ministry statement. Clinton has been a strong critic of the Taliban's treatment of women and last month said the United States wouldn't recognize the Taliban while the repression against women continued. "Any criticism regarding Afghanistan's Muslims and women's rights should come from a Muslim," the statement said. "This Clinton is not a Muslim and does not know anything about Islam and Muslims."..."

Houston Chronicle 4/15/99 Eric Berger ".... U.S. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay said Thursday that two leading mental health associations' writings could make pedophilia more acceptable. Two publications, one printed in 1994 and the other in 1998, have stirred controversy for months, but the associations' representatives have consistently said pedophilia is harmful and wrong. However, DeLay, R-Sugar Land, said the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, considered a primary tool of physicians, suggests that a pedophile could be diagnosed as "psychologically normal." "Their new definition dumbs it down to where someone who molests a child may not be considered a pedophile," said Emily Miller, DeLay's press secretary. DeLay also took issue with an article in the June 1998 issue of the American Psychological Association's highly regarded Psychological Bulletin. He contends that the authors suggest that pedophilia might not always constitute sexual abuse. Talk-show radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and many of her listeners, have also been critical of the article. Other commentators have labeled it as "pedophilia propaganda," saying there is no way children can have consensual sex with adults...."

WorldNetDaily 4/21/99 Joseph Farah "...We'll be sorting out the details of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado for days and weeks to come. Much of the reationary spin will be familliar. We've got to get rid of guns, they'll say. As if the dead-eyed, cold-blooded teen killers in this case had somehow legally obtained and carried their weapons to school. Then there will be those who blame society -- the culture. Ceretainly there's something here. America has become desensitized to violence. Certainly the entertainment media bear some responsibility. Certainly the video games, the hideous rap music, the TV and the movies have some effect..... But this is still America. There is no place in America for confiscating guns from law-abiding people, and there is no place for government-imposed censorship. It doesn't work. It's un-American. And it doesn't address the real root problems -- the kind that trigger Columbine High massacres. The real problem is that in America we have forgotten the concepts of personal responsibility, individual rights and the sanctity of life. In fact, it's not a matter of forgetting. There has been a wholesale effort to obliterate these values from the soul of our nation. We forbid kids from praying at school. We teach them that they evolved spontaneously from a singe-cell organisms in the swamp. We immerse them in a grossly polluted moral ecosystem. We break up their families. We telll them there are no absolutes, no right and wrong, ultimate truth. It's just amazing with that recipe that there aren't more Columbine Highs. And, tragically, I think there will be, unless America wakes up and recognizes how we have betrayed our children -- cheated them, deceived them, broken their hearts...."

Total Request Live (MTV) 4/21/99 Freeper incognito "…Here (paraphrasing) is what he next told MTV's interviewer Chris Connelly: You were eventually able to escape. What about your friend? Student (didn't get his name): He ... killed her. He walked up to her and asked her if she believed in God. She said yes and then he blew her head off. …"

Christian Science Monitor 4/22/99 Ron Scherer Freeper Cincinatus "…Parents with children in voucher programs generally are happy with the results. One of the main reasons: There are rarely incidences of violence in the parochial schools. "When we looked at the Catholic schools in and around Los Angeles and compared them to the public school system, we found the main reason the Catholic schools had virtually no violence is because they treat the smallest incident as a big thing," says Mr. Seder…"

Pat Buchanan 4/21/99 "…"At Littleton, yesterday, America got a glimpse of the last stop on that train to hell she boarded decades ago when we declared that God is dead, and that each of us is his or her own god who can make up the rules as we go along. I pray for the families of those who lost loved ones."…"

Larry King Live 4/21/99 Freeper murron reports "…Here is a fact that is getting very little media play. According to this girl's account, these killers were looking for Christians. When her friend stated that she was, in fact, a Christian, she wa promptly shot and killed…."

Freeper Steve_Seattle 4/21/99 on Larry Kind Live "…Larry didn't follow up on the "killed because she was a Christian" angle, but later vigorously pursued the "killed because he was black" angle with another student. The media just doesn't get it - there is a lot of hate directed at traditional Christians in this country, and the media can't see it even when it's right in front of their face, possibly because they are among the worst offenders…."

CNN / TRANSCRIPTS 4/22/99 Freeper AmericanInTokyo "...LARRY KING: Where was she, Mickie? MICKIE CAIN: She was in the -- in a classroom, I believe, and she ended up standing up for the greatest thing ever. She had the courage to turn her life around, and she went straight up after she started trusting Christ. And when I came to Columbine the year after she left, she lent a hand to me when I was kind of going crooked, and she completely, completely stood up for God when the killers asked her if there was anyone who had faith in Christ. She spoke up and they shot her for it. And that is the most brave thing anyone could ever do, and I -- I want that memory to live on and her example for that. And she was so fun loving and amazingly open hearted, and -- you could come to her with anything, and she accepted your darkest secret with open arms...."

Eye on Conservatism 4/22/99 Robert Yoho "...Now that the last bodies have been moved from Columbine High School, I find myself wondering if these senseless tragedies could altogether be avoided if God was freely welcomed into the schools on a daily basis. Why does it take a tragedy to acknowledge our reliance on God and the need for Him in our lives? Why does it take the introduction of bodybags for us to turn to God? Why does it take gunfire before our school children can bow their heads and pray? Nobody at the memorial services worries about the abominable crime of invoking the name of God in public. Nobody worries about the "separation of church and state." Nobody worries about the irreparable damage that might be done to these school children by the intrusion of heretofore-ridiculed Judeo-Christian values. I am sure that there were many tears shed. No doubt many of the mourners took the time to bow their heads for a moment of silence, a generic term that still means "prayer" to most of us--or to all of us who are still not fearful of using the actual word..... Although God had already been expelled from many of our bigger city schools, I attended an elementary school that started each day with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. I can even remember seeing the "Ten Commandments" posted on the blackboards of some of the classrooms. Despite all of these unsavory influences, I somehow managed not to turn to a life of crime and delinquency. The point is simply this: nobody has ever been hurt by bringing prayer and Judeo-Christian standards of morality into the classroom. If our children were exposed to the Ten Commandments at school, they would come under the dangerous influence of concepts such as "Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal." And God forbid! What if the children started to believe and practice them? What could be the worst thing that might happen...they might not kill their teachers and fellow students...they might not steal?..."

FOX News 4/22/99 Amanda Onion Freeper Steven W. "...Chism described how one of the assailants had confronted Valerie Schnurr in the library of the school and asked her if she believed in God. "Val said she knew she could say yes, no or nothing, and she said yes, knowing she would pay a price," Chism said. The assailant then shot Schnurr in the chest. She sustained nine shrapnel and bullet wounds to the chest, abdomen and left arm. She's now in stable condition at Swedish medical Center. "Val told me today she doesn't regret her choice," said Chism...."

Christian Broadcasting Network Website 4/22/99 "...April 22, 1999 Dear Friends, I'm very tired, having just returned from a memorial service this evening. It's been a very long day, but I wanted to give you an update before retiring. As of this morning Rachel Scott's family still hadn't received official word of their daughter Rachel's death. The waiting was agonizing, but after 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, I received a call from the Coroner confirming that Rachel had been positively identified and was indeed deceased. It was very difficult delivering that news, and we spent several hours praying and weeping with the family members who had assembled in their home. Pictures of Rachel adorned the living room. She was such a beautiful 17-year-old! We spent time praying together, and seeking our Father's merciful comfort. We heard from eyewitness accounts of other surviving students that when Rachel was confronted by one of the gunmen, she gave a bold testimony of her faith. The killer asked her, "Do you believe in God?!!" She boldly answered, "Yes I do!" She was instantly gunned down. This has made a major impact on the other students who knew of Rachel's Christian testimony. I'm certain that in this moment, the angels of God surrounded her and instantly ushered her into Christ's eternal kingdom. The spirit of the martyrs still lives! This evening we joined another church in holding a memorial service for Rachel and the other students killed or wounded. Over 1,500 people attended. We heard stories of several students who survived while their classmates were slaughtered while begging for their lives. I had the honor of addressing this assembly for 20 minutes, and urged that we all receive the grace of Jesus to heal our wounds and resurrect our community out of this morass of pain and confusion. One of the ways we must find healing is in forgiving those who have hurt us. There seemed to be a special presence of the Lord this evening upon us all. This Saturday we will hold a Funeral Service for Rachel at 1:30 p.m. We will again be sharing the facilities of another area church just blocks from the site of Columbine High School. We expect the Lord to bring many young people to Himself through this service. Never before have we seen such an open hunger for God in the young people of this community! Thank you for all your prayers and thoughtful notes. Please continue. The process of healing the scars of this tragedy will take time and lots of prayer. Love in Jesus, Bruce Porter Pastor Cellebration Christian Church Littleton, Co"..."

Denver Post 4/23/99 Claire Martin and Janet Bingham "...Cassie Bernall's Christian faith saved her once when her life was in turmoil, and her unwavering trust made her a martyr the instant after she was taunted by the gunmen in Columbine High School's library on Tuesday. "Do you believe in God?'' one of them asked. "Yes, I do believe in God,'' Bernall said. Then he pulled the trigger. Bernall's young friends at the West Bowles Community Church youth group cling to that story like a lifeline. With her last breaths, she affirmed the faith she embraced and it made the shy, quiet Bernall a hero in their eyes. Seth Huoy and Crystal Woodman, who belong to the Bernall's church youth group, were in the library, too. They survived, and one way they make sense of the massacre is to tell about the girl who died because she believed in God. They prayed for invisibility, and in at least one sense, their prayer was answered: Death passed them by.... "

WorldNetDaily 4/23/99 Alan Keyes Freeper laz "...This was a dark week in American life. The shooting in Colorado last Tuesday punctuates the truth about the era in which we live -- a culture of death and dark satanic forces is threatening the future of our nation. We are already hearing the usual suspects rising to speak about guns and other material objects as if they are causing our problem, but we know they are not. Our problem is that a spirit of death is stalking the land...."

Washington Post 4/23/99 Amy Goldstein, Rene Sanchez and Michael A. Fletcher Freeper laz "...While investigators here continued today to sift through the aftermath of the rampage for clues to the shooters' motive, relatives and friends of several of the slain students said that they believe some victims were targeted because they represented all that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold disdained. There is no evidence that the murderous pair moved through the corridors with a hit list of names. But it was widely known among Columbine students that the tiny subculture to which Harris and Klebold belonged had little tolerance for devout Christians, or for athletes who favored caps, or for the handful of minority students who attended the school...."

WALL STREET JOURNAL 4/22/99 Peggy Noonan Freeper Roscoe Karns "...A man called into Christian radio this morning and said a true thing. He said, and I am paraphrasing: Those kids were sick and sad, and if a teacher had talked to one of them and said, "Listen, there's a way out, there really is love out there that will never stop loving you, there's a real God and I want to be able to talk to you about him"--if that teacher had intervened that way, he would have been hauled into court....."

Reuters 4/24/99 Michael Ellis "...A diary recovered from the home of one of two teens responsible for the Columbine High School massacre showed they planned the bloody rampage for a year and that the attack was timed to coincide with Adolf Hitler's birthday..... He said the diary contained detailed plans. It also showed that they had been stockpiling bombs for a considerable period of time..... He declined to say whether the diary came from the home of Eric Harris, 18, or Dylan Klebold, 17, the two seniors who shot and killed 12 fellow students and a popular teacher Tuesday before taking their own lives. Stone described that weapon parts, and other materials were clearly visible in one of the suspect's bedrooms. He did not say which suspect he was referring to...."

CNN 4/24/99 "....The diary of a Columbine High School student discloses that he and another student gunman planned their bloody massacre at the school for more than a year, police said Saturday.... They were monitoring the lunchroom," the sheriff said. "It was very intentional, the timing of this." Stone, who declined to say which of the gunmen kept the diary, placed some of the blame for the massacre on the parents of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18. He noted that along with the diary, police found a shotgun barrel on a dresser of one of the boy's homes, as well as bomb-making materials. "A lot of this stuff was clearly visible and the parents should have known," Stone said. "I think parents should be accountable for their kids' actions." ..."

Capitol Hill Blue 4/26/99 Doug Thompson "...I killed my first man at 18, a little more than 33 years ago. He looked even younger than me, caught wide-eyed in the blast of a left-to-right sweep of my Stoner machine gun, dancing like a puppet on a string before dropping to the ground. I walked over, looked at his lifeless face and then puked my guts out.... Even when you kill for your country, a little bit of you dies each time you do it..... This wasn't war against a sworn enemy. This was war in a high school, fought by two crazies with a grudge against their classmates. It should be the worst horror that any society can ever imagine. And for many, it was. Most of the students who survived expressed genuine shock and horror at the carnage they both witnessed and were lucky enough to escape. A disturbing number of others, however, seemed unbelievably unaffected by it all. One teenager discussed seeing a fellow student's face blown off with little or no emotion. It wasn't shock. It was a complete lack of revulsion or horror over what he saw. Another youngster described, in graphic detail, what he had seen in such a matter of fact way that you half expected him to say "cool" and walk away. No shock. No revulsion. No anger. Just another video game..... But too many others seem unfazed by what happened. Their dispassion may be the biggest tragedy of all. ..."

Jewish World Review 4/26/99 Cal Thomas Freeper starlu "...WHILE AMERICAN FORCES BOMB YUGOSLAVIA with the announced intention of stopping one form of slaughter, gunfire comes to yet another public school in which more than a dozen have been slaughtered and others, critically wounded, remain in peril...We await the psychiatrists' explanation, but don't we secretly know what it is? When you mix the ingredients for a cake, you get a cake. When you mix the volatile ingredients of corrupted culture, vulgar entertainment and broken, loveless families, you get child killers...."

New York Post 4/26/99 Jonathan R.Cohen "....ACCORDING to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, America has "defined deviancy down." The Columbine High School killings also indicate that America has simultaneously "defined rebellion up." Anti-social teens are nothing new, but as deviancy has been made normal, we have made it increasingly difficult for teen-agers to rebel. Adults no longer seem to be even slightly outraged by far more offensive cultural imagery. As a result it has become harder for teens to shock their elders, try though they do these days by piercing their eyelids, tattooing their bellies and dressing like vampires. We have raised the threshold of rebellion so high that it is practically beyond reach. To be recognized, to get attention, to stir anyone in authority to lift a finger, whether it is a parent, a teacher, a principal, or a sheriff, a rebel has to go to very great lengths these days. One must send letter bombs, blow up office buildings or gun down children...."

WorldNetDaily 4/26/99 Joseph Farah "...'Do you believe in God?' When I first heard the story of 17-year-old Cassie Bernall from dozens of e-mailers, I assumed it was another one of those Internet urban legends. I hear from hundreds of well-intentioned people a week spreading rumors and disinformation they overhear or pick up on the WorldWideWeb somewhere. This story was just too unbelievable to be true -- just too perfect. It turns out the story was perfectly true. Cassie went to the Columbine High School library to study during lunch on Tuesday. Shortly afterward, a member of the Trenchcoat Mafia pointed his gun at her and asked: "Do you believe in God?" "Yes, I believe in God," she said. "Why?" the gunman asked. But he did not wait for an answer. He shot Cassie Bernall dead. Joshua Lapp, 16, was an eyewitness to this execution of the innocent -- a walking, talking, real-world illustration of what I have written about so often in this column: that we all live in the midst of a universal spiritual war zone. Lapp was crouched nearby, hiding from the gunman. What he saw and heard made a powerful impact on him, as it would on anyone..... Now the whole world is hearing it. It shows how temporal our world is. One moment we're going about our routine business. The next moment, we're gone -- at least from this mortal realm.... Those 70,000 -- and, I would guess, millions around the world watching on TV -- were not only brought to tears by recollections of this tragedy, they were empowered to fight back in this spiritual war consuming the earth. It's rare that Americans are shocked out of their sense of complacency, comfort, and security, and forced to address these ultimate issues as a country. All of us have trials and tribulations in our personal and family lives that make us confront them, but collectively, as a nation, we seldom come together to say: "Yeah, there are opposing forces in this universe of ours -- the force of good and evil..... Columbine was a wakeup call. Was it loud enough? Will Americans hear it? Will they heed the message? Or will they fall back into their semi-blissful sleep. There is only one solution. It's a person. His name is Jesus Christ. He came to earth about 2,000 years ago to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. His coming was foretold by the prophets for 4,000 years before He came in human form. And He's coming again -- and, by all indications, very, very soon. Cassie Bernall was ready for Him. The question Columbine should raise in the minds, hearts, and souls of every American and every human being on planet earth is: "Are you ready?" If some evildoer put a gun to your head today and asked you whether you knew Jesus and accepted Him as your personal savior, what would your answer be? ..."

The Washington Times 4/30/99 Valerie Richardson "....Some liberal Christian, black and Jewish leaders are outraged over the strongly evangelical Christian tone of last Sunday's memorial service for those massacred at Columbine High School. "The entire community was invited to come and mourn, and then it turned into an evangelical prayer service," said the Rabbi Stephen Foster of Temple Emanuel in remarks before the Denver Interfaith Clergy Alliance. "I've had many complaints from people saying, 'Where were the Jews?' but that's not the issue," he said. "The issue was one of insensitivity to the kind of statements being made that were exclusively directed to not just Christians, but fundamental Christians." Another rabbi called the service reflective of an "ignorant, narrow-minded" streak of Christianity. None of the parents expressed objections about the memorial or its speakers, which included a rabbi. Several of the slain students were known for their born-again Christian faith, and the testimony of one of them, Cassie Bernall, in the face of death seized the attention of millions of readers and viewers across the nation. One of the gunmen, who seemed to be seeking out believers, asked her whether she believed in God. She looked him in the eye and said, "Yes, I believe in God." He shot her dead. ..."

NewsMax 4/29/99 Richard Poe "...The pundits have spoken. The massacre at Columbine High School, they say, was caused by video games, splatter films, Internet surfing and easy access to guns. But was it really? Not likely. Consider the fact that young people in Switzerland surf the same Internet and watch the same movies as did the Littleton shooters. Consider also that every able-bodied Swiss male between the ages of 20 and 42 serves in the militia. Swiss law requires its citizen soldiers to store their gear at home, ready for action. Every man keeps an assault rifle with ammunition in his closet. By the pundits' reasoning, Switzerland should long ago have drowned in an ocean of blood. So why hasn't it? Maybe because the pundits are wrong. Maybe because guns and video games do not really have the power to transform high school nerds into murderous psychopaths. So what does? One answer is cult brainwashing. Evidence is mounting that the Littleton shooters did not act alone. And some of their conduct suggests a cult mindset. "Do you believe in God?" one of the gunmen asked 17-year-old Cassie Bernall. When she said yes, he killed her. News reports have painted the Littleton massacre as a vendetta against bullies. But Cassie Bernall's death suggests darker motives. The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey was reportedly a favorite text of Columbine's Trench Coat Mafia....If Berkowitz is telling the truth, then the masterminds behind the Son of Sam murders have been running loose for more than 20 years. We can only hope and pray that investigators of the Columbine massacre will approach their work with more diligence than did their predecessors on the Berkowitz probe...."

New York Post 4/29/99 DAVID GELERNTER Freeper laz "...You might imagine that, in the aftermath of Columbine, our cultural leaders have been caught on camera in the act of hypocrisy. They have told us for years that we should not be ''judgmental,'' but surely everyone everywhere acknowledges his obligation to be ''judgmental'' where these killers are concerned. It appears that what the anti-judgmentalists really meant is: Morality should be kept locked up except in emergencies, in which case you are allowed to Break Glass and (carefully) remove it from its case - keeping in mind that it is a dangerous instrument, only to be used in a crisis...."

Chattanooga Free Press 4/29/99 Pastor James E. Gibson Freeper newsman "...We have taken this issue of pluralism and compared it to moral absolutes and determined that we are going to go with pluralism because we don't like what moral absolutes mean. But, Mr. President, we cannot ignore the fact that moral absolutes still exist. Absolute truth is still in place. And there are three stipulations for absolute truth. One is that truth must come from a source bigger than ourselves. Number two, those truths must be timeless in their relevance. And number three, they must be universal in their application. And I submit to you, Mr. President, that the Bible is the only source that meets all these requirements. . . . "

LifeSite Daily News 4/30/99 '....The findings of the first detailed physiological study of a cloned animal from birth were reported yesterday. Dr Jean-Paul Renard of the Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique found that a baby cow, cloned from an ear cell of a healthy adult cow, had major genetic defects. According to BBC news, "six weeks after the calf was born, there was a sudden, dramatic fall in its red blood cell counts." The calf died a week later and an autopsy reveled that the spleen, thymus and lymph nodes had not developed normally. Dr Harry Griffin, involved in the original cloning of Dolly the sheep said this study reinforces the point that "no-one should be contemplating the cloning of a human being" at this time...."

Florida Times-Union 5/01/99 Jim Saunders Freeper newsman "... ''It's dramatic in many ways,'' said Bush, who made the plan his top priority of the session. ''It's precedent setting.'' But the vouchers battle, which has raged in the Legislature for months, isn't over: A coalition of groups vowed yesterday to go to court to block the plan, arguing it would illegally send tax dollars to religious schools...."

MSNBC 4/30/99 Jay Severin "....As the national debate invariably polarized along two equally simple-minded schools of thought -more God vs. more government - the president predictably signed on to the latter argument. IT DID NOT seem to interfere with his thinking that existing gun control laws cannot prevent tragedies like the Colorado school shootings. Or that such laws unavoidably require sacrificing both money and freedoms. But, hey, this is politics, and you do what the overnight polls tell you will be popular.... Many truths are uncomfortable and inconvenient for liberals like Clinton. One is that while new gun laws won't solve this sort of behavior, other new laws might. If kids unsupervised in the afternoon, after school hours are a key to the problem - and many parents believe that is so - then how about one parent actually at home with them? Well, take it up with the village that is currently raising America's young people, because Mom and Dad are both working to pay the highest taxes in American history, and cannot be home to keep an eye on junior....."

USA Journal 5/3/99 Jon. E. Dougherty "....Foster complained, "The issue was one of insensitivity to the kind of statements being made that were exclusively directed to not just Christians, but fundamental Christians" - meaning, if you're a fervent believer in God's word, you're a dangerous threat to society and, quite probably, as dangerous as the student lunatics who did the shootings in the first place. Another 'good rabbi' went on to call the services "reflective of an 'ignorant, narrow-minded' streak of Christianity." Who's 'ignorant' and 'narrow-minded' here - these few complaining rabbis, or the 70,000-plus mourners, consisting of members of most religious faiths in and around Littleton? Guess what, rabbi - this service wasn't about you, it was about the 15 children who were gunned down by a couple of loose screws. This incident goes beyond the proverbial 'dung in the punchbowl' kind of gaffe. And it's more than just a little inappropriate. This kind of rhetoric is pure hate - no more, no less. Regardless of which faith you believe - Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Jew, Presbyterian, Mormon, or some other belief - doesn't God always teach the same thing: Unity, compassion, discretion, and understanding Yeah, I thought so. This incredibly bad taste demonstrates the antithesis of God's word and His intentions for the kind of life He wants all of us to live. It ain't representative of it. And these morons are supposed messengers of the Word? Can you just imagine how the families of the dead children must feel when they hear this kind of BS - especially at this particular time?...."

WorldNetDaily 5/7/99 S.L. Goldman Freeper laz "...Though I can neither define nor prove evil, I can say without hesitation that -- in terms of the Littleton Massacre -- it was, without a doubt, the prime motivating force behind the deeds of the two murderers. Evil, and its various manifestations, are so thick, so numerous, in the world today, that I am prepared to say that anybody who dares question the existence of evil is either a fool, or have themselves been "taken over" by evil. Now let me get even more specific. I don't believe that the killers targeted -- as is being touted in the media -- jocks and minorities. But I do think they had a target? Absolutely. Who, you ask? The answer is -- "Believers."..."

London Telegraph 5/14/99 Ben Fenton "...THE United States army has recognised white witchcraft as a religion and has appointed chaplains to oversee pagan ceremonies on at least five bases. A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that there were believed to be at least 100 witches attending covens at Fort Hood, Texas, the army's largest base with more than 42,000 troops. So respectful has the army become of the pagan rites that security was increased at Fort Hood's Boy Scout camp, where covens are held. The move is to deter members of Christian groups from intimidating the group. The pagans, called Wiccans, are accorded the same privileges as practitioners of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They are encouraged to have their religious preference stamped on the metal dog-tags each soldier wears...."

WorldNetDaily 5/17/99 Samuel L. Blumenfeld "...One of the reasons why the educrats have focused on guns as the chief cause of the Littleton massacre is because Columbine High School was supposed to be the kind of progressive school where such things could never happen.... Carol Belt, a former school board member in Englewood, Colo., was chairman of a Strategic Planning committee in charge of drawing up "vision statements" about the future. She writes: "As background material to help with the process I received materials on globalism and books by 'futurists.' One of those books was 'The Aquarian Conspiracy,' authored by Marilyn Ferguson. I was told that it was the 'best reference' to the 'new curriculum' that was coming into our school district. I read the book and decided if the 'future' that Marilyn Ferguson was predicting was in fact going to become a reality, I wanted no part of it. I discovered that this was the 'foundational book' of the 'New Age' movement." To help the teachers in Littleton become effective change agents, they were required to attend training sessions given by the Strategic Options Initiative. The trainees were requested to read the second, third, and ninth chapters of "The Aquarian Conspiracy." Marilyn Ferguson writes in Chapter Nine, "You can only have a new society, the visionaries have said, if you change the education of the younger generation. Yet the new society itself is the necessary force for change in education. ... Of the Aquarian conspirators surveyed, more were involved in education than in any other single category of work. ... Tens of thousands of classroom teachers, educational consultants and psychologists, counselors, administrators, researchers, and faculty members engaged in colleges of education have been among the millions engaged in personal transformation." In other words, American schools like Columbine High have been completely paganized by educators who have adopted the occult philosophy of the Aquarian Conspiracy. It is a philosophy in conflict with Judeo-Christian teachings, and it is a philosophy that opens the door to satanism. It is impossible for a member of the Aquarian Conspiracy to be indifferent to Christianity. He or she must oppose it, for Christianity is based on absolute biblical principles that condemn pagans. And that is why the public educrats are so adamantly opposed to any acknowledgment of the biblical God in the schools. ..... "

AP 5/16/99 "...Teaching honesty, fairness and other essential values is crucial for students and public servants alike, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh told graduates of Marymount University on Sunday. Freeh said his interest in ethics was renewed by a recent trip to Normandy, France, where he saw the D-Day beaches. He contrasted the 19- and 20-year-olds who fought in World War II to today's generation, in which a majority of high school students say their biggest challenges are ethical ones.....Education provides an important role in teaching ethics, Freeh said. He praised Marymount University, a Catholic school in Arlington, Va., for its Center for Ethical Concerns and said core values should be a stronger part of FBI training...."

Newsmax 5/13/99 Arianna Huffington Freeper Fulbright "...America -- the nation that Alexis de Tocqueville described as ``great because it is good'' -- is losing the moral high ground across the globe. It is easy to dismiss the anti-American demonstrations in Beijing as choreographed by opportunistic dictators to divert attention from their own domestic problems. But it is much harder to shrug off the burning of American flags and the chanting of anti-American slogans in cities from Moscow to Melbourne, from Tokyo to Rome...."

Chattanooga Free Press 5/17/99 Editorial Freeper newsman "...Nor is the problem simply a reflection of a "gun culture" or the absence of gun control. If you go back to the 1950s, you find that there was less gun control then than there is now. And cap pistols, BB-guns and deer rifles were standard equipment for many if not most growing boys. And yet violent crime in America then was but a small fraction of what it has since become..."

Freeper tracey12 5/18 Dan Patrick KPRC 950 AM Houston Texas "...In Houston Texas today, KPRC 950 AM radio with host, Dan Patrick began discussing the orders handed down by Federal Judge, Sam Kent. By the time this two hour discussion was over, people in Houston and the surrounding counties were mad as Hell at this judge because of what he has done to a High School in a near by community. Judge Kent issued a restraining order which states that a student may say a prayer at the graduation ceremony for Santa Fe High School on May 28th, but any prayer that contains the words "God, or Jesus" or any diety will result in the student being arrested by Federal Marshals on the spot, and that student will spend SIX MONTHS in jail for violating the judeges orders. He went on to say a number of very mean statements including "You will wish you had died as a child." This is the most profound case of documented abuse by a Federal Judge that I have ever seen! Here in Houston, we are hoping that 20/20, or some news magazine will quickly come here and make a story out of this for all of the country to see how an appointed judge can abuse the rights of many Americans. The graduating class of Santa Fe High is over 400 this year! That judge is violating the Free Speech rights and the Freedom of Religion rights of these Americans. Dan Patrick, owner of KPRC 950 AM in Houston, talked with both Rush Limbaugh, and Mike Reagan about mentioning this story on their programs. Listen on Wednesday to see if anything is said about this incredible Judge, Sam Kent in Galveston Texas. Judge Kent says he is calling in the Federal Marshals to stand by the stage, and if anyone says "God or Jesus, or the name of any other diety, those marshals will take that student to jail on the spot!..."

Conservative News Service 5/18/99 Scott Hogenson "...The American Library Association has decided to continue linking from its Internet web site to a teen sex site that counsels teenagers on safe sex with animals, maintenance of violent sex toys, sado-masochism and other exotic aspects of sexuality. The ALA decision was made at an impromptu meeting of the group's division heads in Chicago Sunday, when top officials from the organization decided to continue linking from the ALA web site to another site called Go Ask Alice, according to ALA spokeswoman Linda Wallace. "Nobody raised any concerns," about the Go Ask Alice site, said Wallace. "They're basically saying 'fine,' but they didn't say it formally," Wallace told CNS....."

http://www.cashill.com 5/18/99 Jack Cashill "....An alien monitoring our media from a different galaxy--even if he did have cable--would never guess that the most God-fearing country in the industrial world is none other than the good old USA. Here, some 60% of the citizenry attends church at least semi-regularly. In England, by contrast, that figure is down to about 3%. In surveys, more than 90% of Americans express belief in heaven and/or hell, devils and/or angels and close to 100% believe in God. Every weekend, from rural backwater to big city store front, millions of American burst out in effusive rituals of energy and enthusiasm that for many represent the most significant cultural expression in their lives. Our alien friend would never see this. Newspapers bury religious news as deeply as they can: The Star stashes it somewhere between entertainment and obituaries. TV avoids religious news altogether unless there is a whiff of scandal about it, say a minister who spends the Orphan's fund on hookers or an accusation of priestly child molestation, real or "recovered." In Hollywood, it's been at least 40 years since the likes of Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman played nuns or Bing Crosby and Humphrey Bogart played priests. And in schools, alas, religion in any form is about as welcome as head lice. (It could be worse I suppose. In the more "progressive" Canada, religious broadcasting has historically been illegal.)...What stemmed the hemmoraging of American Christianity was a cross-sect yearning to get back to the basics. Protestant churches, Southern Baptists most visibly, rebelled or reformed themselves as need be to avoid the disintegrating power of progressivism. In the process, they learned that the surest way to make news--maybe the only way--is to challenge the PC canon on hot topics like gender and orientation. This challenge has earned traditionalists the undisguised scorn of the media--Boycott Disneyland! Da noive!--but then again, the Magic Kingdom has never been the Kingdom these folks sought the keys to. ...Still, with or without the media, that old time religion will endure and occasionally revive itself. It had better. America can not exist without it...."

The Wanderer, page 5 5/20/99 Samuel Francis Freeper Marianne "...A culture hasn't collapsed just because more Klebolds and Harrises have appeared; a culture has collapsed when ordinary people, like the gentleman quoted above, are no longer able to distinguish between the robes of a priest and the trench coats of madmen, when no one is able or willing to set apart good and evil, normal and abnormal, healthy and unhealthy, or the people who embody them. When that happens, we no longer have a culture at all, and the Klebolds and Harrises will walk among us unnoticed and unrestrained until, one night, they wake up and slaughter us all for no apparent reason...."

WorldNetDaily 5/20/99 Craige McMillan "...As it is with men and their leaders, so it is with nations: "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15).....For a pittance in campaign contributions China bought our nuclear secrets from the Democratic National Committee, acting as banker for the Clinton-Gore White House. For its treason, Clinton-Gore gained four more years to lie about the economy. Treat it like a poll: find out what the nation's economists think is necessary, then deliver those numbers at the end of the month. Why risk the unpleasant surprises that real numbers could generate? Men and women who supported a liar for president -- and begged their senators for his reprieve -- have no claim to anything better. Let the good times roll and pass the stock options!...."

Freeper reports on C-Span/House of Representatives 5/20/99 Rep. James Traficant/D-Ohio "...I saw Rep. Traficant on C-Span this morning talking about the shootings at Heritage High School in Atlanta. He said "Congress needs to look into the mirror....our students learn about devil worship and Hitler, but they can't have God." "And a nation that bans God...is a nation that opens the door to the devil." He ended his little one-minute speech by saying "It's time to get God back into our schools...and God back into our nation." ..."

Washington Post 5/29/99 "...THE AUDIENCE at a Calvert County high school graduation was wrong to have interjected religious worship into the county's secular educational life. That is what happened this week when thousands in the audience, faced with a lawful school ban on prayer and with advice from the state attorney general's office to drop a formal prayer from the ceremony, ignored the restrictions and recited the Lord's Prayer. It was a defiant act, an incursion on the freedom of conscience of others and a prescription for the kind of community divisiveness that the Supreme Court's school prayer decision aimed to avoid. That there was discord was evident from the treatment of Nick Becker, the student who had successfully opposed the inclusion of formal prayer as part of the graduation ceremony. Mr. Becker walked out of the hall in protest once the mass spontaneous prayer began. When he tried to return to the ceremony to collect his diploma, he was detained in a squad car and threatened with arrest by state police...."

Washington Times, Weekly Edition 5/24/99 B.K. Eakman "...Paul Weyrich, Cal Thomas, and Ed Dobson recently announced that the culture wars are lost, that most people don't defend, or even necessarily believe in, the values that characterized the Moral Majority and the Reagan revolution. They say social conservatives have failed politically since none of their agenda items have seen the light of day in seven years...... How did we lose? We lost by basing our strategy on wishful thinking instead of the realities of war, by allowing turf battles to split our alliances, by treating our allies like competition instead of welcoming them as friends. If we are to save our way of life in the coming century, individuals of principle will have to don the mentality of the resistance fighter. We no longer have the luxury of time for righteous indignation...."

Associated Press 5/24/99 Sandra Sobieraj "...Treading on traditional Republican territory, Vice President Al Gore said Monday that churches and other faith-based organizations - where "the client is not a number, but a child of God'' - should receive government funds to help cure social ills. His proposal for "a new partnership'' between church and state, outlined in a presidential campaign speech at a downtown Salvation Army, centered around the notion that "politics and morality are deeply interrelated.'' Lest there be any doubt, the Democratic presidential candidate said three times that he believes in the separation of church and state. And his language suggested a skittishness at opening a war with civil libertarians....."It's taken too long for candidate Gore to join Republicans in recognizing the rightful role of churches and religious organizations in solving society's most challenging and pressing problems,'' Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee said. At the same time, he welcomed Gore's "change of heart.'' ...."

Newsday.com 5/28/99 James Pinkerton "...The so- called "charitable choice" proposal now has the support of both Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.).....The Right has always known that belief was the key to personal virtue. But the Left has tended to dismiss religion as the "opiate of the masses." Progressives have wanted to transform society and government; only after such social engineering was accomplished would bureaucrats get around to dealing with people and their "unmet needs." On Monday, Gore distanced himself from that discredited liberal line. "For too long," he said in a speech to the Salvation Army in Atlanta, the Left maintained that "religious values should play no role in addressing public needs." But the "hollow secularism" that resulted, Gore continued, was not sufficient to spark the "personal transformation" needed to save people from the traps of "addiction, delinquency or dependency." And so Gore endorsed legislation, first proposed by Ashcroft, one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate, that would allow "faith-based" organizations to compete for government social service contracts and to deliver those services as part of a faith-based transformational package. "For too long, faith-based organizations have wrought miracles on a shoestring," said the vice president. "With the steps I'm proposing today, they will no longer need to depend on faith alone." No doubt Gore is secretly pleased that liberal groups, such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have attacked him, imparting on him an aura of Clinton-like triangulatory centrism. For his part, Ashcroft welcomed Gore's support....."

ETWN 5/31/99 ZENIT News Agency "...Some U.N. agencies condition their aid to victims of hurricane 'Mitch' by imposing birth-control plans. This determined policy of U.N. agencies was made official during the meeting, which concludes today in Stockholm, of the Consultative Group for the Reconstruction of Central America, led by the Inter-American Development Bank, and including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. According to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, the Reconstruction Group was created last December to launch an international fund-raising campaign for humanitarian aid to the peoples of Central America affected by last October's hurricane 'Mitch.' The donor countries have guaranteed the Stockholm meeting $6.2 billion but, in exchange, request from the interested governments certain commitments, salient among which are programs for birth control...."

Scripps Howard News Service/Knoxville News-Sentinel 6/1/99 Joan Lowy, Freeper Brian Mosely "... Civil libertarians suffered a major setback last week when Vice President Al Gore embraced a legal concept called "charitable choice" which permits government to aid religious groups that perform social services while allowing them to retain an overtly religious flavor. Groups concerned about maintaining a separation between church and state -- from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Joint Baptist Committee to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judiasm -- have been fighting charitable choice since it was included in sweeping welfare reform legislation enacted in 1996...."

Washington Times 6/1/99 Balint Vazsonyi "....Astonishing but true: The academic year just completed has elicited few howls of anguish about the rising level of incompetence threatening to engulf this land, whereas near-hysterical attacks on prayer and guns have become our daily bread. Is it rational to be against both prayer and guns?Perhaps it is. ..."

email: From: 'Chris W. Stark' 5/27/99 Darrell Scott "...TESTIMONY OF DARRELL SCOTT FATHER OF TWO VICTIMS OF COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING LITTLETON, COLORADO BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THURSDAY, MAY 27,1999 2:00 P.M. 2141 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING Since the dawn of creation there has been both good and evil in the heart of men and of women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher and the other children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.... In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughters death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent. I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy - it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies!...."

http://cnn.com/ 6/4/99 CNN "...President Bill Clinton Friday used his recess appointment privilege to name James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg. Clinton's move was in direct defiance of the Senate's GOP leadership who have refused to confirm Hormel because he is openly gay. The recess appointment is a constitutional device that becomes available to the president if an appointment is made while Congress is in recess. Both the House and the Senate return from their 10-day Memorial Day holiday on Monday. Under the recess appointment, Hormel, 66, will be able to serve until the end of 2000, when the 106th Congress adjourns. All of Clinton's ambassadorial appointments expire at the end of his term in January 2001....."

WorldNetDaily 6/7/99 Paul Chesser "....While national media figures and government officials pine for more gun control and limiting Internet access, many parents are quietly taking actions on their own. It is too soon after recent school shooting incidents in Littleton, Colo., and Conyers, Ga., to measure statistically whether parents are adopting alternative methods to educate their children, but evidence indicates that many parents are at least considering teaching their children at home next year. Phone call inquiries to various state home school associations throughout the country have jumped since the Columbine High School shootings April 20, with some parents panic-stricken in their search to find other educational options for their children...."

(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) 6/03/1999 Cal Thomas "...SOMETHING QUITE REMARKABLE happened last week at a high school graduation in Calvert County, Maryland. It wasn't that the American Civil Liberties Union had intervened on behalf of a lone student who said he would be offended if a fellow graduate went ahead with her plans to deliver an invocation at commencement. The religious version of "ethnic cleansing'' happens all the time, from the courthouse to the schoolhouse. Seventeen-year-old Julie Schenk, who wanted to deliver the invocation, compromised and announced that she would instead call for a "time for reflection'' that did not mention God. That seemed fine with everybody, including the ACLU. But when Schenk asked for 30 seconds of silence and the crowd of 4,000 rose, a single loud male voice began reciting the Lord's Prayer, which begins, "Our Father, who art in heaven.'' The prayer was quickly picked up by others in the audience until it rolled like thunder across the room....What amazes about this incident is that the audience reaction seems to have been spontaneous. Indeed, an ACLU spokesperson appeared frustrated when she noted the corporate prayer wasn't initiated by graduates or school officials. Nor did the prayer specifically mention "God,'' only "Our Father,'' so technically it might be said to have been in compliance.... For decades we have been told that the price we all must pay for a healthy First Amendment is the toleration of the most disgusting filth oozing through every pore of our society and culture. Creeps, louts, pornographers, blasphemers, alternative lifestylers, fornicators, adulterers, liars, slanderers and other forms of human rubbish enjoy the full protection of the law, but those who believe in God and order their lives accordingly, and who wish to participate in the pluralism and diversity which they hear so much about (but which never seems to apply to them) are increasingly losing their rights to be heard in the same public places occupied by those dedicated to tearing down, not building up, society. What these Maryland parents and friends of graduates discovered was a power they had forgotten they had. Frustrated by the aimlessness of Washington and its inability to do anything except focus on the self-preservation and survival of the politically unfit, the audience at the Calvert County graduation decided to practice what "We the people'' actually means. As their forebears did with immoral and tyrannical British rule, they stood up and spoke out for, and to, an Authority higher than the state. When those Marylanders were told they had no right to speak of God publicly, they chose to speak to God. When Rosa Parks decided she would not obey an immoral law that required her to sit at the back of the bus because her skin color was not white, she inspired a civil rights movement that is ongoing. Maybe those prayer protesters are the Rosa Parks of the secularist '90s. When the people speak, there's nothing the ACLU or anyone else can do about it...."

Eagle Forum 6/2/99 Phyllis Schlaffy "...In the interest of the public's right to know, Senator Jim Jeffords' Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions conducted an oversight hearing last week on the controversies surrounding "Channel One." That's the 12-minute-a -day news and advertising program beamed into the classrooms of 40% of all 11 to 18 year olds. Channel One is able to offer its advertisers what every advertiser dreams of: a guaranteed captive audience. Children attend school because of compulsory attendance laws, and children are forced to watch Channel One because their school board signed a contract agreeing to compel them..... A Channel One marketing flier promises: "Channel One delivers the hardest to reach teen viewers. Channel One even penetrates the lightest viewers among teens". Of course, that's because schoolchildren are forced to watch the Channel One ads. Prayer and Bible reading have been banned from the schools because they interfere with the right of athiest children not to have to sit in a classroom where prayers are recited. What about the rights of children whose parents don't want them listening to satanic shock rocker Marilyn Manson (whose song was played as intro music to a Channel One program)? What about parents who don't want their children to see clips from Stephen King's horror film "The Shining"? Or don't want them to be pressured to see the sex-saturated TV-14 show "Dawson's Creek," or the grusome killings in the movie "The Mummy"? The most objectionable commercials are the many hard-sell ads for movies and television shows that contain vulgarities, obscenities, blasphemies, sexual innuendoes, or violence. The ads induce students to see the movie over the weekend so they can answer a question the following week and win fabulous prizes....."

AP 6/10/99 "...Pope John Paul II stressed loyalty to the church today and cautioned young people against falling victim to "travesties of religion, or to manipulations of the truth.'' ....[ re: Russian martyrs] John Paul said. "'How sweet it is to die for the faith.' These were their last words.'' Such devotion was needed today, he said, citing "problems and violent changes'' facing humanity. "In such a world, many people, especially the young, feel lost and wounded,'' the pontiff said. "Some fall victim to sects and travesties of religion, or to manipulations of the truth. Others succumb to different forms of slavery. Attitudes of selfishness, injustice and insensitivity to the needs of others become more widespread.''..."

Nando Times 6/10/99 J. DeFAO and M. Jones "...Thursday night, Jason Niemeyer will don a black cap and gown and join 190 classmates as they slowly process to strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" on the football field of Oroville's Harrison Stadium. But the time-honored traditions will end there because Oroville High's valedictorian - with four years of straight A's behind him and a grade-point average above 4.0 - will not give his prepared address. Niemeyer and his family are locked in a legal battle over whether student graduation speakers can make references to God. If it sounds familiar, it is because Niemeyer's older brother, Chris, was in the same place last year. School officials barred Chris Niemeyer's valedictory address on the grounds that it was sectarian, with such lines as: "We must yield to God our lives." They also rejected the prayer of another student. Just hours before the graduation, a federal judge declined to intervene. The Niemeyer family sued, claiming the school was violating Chris' First Amendment right to free speech. U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of Sacramento has yet to issue his ruling, though one is expected soon..... school officials told the family's attorney, "Tell Jason he doesn't need to plan on writing a speech, because he probably won't be giving it." The family believes it was retaliation for their lawsuit, to which Jason had been added as a plaintiff...... In a hearing on the suit two weeks ago, Karlton asked the parties to "see what can be done to permit Jason to speak within the confines of the administration's comfort zone." Jason Niemeyer then submitted two speeches, both with the same typical high school recollections of homecoming and friendships and being "puny little freshmen being picked on." One version named Jesus Christ directly, and the second deleted the name but referred to "a friend who has personally helped me to achieve my goals, and I give Him the praise and glory for that." Jason learned Monday night that both had been rejected by school officials. Keiner said both versions "ask the audience to accept Jesus Christ as their friend and we believe that is unconstitutional at the podium." ...."

Washington Post 6/11/99 Caryle Murphy "...A Senate Republican aide came under fire this week for what members of the Muslim community called his bigoted remarks on Islam. But Idaho Sen. Larry E. Craig, the number three ranking Republican in the Senate, rejected calls to fire the aide, citing his right to free speech. James George Jatras, a foreign policy staff analyst on the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said Islam has a "fraudulent self-depiction as a pacific creed," arises from "the darkness of heathen Araby" and rivals communism as one of the "gigantic Christian-killing machines." In an apparent reference to historic Islamic descriptions of heaven, Jatras added that "it is beyond me what spiritual values any Christian has in common with someone whose idea of beatific bliss is boinking an endless parade of the well-rounded houris said to inhabit the Muslim paradise."..... "I absolutely condemn any sort of bigotry or intolerance," Craig said in his reply to CAIR a day later. But "the exchange of opinions and ideas . . . that some might find disagreeable is an important part of the workings of free society." For him to dismiss Jatras, Craig added, "would not constitute the censuring of bigotry, but its practice." ..."

Washington Times 6/14-20/99 Andrea Billups "...A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has agreed to decide if a first-grader's free-speech rights were violated when his teacher forbade him from reading a Bible story to his class. Eight months ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit agreed with a lower-court ruling that teacher Grace Oliva did not violate Zachary Hood's rights when she kept the Catholic student from reading the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau in front of his classmates. The boy's presentation, taken from his favorite book of Bible stories, did not mention God or the Bible and was cleared by his mother as appropriate material for an assignment designed to highlight his reading proficiency. The teacher, who called the story "a prayer," did allow Zachary to read it to her alone...."

AP Wire 6/15/99 "...Mark Friestad said it, the audience believed it, and that settled it. The 26-year-old high school social studies teacher from Valley City, N.D., won the Great American Think-Off on Saturday with a convincing spiel that science is more dangerous than religion.... The seventh annual event featured debate between four finalists selected from about 500 argumentative essays submitted from around the world. The Think-Off audience then selected a winner, who receives $500 and a contract from an educational book publisher. Friestad cited the early 1900s eugenics movement, which hypothesized the human gene pool could be improved if weak links were removed. ``That led to public policy like sterilizing handicapped people,'' he said. ``We accepted that because scientists told us it was so. And anytime you have to rely on someone else to do your thinking for you, that's dangerous.''..."

UPI Focus 6/14/99 Michael Kirkland "...The Supreme Court has let stand a lower- court ruling in favor of Maryland officials who refused to provide funds to a religious college, drawing a sharp dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. At issue was whether officials - when deciding whether to grant funding to an institution - should focus on the religious nature of the institution or the secular purpose of the activity that the funds would support. In the case rejected by the justices today, Maryland refused funding to a college affiliated with Seventh-day Adventists, saying it was "pervasively sectarian," while providing funds to three other religiously affiliated schools. In a rare three-and-a-half page dissent to the denial of review, Thomas acknowledged that the "pervasively sectarian" concept was established in a 1976 Supreme Court decision, Roemer vs. Board of Public Works of Md. "We invented the 'pervasively sectarian' test as a way to distinguish between schools that carefully segregate religious and secular matters," Thomas said, "and schools that consider their religious and education missions indivisible and therefore require religion to permeate all activities." Thomas, one of the Supreme Court's most conservative members and a devout Roman Catholic, said a number of more recent decisions in the 1980s and 1990s have said that public assistance may be made available in many cases to religious schools or students when it is "based upon neutral, secular criteria." "We should take this opportunity to scrap the 'pervasively sectarian' test and re-affirm that the Constitution requires, at a minimum, neutrality not hostility toward religion," Thomas argued...."

Original Sources (www.originalsources.com) 6/16/99 Mary Mostert "…"The KLA has set its check points and controls the town. KLA groups have besieged the Bishop's Court with bishop Artemije, monks and priests inside. In the church yard, monuments of emperor Dushan and Russian consul Yastrebov are destroyed. The German contingent cannot guarantee safety and security neither for the Serbs, nor for the priests and the monks, and officers advised the Bishop, the priest and monks to leave Prizren tomorrow with the remaining Serbs." And thus the destruction begins - a destruction reminiscent of the Barbarian Assault on Rome, in the 5th Century, A.D.: "THE HOLY ARCHANGEL MONASTERY (XIV century - 2 km from Prizren) This morning KLA has kidnapped one monk and some Serbs from Prizren. Their fate is uncertain. "THE HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY- MUSUTISTE ( XV century) Today the monastery church has been burnt down, few days ago the monastery residence was burnt down. The nuns have escaped to the Gracanica monastery. "THE SAINTS KUZMA AND DAMIAN MONASTERY -ZOCISTE (XIV century) The monks have been evacuated to Prizren. The fate of the monastery is unknown. VELIKA HOCA and surrounding villages are deserted. Line of 400 people are on the way to Pristina, although no safe evacuation has been guaranteed. "THE VISOKI DECANI MONASTERY (XIV century) During Yugoslav Army pullout, 150 Albanians from Decani had found safety in the monastery and spent 2 days there, together with a group of 17 Serbs that had escaped earlier. The Italian troops are stationed near the monastery, and their officers are cooperative, and guarantee safety and security Serbs and Albanians alike. "PEC - THE PATRIARCHATE OF PEC (XIII century) The Italian forces are in the town, relations are good. There are no more than 50 Serbs left in the town. The nuns at the Partriarchate are well. "THE DEVIC MONASTERY (XV century) There is no information. The arrival of the French contingent is expected tomorrow. "THE GORIOC MONASTERY (XIV century) No presence of KLA is registd. The arrival of the French contingent is expected." And so we watch as NATO helps IMPLEMENT the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo, just as we watched the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Croatia in 1995 with the help of US bombers, while the media, who MUST know it is lying, talks about "Serbian War Crimes."…"

AP 6/17/99 Laurie Kellman "…The House voted today to allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in schools and other government buildings. By 248-180, lawmakers approved Rep. Robert Aderholt's amendment to a juvenile crime bill that would allow states to decide whether to permit such displays on government property. The amendment, Aderholt said, was a ``first step'' for government in reinstilling the value of human life in children influenced by violent culture…."

Reuters 6/18/99 Evelyn Leopold "…A Swiss-based Christian charity group which campaigns against slavery in Sudan said on Friday a decision by a U.N. panel to withdraw its U.N. accreditation was a ``vote of shame.'' The United States was alone late on Thursday in voting against the withdrawal of credentials from Christian Solidarity International (CSI). In January the group bought the freedom of 1,050 slaves, mainly children, for $50 per person. The U.N. panel's decision has to be reviewed by the 54-nation U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which meets in Geneva in June. Christian Solidarity is one of hundreds of voluntary groups with expertise in various fields which are allowed to take part in the work of ECOSOC, the main U.N. body dealing with social and economic affairs….``This is a technical complaint. We did not politicize the issue,'' Sudan's ambassador Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa said. The panel has made several controversial decisions recently, particularly when human rights groups are involved…."

The New York Post 6/19/99 Editorial "…Jerrold Nadler, the New York City congressman, is doubtless a man of many talents, but biblical scholarship is not one of them. "Whose Ten Commandants?" he thundered on the floor of the House during Thursday's vote on amendments to the gun control measure that passed later that night. "Which version? The Catholic version? The Protestant version or the Jewish version?" Umm ... they're all pretty much the same, congressman. You know - thou shalt not kill, honor thy mother and father, that sort of thing. Sure, there are slight differences in translation (some versions don't use the words "thou" and "thy," for example), but we're not talking anything major…."

The Associated Press 6/18/99 Steve Geissinger "…Three of the area's five synagogues were hit almost simultaneously by arsonists Friday, and a leaflet blaming the ``International Jew World Order'' for the war in Kosovo was left behind. The fires caused moderate damage to two synagogues and gutted a third temple's library, destroying a collection of videos on Jewish history. Investigators questioned four youths who fled from police near Congregation B'nai Israel, the most heavily damaged, and determined they had nothing to do with the fires. There were no suspects Friday evening. ``Hate is hate. You can't predict when it will happen,'' said Lou Anapolsky, president of B'nai Israel…."

New York Post 6/19/99 Angela Allen "…Thou shalt not put the Ten Commandments in the classroom. That was the reaction of educators in the nation's largest school system, who turned thumbs down on the controversial congressional proposal. Conservative Rep. Robert Aderhold (R-Ala.) is pushing to let states decide if they want to display the biblical rules in public schools. The measure was passed by the House Thursday and now goes before the Senate. Yesterday, dozens of educators and administrators from all five boroughs declined to speak out on the thorny issue, but the few who did voiced little support for the plan…"

Washington Post (Page C1) 6/22/99 Lyndsey Layton "... Life has changed in the neat gray house on the loping country lane. There are sleepless nights and tense conversations, and the telephone now has an unlisted number. Because you can't be too cautious in the days after you've been labeled the Young Atheist of Calvert County. In his sneakers and thrift store bowling shirt with "Cathy" embroidered on the chest, Nick Becker doesn't look like a threat to society. But ever since he defied the adults in his rural community 35 miles south of the District, he's been tagged by everyone from local politicians to a national columnist as the embodiment of all that is wrong with America. He had the U.S. Constitution and the Maryland state attorney general on his side. And when he questioned local authorities, they threatened to arrest him and banned him from a post-graduation party. The community reacted even more harshly, labeling Becker with one of the worst pejoratives in a conservative, churchgoing place: atheist... .But the prayerful folks in Calvert County insist they also are standing up for something admirable. They say they exercised their constitutional right to religious expression and are fighting a society that has squeezed God out of public life and thrown itself out of kilter as a result. "This is an average American community which chose to exercise our rights to pray," says Linda L. Kelley, president of the county commissioners and one of several community leaders who ignored a ban on prayer and recited the Lord's Prayer during the graduation ceremony. "No one in Annapolis or Washington, D.C., is going to tell us when and where we can pray." .....Becker tried to get another video--a fright movie parody about a family that got chopped up and put in the bathtub--aired on local cable-access television; it was rejected. ....A problem Becker wrote for the Web page displays his sensibility: He's smart--and a smart aleck. "A 20-lb bag full of severed thumbs is dropped from the second highest floor of the Sears Tower, 1542 feet above the ground. The top floor was rented out for a Narcoleptic Rabbi Association (NRA) convention . . . (a) Find the position and velocity functions for dem thumbs . . . (b) How long does it take for dem thumbs to smash into the pavement below in a disgusting, bloody mess?" .....Cal Thomas, a syndicated columnist, checked out Becker's Web site and compared him to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teenage gunmen in the Columbine High School shootings. "Why is God the only idea banned from government schools, while the demons that produce the beliefs of a Harris, a Klebold and a Becker are tolerated, protected, even promoted?" Thomas wrote...... Anyone looking to reinforce a dark image of an angry young man can find plenty of material on Becker's Web page. "My Dad Can Go To Hell (In C# Major)" rails against a father's attempt at control.....One November day in the 11th grade, Becker refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. "I don't think there's any point in making us stand up while someone recites rhetoric," Becker says..... he sent an e-mail to the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent a fax to the school the next day, informing administrators that they could not require Becker to stand for the pledge. Principal George Miller apologized. Becker wasn't delicate in victory. He posted a story about the episode on his Web site in which he called the flag "the cloth on a stick." .....But when it came time at the graduation for a "moment of reflection" that had replaced the prayer, some in the audience--including the county's highest elected officials--defiantly recited the Lord's Prayer. Becker walked out and was threatened with arrest by state police when he tried to re-enter to claim his diploma. Then he was barred from the post-graduation boat cruise, for which he had already bought a ticket...."People who have been silent on the question of prayer are now taking a stand," Linda Kelley says. "There's not a function that I've attended since this whole thing started--Eagle Scout swearing-in, picnic--where people aren't talking about it. If government is about 'We the People,' well, we the people have made a statement here."..."

Conservative News Source 6/21/99 Lawrence Morahan "...Nicholas Lassonde, an A student whose graduation speech at Amador Valley High School was censored by school authorities because he sought to urge his classmates to follow God, is considering suing the school on the grounds his right to free speech was violated. The school district in Pleasanton, California, required Lassonde to remove religious references from his speech on Friday because they felt it would be a violation of the separation of church and state to allow him to talk about God. Lassonde wanted to tell his classmates not to put their trust "in princes and mortal men who cannot even save themselves," but the school thought he was going too far..... Each time he came to a portion of his speech his principals found objectionable, he told his audience that the school didn't feel that the passage was appropriate and invited them to get copies of the uncensored version that were handed out at the gate. If stifling the message was the aim of the school, it didn't succeed. The incident has gained much attention in local and national media, and given the graduate more play than he would have received if he'd been allowed to give the speech....."His speech didn't require anyone to bow their head or close their eyes. It didn't even require anyone to say or do anything. They could agree or disagree in the sanctity of their own minds. But that wasn't enough for the school district," Aden said...."

ABCNews.com 6/22/99 Heather Maher "...The news is not good, according to Michael Novak, a theologian and someone who thinks about these matters much harder than most people. Novak won the Templeton Prize in religion in 1994 and is the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Novak is a Thinker with a capital T. "In our cultural system, there's something very rotten, everyone feels that," the Thinker says. Apparently, America is in the grips of "moral entropy;" our republic is on a veritable downward slide. "There's practically a universal sense that something has gone wrong, but when we go to name it, we disagree."....The Thinker patiently explains: our freewheeling, liberated ways have given us a "dizzying" freedom that is actually putting a big strain on us, because it creates so many choices and distractions. And that makes it "harder to concentrate one's moral energies," Novak says, "and they become diffused." By "moral energies," he means all things good and noble - telling the truth, holding a door, helping a neighbor, making ethical choices, practicing self-sacrifice, taking responsibility, etc., etc. The feeling you get after talking a while with this deep thinker (besides intellectual inferiority) is that we are largely a diffused (and confused) country, turning to the media and movies as our main source of inspiration, and preoccupied with the pursuit of more choices, more flavors, more channels. A nation adept at gunning the engine of social progress, preening its feathers for being so ambitious and successful, but that rarely gets around to developing individual character traits like manners, or to practicing things like reflection and contemplation. And most damning, a nation so caught up in getting to the mall before it closes, it forgets to have dinner as a family or have meaningful chats with its kids about politics, religion, the arts - topics that fall in the Jeopardy category: "Things That Aren't Mundane."...."

Washington Times 6/24/99 Barbara Reynolds "...The Army's decision to allow witches as an official religion may come back to not only devil that institution, but also the rest of us. Recently the Army has sanctioned witches. They can wear their pentagram rings, moon tattoos under their uniforms. And at Fort Hood, Texas, the nation's largest base, the Army has given them a campsite so they can dance around the campfire chanting and working magic. In light of this, other equally weirdo pseudo-religions, such as the Church of Satan, Black Judaism and Scientology, are also petitioning the Army to allow them to do their thing, all of which worries me...."

Associated Press Will Lester 6/24/99 "...While Americans rallied behind President Clinton during the impeachment process, a bipartisan poll released today suggests the public has a growing concern about moral leadership that may help Republicans. The GOP has almost a 20 percentage-point edge over Democrats when asked which party best represents the values of faith in God, personal responsibility, ethics and honesty and knowing right from wrong, according to the latest Battleground Poll. Democrats and Republicans are tied at 39 percent apiece when voters were asked which party they would vote for if the election for Congress were held today..... But when registered voters were asked which one issue they think is the most important, a fourth said restoring moral values, followed by a fifth of the total who thought improving education was the top issue....."

Reagan Information Exchange 6/24/99 Mary Mostert "...Associated Press reported yesterday that the House voted to "allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in schools and other government buildings. By 248-180, lawmakers approved Rep. Robert Aderholt's amendment to a juvenile crime bill that would allow states to decide whether to permit such displays on government property..... Let's take a deep breath and go back to basics.... The ignorance of those who claim the posting the Ten Commandments in public school is "forcing Christian doctrine on non-Christians" is simply abysmal. There is nothing that potentially could unite the people of America - of ALL religions than posting the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were designed to move the children of Israel away from the law of the jungle to a minimal law. Jesus Christ brought to the world a Higher Law. Mosaic law was "Thou shalt not commit adultery," for example. Jesus Christ's law is "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The Mosaic law is "Thou shalt not kill. ." Jesus Christ's law is, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." If America has sunk to such a low cultural level that the Ten Commandments, upon which the law of this land was based, has become too controversial to post in public places, we are surely teetering on the edge of the same kind of destruction experienced by the Roman Empire...."

INSIGHT Magazine 7/19/99 Kelly Patricia O'Meara "...Public schools and local libraries increasingly have been choosing to make available to children graphic and sexually explicit books that barely can be described in this magazine. Picture your adolescent browsing through the school library. Other than home, it's the one place parents may feel sure their children are likely to be protected from pornography, obscenity, perversion and other vulgarity. But are they? ..... Innocently scanning the school-library shelves a child chooses It's Perfectly Normal, a book about sex and reproduction by Robie Harris. Flipping through the pages, young readers might immediately be attracted to the drawings of adolescents like themselves, touching their private parts. Naturally, their curiosity aroused, they begin to read soothing words normalizing things younger readers may never have heard of or even understand. For example, "Masturbation is touching or rubbing any of your body's sex organs for pleasure -- because it feels good. One everyday term for masturbating is 'playing with yourself.' A girl often rubs her clitoris; a boy often rubs his penis."..... It's Perfectly Normal now is considered by national library authorities to be appropriate for children in elementary school. Of a total of 89 pages, 30 present drawings with explicit genital detail; one illustrates kids masturbating while another shows a boy in a classroom with an erection under his clothes. Because of such graphic and explicit material, a growing number of parents are challenging the appropriateness of books such as this for the age group at which they are directed....."

World Net Daily 6/25/99 David Limbaugh "...During the last three-plus decades, extremists in this country hostile to America's Judeo-Christian tradition have succeeded in erecting an almost absolute barrier between church and state. These anti-biblical zealots claim to have been acting in deference to constitutional principles. In fact, they have acted in willful disregard of those principles -- revealing their contempt, not their allegiance, to our constitutional heritage. The framers of the Constitution never intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state, merely to prevent the government from establishing a state religion. Even liberal Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas acknowledged that the framers didn't forbid all church and state interaction. In Zorach vs. Clausen (1952), he stated, "The First Amendment ... does not say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and State...." Last week, Congress showed uncharacteristic courage by enacting politically incorrect legislation permitting the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools and other government buildings. This represents a radical liberation from our cultural bondage to liberal historical revisionism. Last week, Joe Farah made the excellent point that "the Ten Commandments form the very basis of Western law." We should be aware that other Biblical laws were also foundational to our system of jurisprudence. In the Book of Exodus following the Ten Commandments are further laws, sometimes collectively referred to as the Book of the Covenant. As a lawyer, I was fascinated to discover just how much of our law -- torts, contracts, property and criminal law -- is obviously traceable to this section of Scripture...... Don't be fooled by the secular elite into believing that our Founding Fathers feared any intrusion of biblical precepts into our governmental system. Those who teach that the framers prescribed total separation of church and state are pitifully divorced from objective truth and from undoctored American history....."

Associated Press 6/25/99 Linda Deutsch "....A panel of appeals court judges expressed open skepticism Thursday about a private citizen's right to force a public school to post the Ten Commandments on a ballfield fence where advertising space was sold. Justice Michael Mott of the California 2nd District Court of Appeal noted that with a $400 contribution to the Downey High School baseball program, Edward DiLoreto has trapped the school district into a cycle of litigation that "could cost them a fortune." "It could go to the Supreme Court and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars over a $400 sign," Mott said. He said that DiLoreto could have posted his Ten Commandments sign on a billboard on any freeway in California and "would have saved the school district the cost of litigating this." The school refused to post the Ten Commandments on the outfield fence, fearing that it would engender protests over mixing religion with public education...."

New York Post 6/29/99 Rod Dreher "..." HOW serious are the country's theater owners in their new vigilance against letting underage kids into R-rated films? We shall see when "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" opens tomorrow. Though the risque Comedy Central series has built a large following among the under-17 crowd, the "South Park" movie is not for kids. Actually, that's an understatement. In terms of language alone, the Paramount-Warner Bros. co-production is undoubtedly one of the filthiest mainstream films ever released. We can't get into the specifics here, of course, but the sheer volume and creativity of the children's swearing would embarrass a longshoreman. ..."

Washington Post 6/30/99 David Broder "...As we approach another Independence Day national birthday, Americans are worried that their country is backsliding. Despite the best economy in most people's memory, a spate of public opinion polling affirms that most voters are deeply concerned about the moral climate and are searching for ways to restore what they see as lost values. Presidential candidates of all stripes are picking up the same signals and trying to respond as best they can. In almost identical phrases, they lament the weakening of family ties and the erosion of community bonds. They fret particularly about the fear that youngsters, who need clear standards and strong role models, instead are dealing with absentee or overburdened parents and see examples of hypocrisy and misbehavior in high places. Deprived of discipline and, equally, of supportive love, too many of these young people are turning into alienated and sometimes aggressive outcasts -- damaging themselves with drugs and random sex and even turning guns on classmates and teachers...."

Reuters 6/30/99 "...Salvadoran radio stations, responding to a government request, Tuesday banned songs by two controversial rap groups because their lyrics were said to be an assault on public decency.... Stations aimed at youth audiences were asked to pull from their playlists the Mecate hit ``El Directo,'' a song telling the story of an infamous Salvadoran gang member and his life on the country's mean streets and in its jails...."

New York Post 6/30/99 Editorial "...When Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) first introduced legislation last fall to set up a national commission on terrorism, Arab-American groups complained that the proposed membership - including such renowned scholars as Fouad Ajami - contained "Muslim-bashers" and others who would "infringe upon our civil rights." To that crowd, a commission whose mandate is to "review counter-terrorism policies regarding the prevention and punishment of international acts of terrorism directed at the United States" is biased if it focuses on fundamentalist Islamic groups - which are the primary source of international anti-American acts of terrorism. Apparently, however, those protests have born fruit: House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) has appointed to the commission an official who can easily be described as an Israel-basher with disturbing sympathies for Islamic terrorists. He is Salam al-Marayati, director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. Although he has publicly condemned individual acts of terrorism, al-Marayati has attacked efforts to investigate U.S. fund-raising links to such terrorist groups as Hamas and Hezbollah According to a list of public statements compiled by terrorism expert Steven Emerson, al-Marayati has compared American Revolutionary soldiers to Hamas and Hezbollah, and said: "When Patrick Henry said, 'Give me liberty or give me death,' that statement epitomized jihad [holy war]." ...."

Orlando Sentinel 6/23/99 Kathleen Parker "...Just when you thought "strange" has been fully exploited, someone raises the bar. In one week, here's what crossed my desk: *In Chicago, a group of third-grade boys were reprimanded for praying together on the playground. *In Fort Myers, Florida, a teacher scheduled a cross-dressing day for his middle-school students. *In Middletown, Connecticut, college students at Wesleyan University created pornographic movies for a film class. Hello? Who's in charge here? I feel like the entire country is guzzling LSD punch while I'm sipping Irish Breakfast Tea. ...And what did you learn today, kids? Well, let's see, Prayer is bad; cross-dressing is rad; pornography is a legitimate career choice. I realize I'm going to have to find a new country soon, but before I go, I'd like to make a couple of observations. 1. Adults are obsessed with sex and can't seem to leave children out of it. 2. Public education has become the enemy of parents who, owing to their own confusion in the midst of moral chaos, have become part of the problem. ...."

WashPost 7/2/99 "..."Americans are less likely to marry than ever before, according to a new study, and fewer people who do marry report being "very happy" in their marriages. The report, released yesterday by Rutgers University's National Marriage Project and touted as a benchmark compilation of statistics and surveys, found that the nation's marriage rate has dipped by 43 percent in the past four decades, leaving it at its lowest point in recorded history. This historically low marriage rate, coupled with a soaring divorce rate, has dramatically altered attitudes toward one of society's most fundamental institutions...."

The FederalistDigest 6/29/1999 "...."Though the House hung a copy of the Ten Commandments around Mr. Clinton's neck last week when it approved a measure to give local and state governments the right to display the document, the residents of Brooksville, Alabama, population about 200, aren't waiting for Mr. Clinton to veto the measure. They are incorporating their community and have petitioned an Alabama court for permission to use the King James Bible as their town charter. The town's only ordinances will be the Ten Commandments. "

Washington Times 7/1/99 "...Health enthusiasts may be tempted to put away their running shoes and granola and search for the family Bible. A new study in Demography magazine suggests that if you go to church, you may live up to 14 years longer. The research follows a growing consensus that religious belief and church attendance are key indicators of health, social behavior, political leanings, lifestyles and morality. "There is still a sense in much of the scientific community that religious effects are minor at best or are even irrelevant," says a group of researchers on health and population issues. "Our findings help to dispel such a notion."...."

The Orlando Sentinel 7/1/99 Charlie Reese "...There may be a revolt brewing in America. It seems to be happening in that part of America so mysterious to the political and news-media elite -- the areas that surround, like interstellar space, the elitist strongholds in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. There was a hint in Utah a year or so ago when audience members at a school event defiantly sang a song that some federal judge had commanded that they could not sing. More recently, on the East Coast, a group of parents and students decided to pray in defiance of a court order. The American majority may be fed up with special-interest-group lawyers, using some sorehead as a token plaintiff, persuading political appointees in black robes to jerk Americans around. Somehow, an idea has arisen that a minority may dictate to the majority. That's a perversion of custom. The majority respects the right of minorities to dissent, but minorities must also respect the rights of the majority..."

8/10/98 Reuters "America's leading porn stars were hailed as champions of human rights by the president of the country's largest civil liberties group. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) President Nadine Strossen told porn stars and adult film makers at a conference Friday that their work defended the most fundamental of all human rights -- freedom of speech. "I want to underscore how extremely essential your efforts are. I want to thank and applaud you for your fight and contribution for First Amendment freedom and to galvanize you to 'keep it up,' so to speak," she added."

Electronic Telegraph-UK News 5/13/99 Oliver Poole "...THE Pope was recognised as the overall authority in the Christian world by an Anglican and Roman Catholic commission yesterday which described him as a "gift to be received by all the Churches". Disagreement about the extent of the Pope's authority was one of the main causes of the English Reformation in the 16th century, and has been a constant stumbling block to the two Churches reuniting. However, yesterday's statement, released at Lambeth Palace - which is not binding - accepted that if a new united Christian Church was created it would be the 'Bishop of Rome who would exercise a universal primacy...."

WORLD Magazine 7/16/99 Mindy Belz "… The general secretary of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party, Le Kha Phieu, made his first trip to Cuba this month, a sign of strengthening ties between the two communist holdouts….. The discovery of a classified Vietnamese government document, which goes into great detail about how to suppress Christianity, surprised even stalwart church experts on persecution. The government is increasing pressure to eradicate Christianity, according to a report from World Evangelical Fellowship, in the face of large numbers of Christian conversions, especially among the tribal Hmong people. Church workers say that as many as 300,000 Hmong are now Christians. Fearing that evangelistic upheaval will undermine communist rule as it did in Eastern Europe 10 years ago, Vietnamese authorities have increased pressure to wipe out Christianity among Hmong…."

Source: www.conservativenews.org/ 7/13/99 Thomas Legislative Service "…The House of Representatives has voted 355-0 in favor of a resolution rejecting the conclusions of an article published by the American Psychological Association that suggests sexual relationships between adults and children did not cause pervasive harm. Voting 'Present' on Child Sexual Abuse Resolution
"A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress rejecting the conclusions of a recent article published by the American Psychological Association that suggests that sexual relationships between adults and children might be positive for children." 355 voted in favor of the resolution and there were no votes against it. 13 members voted present, including:
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)
Rep. Thomas Allen (D-ME)
Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA)
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
Rep. William Delahunt (-MA)
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Rep. E.B Johnson (D-TX)
Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI)
Rep. James Moran (D-VA)
Rep. Fortney Stark (D-CA)
Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH)…"

United Press International 7/14/99 "… Officials in this southwest Missouri community are considering an appeal (Wednesday) now that a federal judge has ordered the removal of a Christian fish symbol, called an ichthus (IHK'-thuhs), from the official city seal. Ruling in a case filed by a witchcraft practitioner, the judge decided the logo stamped on Republic's city trucks, flags and letterheads violates the First Amendment separation of church and state…."

AP Wire 7/14/99 "…President Clinton's top ethics advisers are close to recommending a change in federal law to allow the government to finance a certain type of human embryo research -- but the White House instead said Wednesday it will support a more conservative approach. The issue is over experiments with ``master cells,'' the building blocks for other tissues in the body that scientists can cull from human embryos…."

New York Times News Service via. Chicago Tribune 7/15/99 "…Public-school prayer is more than an abstract issue of civil liberties in Alabama. For many students it is the stuff of everyday life, a part of football huddles and weekly assemblies, and the question of its legality has driven political campaigns and prompted mass demonstrations. So when a federal appellate court issued a ruling on Tuesday that permitted students to engage in personal, voluntary prayer in school, it was front-page news across the state. Suddenly, students were given a green light by the court to pray all they wanted in school and to lead other students in prayer, as long as school officials are not involved…. "Permitting students to speak religiously signifies neither state approval nor disapproval of that speech," the judges said in their decision. "The speech is not the state's--either by attribution or by adoption. The permission signifies no more than that the state acknowledges its constitutional duty to tolerate religious expression. Only in this way is true neutrality achieved." On Wednesday, Pryor called the decision a victory for free speech and religious freedom. "Public school students do not give up their 1st Amendment rights when they go to school," he said, adding that it was unfair that students could be permitted to read from secular inspirational books at assemblies but not from the Bible or other religious works….."

NewsMax.com 7/16/99 Barret Kalellis "…The moment it was learned that white supremacist murderer Ben Smith's motives derived from an organization calling itself the "World Church of the Creator," (WCOTC) the mainstream press immediately labeled it a "far right hate group." That hate is its stock in trade there can be no doubt. But the "far right" label doesn't seem to be entirely satisfactory. In fact, many of the inspirations for such groups come from leftist ideology, while the reactionary tenets that are most distasteful are aggravated by liberal policy in this country….. at makes Klassen's thoughts particularly odious is his underlying racist view of the world. An almost clinical paranoia infects his writings…. In Klassen's comical view, Christianity itself was a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Roman Empire: Jews somehow understood that the Christian principles of asceticism and salvation in the next world would destabilize the Roman spirit from within, leaving the way open for Jewish masters to rise again…."

AP Will Lester "...Accompanying the hum of computers and the roar of the economy at the end of the 20th century is a nagging feeling among many Americans that something has been lost. They describe it in various ways: an absence of morality, a loss of innocence, a lack of trust in others. Almost two-thirds of the people in a new poll say their families' lives have improved since the 1950s. But fewer than half say the country as a whole is better off now and nearly one-third say it is worse. ``There's more money, but less human caring,'' said Wayne Dubrawsky, a government worker from Orchard Park, N.Y...... "

WorldNetDaily.com 7/8/99 Jon E Dougherty "…In another victory for parents of school-aged children, a federal judge in New York has ruled that the Bedford Central School District can no longer force children to participate in Earth Day "worship services," "North American Indian animism," or be forced to construct "worry dolls" and other "tangibles" that "have supernatural powers." At Bedford, students were required to create paper images of a Hindu god, make toothpick and yarn "worry dolls" to defend against anxiety, and to participate in "Earth Day" worship services -- all advocated by liberal district administrators and teachers who personally took part in the services. The judge in his ruling had the insight to call these celebrations "truly bizarre," and added that the events "took on many of the attributes of the ceremonies of worship by organized religions" -- something liberals have consistently prevented Christians from doing since 1962….."

LineOne News (UK) 7/13/99 "…"Heresy trials are to be reintroduced by the Church of England for clerics who deny the existence of God. For the first time in 150 years, sceptic clergy who defy doctrine in the pulpit may be tried by a tribunal. The General Synod has agreed to the proposal by bishops to include offences against "doctrine, ritual and ceremonial" matters in a new streamlined procedure for disciplining priests. The last heresy trial was of the Rev A Gorham in 1847, when the Bishop of Exeter accused him of being unsound on the doctrine of "baptismal regeneration"…."

Christian Science Monitor 7/12/99 Joe Loconte "…Critics - mostly conservative - are ready to dismiss Vice President Al Gore's recent talk about faith and values as empty presidential sloganeering. But to do so is to neglect a profound cultural moment: a repudiation by Democratic leaders of the antireligious mood that has darkened liberal thought for at least a generation. Just as Bill Clinton once declared the era of big government over, Mr. Gore now admits that the "hollow secularism" of liberal government has run its course. As Gore opened his presidential bid June 17 in Tennessee, he praised the work of religious groups in treating social ills. In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, he claimed that "faith and family are at the center of my life." And in a major speech on religion in May, he called for a "new partnership" between church and state, pledging to "put the solutions that faith-based organizations are pioneering at the very heart" of his administration….."

D. James Kennedy 7/6/99 "…A thousand Christians were "manacled to doors, then beaten and tortured with electric shocks to their genitals," according to a recent report issued by prison Fellowship founder Charles W. Colson. "Babies were not spared. Mothers were forced to lay their infants on the floor and watch helplessly while police struck them with sticks." Who would perpetrate such an atrocity? The government of Egypt, according to Colson's report. It happened in late October, as the nation's mostly Islamic leadership executed a "crackdown" on the Christian community. Yet Egypt, one of the "largest recipients" of American foreign aid, still receives billions in non-humanitarian financial support from the U.S. government - $2.5 billion in American taxpayer money in one year alone. All of which happens in defiance of federal law, that requires the President and Congress to cut off non-humanitarian financial aid to countries where individuals are persecuted for their religious faith! …"

D. James Kennedy 7/6/99 "…Michael Horowitz, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, warns Christians that they are close to becoming "the Jews of the 21st century. You have become the scapegoats of choice for the thug regimes around the world," says Horowitz, who is Jewish, "as my people were for much of European history. And the suffering is met with indifference." Most American Christians are largely unaware of the escalation of religious persecution around the world - not only because of the silence of our media, but, also because of the federal government's keen interest in keeping international trading partners happy. It is also unattractive for a politician to run the risk of tangling with a foreign government when he may have major political donors with ties to that country. Consequently, few in Washington have much incentive for making waves! …."

WP 7/12/99 Sally Quinn "…As the political climate heats up for Campaign 2000, Americans are hearing more and more about religion from the candidates. This is not surprising, since polls show that more than 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God, and the Christian evangelical movement makes up some 35 percent of the population. Texas Gov. George W. Bush volunteers that he has "recommitted his life to Christ," Elizabeth Dole talks about how she "humbled herself before God," Vice President Gore told reporters that "the purpose of my life is to glorify God." On the floor of the House, Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) states, "The focus must be returned to God." …..So ingrained is the culture of avoidance of religion, conservative syndicated columnist Cal Thomas thinks that it has kept him off Washington's roster of sought-after guests. "One reason I'm not on anyone's A-list," says the religious author and columnist, formerly of the Moral Majority, "is that they're afraid I'll talk about God. . . . In this town you pay a social price for being upfront about your faith. People don't invite you to parties….. "

Conservative News Service 7/13/99 Justin Torres "…An article in a leading psychology journal reports that the presence of fathers in families raising children is "not essential," and that fathers "may be detrimental to the child and the mother." The report in the current issue of The American Psychologist, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA) - recently in hot water over an earlier report that concluded that child sexual abuse did not cause pervasive harm - takes aim at the notion that fathers and two-parent heterosexual marriages are necessary for the psychological health of children. "[W]e do not believe that the data support the conclusion that fathers are essential to child well-being and that heterosexual marriage is the social context in which responsible fathering is most likely to occur," wrote Drs. Louise B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, both from Yeshiva University, in an article called "Deconstructing the Essential Father." The report appears in the June 1999 issue of the journal…."

EWTN 7/16/99 NEW YORK (CWNews.com) 7/19/99 "... A UN committee focusing on women's rights has pressured governments to stop promoting motherhood and called on religions to change the interpretation of their sacred texts as part of a campaign to promote radical feminism, according to a Catholic pro-family group on Friday. The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute said the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has used the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to put pressure on the 163 countries that have ratified it to implement their vision of feminism. The committee recently directed the government of Libya to reinterpret the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, "in light of the provisions of the Convention." ....The Committee criticized Croatia for allowing "church-related organizations to adversely influence" women's rights. It told the Dominican Republic that an "intermingling of the secular and religious spheres" is a "serious impediment to implementing the Convention." .....The group also admonished Armenia to "use the educational system and electronic media to combat the traditional stereotype of women 'in the noble role of mother,'" and the Czech Republic was criticized for "over-protective measures for pregnancy and motherhood." ..."

AP 7/19/99 Douglas Kiker "...Three Republican senators have asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate whether a group that promotes the separation between church and state is intimidating churchgoers and interfering with their right to vote. The July 2 letter from Sens. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Paul Coverdell of Georgia, contends that Americans United for Separation of Church and State violates citizens' right to vote by ``intimidating people of faith into not participating in the political process.'' The senators cited a federal law prohibiting restriction of citizens' right to vote. Violation of the statute is punishable by fines and jail time...... Americans United is a nonprofit group that sends information and newsletters to church leaders across the country warning them of the possible legal and ethical implications of becoming involved in the political process. The group has long criticized what it says are the Christian Coalition's partisan political activities, particularly the so-called ``voter guides'' distributed at churches throughout the nation. In 1998, 72 million voter guides were distributed...."

FREDERICKSBURG STANDARD-RADIO POST 7/21/99 Cathie Collier "...The long-standing tradition of prayer at the beginning of a football game will be a thing of the past at Fredericksburg High School Stadium this fall-at least until a further court ruling is made clarifying the issue for the state's public schools. Fredericksburg Independent School District officials were advised by school attorney Cristol Schoessow last week that a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in February this year makes the practice of allowing student-led prayers at high school football games against federal law. "I'm very unhappy with the decision," Superintendent Marc Williamson said, "but it's pretty clear. Anything that can be construed as a prayer, even a moment of silence, is a prayer and is against the law, according to this ruling." ...."Under other circumstances, we might have decided just to do it until someone complained," Dr. Williamson said, "but the recent ruling says that school districts should know better and makes the district and individual board members liable for punitive damages." ..."

Free Press News Services 7/24/99 "…Religion is coming back into style and will be an important factor to consider in marketing products in the 21st Century, according to the Brand Futures Group of the Young & Rubicam advertising agency. Brand Futures, in a survey released in Milan, Italy, reported that a poll of 15,580 people in the United States, Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Netherlands indicated a growing number of people consider religious faith an important aspect of their lives. The trend was particularly strong in the United States and Italy, it said. Central to the poll were attitudes of trendsetters, a group defined as the 10 percent of the population that Brand Futures considers to be oriented to the future, curious, motivated and in tune with the people around them…."

Etherzone 7/23/99 Rick Reeder "…I am not a pessimist, just more reluctantly optimistic. The reality for all of us is sinking in that after 30 plus years of being, to some degree, an "officially" godless, Bible-less commandment-less nation. We are not only "slouching toward Gomorrah" as Bork has said, we are feeling and acting "slouchy" toward decay. Our art is no longer that which displays that which is best in us, but the vile. Our music is not that of an overcoming people, but that of a self-indulgent, flesh-loving people. Our focus is not on more noble deeds done, but we are preoccupied with the horrible actions of those, which commit despicable atrocities among us. Our greatest thinkers waste their ingenuity on more toys for a playful army of spoiled toddlers than tools for a productive army of world-changers…."

WORLD Magazine 7/24/999 Janie Cheaney "... Doubt and anxiety have jolted the nation into a revival mode, or so it might seem. Why else would Al Gore suddenly begin speaking out on the value of religion to society and its importance in his personal life? Why is one of his staffers vowing to "take God back from the Republican Party in the year 2000?" ….Rep James Traficant (D-OHIO) urges his fellow congressmen to "allow God back into the classroom." Newsweek reports on God as the "hottest idea in crime fighting." Conservative columnist Don Feder proposes religion as "God for what ails you." Nobody has to know much about the rules or develop any particular skills, and sincerity is nice but optional….. But it's still just a game. Any effects on society will be skin-deep and short-term, unless the Sovereign Lord Himself decrees otherwise….. Most Christians influence their own homes, offices, and neighborhoods; others are called to serve in public office and affect public policy in godly ways. Wherever they are, Christians are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. That is precisely why they should be very careful how they speak and think about God. It's an insult, if not blasphemy, to talk of "allowing" God back into the classroom, as though He had been waiting anxiously outside the door. Or, of "taking Him back" from the Republican Party, which has no hammerlock on the Lord of the universe. It's equally misleading to speak of God as a quantity we need more of (for how much is enough?) or the ideal remedy for society's ills --do we put Him away when we are cured? …."

New York Post 7/26/99 Editorial Board "…THE modern U.S. Air Force is willing to sanction Wiccans - dagger-wielding witches who pose as an alternative to religion. Accomodating Catholic doctrine, on the other hand, is a problem. Just ask 1st Lt. Ryan Berry, who may be forced out of his Air Force post on account of his religious beliefs. Berry's duties as a missileer include spending uninterrupted shifts - ranging from 24 hours to several days - in a small underground capsule from which 150 Minuteman III missiles can be activated. The launch center's two-person crew is expected to share the capsule's one bathroom and one bed. Trouble is, Berry has a religious objection to fulfilling this duty with female officers. Catholics, according to established doctrine, should not put themselves in the way of temptation and sin. Berry, a 25-year-old married man, says spending long hours in a confined space with a woman who is not his wife is a violation of this teaching. …."

National Liberty Journal Vol 28 No. 8 "Were Founding Fathers Wrong in Establishing Days of Prayer and Fasting? Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho), reacting to escalating school violence in the nation's public schools, led an attempt last month to pass a resolution calling on the nation to pray and fast for "healing and spiritual renewal." However, days after approving a measure allowing public schools and government buildings to erect the Ten Commandments, the House declined to pass the non-binding resolution that would have encouraged people of all faiths to prayerfully beseech God in national healing. Through a procedural vote, the House failed to gain the two-thirds of members ..."

Indianapolis Star/News 7/28/99 Susan Schramm "...Jay Scott Ballinger traveled across the country with his girlfriend, setting fire to 29 churches in eight states, according to a federal grand jury indictment returned Tuesday. From January 1994 until February of this year, the Yorktown man crisscrossed the nation, burning churches as he went, federal court documents say. Although his home state was the preferred burning ground -- 14 church fires in Indiana were attributed to him -- he also is accused of arsons in California, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee..... Ballinger also is charged in Georgia with 10 federal counts involving five church fires, including one that killed a volunteer firefighter. Court documents filed previously said Ballinger confessed to as many as 50 church arsons.....Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the church burnings. But at least one church was desecrated with satanic markings. Interviews with people who knew Ballinger revealed that he tried to lure young people in Delaware County in the early 1990s into joining his fledgling satanic church...."

CNSNews.com 7/29/99 Justin Torres "...A group of five students from Miami-Dade Community College in Miami, Florida, are suing the school for policies that they claim are an infringement on their right to free religious speech. According to Matthew Staver, an attorney for the public interest law firm Liberty Counsel, which is representing the students, a group of five students attempting to hand out business cards bearing the message "It's the call you'll never forget" and the number to a local ministry were stopped by campus security guards and informed that they must seek the permission of the Student Life Director..."

AP 7/28/99 Carl Hartman "...The chairman of a Senate committee that oversees the Smithsonian Institution said Wednesday he was disturbed by ``political correctness'' at the National Museum of American History. Sen. Mitch McConnell, during a hearing on the Smithsonian's budget, said he objected particularly to references to capitalism, immigration and Christianity in New Mexico. ``I want to express again my concern is about the drift to political correctness,'' said McConnell, chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. ``I know it's going on in every campus and it's not surprising to find remnants of it at the museum ... I do think it's a disturbing trend.'' The term ``political correctness'' began as a description by Communists of conformity to the party line..... In a New Mexico pueblo exhibit, McConnell, R-Ky., objected to a reference to ``invasive forms of Christianity.'' ``The characterization seems more apt for ... a plague rather than as a means of describing the evolution of Christianity in this country,'' McConnell said. The label in the exhibit reads: ``Both pueblos and Hispanics have been subject to invasive forms of Christianity. Pueblo peoples faced Spanish attempts to suppress their native religions ... In turn Hispanic Catholics experienced Anglo-American attempts to convert them to Protestantism.'' ..."

Washington Post 7/31/99 Donald Baker "...A Richmond judge ruled today that Regent University does not qualify for tax-exempt construction bonds because it is a "pervasively sectarian" institution "whose primary purpose is religious training." The school, founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, wanted to use the $55 million in bond proceeds to pay for construction on its Virginia Beach main campus and to develop a satellite campus in Alexandria.... "This means that Pat Robertson cannot have Virginia's taxpayers support his ministry," said Ayesha Kahn, who argued against the proposal on behalf of Americans United for Separation of Church and State...."

AP 8/4/99 "...A Denver couple filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to challenge a city order barring them from holding more than one prayer meeting at their home each month. The lawsuit, filed by attorneys for the American Center for Law and Justice on behalf of David and Diane Reiter, claims the cease-and-desist order issued by the city zoning office is unconstitutional. It also contended the Reiters are the victims of religious hostility. ``The city has trampled on the First Amendment rights of our clients and has enacted an order that is not only unconstitutional but absurd,'' said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the center based in Virginia Beach, Va....."

Associated Press 8/3/99 Jonathan Salant "...The Christian Coalition is moving ahead with plans to distribute 75 million voter guides in the next election following a federal court ruling that the activity did not illegally help Republican candidates. The beleaguered group - trying to rebound from a restructuring, staff defections and an IRS decision denying it tax-exempt status - plans to use churches and the Internet to distribute its scorecards for the 2000 campaign.

The Christian Coalition hopes to raise $21 million to fund its 2000 political activities, seeking 50,000 donors to give $20 a month. ``The stakes are so high,'' said Randy Tate, the coalition's senior vice president for government relations. ``Not since 1980 has there been a chance to shift the national debate.'' Those efforts received a boost from Monday's decision by U.S. District Judge Joyce Green, who rejected assertions in a 1996 Federal Election Commission lawsuit that the coalition's voter guides and get-out-the-vote operations were partisan activities designed to aid Republican candidates and should be treated as contributions under federal law...."

Washington Times 8/11/99 "...U.S. military officials can be mighty accommodating when they want to be. Weeks after news broke that the nation's largest military base in Fort Hood, Texas, had opened its gates to a group of self-styled witches, Army officials continue to stand up for the organization's right to practice the religion of its choice. The witches recently treated a reporter from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to a worship service, which he duly reported: " 'We are a circle within a circle with no beginning and never ending,' intoned 60 men, women and children encircling the blaze. 'Horned one, lover son, leaper ..."

WorldNet Daily 8/12/99 "..."... believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee." --Jeremiah 12:6 We live in a world built upon deceit. Ours is an age that cannot know truth, for its professional wise men -- those who inhabit our halls of learning -- deny that truth exists. Our fate as individuals under their tutelage is to stumble from one passionate, lying embrace to the next, fueling our pain and alienating our souls, engaged in a blind search for that which we have been warned we cannot have..... These colorful balloon-beasts they send forth to slay the demons of our collective guilt, selfishness and ambition, so that we may all together appear wise, just, and righteous in our own eyes. It is now an accepted fact that the perks of high political office in the United States include sex with campaign contributors' children; that there is no accountability -- not from the courts, the people, or the Congress -- for lies so voluminous that they can no longer be properly counted and catalogued; that treason in the form of leaving our nation naked and defenseless before its enemies is an acceptable means of campaign fundraising -- provided that it helps you to win the next election; and that God is an absentee landlord, doesn't bother to vote, and neither sees nor hears our multitudinous affronts to His character, perhaps because He is too busy blessing us with His patience and grace.

WorldNet Daily 8/12/99 "..."... Our society has accepted the notion that "guns kill people," while excusing the murderous madmen who wield them.... The "evil influences" of Jesus Christ and the Bible, which gave us the foundations upon which our freedoms, our government and our unimaginable prosperity were built -- must, at all costs -- be kept out of our schools. Let us instead worship evil under the guise of tolerance -- and invite in the demonic "spirit guides" of the "new age" to teach our children how to listen to these lying voices and follow them "wherever they lead."....Science, once the proud god of this age, has been profaned by her own worshipers: in her very temple researchers fabricate evidence to get the politically-correct answer that yields their next fix of government money....The destruction of colleagues' lives is of no concern if it enhances their imagined "infallibility." Our children have accepted these lies as their own, and are busy building their lives upon them...."

Associated Press 8/11/99 Kimberly Hefling "...With essentially no community opposition, volunteers placed the Ten Commandments in every classroom in a rural eastern Kentucky school district before classes began on Wednesday. The Jackson County school board and superintendent made the decision as part of ``an effort to start having good morals in school ... because of all the violent issues that have been showing up,'' said Betty Bond, principal of Jackson County High School. Timothy Crawford, the district's attorney, said he's concerned about lawsuits, but believes the Ten Commandment plaques in the district's five schools are allowed by law because they were paid for and posted by local volunteers. Robert Lakes, a business teacher at Jackson County High School, said the Ten Commandments were posted in the classroom when he was growing up. ``It's like the flag,'' Lakes said. ``We've been tearing down symbols that have been in this country'' for a long time....."

The New Australian 8/99 Phyllis Schlafly Report "... A federal district judge in White Plains, NY, ruled last month that the Bedford Central School District must stop requiring schoolchildren to create paper images of a Hindu god, to make toothpick and yarn "worry dolls" to ward off anxiety, and to take part in Earth Day worship services. Third graders had been required to make clay and construction paper cutouts of the elephant-headed Hindu god, Ganesha.

Judge Charles Brieant ordered the school district to (1) "prevent school sponsorship of worship of the Earth" and North American Indian animism or nature worship, (2) "remove the worry dolls from the school system" and "refrain from suggesting that (such) tangibles have supernatural powers," (3) prohibit "any direction to a student to make a likeness or graven image of a god or religious symbol," and (4) "direct the adoption of a published policy containing clear instructions (about religion) to teachers and others." The school was engaging in what the judge called "truly bizarre" Earth Day celebrations. He said that these events "take on (many) of the attributes of the ceremonies of worship by organized religions." According to the parents who filed the lawsuit, "student and senior citizens, who have also become part of earth worship services, sit in concentric circles around a giant inflated globe placed atop a bamboo tripod. The elderly people form the inside circle, symbolizing that they are closer to the earth and will return to it to nourish it." A chorus of tom-tom drums plays throughout the ceremony, while teachers and school officials read speeches. The ceremony pretends that the earth is deified, and students are urged to "do something to make Mother Earth smile." Evidence submitted in this case included an audiotape (Exhibit 62) entitled "Listening to Nature," which intersperses prayers and invocations sonorously uttered along with background sounds of forest and ocean. The plaintiff parents particularly objected to the fact that the tape, which they characterized as "nature worship and guided imagery," was played in science classes. The accompanying book contains this creed: "This is what we believe. The Mother of us all is the Earth. The Father is the Sun. The Grandfather is the Creator who bathed us with his mind and gave life to all things. The Brother is the beasts and trees. The Sister is that with wings."..."

The New Australian 8/99 Phyllis Schlafly Report "...The school district is expected to appeal the decision in this case, Altman et al. v. Bedford Central School District. If it does, the parents should appeal the failure of the court to throw out the offensive classroom activities involved in the use of the card game called "Magic: The Gathering." It was this card game that alerted the plaintiffs to contest the peculiar classroom activities. They objected to the "Magic" card game because it is steeped in satanic imagery, signs, and rituals such as human sacrifice and the casting of spells. The object of the game is to accumulate "mana," which is "power that comes from the earth." The plaintiffs contend that the card game "initiates children into satanism using perversion of actual Bible verses." One card, depicting a man about to be sacrificed with a knife about to plunge into his heart, carries this strange message: "Sacrifice one of your creatures to add to your mana pool a number of black mana equal to that creature's casting cost." Another card shows a terrified woman with a hand holding her head down and a huge knife at her throat. The parents charged that the card game is part of a New Age curriculum that includes yoga lessons, cult worship, and religious activities. "The cards represent a billion dollar industry," attorney Mary Ann DiBari said, "and our children are paying the price with indoctrination in the occult."...."

Education Week 8/12/99 "...Volunteer effort in rural district is unopposed With essentially no community opposition, volunteers placed the Ten Commandments in every classroom in a rural eastern Kentucky school district before classes began on Wednesday. The Jackson County school board and superintendent made the decision as part of ``an effort to start having good morals in school because of all the violent issues that have been showing up,'' said Betty Bond, principal of Jackson County High School...."

Education Week 8/12/99 "...With essentially no community opposition, volunteers placed the Ten Commandments in every classroom in a rural eastern Kentucky school district before classes began on Wednesday. The Jackson County school board and superintendent made the decision as part of ``an effort to start having good morals in school because of all the violent issues that have been showing up,'' said Betty Bond, principal of Jackson County High School.

Timothy Crawford, the district's attorney, said he's concerned about lawsuits, but believes the Ten Commandment plaques in the district's five schools are allowed by law because they were paid for and posted by local volunteers. Robert Lakes, a business teacher at Jackson County High School, said the Ten Commandments were posted in the classroom when he was growing up. ``It's like the flag,'' Lakes said. ``We've been tearing down symbols that have been in this country'' for a long time. Jackson County isn't the only school district in Kentucky or the country where the Ten Commandments are on display in schools. Tonya Adams, principal of Union Chapel Elementary School in Russell County, which has had the Ten Commandments posted for years, said she's never received any complaints about it..."

CNSNews.com 8/10/99 Lawrence Morahan "...The ages-old legal right of Catholic priests to keep to themselves what they hear in the confessional is under attack by a preparatory commission of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a United Nations' body established last year to investigate genocide and crimes against humanity. In ongoing meetings this week to determine rules of evidence and procedure, the commission is considering revoking the so-called priest-penitent privilege, a sacred authority bestowed on ordained priests to hear the confessions of Catholics and grant them absolution for sins...."

The Boston Globe 8/13/99 Yvonne Abraham Joanna Massey "...Every morning, the teenage camp counselors joined the children's tiny hands together, bowed their heads, and asked God to come into the Mason Cathedral Church in Dorchester and bless their day. It is a scene repeated all over America every summer, but this seemingly simple practice has spawned a constitutional furor. On July 27, seven counselors at the camp, members of the city's summer jobs program, were transferred to other assignments. The city said the church had broken its contract: Since the counselors were paid with federal funds, the church was not allowed to ask them to perform religious duties of any kind. The removal highlights a growing tension between the legal principle of separation between church and state and the increasing acceptance of religion in many facets of American public life...."

WORLD Magazine 8/14/99 Cal Thomas "...Only a couple that has been emboldened by their escape from impeachable offenses would try to spin God. But Hillary Rodham Clinton---veteran of cattle future profiteering, a failed attempt to nationalize health care, champion of children raised by the government village and not parents---has done just that and more in an interview with TALK agazine....But it's when she dabbles in theology that Hillary Clinton outrageously misrepresents the doctrines of sin and grace. She says, "There are sins of weakness and sins of malice, and this was a sin of weakness." While it is true that a murderer is worse than a person whose parking meter expires, both are lawbreakers. In a thoelogical sense, our reference point is to a Holy God, not theologians or personal opinion. So, when a real saint, Paul, writes that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," he does not engage in a theory of moral relativity. He diagnoses a human condition that is true for all, regardless of how individual sinners categorize their sins. None of us, including a first lady, gets to make the rules or render judgment...."

Ark.Dem-Gaz. 8/17/99 Ray Pierce "…Frequent visitors to the Capitol Gift Shop in the state Capitol might notice something missing from the selection of greeting cards: References to God. Five varieties of greeting cards, mostly those expressing sympathy, were removed last week from the gift shop's card displays after a visitor to Secretary of State Sharon Priest's office pointed them out. Jean Fulwider, Priest's chief deputy, said a woman whom Fulwider refused to identify, came into her office last month to talk about the cards that had a religious tone. Fulwider said the woman wasn't complaining but wanted to point out that the cards seemed mostly directed toward the Christian faith. Fulwider said she followed that visit with a conversation a week later with Vickie Hart of Little Rock, owner of Gifts of Arkansas, which leases space in the Capitol for the gift shop. Fulwider said she told Hart about the visit and about religious diversity. "We just want to make sure we don't discriminate," Fulwider said….. Priest said there was a difference between God and Jesus in that the name "God" is more universally recognized as a deity than Jesus. "More faiths refer to God as God," she said. "The Jewish faith doesn't recognize Jesus" as God, as most Christians do. Hart said the main goal of the Capitol Gift Shop is to showcase Arkansas, not religion. The gift shop is not the only place where God is referred to. Above the House and Senate chamber doors, on the inside of the chambers are cast metal plaques that read: "In God We Trust."…"

The Times 8/17/99 James Bone Ruth Gledhill "…ROMAN CATHOLIC priests are to be given immunity from testifying to the proposed International Criminal Court about atrocities they have been told about in the confessional. The provision in the draft rules of evidence and procedure for the new world court was negotiated, over objections from secularist France, during a session at UN headquarters last week after the Vatican mobilised its ambassadors around the world to plead its case. The draft gives cast-iron protection to priests and penitents saying: "The court shall recognise as privileged the communications made in the context of a sacred confession when it is an integral part of the practice of that religion." It also says that the new court will be able to grant privilege to communications between doctors and patients and lawyers and their clients, but it has yet to be resolved whether Red Cross officials with special access to war zones should be required to testify about what they learn. The privilege will certainly not extend to priests who are themselves accused of war crimes or of trying to help war crimes suspects to escape. "It is something that is meant to benefit the penitent, not the priest," Richard Dicker, a legal expert at Human Rights Watch, said….."

Cnn 8/18/99 "….The American Civil Liberties Union has promised to sue a school district that banned a Jewish student from displaying a Star of David necklace because administrators feared it could be mistaken for a gang symbol. High school officials had told Ryan Green he could wear the necklace, but not where it could be seen...."

Boston Globe 8/19/99 Jeff Jacoby "…The City of Boston is shocked - shocked! - to find praying going on at the Keys of Life Bible School. And not only praying, but Bible reading. And as if those weren't bad enough, there are religious emblems in plain view - crosses and spiritual posters right out in the open where anyone might see them. This is intolerable, the city says, and Keys of Life must be punished. Keys of Life is a summer day camp run by the Mason Cathedral Church in Dorchester…..Indeed, the camp has repeatedly been praised by Action for Boston Community Development, the agency that administers the jobs program. ''For five years they've been saying I do good work,'' says the Rev. Thomas Cross, Kenya's father and the pastor of Mason Cathedral. ''This year, everything changed.'' On July 15, ABCD sent a letter to Mason Cathedral, warning the church not to involve the counselors in ''religious activities.'' ''These include but are not limited to the following: praying, reading Bible stories, drawing Bible pictures, and cleaning in the areas of the church where there are religious symbols.... All religious activities must cease immediately.'' To Rev. Cross and his daughter, this was preposterous. Ban prayer at a church-run summer camp? But the city was adamant. Larry Smith, the official who supervises ABCD's operation of the summer program, came to the church to insist that the Crosses toe the line. ''He sat right here in my office,'' Cross says in amazement, ''and told me, `My job is to make sure those kids don't pray.''' According to Cross, Smith also told him to remove any religious symbols visible to the children - including the crucifix on the pastor's door….."

Conservative News Service 8/20/99 Bruce Sullivan "…New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Mildred Rosario's firing from a Bronx middle school earlier this month for discussing heaven, death and God with her students "astounded" him. In a statement released to CNS, the mayor allowed that he had not seen all the documentation on the incident, but added, "She (Rosario) seems to have received very little representation, so I was astounded by the procedure." Giuliani said that New York City schools have had teachers accused of theft, sex crimes and even pedophilia who "remained hanging around for two, three or four years with very vigorous representation." Rosario, 43, was fired from her teaching job at IS-74 on June 12 for discussing God and heaven with her sixth graders and praying with them as the children attempted to come to grips with the death of a classmate, who died earlier this month in an accidental drowning….. "

Judicial Watch 8/20/99 Judicial Watch, Inc., the Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm that fights government corruption, today announced that it will seek to participate in a lawsuit to be filed against the Harrison County School District in Mississippi. Monday, the school board unanimously prohibited Ryan Green, a 15 year old Jewish student, from wearing a Star of David pin given him by his grandmother. The school board feared that the Star of David was a gang symbol. "This is a case of the government’s hostility to religious expression, and the school board’s decision must not stand," stated Judicial Watch General Counsel Larry Klayman. "Our public schools are going down the tubes, they are graduating illiterates, and they spend their time and energy picking on an innocent boy who wishes to express his faith. And then they wonder why more and more parents are pulling their children out of government-run schools. Clearly, we need more God in school, not less," Klayman continued. Judicial Watch joins the American Civil Liberties Union and the Christian Coalition in support of the case. With the court’s permission, Judicial Watch, Inc. will seek to file an amicus curiae or similar legal brief on behalf of Ryan and his fundamental right to free exercise of religion and freedom of expression. …"

Associated Press 8/27/99 "…Hoping to avoid a fight over a proposal to post the Ten Commandments in schools, a committee proposed on Friday that officials create an elective in comparative religion and allow student Ten Commandment Clubs instead. ``I'm confident that what we have before you today is something that can withstand any challenge,'' said the school district's attorney, David Andrews. A Baptist pastor had suggested posting the Ten Commandments in every school in the district as a counterbalance to the use of metal detectors and guards in the 9,400-student district that spends about $300,000 a year on security…."

Washington Times 8/27/99 "…"Is there no limit to the mind-numbing hostility toward religion displayed by America's courts? Apparently not," the Wall Street Journal says. "On the very day before school was set to start, U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., a Clinton appointee, thought nothing of throwing the lives of 3,800 Cleveland children into disarray by blocking the city's landmark voucher program. Whatever the ultimate resolution of the issue, the timing appears calculated to unnerve parents and hang a heavy cloud of uncertainty over the fledgling program," the newspaper said in an editorial. "To Judge Oliver and his friends at the teachers unions, apparently anything is better than the thought that public money might end up reaching a parochial school." …"

Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 8/26/99 Mark Vosburgh "…Even with Ohio's tuition-voucher program remaining in legal limbo, Cleveland's private and public schools resumed classes yesterday without disruption. Faced with the possible loss of their vouchers, just two of 4,000 voucher students left their private schools for city schools. Thousands of others returned to private schools despite uncertainty as to who will pay their tuition. "Business as usual," said Carol Sperry, principal of Westside Baptist Christian School, where one of 46 voucher students withdrew. "It's not going to be a problem. We are looking for this to pass." Voucher supporters had predicted a chaotic opening for the city's public and private schools after a federal judge Tuesday ordered an immediate halt to the tuition-assistance program because of constitutional challenges…."

Chattanooga Free Press 8/27/99 Editorial "…Some of the schools in Cleveland, Ohio, many agree, are really bad. Parents with schoolchildren and the means to do so may flee the public schools and pay tuition to private schools. But poor children had been denied escape and thus had been doomed to a denial of good educational opportunity. Then a commendable plan was devised to offer help for those children to get a foot up on the ladder to success in life. Four thousand students -- from families with a median income of only $7,000 -- were given tuition "vouchers" to let them attend better schools of their choice! In many cases, these were church schools that have good records for student achievement. But after the youngsters had registered, gotten their school uniforms and supplies and were just 18 hours from beginning what had every prospect of being a happy opportunity, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. said an emphatic "No." Responding to complaints from such 'liberal" organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the so-called People for the American Way, the Ohio Education Association and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Judge Oliver blocked the voucher program for later determination as to whether he thinks it violates the Constitution's First Amendment -- an amendment that says simply: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." …"

CNSNews.com 8/27/99 "…A radio talk show host who's unhappy about the recent court decision to suspend a school voucher program in Cleveland is putting up his own money to send a child to the school of their choice. Talk show host Michael Reagan is also challenging other people and organizations who support school voucher programs to pay the estimated $2,200 per student cost to let as many Cleveland children as possible attend the school they were planning to attend before the voucher program was suddenly placed in limbo by an August 24 court ruling..."

Associated Press 8/27/99 "…A federal judge who created turmoil by holding up a state-funded voucher program just as the school year began reversed himself Friday, allowing some students to attend private schools with vouchers this year. U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. ruled that students who participated in the program for elementary school students in Cleveland last year may receive tuition vouchers again this year. But those children who are new to the program this year will not be allowed to get the tuition grants. About 4,000 students from kindergarten through sixth grade were to receive up to $2,500 in tuition vouchers so they can attend private or religious schools at taxpayer expense…."

Wall Street Journal 8/26/99 "…Al Gore is for it. George W. Bush has made it a campaign centerpiece. We're talking about government backing for faith-based programs. But if houses of worship are to succeed where 10,000 public welfare offices have failed, the civil-rights busybodies who man government posts need to leave the churches alone. Just ask the Rev. Thomas Cross of Mason Cathedral Church of God in Christ, in Boston's Dorchester section. For seven years now, the church has run a summer day camp called Keys of Life, staffed by teenage counselors whose wages are paid by a federal jobs program. But after witnessing "religious activities" during a routine inspection -- including the horror of teen counselors joining in prayers! -- city official Steven Godfrey fired off a letter to the church: The "expectation," he wrote, is that all "enrollees working in religious-based agencies will not participate in 'religious activities.' These include, but are not limited to the following: praying, reading Bible stories, drawing Bible pictures, and cleaning in the area of the church where there are religious symbols." The city pulled the employees from the program, leaving Keys of Life short-handed. …."

Original Sources 8/25/99 Mary Mostert "…On my website there is a petition, The Call to Preserve the Natural Family. It will be presented in November at the World Congress of Families II in Geneva, Switzerland. While many people are beginning to realize that the disintegration of the family is a major cause of many of the serious social ills, crime and misery afflicting all parts of the world, including the scourge of AIDs, few understand that there is a well organized effort going on internationally to stop the creation of families altogether. One of the few people who have seen the rapid growth of the anti-family movement is Susan Roylance. I met Susan soon after she got back from attending the UN Beijing Women's Conference in 1995. She has been at UN conferences at key points in the past four years, representing the traditional family and the importance of the mother in the traditional family. I received the following e-mail from her yesterday, explaining the extraordinary, and rapid growth, of a movement intended to reduce population by trying to convince women that they do not want to be mothers and encouraging "other forms" of sexual gratification besides normal heterosexual relations within the bonds of matrimony. This has led to the determined effort on the part of some to teach acceptance of bizarre new definitions of, and acceptance of abnormal sex that does not produce offspring as not only "normal" but superior to heterosexual relations which produce babies……"

Chattanooga Free Press 8/22/99 Editorial "…Mrs. Diane Reiter lives in Denver. She invites friends into her home for weekly Bible studies. But she got one response she hadn't expected. It came from the Denver zoning authorities. They sent a cease-and-desist order, saying if "Prayer meetings are held more often than once a month in a single-family dwelling," that would be in violation of the zoning code. But what if a gang of guys dropped in once a week to watch "Monday Night Football"? There was no suggestion that weekly football viewing would violate zoning. Or what about dinner parties, bridge parties or other social groups? They are OK. The zoning people reportedly told Mrs. Reiter that if she had a meeting of a weekly book club instead of a "prayer meeting," that would be OK. But the trouble apparently arose because "the book" in this case is the Bible. Mrs. Reiter and her husband, David, responded by filing a federal lawsuit for their right to 'peaceably assemble" to study the Bible. The First Amendment is on their side. They shouldn't have to fight in court to prove their point…."

The Times of India, New York Times Service 8/26/99 Nancy Beth Jackson "…Attending religious services regularly may be as big a factor in increasing longevity as refraining from smoking cigarettes, a psychiatrist at Duke University has concluded after studying 4,000 North Carolina residents ages 64 and older over a six-year period. People who went to services each week, the researcher found, were 46 percent less likely to have died during the study period. And even when factors like health practices, physical condition and demographics were taken into account, those who regularly attended services were still 28 percent less likely to have died, a benefit equal to that achieved by nonsmokers…."

Reuters [OL] 8/27/99 Alan Elsner "… Texas Gov. George W. Bush's chief domestic policy adviser says most social services for the poor currently provided by the government should be opened to competitive bidding from churches and charities. Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, chief domestic policy coordinator to the Bush presidential campaign, told Reuters in an interview this week he believed that private charities and religious groups could do a much better job of delivering social services than government bureaucracies. ``Child welfare services, child care services and the range of other support services you would find in a troubled urban area -- all of those should be available to faith-based neighborhood groups who wish to bid on delivering the services,'' Goldsmith said in the interview Wednesday. He sees churches bidding to take responsibility for the delivery of services like meals on wheels or running homeless shelters in their own neighborhoods. ``I do believe faith-based groups bring something special that other groups can't, which is an ability to transform an individual through religion or belief in God,'' Goldsmith said…."

Human Events 8/27/99 Joseph A D’Agostino "…Delgates working in New York to hammer out the last details of a treaty designed to create a new International Criminal Court (ICC) have made two radical proposals recently. The first would give the court the power to declare "keeping a woman pregnant" a violation of international law. The second would strip priests, pastors, rabbis and other religious counselors of the attorney-client type privilege they now enjoy in most civilized nations regarding the content of conversations they have while counseling members of their congregations. The forced pregnancy language-an Orwellian inversion of the inalienable right to life mentioned in the U.S. Declaration of Independence-would apply only in time of war (it is place under the heading of "war crime"), but observers of the ICC deliberations say it would set an ominous precedent that could be extended. …"

AP 8/24/99 "…A Jewish student told to hide his Star of David necklace at school may wear it freely, the school board said in reversing its ruling that the pendant could be viewed as a gang symbol. "When we made the decision last week, it was based on information from the security officers only,'' Harrison County School Board president Randy Williams said after Monday's vote. "But we realized that it infringed on freedom of religious expression, and that freedom supersedes the safety issue.'' …."

8/24/99 San Francisco Chronicle "…An unusual coalition of religious groups representing Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Mormons and Muslims is trying to forge a major public voice in support of gay rights to counter the efforts of religious conservatives. Leaders of the groups -- some of them caucuses working within denominations, others not recognized by officials in their faiths -- gathered yesterday morning for the first of two days of strategy sessions in a downtown hotel, to discuss how and when their coalition, the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, should speak out. Organizers deliberately chose to hold the meeting in a region that is home to many conservative Christian organizations. ``So much of the battle against us is religiously based,'' said Robert Miailovich, president of Dignity USA, an organization that supports gay Catholics. Miailovich, one of about three dozen participants at the meeting, added that there is ``a great deal of religious response to the religious attacks; you don't have to be an atheist to respond to the religious right.'' …."

Detroit News 8/22/99 Deb Price "…The Religious Liberty Protection Act. As passed by the U.S. House, that deceptively wholesome-sounding legislation imperils state and local civil rights laws nationwide. While all sorts of civil rights protections would be jeopardized, the bill’s enactment potentially would be most devastating on gay Americans because federal law does not shield us from discrimination. The RLPA, as now drafted, threatens to undermine 25 years of hard-won gay civil rights advances….. The noble intent of the act is to enhance freedom of religion. State and local governments would be forbidden to interfere with anyone’s religious practices unless doing so is justified by a "compelling" government interest. That’s the highest burden of proof that can be placed on a government. The most serious problem with this federal power grab is simply this: Suddenly, the excuse "It’s against my religion!" would become a strong federal defense against charges of illegal discrimination under state and local laws…."

AP 8/26/99 "…A Texas teen-ager has decided not to lead her classmates in prayer before high school football games, fearing her role in a constitutional battle could get her expelled. Stephanie Vega had been elected by other students to deliver short messages ``solemnizing'' each of the Santa Fe Indians' home games. But the 16-year-old junior on Wednesday changed her mind. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this year that student-led prayers were allowable at solemn events like graduations…."

Washington Post 7/95 Stephen Higgins "… It probably was inevitable that the tragic bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City would get linked to the disastrous fire at the Branch Davidian compound. Those events, as most people know by now, occurred exactly two years apart, and the principal suspect in the Oklahoma bombing not only visited Waco but is known to have been greatly angered by what he saw there….The day has long passed when we can afford to ignore the threat that is posed by individuals who believe they are subject only to the laws of their god and not those of our government…. In my view the Davidians reacted in a criminal and violent manner. Unfortunately, there is a small but perhaps growing number of groups that feel much the same way as the Davidians, though they may not cloak their beliefs in religion. By contending they are not subject to the laws that bind this country, we allow these groups to pose a serious threat far beyond their relative numbers….We can't change what happened at Waco, but we have a responsibility not to ignore simple fairness and compassion in our search for the truth. Since there is to be yet another hearing on Waco, let's hope it's for the purpose of examining the facts and learning from that tragedy, not merely to please one more special-interest group with an anti-government agenda…."

WorldNetDaily 9/3/99 Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. "…One hundred years ago, during its war on Spain, the U.S. invaded the Philippines, sprayed bullets far and wide, and put the entire country under martial law. The result was costly for the U.S. -- it created a habit of imperialist aggression that is still with us today. And it was also costly for the Philippines: an entire generation suffered from the violence associated with a brutal occupation, or the resulting disease and political turmoil. Now to the church. In Balangiga, the U.S. Army made slaves of the residents and turned the place into a work camp. With indefatigable spirit, the local residents decided not to take it anymore. Church bells of the local Catholic parish began to ring, signaling a revolt, and 45 U.S. soldiers died. In response, the American commander gave orders to murder "everyone in sight," which they promptly did. The result: as many as 50,000 dead Filipinos, among whom were women and children. ….A bit on the disproportionate side perhaps? Indeed, but like the FBI at Waco, the U.S. military in the Philippines had only one end in mind: total victory. Adding insult to massacre, the U.S. Army then stole the church bells and took them to Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyo., where they hang today. But now the parish in the Philippines wants them back, as a symbol that all this is just ancient history. They even rebuilt the belfry at the parish in anticipation of the bells' return…..The U.S. can't give back the lives of the people of the Philippines that it took in 1898, but it can darn sure give back the church bells that it stole. And it can darn sure do what it can to make it up to the surviving Branch Davidians, who suffered under the hands of the same regime 100 years later….."

Chattanooga Free Press 9/7/99 Editorial "….With another little school girl having been threatened by her school superintendent that if she gave voluntary prayer before a football game she would be disciplined as though she had cursed, it is no wonder that 17-year-old Marian Lynn Ward's lips quivered a little when she asked God to bless a football game last Friday night in Santa Fe, Texas, outside Houston. She was able to pray without fear of being punished as though she had cursed only because a federal judge had intervened quite sensibly and justly. Hours before the kickoff, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake of Houston issued a temporary injunction barring the school district from punishing Miss Ward if she led the crowd in prayer. Judge Lake said the school guidelines that sought to restrict her "clearly prefer atheism over any religious faith." … After Judge Lake's ruling, Miss Ward prayed: "God, thank you for this evening. Thank you for all of the prayers that were lifted up this week for me." Her father, the Rev. Bob Ward of the Santa Fe Baptist Church, said, "I feel very proud of her. I'm pleased with her prayer and her conviction." The crowd stood and cheered. What an inspiring contrast this was to the incidents of tragic student misconduct that are relatively few but tend to overshadow the propriety and decency that are characteristic of the vast majority of our school youngsters….."

catholicleague.org 9/1/99 William Donohue "…Tamara Collins, a research analyst at the Catholic League, has previewed the MGM movie "Stigmata." She describes the film, which opens September 10, as an attempt to use a supernatural thriller as a vehicle for making a political attack on the Catholic Church. ….William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, viewed the trailer of "Stigmata," and issued his own take on the movie today: "MGM risks attenuating its prestige by backing such an outlandishly gory and insidious film as 'Stigmata.' The idea that salvation can best be achieved by rejecting the Catholic Church is an old and very tired idea. The good news is that there exists a small audience for such an exploitative film, and all the hype and technical effects in the world can do nothing to redeem this bomb of a movie." …"

Associated Press 9/1/99 Jay Reeves "…A judge who displays the Ten Commandments in his courtroom was cleared Wednesday of allegations he personally profited from funds raised to support his legal fight over the plaque. A two-month investigation found Circuit Judge Roy Moore had no direct ties to the defense fund and was not in violation of state ethics law, said St. Clair County District Attorney Van Davis. ….During a news conference in his courtroom, under the Ten Commandments plaque, Moore quoted Scripture and thanked God for Davis' decision. Moore said the ethics case ``was an effort to stop the message'' that God belongs in public places….."

The Goldberg File 8/31/99 Jonah Goldberg "…So a judge in Ohio says that giving vouchers (read scholarships) to parents is unconstitutional because the parents have tried to get the most value for their money. You see, for the money these poor, mostly black, people received, parochial schools are by far the best bet. So the voucher system, Judge Oliver ruled, "advanced religion," and was therefore unconstitutional (for more, see today's Six Questions with Heritage Analyst Nina Shokraii). The judge's decision was great, except for the fact that it was stupid - on historical, political, and moral grounds. …. The current myth - one most Americans seem to believe - is that the Founding Fathers did not want American public institutions to be stained in anyway by the muck of religion. Some clever liberals will even quote some bit of Jeffersonian twaddle as if it represented the thinking of all the founders - when in reality it probably only represented what Jefferson was thinking between breakfast and lunch on a hot Tuesday in July. A Know-Nothing candidate for Congress once commented that Jefferson's statements can be employed "every which-a-way; he writ so much." ….The Founding Fathers did not consider religion alien from good government. In fact they considered it to be essential to it…. But what the Founders were afraid of was that the Federal government might establish a State Church along the lines of the Church of England. A State Church would have certain powers and privileges that other religious institutions would not. Indeed Madison's original amendment dealing with this issue read : "The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief, nor shall any national religion be established...." The key word there is "national." Madison et. al. wanted to protect smaller churches from being crowded out by big national ones. Nobody was talking about sanitizing the public square of all religion….."

AP 9/1/99 "…The world has a chance to turn over a new leaf in the new millennium by adopting a planetary approach to curing society's ills, according to a manifesto endorsed by philosophers and scientists around the world. "Humanist Manifesto 2000" was conceived and drafted by University at Buffalo Professor Paul Kurtz, president of the International Academy of Humanism and editor-in-chief of "Free Inquiry" magazine. Built around basic humanist principles of nontheistic, rationalist thought, the manifesto being released today stresses the need for people to rise above "narrow tribalism" to find common ground. "Ethnicities are the result of past social and geographical isolations that are no longer relevant in an open global society where interaction and intermarriage among different ethnicities are not only possible, but are to be encouraged," the manifesto says. Although commitments to country and race will continue, "our commitment to humanity as a whole becomes our overriding obligation," said Kurtz, who worked on the manifesto for more than a year. Rather than accept gloom and doom visions of the future, he said, he wanted to advance his belief that a better world is possible. "For the first time in human history we possess the means - provided by science and technology - to ameliorate the human condition, advance happiness and freedom, and enhance human life for all people on the planet," Kurtz writes. The manifesto urges people to embrace science and technology to solve social problems like pollution and overpopulation. It urges an end to spiritual and theological world views in favor of new moral principles based on reason and science, which it says are more appropriate for the post-industrial, information age The document is endorsed by more than 100 people from 26 countries, in the fall issue of "Free Inquiry."…."

The Oregonian 9/2/99 Romel Hernandez "…A day after losing in court, Nancy Powell says she'll argue discrimination in a new case against school recruiting An atheist mom vowed Wednesday to continue her struggle to block the Boy Scouts of America from recruiting in Portland public schools, saying she intends to start over with a new argument over religious discrimination. Nancy Powell, who lost her case Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, said she plans to appeal the decision and also to return with a new case to the Portland School Board. …."

FoxNews AP 9/3/99 Chris Fletcher "…A 17-year-old girl walked to a microphone to thunderous applause and offered a prayer before her high school's season-opening football game Friday night, hours after winning a court order allowing her to do so. The crowd cheered Marian Lynn Ward as she was accompanied by the Santa Fe High School principal to the announcer's booth, then stood and cheered for a minute and a half after she asked for God's blessings. Santa Fe Independent School District Superintendent Richard Ownby had warned any student who violated an appeals court ruling banning pre-game prayer would be disciplined. But hours before the game, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake of Houston issued a temporary restraining order barring the school district southeast of Houston from punishing Miss Ward if she led the prayer. Lake's ruling said the school guidelines "clearly prefer atheism over any religious faith.'' Elected by her classmates to deliver inspirational remarks, the Baptist minister's daughter made references to deity and other things that school officials had said could not be done. "Since a very good judge that was using a lot of wisdom this afternoon ruled that I have freedom of speech tonight, I'm going to take it,'' she began, to renewed applause. She asked God to keep the players safe and prayed that players and fans alike would show good sportsmanship and that God would bless the evening. Her voice cracked and she seemed on the verge of crying as she said: "God thank you for this evening. Thank you for all the prayers that were lifted up this week for me. I pray that you'll bless each and every person here tonight.'' …"

U.S. Newswire 9/8/99 "…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed outrage at the Southern Baptist Convention's efforts to encourage prayers for the conversion of Jews during the High Holy Days, calling the initiative "offensive and disrespectful." "We are shocked and deeply offended by the call for members of the Southern Baptist Convention to pray that Jews will convert to Christianity during the High Holy Days," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director….."

The London times 9/10/99 Richard Owen "….THE Pope, who this year said that God was not "an old man with a white beard", went a step further yesterday and referred to "God the Mother". THE Pope, regarded as dogmatically conservative and patriarchal, has surprised critics this year with uncharacteristically open-minded revisions of doctrine as part of his preparations for a Christian mission in the new millennium. He is keen to broaden the appeal of Christianity, his advisers say, and to ensure that no sections of society feel "left out of its all-embracing message".

The Pope has clashed with feminists and remains opposed to the ordination of women. But he praised the "vital role" of women in the Roman Catholic Church, and talks with reverence of his own mother, Emilia, who died when he was nine in Poland. The Pope is also a devotee of the cult of the Virgin Mary, although she is referred to as the Mother of God, and not as a God Mother, since she does not share the divinity of God and Christ. The Lord's Prayer opens with the words "Our Father, which art in heaven", and in the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus says: "Everything is entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the Son" (Matthew xi, 27). But, speaking to pilgrims in St Peter's Square, the Pope said God had both a male and female nature….."

South China Morning Post 9/10/99 "….Anti-independence militiamen fired shots at a UN evacuation convoy as it headed through the ravaged streets of Dili to the airport today, witnesses said. The militiamen, possibly fuelled by alcohol looted from a warehouse, were unapposed by Indonesian troops and also stopped a party of Roman Catholic nuns who tried to make it to the airport on their own to catch one of the half-dozen flights to Darwin, Australia.

Their driver was beaten up, but the nuns managed to reach the airport, which was under the control of Australian troops. The incidents happaned as the UN decided to retain a skeleton staff in East Timor. …..The UN compound, besieged for days by Indonesian troops and their militia allies who have turned Dili into a burned-out ghost town, was evacuating about 350 staff, including 160 local workers, aboard a half-dozen flights. Staying behind was a skeleton staff of about 80 to do what they can to shepherd East Timor toward independence, chosen by 78.5 per cent of voters in a UN-organised referendum August 30. Among those fleeing Friday was UN mission head Ian Martin, wearing a light blue flak jacket……Most Indonesians are Muslim….."

Washington Times 9/10/99 Wesley Pruden "….Some [Chinese] will pay with their lives for the "privilege" of praising God in song, prayer, and, in the case of a certain Buddhist sect, taking deep breaths while thinking about things. "There [are] credible reports of incidents of abuse or torture of Buddhist monks and nuns," the State Department says, and Protestants and Roman Catholics who do not belong to official churches are subject to the sting of the whip, too. ….Congress got copies of the report, the first of what will be annual assessments of the status of religious worship in the world. Given the timidity with which Official Washington treats the Chinese -- the White House is afraid China will quit stealing our weapons if we're not polite to them --we can be sure this to be the end of it. …... Fifty men and women are in Vietnamese prisons for religious beliefs. Cuba "monitors" religious institutions. Nepal bans evangelism. Mexico's Pentecostal churches are given a hard time……Saudi Arabia, like Afghanistan and Iraq, suppresses Shi'ite Muslims with enthusiasm. Christians are not usually beaten about the head and shoulders by Saudis with big sticks, except sometimes, but they are required to worship privately and if anyone attempts to convert a Muslim to another faith he will be dealt with harshly….. The Sudanese government persecutes Christians with punishments ranging from jail, intimidation, torture, death and even forced "conversion" to Islam……. Burma and Iran are afraid of Baha'is, and kill them if they can't intimidate them. France and Belgium keep "sect lists," as if it is any business of the government. The Germans, who you might think were taught a lesson or two, harass Jehovah's Witnesses. Kosovo is a stronghold of heartfelt religion, if you judge by how "Christians" practice it on Muslims. Catholics and Protestants bash each other in Northern Ireland with religious abandon, but nobody imagines that any of the bashers are actually followers of the Prince of Peace. …….Confronting religious persecution wherever it is found is not popular among the elites in our own country, who generally regard church as merely a convenient place for weddings and funerals and are embarrassed when others insist on actual belief….."

Associated Press/World Net Daily 9/10/99 George Gedda "…A State Department report Thursday pointed to evidence of widespread religious persecution in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, all under varying degrees of authoritarian rule, and to discrimination in some democratic countries as well, including Israel and India. The report, covering 194 countries and territories, is the first of what will become an annual assessment of the state of religious freedom around the world. The most serious violators could eventually face economic sanctions. The study stressed that religious persecution is not confined to a particular faith. ``Throughout the world, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and other believers continue to suffer for their faith,'' it said. While the report did not rank the countries based on the degree to which they limit freedom, the excesses attributed to the Iraqi government stood out. Iraqi leader ``Saddam Hussein has for decades conducted a brutal campaign of murder, summary execution and protracted arbitrary detention against the religious leaders and adherents of the Shiite Muslim population,'' the report said. ….. "

The Dallas Morning News 9/5/99 Geneva Overholser "….What is wrong with godlessness? That is the question I got the other day in response to a column I wrote about all the good news in America lately. I had noted that, despite charges of ungodliness, we are, as always, an ardently churchgoing nation. A reader wrote, "As an agnostic married 23 years to an atheist, I just have to ask, what is so unhealthy about godlessness?" ……If the Clinton example proves anything, it is that churchgoing is no guarantee of rectitude. Religion is no antidote to misbehavior. Godliness, in other words, doesn't equal morality. If it did, we would be endlessly moral, for we are the most religious of industrialized nations. A University of Michigan study released in December 1997 found that 44 percent of Americans go to church once a week, compared with 27 percent of the British, 21 percent of the French and 4 percent of Swedes. Yet we are 10 times as murderous as all those unchurched folks. According to the United Nations, homicide rates in all those countries hover around 1 murder per 100,000 people a year. And our rate? Ten per 100,000……. Far be it from me to denigrate churchgoing. As a preacher's kid, I have a passionate and abiding belief in the power of religious faith (and I am not even seeking office). But we shouldn't be snookered into thinking that those who strut their religion will necessarily be ethical leaders. ……."

Houston Chronicle from New York Times 9/11/99 "…The American Cancer Society is caught between a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a Nobel laureate over the society's position on human embryonic stem cell research. In July, the society, which receives $500 million a year in public donations, withdrew from Patients' Cure, a consortium of advocacy groups formed to lobby Congress not to ban federally financed research on human embryonic stem cells. Biologists hope the cells will help repair damaged tissues. The opposite position is taken by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which objects to the fact that the stem cells are derived from the embryos from fertility clinics. The American Cancer Society withdrew from Patients' Cure after Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore wrote the society, urging it to reconsider its position. The society's action drew a rebuke from Dr. Paul Berg, who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1980. He wrote of his unhappiness to Dr. John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the cancer society. …."

The Detroit News 9/11/99 John Flesher AP "….Michael and Christine Stitt looked a bit like Noah and his wife leaving the ark when they arrived on this remote Lake Huron island three years ago with an ox, goats, pigs and a few emus in tow. They planned to earn a living as small farmers and raise their children on a wooded 36-acre spread, a refuge from what they considered the danger and moral rot of modern society. Now their land is for sale and their dream is in tatters because of a battle with the township board. Officially, it involves the Stitts' alleged violations of zoning and building codes by keeping livestock in a residential area and refusing to obtain construction permits for their outbuildings. But the fight has become deeply personal, dividing neighbors and even families on Bois Blanc, where about 3,000 people spend summers but only about 50 -- mostly retirees -- live all year. "It's torn the whole island apart," said Penny Rickwalt, who has been here eight years. Even the Stitts' announcement in court Friday that they planned to move away didn't quell the bitterness. After the hearing, a woman and her uncle on opposing sides in the feud yelled at each other as friends tried to calm them. The Stitts contend they are being persecuted for their fundamentalist religious beliefs and for speaking out against what they consider immoral behavior on the island. …."

The Deccan Herald, via News Plus 9/12/99 "….India today rejected as "intrusive" reports of a US official coming to India to discuss religious freedom. Instead, Nayee Dillee has asked the US to look elsewhere across the world, "where religious minorities are discriminated against by law and religious freedoms progressively curtailed." The Ministry of External Affairs spokesman said the Government was aware of press reports about the intention of a US official to visit India in the context of the release of an internal report by the US State Department on religious freedoms in different countries. "The Government of India has no plans or intention to invite such an official to India or to engage in discussion with any foreign Government or agency on these matters" asserted the spokesman in response to reports to Washington intending to send US Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Robert Sieple, for parleys with Indian officials….."

The Christian Science Monitor 9/15/99 Yvonne Zipp "…. The Rev. Donald Cobble believes in parenting according to his reading of the Bible. When his son does something wrong, the Woburn, Mass., dad gives him a couple of smacks on the behind with a belt. "The rod is a necessary part - not the whole - of training a child," says the pastor at the Christian Teaching and Worship Center, quoting Proverbs. " 'The rod and reproof bring wisdom.' There are some things rebuke won't take care of." But what he calls necessary discipline, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services called child abuse. While the spankings weren't against the law, the DSS says, they put Mr. Cobble's son at risk of future injury - a finding a Superior Court judge upheld. Cobble appealed that ruling to the state's high court this week, saying the decision infringes on his right to discipline his son according to his religious convictions. The case comes at a time when many Americans are pondering what constitutes appropriate discipline for a child - and questioning who should make that call, the parent or the state. While government has enlarged its oversight of families in recent decades, some parents are now challenging that role…."

Associated Press 9/16/99 Christine Hanley "....Following pressure from the ACLU, a public elementary school has decided not to use Christian textbooks that describe other religions as cults and say God helped Columbus discover America. Belridge Elementary Principal Steven Wentland, who also serves as superintendent of the 60-student, one-school district, said Wednesday that "every last flashcard" would be delivered back to A Beka Books Inc., a Pensacola, Fla.-based Christian publishing company. "We'll pull them out. It's OK," he said, adding that he doesn't want to get into a courtroom battle or generate negative publicity. "We don't hold any grudges." The legal dispute began last month in this community in the oil fields northwest of Bakersfield, where the few housing tracts are virtually invisible among the hundreds of oil pumps. Wentland approved the use of the A Beka curriculum after holding public meetings about the contents over the summer. The school board also approved them, and all of the parents signed consent forms after they were shown samples and reassured that some material would be edited to avoid problems. An anonymous donor offered to pay for the books, so approval by state education officials was not mandatory. A Beka describes itself as "unashamedly Christian and traditional in its approach" and weaves fundamental Christian ideologies into daily exercises. ...."

AP 9/16/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "....Lamenting the latest mass shooting in the United States, Attorney General Janet Reno said today Americans must look hard at the issue of "how we handle guns, of how we deal with mental illness, of how we deal with hate." Reno, discussing the killing rampage Wednesday night at a Baptist church in Fort Worth, Texas, said, ``The thought of gunfire in a place of worship should be inconceivable. But for families, for others last night, the inconceivable became a reality.'' ...... "I would hope that people would look, not just at what handguns have done to America this year, not in the context of this case, but what handguns have done to America over the last many years,'' Reno said, ``and that this nation would listen to its people who again and again cry out for ... asking government to make sure that we take reasonable steps to ensure that guns are not placed in the hands of people who are not lawfully entitled to have them.'' ..."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/16/99 Ernie Makovy "....A long- haired, mustachioed man dressed in black, who witnesses said was spouting obscenities and demeaning Baptists for their religious beliefs, invaded a church service last night and opened fire randomly, killing at least seven people, wounding 12 and then killing himself..... Many of the victims were teen-agers attending a concert by Forty Days Forty Days, a Christian rock group from Dallas, as part of the annual See You at the Pole event..... Lauren Tabor, 8, said she was in a class called Girls in Action when she heard gunshots and screams. She said she and her classmates ran to another room, where they pushed a table against the door "so nobody could get in. We were all down in a little corner. "The teacher said, `Let's pray.' " ..... Dax Hughes, the church's college minister, said at least 150 young people were in the sanctuary. "He hits the door real hard to make his presence known and he just immediately started firing," Hughes said. When the gunfire was over, Hughes said, the man "sat in the back pew and put a gun [to his head] and shot himself and fell over." ....."

Associated Press 9/16/99 Ron Fournier ".... Saying there was a ``wave of evil'' sweeping America, Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush cut short a campaign trip today to rush home to Texas where a gunman killed eight people, including himself, at a church. Repeatedly, Bush said the surge in violence in America is a result of problems deeper than stricter gun laws can solve. ``There seems to be a wave of evil passing through America. And we as a society can pass laws and hold people accountable for the decisions they make, but our hopes and prayers have got to be that there is more love in our society,'' he said. With his eyes red and moist, Bush announced that he was returning to Texas to ``add some comfort'' to the people of Texas. ``It's hard to explain how somebody would have enough hatred in their heart to walk into a church where people are seeking God's guidance and shoot them,'' he said. Bush, the GOP front-runner, said the tragedy did not make him any more receptive to stronger gun control measures. ``I don't know a governmental law that will put love in people's hearts,'' Bush said at a news conference at a local elementary school before leaving for Texas. Bush canceled two fundraisers Thursday and put his schedule in Michigan for the next two days on hold until he determines how long he will be needed in Texas....."

New York Post 9/17/99 Rod Dreher "….THE Fort Worth church murders were not a senseless act. They had an express purpose: to kill Christians. "It's all bull-- what you believe!" Larry Gene Ashbrook shouted as he fired, witnesses said. Ashbrook targeted Christians just as the Kentucky high-school student who fired on a prayer group in 1997 did. He targeted Christians just as Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris did in their Columbine High School rampage, which also marked athletes and a black student for death. This is called hate crime. It's a distinction the media had no trouble making when Buford Furrow opened fire on Jews at a Los Angeles Jewish center last month. It's a distinction the media had no trouble making when those racist monsters dragged black man James Byrd to his death, or when the anti-gay wretches tortured and killed Matthew Shepard. On those occasions, the national soul-searching commenced - as it should have. There was grief at the savagery and hand-wringing over what should be done to instruct our children in the virtues of tolerance, nonviolence and love of neighbor ….. And before the police even knew the identity of the killer in the L.A. shootings, Attorney General Janet Reno vigorously denounced them as a hate crime. And now, when the victims are Southern Baptists? Reno issued a mealy-mouthed, tepid statement blaming guns, and saying we've got to think about "how we deal with hate." Typical…."

Reuters 9/17/99 Washington Times Andrea Billups "…" When 14-year-old Michael Carneal killed three students praying at a Paducah high school, religious bias "was never a theme raised on TV networks, that this guy was anti-Christian," Mr. Baker said. Instead, reporters focused on Carneal's parents and the influence of violent entertainment, he said, although "it became quite clear later on that [anti-religious sentiment] was the motivation." "When it is a particular minority group that's attacked, the media assume that's the reason for the attack," Mr. Baker said. "When it happens to Christians, the media don't assume that at all." Mr. Merrell of the Southern Baptist Convention agreed that crimes committed against Christians often are treated differently. "It does not pass our notice that there are many who appeal to the populace for hate crimes legislation when certain groups are targeted, but remain curiously silent when other groups are," he said, adding that the "virile and fertile culture" of hostility to Christians is "growing rapidly." …."

WORLD Magazine 9/17/99 Gene Veith "....The ex-communist convert to conservatism David Horowitz has said that conservatives-and this would apply to Christians in particular-have a disadvantage in the culture wars. They still believe in concepts such as truth, fair play, and the worth of other human beings. Many of their opponents-for whom truth and morality are relative-operate under no such restrictions. That may be an overgeneralization about both parties, but Christians who become involved in politics and cultural issues need to realize that their opponents will play hardball. For those who believe truth is only a matter of interpretation, any inconvenient facts only need to be given the right "spin" until they can appear to mean anything they choose. For those who believe that moral beliefs are only the imposition of power, it is perfectly legitimate to use power to squelch their opposition, even if this means destroying their opponent's reputation by any means possible. Those whose backs are against the wall can be expected to fight dirty. One particularly threatening idea to today's educational establishment, the fountainhead of relativism, is the prospect of school-choice programs, in which state funding would go to private, usually Christian, schools in a last-ditch effort to educate the poor children who are the prime casualties of contemporary educational theory. Cleveland's school-voucher program was struck down by a federal judge, but a practically identical program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, was upheld by the Supreme Court, which refused to hear a lawsuit against it. Now 40 states-not to mention presidential candidates-are considering or advocating school choice. The stakes are high in this controversy, not only because school choice threatens business-as-usual teachers' unions but because the nation's educational crisis demonstrates the failure of today's secularist ideologies, which have given us the relativism that minimizes educational content and that undermines classroom discipline. Secularists used to associate themselves with education, portraying Christians as backward and closed-minded. But now Christian schools are, in general, providing a better foundation for education than the alternatives....."

FRONTLINE Newsletter 9/17/99 John Culberson "...They represented what is good about America, they held the hopes of the future within them and they were the victims of hate and violence. When Larry Gene Ashbrook, 47, burst into the Wedgewood Baptist Church on Wednesday night he carried within him hate and contempt for everything that is good. 150 youth were there to finish off the day that had started with an annual event called "See you at the Pole." .....This was a hate crime pure and simple, it does not need legislation to define it because all violent crimes are hate crimes. Ashbrook decided to kill and injure because he hated what these young people stood for. He determined within his heart that others did not deserve to live, that their lives were unimportant. He ultimately made the same decision that Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made. It is the same philosophy that others embrace and that ultimately someone else will use as justification to perpetuate another act of violence. Evil does exist, we have seen it played out here in our own country and we are seeing it played out abroad. The recent bombings in Russia show a clear organized and well funded pattern of evil and disregard for life. There are people and organizations in this country and abroad that have the same designs on America. To present an example of how well organized the Russian campaign of terror is, police in Moscow discovered one apartment building with over 9,600 Kg of High Explosive ready to bring down the building. That is over 21,000 pounds and would have produced an explosion well over 8 times the force of Timothy McVeigh's crudely constructed truck bomb. .....The danger of this trend is that the perpetrators ultimately get others involved as did Harris and Klebold, in fact there are others involved in the planning that have yet to be apprehended as was demonstrated by the evidence analyzed in the Special Report. Harris and Klebold consulted many in preparing for the attack they mounted at Columbine High School. The attack was not one of simple revenge but rather a more sophisticated conspiracy of several persons to cause death, injury and mayhem. Timothy McVeigh recruited others for his scheme, some of whom are still walking the streets of America. This is the way anarchy and death works, it is not a "far right" problem or even a "far left problem." it is one of desiring to produce anarchy and death. It is a desire to devalue others as undesirable while maintaining that you and your group are the only true persons worthy of humanity......."

WEDGEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH
Kristi Beckel, 14
Shawn C. Brown, 23
Sydney R. Browning, 36
Joseph D. Ennis, 14
Cassandra Griffin, 14
Susan Kimberly Jones, 23
Justin M. Ray, 17

Larry Ashbrook, 47

ATLANTA J&C 9/18/99 Julia Lieblich AP ".....A prominent Southern Baptist called the killings in a Fort Worth, Texas, sanctuary a harsh reminder of the need for prayer. Other religious leaders said: Preach the Gospel, but get guns off the streets. ..... The Rev. William Merrell of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee in Nashville endorsed prayer, not gun control, as a response. Violence, he said, is an expression of the heart's inner alienation. The solution to that alienation, he added, ''is the transforming power of Jesus Christ.'' The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Christ USA, favors gun control. Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, head of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, agreed......

Ft. Worth Star Telegram 9/18/99 Kathy Sanders "....Two videotapes taken in the sanctuary of Wedgwood Baptist Church show Larry Gene Ashbrook methodically picking and shooting his victims, one of them a high school senior who filmed the gunman who was about to kill him, police and friends said yesterday. In a related development, the Star-Telegram learned that a man matching Ashbrook's description acted suspiciously last month when he visited a nondenominational Flower Mound church to ask about a long-lost friend and to inquire whether the church performed exorcisms. Justin Ray, 17, a senior at Cassata Learning Center, and a woman were separately videotaping a youth rally inside the sanctuary Wednesday night when they turned their cameras to record a man firing shots in the back of the church, police said. Ray, who was fatally shot, kept taping as Ashbrook fired at him because he thought the shooting was part of a skit, according to friends of the teen- ager. Ray's uncle Larry Dockery, speaking for the family, said Ray was panning the sanctuary with the camera and did not realize how close he was to Ashbrook or that he was about to be shot...... Detectives said they plan to investigate the Flower Mound incident, reported by two women who said they were startled when they saw a newspaper photograph of Ashbrook. Melody Kolbensvik, 40, said the picture bore a striking resemblance to a bizarre-acting man who visited Shiloh Church early last month, complaining that people were preventing him from finding a friend. "He said he was looking for a person who'd been a member at the church in 1984," said Kolbensvik, a volunteer at the church. "So the church secretary was trying to look it up for him. He said there were a lot of people, really evil, bad people, who didn't want him to find him." He later asked if the church performs exorcisms, and when the women looked at him in silence for a minute, he quickly said it wasn't for him, Kolbensvik said....."

The New York Times 9/18/99 Gustav Niebuhr "..."The Inferno," Dante tells of his imagined journey into hell, his entry into a "kingdom of eternal night" where he hears the voices of the damned rise "in a bestial moan" and sees sinners stung by wasps, burnt by falling fire and frozen in a sheet of ice. For 700 years the poem has provided vivid inspiration to painters and preachers, who have kept alive a popular vision of perdition as a physical place of fire and brimstone, extraordinary torments and monsters. Many artists added their own ideas, such as Hieronymus Bosch, who in the 15th century painted a highly original vision of hell, a tableau of violence and excruciating tortures. But now the Catholic authorities in Rome have presented a strikingly different (and seemingly modern) picture of eternal damnation. By their account, hell is best understood as the condition of total alienation from all that is good, hopeful and loving in the world. What's more, this condition is chosen by the damned themselves, the ultimate exercise of free will, not a punishment engineered by God....."

Houston Chronicle 9/17/99 Jim Henderson Jim Cobb ".... From 5 feet away, Neitz said, "Sir, you don't have to be doing this." "Shut the hell up, you (expletive) Christian," Ashbrook snapped. "Your religion sucks." Though there may be obvious comparisons to Cassie Bernall, the 17-year-old Columbine High School student who stood up for her faith and was killed during a shooting rampage in April, Nietz said he was motivated more by anger that his friends were being shot than by courage or faith. He continued to talk to the gunman, who responded with more gunshots and obscenities. Hammond, who had attended the rally with some youths from his church, was on the floor beside a pew, tugging on Neitz's pants leg, telling him to sit down and get out of danger. He could see the gunman's feet as he paced back and forth. Ashbrook emptied his guns into the crowd and loaded fresh clips. "This religion is bull----," he shouted. "You need religion in your life," Neitz told him, flinching as the gunman squeezed off more rounds. The banter was brief, but, Neitz said, seemed an eternity. Then, with blood spattered on the pews and soaking the carpet and the odor of a spent pipe bomb hanging in the sanctuary, the two stood face to face for one last time. Neitz described the killer's expression as pure rage. He still does not know why Ashbrook didn't shoot him. "His jacket was bulging with clips," Nietz said, "He could have killed a lot more people." Instead, Ashbrook slumped onto a pew, as though weary from the carnage. He raised an arm and pointed a gun at Neitz. "Shoot me if you want to," the teen-ager said. "I know where I'm going when I die. What about you?" Ashbrook, a troubled loner described by neighbors as hostile and paranoid, spat out one last obscenity and slowly turned the gun toward his own head and pulled the trigger. ...."

CNN 9/18/99 Freeper jra "....CNN just showed a piece on a same-sex pair of birds that are supposed to be good parents...how far will they go? Griffin vultures in Israel...the story goes on...actually calls them 'gay birds' were given a fertilized egg, and they took turns incubating the egg...the reporter, Gerald Kessel...actually made light of the fact that this was happening in the 'Holy Land' This is a shameless attempt to numb the sheeple into thinking that ANYTHING is ok...immoral or otherwise Thank God I have Fox News where I live...I'll never watch CNN again...sheesh! "

New York Times 9/19/99 Linda Greenhouse "....With struggles over student-led prayer at high school football games and legal brinkmanship over taxpayer-paid vouchers for parochial school tuition, the line separating church and state appears as ragged and contested as it has been in years. While the Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of constitutional boundaries, has stood by as a largely silent witness to these escalating debates, that could change in the Court's new term that begins two weeks from Monday. New appeals reaching the Justices' desks since the last term ended in June give the Court the opportunity to direct, or redirect, the debate, either by reaffirming precedents or by shifting course across this contested landscape. Whether the Justices will take that opportunity will become clear in a matter of weeks, as the Court issues successive lists of cases that have been accepted for argument or denied further review. ...... "

New York Times News Service via St. Louis Post-Dispatch 9/19/99 "..... No one blamed guns. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the shooter, Larry Gene Ashbrook, bought his two weapons - a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic pistol - from separate vendors at a flea market more than seven years ago. "I don't remember going into too many houses when I was a kid where there weren't guns. We respected them, we knew what they were for, not like now," said Kay Persinger, 43, the homemaker, who lives a few blocks from the Baptist church where the shootings occurred....... The region is an overwhelmingly Christian corner of the country, home to one of the largest Protestant seminaries in the world, where the house next door could easily be a house of worship. Some say they see the massacre at Wedgwood Baptist Church as the making of martyrs and a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. They point to the reports that the shooter shouted antireligious obscenities as he attacked. Like many other Christians, Karla Turner, who is enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, linked the shootings in the church to the shootings at a prayer group in a school in West Paducah, Ky., and to the shooting of Cassie Bernall at Columbine in Colorado. Bernall is now spoken of by many evangelicals as a modern-day Christian martyr, because she was asked by one of the gunmen whether she believed in God, to which she defiantly answered, "Yes, I do," and was instantly shot. Her story is being passed among many churches and youth groups, her parents have written a book that was just published, and there is a campaign to have students wear T-shirts to school saying, "Yes, I believe in God." Turner said that like Cassie Bernall, those shot at Wedgwood Baptist were killed for their faith. "It is the enemy, conducting spiritual warfare," Turner said. "It's an attack on Christianity in general, on Christians, and it's Satan trying to stop God's work in the Earth. He'll use whoever he wants, whoever he can. The guy who did this was obviously angry. Satan uses anger ...."Why don't they just kill themselves and be done with it, like people used to do. Why do they have to take a whole bunch of people with them? Because then nobody would know their names." ..."

Weekly World News 9/28/99 Ed Anger ".... I'm madder than a hungry lion gnawing on a skinny Christian over the way the idiot liberals are bitching and moaning about the latest survey of America's religious beliefs. A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll stunned the nation by showing that an incredible 90 percent of Americans believe in Heaven, 79 percent believe in miracles - and a whopping 72 percent are certain that angels exist, by gum. Not only that, 27 percent believe in reincarnation and 28 percent of all Americans believe you can contact the dead. And guess who's crying bloody murder over these electrifying findings? The stupid bleeding-heart liberals, that's who. "This is just another ploy by Republicans and the dumb Americans who vote for them to force prayer back into our public schools," sniffed a lesbian atheist spokeswoman for the National Organization of Woman. But the real icing on the cake, by jiminy, was a blockbuster U.S. News and World Report survey showing that 61 percent, or 200 million Americans, believe Jesus Christ will return to Earth. Forty-four percent believe there will be a final battle of Armageddon sometime soon and half of all Americans believe there is an anti-Christ. ...."

National Post (Toronto) 9/18/99 "....Last month, a crazed bigot in Los Angeles fired gunshots into a Jewish daycare, wounding several children. Bill Clinton, the U.S. president, and Janet Reno, the attorney-general, promptly called it a hate crime. On Wednesday, a crazed bigot in Fort Worth fired gunshots into a Baptist church, killing seven youths. Al Gore, the vice-president, blamed violent Hollywood and poor parenting. Was this crime a hate crime too? No official confirmation as yet. But why? In both cases, the gunman chose his targets carefully. These were not randomly selected victims -- they were picked precisely because of their religion. The alleged L.A. gunman has confessed to his anti-Semitism. And survivors say the Fort Worth gunman shouted anti-religious obscenities as he killed the Christian children. After the L.A. shooting, Ms. Reno flew in to address a community rally at the Jewish daycare, and in her speech she denounced not only the hateful gunman, but the Republican party as well. Since Republican congressmen opposed her gun control plans, she implied, they were in league with the shooter. (To the credit of the assembled Los Angelenos, Ms. Reno's speech was cut short by boos and heckles.) In the days since this latest massacre, there have been several Christian prayer gatherings in Fort Worth. Ms. Reno has attended none of them. And asked if this was a hate crime, she answered, "we should not jump to conclusions." ...... Why is a wounding attack by a crazed anti-Semite more despicable than a deadly attack by a crazed anti-Christian? Why are right-wing Republicans who belong to the National Rifle Association guilty by association of the L.A. shooting, but left-wing Democrats who support the American Civil Liberties Union not implicated in the Fort Worth shooting? ...."

Reuters 9/19/99 "….Worshippers Sunday returned to the scene of deranged gunman's rampage at a Baptist church as Fort Worth prepared to host a city-wide memorial service for the victims of shooting. …. Wedgwood's pastor Rev. Al Meredith, in a sermon entitled ''Where is God in all this?'', told his faithful the victims were in heaven and that God would help the survivors get their lives back in order……. The main church hall or sanctuary, where the shooting took place, was packed to near its 1,000-person capacity. Meredith said there had been an outpouring of support and prayer, evidenced by more than 5,000 e-mails from people around the world and the fact that the church Web site www.wedgwoodbc.org had received over 30,000 hits. ``People are praying, they're praying, praying, praying, and you've been praying, and that's why we have a victory,'' Meredith said. After regular morning church services, religious leaders were due to gather at a local sports stadium for a city-wide memorial expected to draw thousands of people. Texas Gov. George W. Bush was due to attend the memorial service at the stadium at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth, which can hold up to 48,000 people…."

Conservative News Service 9/20/99 Bruce Sullivan "….Christian leaders from Jerry Falwell to D. James Kennedy say there is a double standard applied to so-called hate crimes, such as last week's shooting spree in a Texas Baptist church by a man shouting anti-Christian expletives -- an attack that left seven Christians dead and seven more wounded. "There is a total absence of outrage over the killings at the Baptist church and in Colorado, as far as the religious aspect is concerned," said Falwell, referring not only to last weeks' rampage at Fort Worth's Wedgwood Baptist, but also to the massacre earlier this year at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado where many of the victims were also Christians. "We have, whether intentional or not, built up a reservoir of hostility toward people of faith, particularly evangelical people," Falwell told the Los Angeles Times….. "It would seem that killing Christians is on a far lower level of seriousness than anyone else being killed," said Kennedy. "Is that where we've come as a Christian nation?" …."

Chicago Sun-Times 9/21/99 John O’Sullivan "…Since last week's massacre of children in the Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, several commentators have pointed to an apparent bias in both political reactions and news reporting. When an anti-Semitic bigot shot children in a Jewish day care center, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno had immediately labelled it a "hate crime"; when asked if the Fort Worth shooting also was a hate crime, she replied cautiously that "we should not jump to conclusions." And according to Brent Baker of the Media Research Council, editors too were "much more hesitant to assign a motive" in the later case. Earlier similar comparisons--plus an apparent rash of attacks on Christians, at Columbine High among other cases--have led people to ask if there is a political and media bias against Christians. It seems to me that there is. But the more interesting question is: why? What would make the media less sympathetic to Christians than other victims of violent attacks in a country which is 88 percent Christian? Let me suggest three reasons.

The first is an understandable one: namely, that the history of this century has made us uniquely sensitive to even mild instances of anti-Semitism……. The second cause is less forgivable: It is the assumption that because Christians are the great majority of U.S. citizens, they are too powerful to be really under threat…..That brings us to the third reason: The prevailing opinion of both political and media establishments is that most Americans are fundamentally racist, sexist and homophobic and have to be continually restrained from their bigoted impulses. Hence the trends in media coverage and political rhetoric noted above: crimes against minorities must be highlighted to shame America out of its bigotry while crimes against majority groups--in this case, Christians--must be treated with caution, lest they encourage America in its bigotry….. All murders are hate crimes; all deserve equally to be condemned and punished; and if we assign a higher priority to the murders of some children over others, then we do not really care about the children at all…."

The Kansas City Star 9/21/99 John Dvorak "….Out in Manhattan, Kan., this time of year, the debate should be about low farm prices or the football fortunes of the Kansas State Wildcats. Instead, it's about a five-foot-tall piece of granite.

On the monument, which was erected on city property in 1958 and was removed last April, are the Ten Commandments. Given sensitivity over the mixing of religion and government, the sequence of events isn't hard to imagine. First came legal threats. Then an outpouring of citizen displeasure. Then a lawsuit. Now the Manhattan City Commission has inflamed passions further by agreeing to settle the lawsuit, promising to never again place the Ten Commandments on public property, and paying $12,000 in legal costs for two out-of-town activist organizations.

A petition has been circulated, and a special election to recall a commission member who voted to remove the commandments may be the next big step…… "This was not an attack on the Ten Commandments," Baker said. "The problem was the placement of the Ten Commandments at the seat of government." Those who supported the display disagree. "It represents not the separation of church and state but the removal of God from public life," said Don Rose, a leader of a petition drive to recall one of the commission members who voted to remove the commandments. "I do stand up for God." …."

Denver Rocky Mountain News 9/16/99 Jean Tokelson "….A student prayer rally called "See You at the Pole" turned into "See you in court" for a woman displaying the Ten Commandments at Columbine High School. Corine Miller, 49, was cited Wednesday for criminal trespassing and is scheduled to appear in Jefferson County court Nov. 11.

"This is all in a day's work. I will not back down," Miller said she told school officials. They called the sheriff's department after she refused to leave school property with her placards in the shape of stone tablets. Miller, a housecleaner, had joined in at the fringe of a group of about 100 students as they prayed before class Wednesday.

Students across the nation and at a number of metro-area campuses were meeting at their schools' flagpoles to pray for their schools, faculty and classmates. The Texas-based movement began in 1990 with a small group of evangelical Christian students and now claims 3 million participants at the once-a-year event, according to its Web site. Miller would have been within her rights to show the Ten Commandments from the public sidewalk nearby, said Rick Kaufman, spokesman for the Jefferson County School District. The issue was her display of a religious artifact on school grounds, Kaufman said. He added that since the April shootings Columbine also restricts access to outsiders. Even so, "she would have been more than welcome to stay" if she had done so quietly and without the signs…."

The Daily Oklahomon 9/21/99 Cal Thomas "…A president flouts the moral law and is seen getting away with it. He's so cavalier that he pardons members of a Puerto Rican terrorist group, but calls for more gun laws while his administration refuses to enforce most of those now on the books. Anyone who believes an entire generation has not received the message also believes that television commercials don't affect behavior. Texas Gov. George W. Bush told the truth when he said in response to the church shootings, "There seems to be a wave of evil passing through America now." That's because the moral dam that once held most of it back has been opened, and we are drowning in the flash flood. Bush noted that laws can only go so far. People must be held accountable for the decisions they make, he said. But in our victimized culture, we are told that no one is accountable, because no one is responsible. Bill Clinton is a sexual predator and serial liar because his mother and grandmother argued over him….. Postmodern, aimless man says there is no evil, because there is no God. If there is no God, we may do as we please…."

Center for Reform 9/20/99 John Culbertson "…Over the weekend the people of Wedgewood Baptist Church buried their loved ones and held two memorial services, six families said so long but not good by. The members of Wedgewood Baptist Church presented an example and a testimony to their faith that all Americans should be proud of and should learn from. There were no cries for hate crime laws or gun bans. There was no attempt to become victims for political gain. There was no condemnation or cries for grief counseling. Instead these individuals who had so much to be grieved about counseled us. They demonstrated the commitment of their faith in spite of the adversity to which they had been unfairly and with much evil placed in. They did not rant about the gunman, they forgave him. They did not moan about their psychological problems associated with the gunman's attack, they tore out the blood soaked carpets and pews, set up folding chairs and conducted a church service. They did not act like nothing happened, far from it. They did find a deeper part of their faith and they shared it in a meaningful way with the rest of the world. They showed us what strength is about and they showed us what honor is about. They demonstrated a higher morality than this nation has seen in quite a long time and they should be listened to and emulated….."

Center for Reform 9/20/99 John Culbertson "…Noticeably absent from this latest shooting memorial was a member of the administration. Neither the President nor the Vice President attended. They did scoff at the notion that evil played a part in the shooting and saw fit to attack the NRA and blame it for this tragedy. Certainly the President or the Vice President would have been welcome but I think they lacked the courage to attend. They lacked the courage because the people of Wedgewood live the faith that they only claim to possess……"

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_dougherty/19990923_xnjdo_texas_scho.shtml 9/23/99 Jon Dougherty "...A high school student body president at a Texas public school told lawyers for a freedom of religion advocacy group that the school principal threatened to strip her of her powers if she didn't conform to his instructions regarding prayer on school property. The Texas Justice Foundation (TJF) told WorldNetDaily that the student, Beth Long, who attends Mission High School in Mission, Texas, contacted the organization in early September and reported the threat. According to TJF, the student was also told to "pledge allegiance" to the principal and the school district, adding that the principal's rules prohibiting school prayer exceeded those set forth by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court in a February ruling on school prayer......"

Koenig's International News 9/13/99 THE WHITE HOUSE .... STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT "...Today, my National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) delivered its report "Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research." Because of the enormous medical potential of such research, I asked the NBAC in November, 1998, to look at the ethical and medical issues surrounding human stem cell research. The scientific results that have emerged in just the past few months already strengthen the basis for my hope that one day, stem cells will be used to replace cardiac muscle cells for people with heart disease, nerve cells for hundreds of thousands of Parkinson's patients, or insulin-producing cells for children who suffer from diabetes. The issues addressed by the NBAC's recommendations are complex and difficult. The Commissioners are to be commended for the thoroughness with which they engaged in this discussion and the national dialogue that they facilitated, seeking the views and opinions of virtually every segment of our society, including scientists, patients, scholars from most of the major religions in the United States, lawyers, philosophers, ethicists and the public. I want to thank Dr. Harold Shapiro, Chairman of the NBAC, and other Commissioners for a thoughtful report that will contribute significantly to the efforts of my Administration as we establish the highest ethical standards for the conduct of human stem cell research...."

Fort Worth Star Telegram 9/21/99 Bob Ray Sanders ".... After hearing the news of a Fort Worth church shooting, in which seven people were killed, Gov. George W. Bush canceled his campaigning and two fund- raisers in Michigan to come back to Texas and to Fort Worth. It would be easy to be cynical and suggest that Bush only did what was expected, that he was merely playing the role of a concerned leader and that any move by a politician, no matter how sincere, is just a political maneuver. That would be terribly unfair. I've often been critical of Bush, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but there is no fault to be found with his appearance in Fort Worth. His actions, and motivation, were earnest and admirable. .... All of those meetings were private, without the glare of local or national TV cameras. Bush had insisted that his visit not become a media event. .... At the pastor's house, the governor cried, Barr said. Unlike accusations leveled against President Clinton -- that he can cry on cue -- no one thinks that Bush is that great an actor. The tears were real because the feelings were real. Sunday afternoon, the governor and his wife attended the community memorial service in TCU's Amon Carter Stadium, but he made no speech. He didn't even sit on the stage, choosing instead to be seated in the bleachers of the stadium with more than 15,000 people who had come to show their love for the victims and their families, and to begin the healing process for our city. Bush had told Wedgwood's pastor Thursday that he thought it would be inappropriate for him to make any kind of address at the service. I asked him why he was not speaking. "Because," he said, "I thought this was a religious ceremony, not a political event." ....Praise also goes to those ministers and victims' family members who offered prayers for the shooter as well as those he killed and wounded. When asked whether she could forgive killer Larry Gene Ashbrook, one family member quickly said: "It's already done. Already done." In all of these tragedies, the family of the person responsible also is suffering. Ashbrook's family is in pain....In their only statement released Friday, family members said: "As a God-loving family, we grieve for the families affected by this tragedy, and for the people whose lives will be forever changed by the actions of our brother, Larry Gene Ashbrook. "... We know that there can never be a satisfactory explanation for this action. We only know that we are heartsick along with everyone in Fort Worth and the nation." ...."

NYP 9/20/99 Megan Turner "....AN exhibition with a blood-filled head, oversized sex organs, a religious portrait caked in elephant dung and real animals in formaldehyde has plunged the Brooklyn Museum of Art into controversy. The Catholic League is urging all New Yorkers to boycott the exhibition, which is scheduled to open in two weeks, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has condemned it. Meanwhile, prominent art critics have branded the show "aesthetically bankrupt" and "morally repugnant."..."

www.freedomforum.org 9/17/99 AP "...A new policy allowing high school students to use the school intercom to urge fellow students to join in prayer got its first use this week when a senior asked fellow students to join her in silent prayer. The school board approved the use of the intercom for prayer earlier this week in a move that could bring a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, among others. The policy appears to violate the First Amendment because it forces those who may not wish to pray to participate, says Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the Kansas and Western Missouri ACLU. Amanda Garcia, 17, spoke through the intercom as classes began and asked the student body to join her in silent prayer. "I don't understand what people are afraid of," Garcia said. "In my mind, it may not be legal, but it's right." School Board attorney Ervin Grant said he advised board members that the policy was legal, as long as the board or the administration did not dictate what students say. "The Supreme Court never really intended to squelch the idea of students being able to pray," Grant said. Kurtenbach disagreed....."

Wichita Eagle 9/21/99 Nicole Hughes "....The school board Monday revoked a week-old policy allowing high school students to pray over the intercom, and asked its lawyer to develop a legally defensible policy allowing school prayer in some fashion. Twice last week, students used the intercom to ask classmates to say a silent prayer before the schoolday began. Civil liberties lawyers called the practice and the policy that allowed it unconstitutional. The vote to rescind the policy was 4-3. The board will consider the new policy Oct. 11. Roughly 100 students, parents and Augusta residents -- almost all of them pleading for school prayer -- crowded the high school library for the special meeting, offering "amens" and holding neon-colored signs reading "So sue me" and "We will pray in school." Kim Ivy, youth group leader at an Augusta church, silently raised a sign above her head, telling school board members to "get a spine." "I'm tired of legislative bodies telling me or anybody else that they can't pray to God anywhere," she said. "When the law of men goes against the law of God -- it's not the law anymore." Donna Sandifer echoed Ivy's thoughts. "The Christian kids -- it's time for them to stand," she said. "I can guarantee the kids of Columbine are standing. Why wait for the atrocity to happen?" ..."

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3076.htm 9/22/99 "....A woman who was forced to leave a public bus in Washington State for talking about religion with another passenger is suing for violation of her civil rights. On April 2, Michelle Shocks was forced off a Community Transit (CT) bus in Bothell, Washington. Shocks paid her fare to travel from work to her children's day care center. A man who boarded the bus expressed his joy at being out of the rain by saying, "Praise the Lord." Shocks and the man then began to discuss their Christian faith. The driver called Shocks to the front of the bus and told her that she could not talk about religion because other passengers might find the discussion offensive. Shocks then moved next to the man so they could speak more quietly, but the driver again called Shocks to the front of the bus and told her she had to get off at the next stop because she refused to stop talking about religion. Asked if there was some law that prevented bus passengers from talking about Jesus, the bus driver ordered both Sparks and the other man to leave the bus at the next drop....."

New York Post 9/23/99 Tom Topousis Neil Graves "... Mayor Giuliani vowed to block city funding to the Brooklyn Museum yesterday because of a shocking new exhibit - including a Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung - he branded "sick stuff." After reading news reports about the upcoming exhibit, "Sensation," Giuliani went on the warpath, threatening to pull $7.2 million that the museum gets from the city - about one-third of its budget. The mayor singled out British artist Chris Ofili's "The Holy Virgin Mary," an abstract painting of the Virgin Mary that's been splattered with real elephant dung. "It offends me," fumed Giuliani..."

NewsMax.com/http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/articles/Gerald_L._Hibbs.htm 9/26/99 Gerald Hibbs "….Does anyone else happen to remember what the Democrats said was the cause of the 1994 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City? Wasn't conservative talk radio (thus conservatives in general) blamed for creating a "culture of hate?" Conservatives, it was suggested were the cause of the bombing, the militias, hate groups, and - the existence of hate itself. That's a lot of blame for simply opposing the Democrats' liberal agenda.

Given this history of finger-pointing, it was interesting to observe the reaction to Larry Ashbrook walking into the Wedgwood Baptist Church youth prayer rally and opening fire. Janet Reno declared that his motives were "unknown." When a similar incident involving a Jewish youth center occurred, there was no questioning what motivated the killer. Obvious to all was his hatred of Jews. The facts that were gathered thereafter simply supported the obvious. Where is the outrage over this murderer's hatred of Christians? Where is the seeking of who to blame for those who have cultivated this "culture of hatred" toward Christians? Who are the hatemongers who have sown the hatred of Christians? Ah, there is the rub. The perpetrators of "Christian hating" are the very liberals who take it as their life purpose to find others to blame. Christianity is the very antithesis of liberalism. Thus the popular appellations, Christian Right or Extreme Christian Right, Jesus Freaks, and Moral Majority (not in itself derogatory but made so by liberals who make sure to sneer when they say it). ….."

Tampa Bay Online 9/26/99 AP "….Cardinal John O'Connor on Sunday asked Catholics to join him in condemning a painting of the Virgin Mary embellished with a clump of elephant dung, while civil rights activists defended the Brooklyn Museum of Art's right to show the piece. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, meanwhile, reiterated his pledge to cut all $7 million of city funding to the museum - one-third of its budget - unless the painting is pulled from an exhibit scheduled to open Friday. ``I'm saddened by what appears to be an attack not only on our blessed mother ... but one must ask if it is not an attack on religion itself and in a special way on the Catholic Church,'' said O'Connor in his weekly sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral….."

New York Post 9/24/99 John Podhoretz "….

Washington Post 9/24/99 William Raspberry "….We felt the way a lot of Jews felt the other week when the Southern Baptist International Mission Board urged members of its 40,000 churches to pray for the conversion of Jews -- especially during this month's Jewish holy days. "Pray each day for Jewish individuals you know by name," a pocket-size guide instructed. "Build authentic friendships with Jewish People. Love them as you would an unsaved relative." Some Jewish leaders were -- well, annoyed. "We'd like a little less love and a little more respect," Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations said. "There's a kind of theological arrogance that pervades all of this, a certain willingness to play God, and an absence of awareness that these sorts of statements throughout history are associated with coercion, hatred and violence." …… The Southern Baptist leaders who mounted the Jewish conversion campaign (two years ago, they launched a similar campaign to convert Muslims during Ramadan and Hindus during Divali) must have felt the same duty to warn. Indeed, the surprise is that more Christians are not doing the same thing. Unlike other religions that acknowledge the possibility of multiple paths to Truth, Christians tend to think of Christianity as the only -- or at any rate the only reliable -- path. They are duty-bound to preach to -- and pray for -- the heathen. Didn't the Old Testament prophets do the same thing, warning people to repentance before it was too late? And weren't they Jews? Was the Southern Baptist prayer guide any more offensive or arrogant than, say, Jeremiah? ….."

World Magazine 9/24/99 Lynn Vincent "…. Witnesses offer varying versions of what happened next. Two eyewitnesses, Caleb and Mr. Herweck, saw the same thing: an older youth with a goatee seated in a pew toward the rear of the sanctuary, near the center. The youth, with eyes closed and head bowed, appeared to be praying. This may have been Jeremiah Neitz, 19, of South Wayside Baptist Church. Other press accounts have Mr. Neitz entering the church after the shooting began, and verbally confronting Ashbrook. But both Caleb and Mr. Herweck say they saw the youth, who matches Mr. Neitz's description, seated in the church before the confrontation began. What is clear is that Mr. Neitz, the last person to speak with Ashbrook, told the murderer he needed Jesus. From his seat in the rear pew, Ashbrook began yelling at Mr. Neitz: "You believe in all this stuff? You believe in this religious bull___?" According to Mr. Hughes and others, Mr. Neitz stood facing Ashbrook and testified to the value of faith. Mr. Neitz's youth pastor Adam Hammond, who was lying on the floor near Mr. Neitz, reportedly tugged on Mr. Neitz's pants leg and told him to get down and out of danger. But Mr. Neitz would not relent. Mr. Herweck believed "he was fearless." Ashbrook did not fire on Mr. Neitz. Instead, defeated or exhausted, he slumped down on a pew against the rear wall of the sanctuary. Witnesses say the sanctuary was dead silent. The gunman just "sat there for a second, almost in disbelief," says Mr. Herweck. "Then he yelled out 'This religion is bull___!'" They were Ashbrook's last words. He put the gun to his own head and a final shot rang out. Blood appeared on Ashbrook's right temple and a bullet hole appeared in the wall to the left of his head. In the seconds that followed, someone yelled, "The shooter's down! Everybody get out!" The sanctuary door burst open and Chip Gillette, the off-duty police officer who lives across the street from Wedgwood, rushed into a stream of fleeing teens. As he reached the shooter, Mr. Gillette said Ashbrook was just beginning "a death roll," slumping sideways in the pew, falling right to left. …"

The Tennessean (Nashville) 9/26/99 Charles Haynes "…. Censoring religious speech by students may be legal, but is it the right thing to do? ……. But I would argue that censoring student presentations only makes sense when they are clearly inappropriate for a public school. No administrator should allow obscene, hateful or defamatory speech. The religious reference at issue in this case is none of the above. …..Why do some administrators get out the red pencil when they spot God-talk in a student speech? Primarily for two reasons: First, some administrators are under the impression that permitting students to speak religiously at school-sponsored events violates the Establishment clause of the First Amendment because it imposes religion on a captive audience. But student speech isn't government speech……. And second, some administrators -- including the principal in Florida -- are concerned that religious references to one faith may offend people of other faiths (or of no faith). Sadly, that may be true. In these hypersensitive times, many Americans are offended all too easily. And often their first recourse is to call a lawyer. But isn't the whole point of education -- and of the First Amendment -- to encourage freedom of expression in the marketplace of ideas? …."

AP 9/24/99 Beth Gardiner "….Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has frozen $7 million in city funding for one of the city's largest art museums over an exhibit that includes a dung-splattered painting of the Virgin Mary and pig halves in formaldehyde. Giuliani described as ``sick'' the show scheduled to open Oct. 2 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and said work that offends religious sensibilities doesn't deserve public money. The city money amounts to nearly one-third of the museum's budget. He also objected Thursday to the museum's plan to require children under 17 to be accompanied to the show by an adult, and one of his deputies suggested the museum buy its city-leased building if it doesn't like his position……"

Wedgwood Baptist Church 9/23/99 "….

NewsMax 9/24/99 Brent Bozell "….But some media outlets deserve an F, not for lack of effort, but for lack of intellectual honesty. They announced they couldn't find anti-religious motivation anywhere. On CNN, Anne McDermott avoided the evidence by concluding: "They did not find any recent notes or a computer or any other clues that might be able to point to a motive, and neighbors are just as puzzled ... one law enforcement official here says we may never know why." …."

NewsMax 9/24/99 Brent Bozell "….CBS reporter Bob McNamara began his evening news story: "If 47-year-old Larry Ashbrook had a motive to his madness, it apparently died with him." …CBS' Richard Schlesinger echoed, "what happened is painfully clear. Why it happened will probably never be known." So were the eyewitnesses to Ashbrook's anti-religious hatred -- loony? Were the FBI and police statements unreadable? ……As a matter for the historical record, CBS loves to connect the dots between conservatives and hate. In 1996, Bob McNamara went looking for racists like David Duke to connect to Pat Buchanan's presidential quest. In 1995, CBS' Jim Stewart lovingly connected Timothy McVeigh to the NRA…..But find a man screaming anti-religious rants while he shoots up a church, and those guilt-by-association specialists find ... nothing. …."

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….On the assumption that Satan, enlisting the help of Larry Gene Ashbrook, set out last week to intimidate Christians ... well, did this unholy pair pick the wrong church! Liberal Protestants of hazy theological outlook -- that might have been one thing. But Southern Baptists! No one in his right mind would put forward the Baptists as subject matter for spiritual intimidation. Confronted, menaced, jeopardized, Baptists reach for a familiar object -- the Holy Bible. They open it, they brandish it, they thrust it right in the Devil's face. Just how heart-warming it was to see them do so on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon, in Texas Christian University's football stadium, I beg here and now to report. The Baptists, to every appearance, have it right: Spiritual warfare rages in our midst.

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….The Baptists know all this [secularism] Their most engaging trait is that they don't care. They set forth the Truth as they have received it, that Jesus Christ died for your sins. Case in point: the Fort Worth commemoration. The occasion is ostensibly civic. The mayor is a speaker; Gov. George W. Bush and other office-holders have come as non-speakers just to reinforce the sense of public outrage and grief. A rabbi prays. I spot Moslems in the crowd. ….Yet the occasion is saturated with Christian joy. There's an odd word -- "joy.'' What's joyous about the desecration of a house of worship and the slaughter of teenage worshippers and counselors? Nothing is "joyful'' about evil. Joy, as the Baptists of Fort Worth would make known, comes with God's response to evil. Does He leave it to fester? Hardly. He points to the victory already won, and in the end to be lastingly consummated, through His son's death and resurrection. It's right there in those Bibles waved under Satan's snoot. Nor does it stop even there, you dumb lunk with the pitchfork! Christians inside and outside the Southern Baptist Convention would affirm this reality…."

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….Affirm? A mild word for what goes on at the stadium. What about the father of one of the victims, leading the audience/congregation in the singing of a song his murdered daughter had loved? What about the pastor of the desecrated church, the Rev. Al Meredith, whomping up a classic Baptist revival on the spot -- a call to fasting and repentance and prayer? "Raise your hand if you want the killing to stop -- if you want to see the spirit of the living God sweeping over our land like wildfire.'' Up in the air -- a forest of affirming arms, one of them attached to an Episcopalian journalist. Bad news for Satan. He's stirred up the Baptists -- folk who take him with the deep seriousness his malice deserves. The culture wars may have taken a decisive turn…."

Associated Press 9/27/99 Beth Harpaz "….Speaking outside a Harlem school this morning, Hillary Rodham Clinton said she doesn't like the idea of a portrait of the Virgin Mary embellished with elephant dung, part of an upcoming exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, but she believes the museum has a right to show it. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who, like Mrs. Clinton, is considering running for U.S. Senate, is pledging to cut $7 million in city funds if the museum goes ahead with the show, "Sensation: Young British Artists From the Saatchi Collection,'' set to open Saturday….. On Sunday, Cardinal John O'Connor sided with the Republican mayor, while civil rights activists said that pulling the museum's funding would violate the First Amendment. "I'm saddened by what appears to be an attack not only on our blessed mother ... but one must ask if it is not an attack on religion itself and in a special way on the Catholic Church,'' O'Connor said Sunday in his weekly sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral. …."

www.catholicleague.org 10/5/99 William Donohue "...In the October 11 editions of The New Yorker and New York, contrasting perspectives on the Brooklyn Museum of Art controversy are offered. Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker sees the dung-stained and pornographic-studded "The Holy Virgin Mary" as "gorgeous, sweet, and respectful of its subject"; he is taken by its alleged artistic merit and does not believe that the artist, Chris Ofili, meant his work to be sacrilegious. But Mark Stevens in New York sees it differently: he chastises Ofili for not coming up "with something better than elephant dung for a desecration." Stevens suggests, "Wouldn't bat droppings or goat semen be preferable?" Catholic League president William Donohue made his thoughts known on the two commentaries today: "If I had been asked a month ago where to find someone who thought it a reverential tribute to throw feces on a religious painting and surround it with pictures of vaginas and anuses, I would have directed him to an asylum. Now I would offer him the option of visiting the offices of The New Yorker. "But if The New Yorker's take on 'The Holy Virgin Mary' is bizarre, the position of New York is certifiably bigoted. When it is said that Our Blessed Mother is 'every good boy's dream,' no one can understand that without calling it anti-Catholic. "The comment that 'bat droppings' and 'goat semen' would be 'preferable' to elephant dung on 'The Holy Virgin Mary' proves how deep-seated is New York's hatred of Catholicism. That New York admits that this painting constitutes 'desecration' shows that it is more in touch with reality than The New Yorker, but it also shows that New York has bigots on its payroll. "The New Yorker's capacity for self-deception cannot be underrated, but it is still preferable to New York's sponsorship of hate speech." ...."

Family Research Council 10/5/99 "....Family Research Council Chief Spokesperson Janet Parshall said Tuesday a "wave of activity emphasizing the Ten Commandments" is emerging nationwide. Along with the distribution of nearly a half million Ten Commandments book covers, FRC reported numerous events where parents, teens, school boards, or state legislatures have advocated or allowed the public posting of the Ten Commandments. "The country has experienced one too many horrible shootings," Parshall said. "There is a growing demand to 'hang Ten.' Seventy-four percent of Americans believe that posting the Ten Commandments in schools is a good idea (Pew Research Center, Spring 1999). People are recognizing that it is not the mere presence of the Ten Commandments, but the discussion and application of the principles they contain that might help discourage such tragedies in the future." ...... In Congress, the conference on the Juvenile Justice bill will soon meet to finalize the package that contains a provision allowing states and local governments to authorize the display of the Ten Commandments on state property. The legislation also preserves the rights of individual citizens in state institutions and other public forums to freely express their religious faith...."

BBC 10/5/99 ".....The Pope wanted to spare Lloyd's victims further distress A south Wales Catholic priest imprisoned for child sex offences has been sacked by the Pope in a move almost unprecedented in the recent history of the Church. It is thought to be the first time a priest has been removed from the Church by papal decree in Britain in recent centuries. John Lloyd, who was once the press officer for the archdiocese of Cardiff, was sentenced to eight years in jail last year for a string of sex offences involving children....."

www.eagleforum.org 10/4/99 Phyllis Schlafly ".....Are the American people willing to allow government agents to come into their homes to "advise" them how to care for their babies? What if the announced purpose of these home visits is to look for child abuse under the assumption that all parents are suspects? The plan to send "home visitors" into the homes of all first-time parents is one more example of the pervasive liberal push to monitor law-abiding citizens under the pretext of catching criminals. The model for universal home visitation is Healthy Families America (HFA), a program developed by the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA), now known as Prevent Child Abuse America. The HFA program calls for 50+ in-home visits annually per family for those considered most "at risk." The home visitors are paraprofessionals and volunteers who are called "trained," but may have only a high school education. These recruits are supposed to educate parents on "proper parenting practices" and to monitor child development. NCPCA materials make it clear that parents should never spank their children, and state that "no child needs a spanking, spanking can be dangerous." .....Last October, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) wrote a Dear Colleague letter to other House Members warning that HFA "sets a dangerous precedent" and represents "the village mentality run wild." He described the program as "Big Brother intervention as we have never seen it before," noting that "Americans have never experienced such intrusion in their family lives." Rep. Hyde's letter notes that all HFA program data will be kept in a nationwide computerized tracking system called the Program Information Management System (PIMS), and could eventually be combined with preschool and public school tracking systems when children enter the education system. Sending government "visitors" into private homes to monitor child rearing and enter family information on a government database is part and parcel of the Clinton Administration's drive for totalitarian control over our daily lives. It's time for a total repudiation of all the totalitarian impulses of the Clinton Administration. ...."

boston.com 10/4/99 Mona Charen ".....Wrapping themselves in the First Amendment, they ingenuously claim that this rubbish is art and condemn those who are shocked, even as they giggle behind their hands at our red faces. Truly, this exhibit - aspects of which would offend nearly everyone, but particularly Catholics - is an assault. There is a decomposing animal's head being eaten by real flies, a shark in a tank of formaldehyde and, most disgusting, a picture of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung and pornographic images all over it. The Christians need an anti-defamation league. It is wearying to say this over and over again, but here goes: The Brooklyn Museum would never, ever exhibit a picture of any liberal icon - not Justice Harry Blackmun, not Anita Hill, not even Jesse Jackson - covered in elephant dung. Nor would they ostentatiously offend homosexuals, Native Americans ... well, you know the list. Chris Ofili's picture of ''The Holy Virgin Mary'' is a calculated stick in the eye to American Christians, who have not only had their sacred symbols profaned in the most vile fashion but have had to pay for it through their tax dollars. To its credit, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis has denounced the Brooklyn Museum. We've been down this road before. There was ''Piss Christ,'' also a recipient of government funding, the Mapplethorpe excrescence, and the lady who smeared herself in chocolate. Your government is funding, as art, things you wouldn't even permit your children to say. ....."

Associated Press 10/4/99 "....Friends and relatives of victims in the Columbine High School massacre sued the school district Monday for refusing to display hallway tiles they made with religious symbols. The Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal group, filed a federal lawsuit against the district on behalf of several people who want a court order forcing the school to display the tiles. ``The premise is that this is a violation of our clients' First Amendment free speech rights,'' said Jim Rouse, an attorney with the Virginia-based institute - which also represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment case against President Clinton....."

CNSNews.com 10/6/99 L Brent Bozell III "....Odd as it may sound, there is a small silver lining to be found in the dark cloud of each high-profile cultural attack on religion, from "The Last Temptation of Christ" to the fecally defaced Virgin Mary portrait currently, and shamefully, on display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. When the media cover these outrages, they usually allow those disgusted by them to speak out. In the case of the Brooklyn Virgin Mary, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Catholic League's William Donohue have been frequent television talking heads. Such spokesmen alert the public to the true nature of these phenomena, some of which, superficially, may not seem especially offensive. Without news reports regarding the anti-Catholic ax the short-lived ABC program "Nothing Sacred" was grinding two years ago, plenty of the faithful might have tuned in to what they vaguely thought was a "Catholic" show, only to see their most cherished beliefs pilloried...... "The West Wing," a new show about a fictional Democratic administration from liberal writer Aaron Sorkin ("A Few Good Men," "The American President"), took its shot on September 22, in its very first episode. After a presidential aide, Josh, makes an ill-considered televised quip about God "being indicted for tax fraud," a delegation of Christian-right leaders visits the White House to express its displeasure about the wisecrack and what it sees as the administration's overall hostility toward its concerns. But the Christians are summarily forced to retreat from the moral high ground, of course. First, a member of the delegation, Mary Marsh, comments unsubtly on Josh's "New York sense of humor." Possibly trying to divert attention from Marsh's anti-Semitic barb, another Christian, John Van Dyke, wonders why the administration is so much more devoted to the First Amendment than to the First Commandment, which, he claims, reads "Honor thy father." Another presidential aide quickly points out Van Dyke's Scriptural error. There you have it. Christians are anti-Semitic bigots - and idiots, too. Finally, the president himself joins the gathering and asks the third Christian leader, Al Caldwell, why he hasn't denounced an outfit called the Lambs of God. The president explains: After his twelve-year-old granddaughter expressed pro-choice sentiments in an interview with a teen magazine, the group sent her "a Raggedy Ann doll with a knife stuck through its throat. You'll denounce these people, Al, you'll do it publicly, and until you do, you can all get your fat asses out of my White House."....."

Los Angeles Times 10/5/99 Jim Pinkerton "...At the exhibit, one of the first pieces I see is "The Holy Virgin Mary" by Chris Ofili. The elephant dung angle, it turns out, has been overplayed. Only one turd is actually on the portrait--although there are two more at the base, one labeled "Virgin" and the other "Mary." But it's clear that Ofili has a thing for excrement, without regard to race or religion; another of his works on display features the names of such black superstars as James Brown and Diana Ross, neatly scripted on turds of their own. But what is offensive about the Mary piece are the little cut-outs of women's behinds plastered all over the canvas.... But the real outrage is the work of Jake and Dinos Chapman. Their artistic oeuvre is naked girls. They have taken department-store mannequins of little girls, festooned them with penises, and then added vaginas and anuses--the kind you might expect to see on a blow-up sex doll--in random places over their faces and bodies.... The caption for "Tragic Anatomies" asks the following: "What would the world be like if we were freed of all sexual inhibition? Do we falsely deny the existence of sexuality in children?" Why haven't the media reported on that? Is it because they've been focused on the feces? Maybe, but I think there's another reason. The critics and commentators don't want the real raw truth about this exhibit to get out, because they know that even they can't publicly defend Hustler-type photos or kiddie porn...."

The NY Post Robert Hardt Jr. Fredric Dicker 10/6/99 ".... Mayor Giuliani directed his latest salvo in the war with the Brooklyn Museum of Art at its director, who he said showed "possibly anti-religious attitudes." But Giuliani avoided saying the city would be more stringent in reviewing publicly financed exhibits in light of the controversy over a dung-doppled Virgin Mary. "We haven't had this problem elsewhere, so this may be some kind of individual problem coming from the executive director of this museum," Giuliani said of the museum's Arnold Lehman. "This may be a thing he likes to do." Giuliani cited a Rod Dreher column in yesterday's Post recalling Lehman's controversial past as director of the Baltimore Museum of Art. "That is something that we'll look into," Giuliani said. "If you have a penchant for attacking religion and wanting to use taxpayer dollars, I don't know. That's something that really has to be looked into." ...... "

Boston Herald 10/6/99 Don Feder "....Construction was begun on the Smithsonian's Indian museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The $110 million project (two-thirds paid by the taxpayer) is expected to attract 6 million visitors a year. The New York Times noted that the museum ``will not only celebrate and display continuing tribal cultures but work to set the record straight.'' The museum's director, Richard West, said the institution would be dedicated to ``presenting the Indian perspective.'' By ``Indian perspective,'' West means the fulminations of activists who think Columbus was the father of genocide and the 7th Cavalry was the Nazi S.S. on horseback. To emphasize the point, those attending the ceremony sang the anthem of the American Indian Movement, a militant gang best known for its terrorist action at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975, which left two FBI agents dead. The Smithsonian has passionately embraced the multiculturalist agenda. It sees all of history in the reflected light of the PC trinity - race, gender and class.....This dogmatism was most conspicuous in a 1995 exhibit on the end of World War II in the Pacific and the Hiroshima bombing. The original script (revised after protests by veterans) described the conflict as ``a war of revenge against the Japanese,'' who were ``fighting to preserve their culture against imperialism.'' It was as if the rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, ``comfort women'' and other atrocities by the Imperial Army had never happened....... The Smithsonian's latest editing of history is its book ``Timelines of the Ancient World - A Visual Chronology From the Origins of Life to A.D. 1500.'' While major events in the development of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam are meticulously detailed, the book moves from B.C. to A.D. without acknowledging the birth of Jesus. The spiritual revolution wrought by the Jewish people is similarly ignored. The Smithsonian was established in 1846 for the ``increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.'' Today, it exists to exhort. History becomes a self-criticism session, where the sins of the West, evils of capitalism and the toxicity of the Judeo-Christian tradition are confessed and atoned....."

Darrell Scott 10/3/99 Brent High Darrell Scott "....Friday morning I was reading the paper and noticed Darrell Scott (father of Rachel Scott, a student who was killed at Columbine High School) was coming to speak Sunday afternoon at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville...... The service was unbelievable. Just five short months after the April 20 tragedy, Mr. Scott shared the 'untold' stories from Columbine, the stories the liberal media may never tell, the stories he has dedicated every waking moment of the rest of his life to sharing. He talked at length about the 12 students, including his daughter Rachel, who left this world on April 20. Of the 12 students who died, eight professed to be Christians. As Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the two gunmen)came down the hill behind the school to begin their assault, their first target was Mark Taylor. At the very moment bullets pierced Mark's body, he was witnessing to two of his friends about his relationship with Jesus Christ. They next turned their guns on Rachel. Three weeks earlier Rachel had witnessed to Dylan and Eric and warned them about the violent video games to which they seemed to be addicted. Their first shot hit Rachel in the leg. A second plowed through her back pack into her midsection knocking her to the ground. One of the gunmen walked over to where Rachel lay face down, still alive. He pulled her up by the hair of her head and asked, "Do you still believe in God?" "You know that I do," Rachel managed to reply. Immediately after her reply a bullet entered her temple. Mr. Scott shared the story of John Tomlin, another victim. John had been on mission trips to Mexico and was hungry to do more. During each school day he decided to do something small in hopes it might cause someone to think about spiritual things. He left his Bible open in the dash of his truck. At 4 A.M. one morning after the tragedy, Mr. Scott looked around as he was beginning an interview with NBC's Maria Shriver and noticed a circle of people around John's truck talking about the Bible in the dash . Mr. Scott spoke of his son, Craig, who escaped death after looking down the barrel of a gun. He escaped because his friend crouched next to him in the library. Isaiah Shoels, was black and a more desirable target for the two gunmen who hurled numerous racial slurs and put-downs in his direction before killing him execution-style. Cassie Bernall's story has received more national attention. She too answered the gunmen's question of "Do you believe in God?" in the affirmative, taking a bullet after her response. A national "She said yes" campaign has resulted from the statement she and Rachel made looking down the barrel of a gun. Rachel's funeral was broadcast in its entirety on CNN. Millions of viewers tuned in, making it the highest-rated broadcast in the network history. Bruce Porter brought the message, asking "Who will take the torch?" refering to the torch Rachel, Cassie, John, Mark and others had dropped. At that very moment a young man in Texas had a gun to his head, ready to take his own life. As he listened to Porter's plea and thoughts that followed, he lowered his gun from his head began to cry and pray for forgiveness. Not long ago he ran 1,000 miles from Little Rock, Arkansas to Washington, D.C. with a torch in his hand...... "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything from my Father I have made know to you. You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you to go and to bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: love each other." - John 15:13-17 In Him, Brent High, Youth Minister White House Church of Christ..."

NewsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....We are in a cultural war, and at the center of it is a major offensive against Christianity. Anyone who does not believe this is in denial. It is in-your-face obvious to those who read the paper, listen to the radio, watch television, or go to the movies -- and think about what messages are being delivered. The latest evidence of Christian bashing is the wise-off comment by Minnesota Gov. Jesse "The Mouth" Ventura in the current issue of Playboy. Flexing his monstrous ego, Ventura blurted out this bit of bigotry: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people. ... It tells them to go out and stick their nose in other people's business." He expressed an intolerant, divisive view that has become the prevailing view of America's self-professed intellectual elite and the left-wing radicals who control the Democrat Party -- as well as a strong majority of the mainstream liberal media. ......This is not an academic argument. It has to do with the survival of any government "of the people." It has to do with the relationship between religion-based morality and self-government. Thomas Jefferson asked the question, "Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?" John Adams put it this way: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." In Volume 1 of Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that "... liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." ...... "

NewsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....Two basic reasons underlie the attempt to separate America from its spiritual roots. First, the liberal goal of state socialism is incompatible with a citizenry who look to themselves and to God, rather than the state, for the satisfaction of their needs. Socialism requires that citizens do obeisance to the state as the Source from which all blessings flow. The supreme State can have no other God before it. The second reason for outlawing religion derives from the lobbying of those who wish their sins declared virtues. They seek the validation of the law, in the futile belief that the legal right to be wrong makes wrong right. The rationale of the anti-religious bigots in our society is that moral values such as are practiced by most mainstream religions, for example, Southern Baptists and Catholics, are, if you can believe it, un-Christian. This ill-begotten idea that Jesus wants us to forego distinctions between good and evil and right and wrong is so ludicrous as to be laughable. ..."

NewsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....While heathens are selling the idea that Christian love means stupidity, legal charlatans are using the First Amendment to protect public obscenity, pornography and flag-burning. They have no problem with anti-Christian hate speech framed as art and hung in the taxpayer-funded Brooklyn Museum, but are appalled at the idea of religious speech and expression, particularly in government schools, where children might be listening. They are advocates of a separation of state and religion and a marriage of state and anti-religious smut. The people are told by arrogant judges that moral discernment is equivalent to bigotry. They are advised that the Constitution does not grant people the right to establish the rules of civility and set the standards of decency by which they wish to live. The Constitution no longer protects us. It has become, in the hands of unaccountable, power-corrupted judges, an instrument of our oppression. It is time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country...."

Foxnews.com 10/6/99 Reuters "....The State Department has designated China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan as countries of particular concern for violations of religious freedom, making them liable for U.S. diplomatic and economic sanctions, spokesman James Rubin said Wednesday. The designations are the first under a procedure mandated by Congress in last year's Religious Freedom Act. The test is whether a government has "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom during the preceding 12 months.''...."

Frontpagemag 10/12/99 Michael Savage "……You know that I am talking about the disgraceful depiction of the Virgin Mary on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. But let me tell you, I'm not going to bow to this school of art that I have declared Dungism nor to its twisting of the Constitution. They will not rub our faces in their filth and get away with it; I guarantee you that. There will be a verbal holy war. A new verbal crusade. And, sooner or later, it's coming to a neighborhood near you. Be sure of it. The left and the decadent are very clever at twisting words to their own advantage. We know that. They are debasing the Catholic religion and calling it freedom of speech. If they get away with it now, they will move on to the Protestants, Jews and Muslims. Even the Muslim Koran respects the Virgin Mary. Maybe we should turn the Taliban loose on the museum directors to settle this matter. What are Christians waiting for? This is a very emotional topic with me. I'm going to march with the Catholics even though I'm not a Catholic. And I'm wearing a Catholic Rosary to show my opposition to this abomination in the museum. Museums are supposed to preserve the objective history of our nation and the world but might become tools of propaganda to move us toward a totalitarian, one-world order. Next they might show a Torah Scroll wrapped around dildos or the Muslim Koran covered with manure. It's all part of the scheme to debase and destroy religious faith and replace it with the idol of global totalitarianism. "When they came for the Catholics," were you silent because you were not Catholic? …."

AP via Newsday.com 10/12/99 Richard Carelli "…..The Supreme Court turned its back on three church-state disputes Tuesday, a triple dose of bad news for those who favor more government help for religious schools and enterprises. Far from settling anything, the rejected appeals are likely to fan the national debate over tuition vouchers and other financial help. One immediate result: Maine can continue subsidizing children who attend some private schools while denying such vouchers for those who go to religious schools. The justices also refused to let Pennsylvania exempt religious publications from sales taxes and rejected New York's effort to revive a public school district in a community of Hasidic Jews. The court's actions set no legal precedent, but drew immediate reaction from partisans. ``It certainly appears the justices are in no mood to use the current term to move the boundary markers on church-state separation,'' said the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State……"

Business Wire [http://www.businesswire.com/] 10/12/99 "…..The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed suit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham against an Alabama school district on behalf of a student who has been told that she cannot openly display a cross necklace at school -- and could face severe disciplinary action if she continues to do so. "The school district's policy clearly violates the free speech and free exercise rights of our client by denying her the ability to express her faith through the visible wearing of the necklace," said Stuart J. Roth, ACLJ Southeast Regional Counsel, whose office is in Mobile. "The actions of the school district demonstrate a hostility toward religion. The policy is not only unlawful and unconstitutional -- it is absurd."

The ACLJ represents 11-year-old Kandice Smith, a 6th grade student at Curry Middle School in Walker County, Alabama. Kandice began wearing a cross necklace, a gift from her parents, to school this year as an outward sign of her Christian faith. The suit contends that Kandice, who lives in the city of Jasper, has been repeatedly told by school officials to hide the cross necklace inside her clothing because it violates a newly adopted mandatory dress code that includes a provision that states: "Neck jewelry should be restricted to around the neck and not hang outside of required shirt." ……The suit contends the school's policy is unconstitutional and violates the rights of freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and her right to due process of law guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Further, the suit contends the policy violates the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Alabama. ….."

Manchester Union Leader 10/12/99 BETSY HART "…..Imagine that a city used taxpayer dollars to fund an overtly religious exhibit on city-owned property, which certain folks found offensive. Say a creche at Christmas time. What would happen? Well of course we know from experience. The American Civil Liberties Union would quickly mount a legal fight to have it removed, maintaining it violated the so-called "wall of separation between church and state" guaranteed by the Constitution. That phrase appears nowhere in America’s founding documents, but no matter. The ACLU and its sister organizations have consistently used those grounds to wage and win battles to remove even the most benign and ecumenical religious symbols from public property. And they have opposed even the most indirect public funding of activities related to religious organizations, as in their fight against allowing tax-funded education vouchers to be used at religious schools. Now zero in on New York City. There the ACLU and its New York affiliate, the New York Civil Liberties Union, are in the middle of an imbroglio involving taxpayer dollars, a government-owned building and an important religious symbol. These groups and their allies are outraged. They’ve sponsored protests and candlelight vigils. They’ve claimed that the mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, is "trashing" the Constitution. Only in this case there is more than a little irony. In fact, there is outright hypocrisy. For here the Left’s indignation is aroused not because of a violation of their cherished separation-of-church-and-state doctrine. The Left is upset because New York City is yanking taxpayer funding of a so-called art exhibit that sits on city-owned property and that features a revered religious figure portrayed in a manner many find deeply offensive……"

YAHOO-NEWSWORLD-HEADLINES. 10/13/99 Philip Pullella "….. A bishop at a Vatican synod launched a broadside against Islam Wednesday, bluntly accusing Muslims of plotting to dominate Europe and de-Christianize the continent. Giuseppe Bernardini, a 72-year-old Italian who is archbishop of Izmir, Turkey, made his comments in a written address submitted to the Synod of European Bishops. Bernardini, who has lived in predominantly Muslim Turkey for 42 years, called on Pope John Paul to convoke a special Vatican meeting to deal with what he called ``the problem of Muslims in Christian countries.´´ Bernardini's words were among the harshest delivered against Islam inside the Vatican in recent memory and clashed openly with the Pope's policy of promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue. In his Italian address released by the Vatican press office, Bernardini said a Muslim leader once told him: ``Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.´´ Bernardini continued in his own words: ``One can believe it because the domination has already begun.´´….."

The Washington Times 10/13/99 Stephen Dinan "…. The Hagerstown (Md.) Suns can continue to offer a $2 per ticket discount to churchgoing families that bring a church bulletin to special promotion games, a judge ruled yesterday in a discrimination lawsuit filed by an atheist. Attorneys for the plaintiff, Carl Silverman of nearby Waynesboro, Pa., and the minor-league baseball club both claimed a victory from the decision by Administrative Law Judge Georgia Brady. The Suns were pleased Judge Brady found the team hadn't discriminated in this case because the ticket taker for the Suns had offered Mr. Silverman the discount. "I'm elated that we did not give in to this bogus charge," said Suns General Manager David Blenckstone in a statement. He said the church promotions will continue. "Lawsuits like these are too common these days, and I hope this decision will make others feel more comfortable about defending themselves against ludicrous charges like this," he said. The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also claimed a victory, saying Judge Brady's ruling means the team cannot deny the discount to someone who doesn't have a bulletin, though they may advertise such a discount……"

WORLD Magazine 10/9/99 Lynn Vincent "….. More than a hundred gunshots had already ripped through the Wedgwood Baptist Church sanctuary when Jeremiah Neitz faced off with Larry Gene Ashbrook. Ashbrook pointed his hot Ruger 9-mm semiautomatic at Jeremiah. The 19-year-old pointed Ashbrook toward Jesus Christ. Standing a pew-length away from the man who had just murdered seven people because they were Christians, Jeremiah told Ashbrook: "What you need is Jesus Christ in your life." Ashbrook, a twisted loner, refused God's 11th-hour gospel offer and shot himself in the head. But that night, Jeremiah joined the Christians at Columbine in standing up for God while staring down the barrelof a gun…… Indeed, Jeremiah's prayerful posture irritated Ashbrook. By the time he spotted the youth, the shooter had already riddled the sanctuary with bullets and killed five more people. But witnesses say he appeared frustrated that most of his hostages did not cower before him in fear. Many, who could not see the dead and injured sprawled beneath the pews, believed Ashbrook was part of a scheduled skit (see WORLD, Oct. 2). Kids popped up from behind pews chanting, "Shoot me! Shoot me!" Muffled laughter rippled up from the floor of the auditorium. Standing in the back, Ashbrook lashed out at the praying Christian: "You believe in all this religious bull___? Your religion [expletive] sucks." "No, sir, it doesn't," replied Jeremiah, turning in his seat to face the gunman. "Yes, it does!" spat Ashbrook, becoming more agitated. "No, sir, it doesn't," repeated Jeremiah: "What you need is Jesus Christ in your life." Gunfire rang out as Ashbrook fired several more shots. But he did not fire at Jeremiah. Witnesses say Jeremiah's words seemed to shock and confuse Ashbrook. The gunman slumped down into a pew on the rear wall of the sanctuary, a look of disbelief on his face. When Ashbrook sat down, Jeremiah stood up. …… Then Ashbrook leveled his gun at Jeremiah's head. "Sir, you can shoot me if you want," Jeremiah said: "I know where I'm going-I'm going to heaven." …..When the next gunshot rang out, Mr. Hammond expected to see Jeremiah fall to the floor dead. Instead, Ashbrook had put his Ruger to his own head and fired a siege-ending bullet. …..Later, outside, as survivors sobbed and emergency lights spun over the post-shooting scene now so sickeningly familiar in America, Jeremiah collapsed in the grass. Youth pastor Hammond "was telling me I said that stuff. I just freaked out and fell out in the grass and laid there for like a minute or so. It just hit me what I had done." ….. In fact, Jeremiah's analysis of the face-off is somewhat like that of an extra who suddenly finds himself center-stage in a big-budget action sequence: ….. Why did he get down on the floor, but then get back up in the pew and sit down? "I don't know." What made him turn around and confront Ashbrook? "I don't know." Why didn't Ashbrook shoot you dead? "I don't know." These things, Jeremiah says, all just ... happened. As far as he's concerned, God stopped the gunman and used Jeremiah to tell Ashbrook about Jesus one last time. …."

Lynn Vincent "….In God's providential economy, maybe there's no such thing as a hero. Perhaps people who make sacrificial decisions in moments of crisis are more properly called "His instruments." If that's true, then God had many instruments on the night of Sept. 15 at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Mary Beth Talley was willing to risk her life for a friend. The strawberry blond 17-year-old was passing out youth rally fliers, she says, when "all of a sudden this strange guy walks through the [foyer] doors and just starts shooting. I knew it was not the skit, because I was a part of the skit. I just shot through the sanctuary door." Mary Beth says she ran into the sanctuary instead of out of the church because her body "just shut off and I was on auto-pilot. I was just, like, 'Do this, do that.'" Mary Beth spotted Laura MacDonald and her daughter Heather inside the sanctuary. "I said, 'Laura there is a guy with a gun, we need to get down.' I just stayed down until it was over." Mary Beth "just stayed down," but she also may have saved Heather MacDonald's life. Heather, 18, has Down syndrome and even during Ashbrook's murderous rampage in the sanctuary, didn't understand she was in danger….."

WORLD Magazine 10/9/99 Senator Rick Santorum (PA) "….Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville, foreign observers have consistently noted that the United States is one of the most religious countries on the face of the planet. Year after year, Gallup polls reveal that nearly 90 percent of all Americans consider religion either "very important" or "fairly important." Yet at the same time we are increasingly reluctant to make critical moral distinctions. Whether things are true or false, right or wrong, good or evil doesn't seem to concern us very much any more-so long as we are all pleasant to each other and do nothing to call into question our collective self-esteem. How is it possible to believe in the existence of God yet refuse to express outrage when His moral code is flouted? To have faith in God, but to reject moral absolutes? To be a theist and a relativist, a traditionalist and a postmodernist-all at the same time? How is it possible to maintain liberty while banishing from the public square any reference to a transcendent moral code? It simply is not possible. In the view of our country's Founding Fathers and our greatest moral teachers, religion-and the truths to which religion points us-is essential to the success of the American experiment. If we are to resolve the problems that currently threaten to overwhelm us, we first must recover this traditional understanding of religion as the way in which we determine commonly agreed-on moral precepts….."

WORLD Magazine 10/9/99 Senator Rick Santorum (PA) "….The Founders hoped that the majority would never become so misled as to reject the existence of the "laws of nature and of nature's God." They constantly stressed the centrality of a divinely based moral code in instilling Americans with a sense of virtue. They regarded the newly created United States as an "experiment in ordered liberty." For the American experiment not to fail, it was necessary for the power of government to remain limited. Yet how could government power remain limited if people regularly lied and stole, cheated and killed? As Edmund Burke put it, "Society cannot exist unless a controlling power is put somewhere on will and appetite, and the less of it there is within, the more of it there must be without." ….."

WORLD Magazine 10/9/99 Senator Rick Santorum (PA) "….The Founders' understanding of the relationship between faith and freedom is embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution. This was something new in the history of the world: a great country formally renouncing the very possibility of an official, state-sponsored and -supported church. But in no way did the Founders view this as hostility to religion. On the contrary, they understood that the surest way to corrupt a religion, to turn its spokesmen into cynical and self-seeking apologists for the status quo, is to involve it too closely in the affairs of state. If you want to know why America is such a religious country, why the disdain that we periodically feel for our elected officials does not rub off onto our religious institutions, why anti-clericalism is so potent in Europe but so insignificant here, look to the First Amendment….."

The Birmingham News 10/13/99 Val Walton ".... Attorneys for an 11-year-old girl filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Walker County school board, claiming the board's dress code violates the girl's right to wear her cross necklace as a sign of her Christian faith. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, said that Kandice Smith, a sixth-grader at Curry Middle School, repeatedly has been told by school officials to hide her cross necklace inside her clothing because it violates the new dress code. Kandice faces discipline if she continues to wear her cross outside her clothes. The board adopted the dress code in August to lessen the effects of peer pressure and to keep students from wearing gang symbols. But the rule also keeps Kandice from spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, the suit contends. ....."

WORLD Magazine 10/16/99 Marvin Olasky "..... The perpetrators change-in 1990 it was Mapplethorpe in Cincinnati, now it's Ofili in Brooklyn-but throughout this decade, when religious protesters have attacked profane movies, plays, or art exhibitions, they have walked right into a media trap. The typical ploy is to put forth a "work of art" calculated particularly to outrage traditional Catholics (and sometimes evangelicals), who will respond on cue by demanding that the outrage be removed. At the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Oct. 2 opening of an exhibition featuring a dung-and-pornography-bedecked painting of "The Holy Virgin Mary" provoked a demonstration by 200 Catholic League supporters who passed out complimentary vomit bags. ..... The demonstrators played right into the choice vs. repression story. They would have been more effective by emphasizing that $7 million given to a perverse clique means that less money is available for art education in schools, or for more diverse exhibits elsewhere. They could have pointed out that government funding means less choice, not more, because it enables a small group of museum directors and their allies to decide what others will be able to see. Also, now that this exhibit is underway, Christians should propose that the museum next year have an exhibit of contemporary art that shows reverence for the Bible. I know a few Christian artists, including Tim High, a University of Texas art professor, who would be able to lend a hand. In the book of Esther, Mordecai realized that what the king of Persia had proclaimed was irreversible, so he looked for a counterweight. We should do the same in our pro-choice culture today. ..."

Strange Authors

Freeper TMH 10/12/99 "....I would like to broaden your items to include brief synopses of so-called bestsellers which, in reality, are thinly disguised propaganda for the worst sort of liberalism. I happen to have dipped into one of these horrors . . . and I regret it. The book is a 1998 spy novel by Daniel Silva--a New York Times bestseller--called THE MARK OF THE ASSASSIN. I've only gotten to page 100, but it is clear who's the hero and who's the villain. The hero is a woman lawyer, Elizabeth Cannon-Osbourne. She is the daughter of a Democratic senator named Cannon, and the employer of an HIV-positive clerk. Her big problem at the moment is that she can't have a baby (so, you see, she's a victim, too). The villain is a rich, somewhat short Caucasian entrepreneur who makes missile guidance systems. He is also a Christian who prays to God when alone. But when he's not praying to God, he is manipulating a weak Republican president. What this Christian villain is trying to do is make gobs of money by building a Star Wars protective umbrella over the United States. He seems to be well on his way to that goal thanks to his association with international terrorists, cocaine dealers, and other greedy, criminal industrialists. The book is basically a liberal's nightmare of what the world would be like if it weren't for the ACLU, the Democratic Party, and other liberal organizations . . . and, good Lord, it seems to be highly praised by innumerable newspapers: The San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Post, the Kirkus Reviews, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chattanooga Times, the Naples Daily News, the Independent (Kansas City), and the Home News Tribune. Based on the first 100 pages, however, one has to wonder about all these so-called reviewers, because Silva is actually an agenda-driven liberal, knee deep in the cultural wars, hoping, no doubt, to spread his poison in some not too distant Hollywood movie. He appears to be, in fact, not unlike the Christian villain of his novel...."

Washington Times 10/19/99 Hugh Aynesworth ".....Texas Stacie and Todd Bagley, both in their mid-20s, were known around the Texas towns adjacent to this big Army base [Fort Hood Texas] as a deeply religious, selfless couple who often went out of their way to help those in difficulty, particularly teen-agers..... One unidentified suspect said he didn't know which made Mr. Vialva more angry: the shouting, the kicking or the preaching. But he said, "I think it unnerved Chris, all that stuff about God and all." FBI Agent Daniel Chadwick said Mr. Vialva and three others poured lighter fluid over the car and set it afire as Mr. Vialva opened the trunk and shot the Bagleys at point-blank range. ...... "

The Asheville Tribune 10/15-22/99 Vol 3 No 40 "....As 40 sixth-graders from Carolina Day School sat in observation of local government in action, Asheville Mayor Leni Sitnick announced a proclamation for what she called "Earth Religion Awareness Week." The Chamber was well attended by members of the Wicca community (commonly referred to as witches), and their children, who were called to the front of the Chamber as the Mayor came down from the bench to meet them at the speaking podium. The group of mostly young children were then led in a spiritual song by their head priestess, who was dressed in a long black one piece robe tied off with a rope, and had a pentigram necklace draping her front...."

T The Asheville Tribune 10/15-22/99 Vol 3 No 40 "....The song offered praise toward "the goddess" as other City Council members sat stern faced. The Mayor's proclamation read as follows:: WHEREAS, Earth Religions are among the oldest spiritual systems on the planed; and ...... HEREAS, Asheville prides itself on being a center of religious tolerance and diversity; and WHEREAS, October holds one of the most significant holy days for several earth -based religions as well as the New Year for many; and WHEREAS, Let the end of October reflect the positive contributions of Earth Religions to our community. NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leni Sitnick, Mayor of the City of Asheville do hereby proclaim week of October 25, 1999 through November 1, 1999, as "Earth Religion Awareness Week." The Mayor, apparently with the support of the entire City Council, made the decision in recognition of the growing population of Wickens and other pagan practitioners....."

CNSNews.com 10/19/99 Lawrence Morahan "....A Denver couple has filed a federal lawsuit that challenges a city order barring them from holding more than one prayer meeting a month at their home. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an international public interest law firm, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver on behalf of David and Diane Reiter, who were ordered to limit the number of prayer meetings they hold at their private residence to one a month. The lawsuit claims a cease-and-desist order issued by the city zoning office was unconstitutional. It also contends the Reiters were the victims of religious hostility...... "

Enter Stage Right 10/18/99 Joe Roessler "....The liberal war on religion in America is evident in daily life. In public schools, Christmas holidays are no longer referred to as Christmas vacation but to pagan terms such as Winter Break. Christmas concerts or the politically correct term "Winter Program," in public schools cannot make any references to Jesus or Christmas. In the name of multiculturalism Hanukkah and Kwanza are mentioned regularly and as well as it's songs being sung. Gone from the program lists are Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, We Three Kings and any Christmas songs that refer to Jesus or Christmas with religious intonation. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited in many public schools because it contains the words "One Nation under God." Patriotic songs such as Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" are banned because of the song's reference to who? God. Today's children do not know what inspired Irving Berlin to write that song or know who Irving Berlin is. Nativity scenes are banned from public parks. In places where crosses have stood for years, atheists and the ACLU have joined forces and sued to have them removed...."

Enter Stage Right 10/18/99 Joe Roessler "....State invoked atheism has taken a foothold in America where legislation must occur to do something innocent as to post the Ten Commandments in schools and public buildings. Students have to resort to suing in courts to be able to say a prayer at football games or commencement ceremonies. The paranoia of religion is so pathetic that a memorial tile to the slain students at Columbine could not contain any reference to religion due to a fear of lawsuits. The ACLU and the courts will force school districts to accept gay clubs and turn right around and forbid a song with religious overtone to be sung at a graduation ceremony. Atheists sue school districts to forbid student religious clubs to hold meetings after hours in public school buildings. Liberals are going after municipalities that allow Boy Scouts to hold meetings in city owned facilities because of Boy Scouts affirmation in belief of God. Not only do they want to banish the Boy Scouts from using public facilities but also recent New Jersey State Supreme Court ruling is forcing the Boy Scouts to accept gay scoutmasters. The liberals do not bother to hear opinions and reasons from parents of boys who may be affected by these rulings. Instead they label those parents as "homophobic bigots."....."

Enter Stage Right 10/18/99 Joe Roessler "....During the Cold War, a Defense Department training film showed how Marxists taught children atheism and dependency on the state. By today's standard it would be laughable as propaganda but the substance of the film is rather frightening. It showed a young boy sitting at a school desk and a teacher tells him to pray to God for an apple. The young boy looks upward, folds his hands in prayer, closes his eyes and starts to pray. After he is done praying he opens his eyes and looks at his desk and sees there is no apple. The teacher tells him to pray again and see if God will listen this time. After the young boy is done praying still there is no apple sitting on the desk despite praying to God twice. Then the teacher tells the young boy to pray to the state for an apple. The young boy closes his eyes and prays to the state. While he is praying to the state, the teacher puts an apple on the desk and when the boy opens his eyes after completing his prayer, ALAS! The state had delivered what he had prayed for. Not only has the Nanny State replaced parents, but its replaced God! The techniques shown from this Cold War film is all too familiar......"

Enter Stage Right 10/18/99 Joe Roessler "....Why is discrimination against religion tolerable? A liberal counterpart in debate years ago told this writer that there was nothing wrong with prejudice against religious people. As far as he was concerned this type of discrimination should be legal and never be outlawed. To him religion is a matter of choice and anything associated with choice was subject to discrimination. He rehashed all the persecution done by religious groups (all Catholic or Christian) throughout history. To him and many of his counterparts in our discussion panel, if you are a liberal, two wrongs do make a right when it comes to discrimination against religions and religious individuals. Multiculturalism is sanctioned as long as it omitted any reference to religion....."

Oklahoman Online 10/16/99 John Mallon ".....THE headline of a press release from the Catholic League for Religious Rights put it starkly: "Columbine Religious Art Nixed Due to Lack of Dung." At issue is what has become a double standard in our "culture" (if indeed it can still be called that). Two families of the Columbine High School massacre victims are forced to sue the school over the school's objection to a ceramic tile bearing the simple image of a flower and a cross. At least one Columbine victim qualifies as a genuine Christian martyr, shot to death after confessing her belief in God to an inquiring gunman. The school fears the simple religious symbol of that for which she died might "offend" someone. Offend who? I can't think of any member of an authentic world religion -- Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, whatever -- who would be offended by honoring the deaths of Christian students (through their families, no less) with a Christian symbol in the public building in which they were murdered. How sad that officials failed to grasp the meaning of the students' deaths. .....Who would be offended? The radical ideologues attempting to control public discourse in this country. Those who exalt publicly sponsored blasphemy, like a dung smeared, pornography laced portrayal of the Virgin Mary as "art" -- and who invoke "free speech" if anyone objects. But it's a violation of separation of church and state to honor slain students with a cross on a small ceramic tile....."

Oklahoman Online 10/16/99 John Mallon ".....Another double standard: Oct. 11 was declared "National Coming Out Day" by the "Human Rights Campaign." .....Everything coincided with the first anniversary, Oct. 12, of the fatal beating of Matthew Shepard; a tragedy exploited to promote laws prosecuting accused criminals for their presumed motives rather than their heinous actions. Interesting. Why have no liberal voices called the Columbine and Fort Worth shootings, which especially targeted Christians, "hate crimes" -- instead exploiting them for more gun control legislation? Why are civic officials intimidated by liberal voices that "might" be offended over Christian symbols to honor Christian victims? Or is it the tragic Matthew Shepard who is now the true martyr of new politically correct ideologies which elevate themselves to quasi-religious status? ....."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood ".....They're calling it art, and they're saying it's a debate of artistic expression. At least that's what they would have you believe from reading the news stories about the painting of the Virgin Mary at a museum in New York. But it isn't a simple matter of art and free speech. It's a matter of right and wrong, of the war between the Good and Evil...... Yet Giuliani, however right he was, isn't the first to confront this kind of unclad blasphemy. A few years ago, taxpayers learned they were subsidizing another artist who dreamed up a piece of trash called Piss Christ, a crucifix suspended in a jar of the artist's urine. Then there are the anti-Christian, or more specifically, anti-Catholic, movies and plays, which may feature anything from a simple anti-Catholic insult to images of Jesus Christ having sex with his apostles....... A Disney program about a Catholic priest had its cleric declaring a "moratorium on sexual sins, meaning he was one priest who had enough of the Church's teaching on matters of sexual morality." Most recently, a "Catholic" character on Saturday Night Live has been parlayed into a movie in which nuns are made to look like idiots....."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood "..... The liberals want us to believe such "art" is simple and amusing "irreverence," their favourite word for anything profoundly offensive to Christians. That raises the question, of course, of what the liberals would think if a white man painted a portrait of Martin Luther King, adorned the image with horse manure, and festooned it with images of male genitalia. They wouldn't be talking irreverence then. They would be talking racism. The double standard aside, even those who abhor what travels under the name of art don't understand what is at stake. One conservative writer says these artists are expressing their "anger" at Mother Church. Anger? Hardly. This is out and out hatred, and the purpose isn't to express a legitimate grievance, but to register naked contempt for the Church because of her teachings, and to undermine those teachings among the faithful as anachronistic, unfair, sexist, homophobic and an embarrassment...."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood ".....Today, Christians in general and Catholics in particular are in the midst of a war to protect their Church, and sadly enough, some of them don't know it. If what appears in entertainment isn't proof of that war, perhaps an ugly act of sacrilege a few years ago is: Homosexual zealots showed up at the communion rail at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, and after receiving the Body of Christ, threw Him to the floor to step on Him. Again, that wasn't anger; that was unadulterated evil...... when called upon to defend themselves as Catholics or Christians to defend the Faith, they know not what to say or do..."

WorldNetDaily 10/18/99 Father Vincent Fitzpatrick ".... I can remember the exact date, March 17, 1993, because while I was vesting for early-morning weekday Mass, I asked the 8-year-old altar boy about the saint of the day. "How about a quiz? Do you know who Saint Patrick was?" "No," he said, which didn't surprise me. After all, he was only eight, and German. "Well, if it weren't for Saint Patrick, I probably wouldn't be Catholic. He was a bishop and a missionary, and he brought the Catholic Faith to Ireland." The little boy's eyes grew, as they say, as big as saucers. "How could he be a saint?" he asked, with real amazement. "What do you mean? Why couldn't he?" "You said he was a missionary!" "Yeah, he was a missionary," I said, totally baffled. "I thought missionaries were bad." A couple of questions more, and I knew that this little Catholic child, whose own mother was an exemplary, active Catholic, a CCD teacher, had learned in public school that missionaries were violent, oppressive characters who fanned out from Europe for many centuries, in order to destroy people and cultures around the world. Public school. In a small, very small, North Dakota town, where the public school is probably as "accountable" to parents as a public school can be. The kind of "locally controlled" public school that parents would be the last to suspect is teaching their children that the Christian religion and its missionaries are just one among many evils spread around the world by an imperialistic, racist European culture....."

WorldNetDaily 10/18/99 Father Vincent Fitzpatrick "....How many Catholic parents would allow a newspaper published by the government into their homes, if it taught their children that God is not to be mentioned outside of home or church, if it contained pictures and articles describing natural and unnatural sex acts, if it taught them that Marilyn Monroe deserves 16 pages in a history of the United States, while George Washington deserves one? And if it told them that Christian "missionaries are bad"? Yet Catholic parents, who would throw such a government-owned newspaper in the trash, send their children to government-owned buildings for six or more hours a day, twelve years of their lives, to read government-prescribed books and be taught government-prescribed lessons......"

Jews for Morality 9/22/99 David Ben-Ammi "....What's wrong with secular Jews? Have you ever had an uncle who was a hopeless alcoholic, who constantly embarrassed you in public? That's how I feel about my secular relatives in the American Jewish community. Every time I hear about America's "culture war", guess who is on the side of the devil - my secular Jewish relatives: the American Jewish Congress, Hadassah, the ADL, and all the rest. Abortion, "gay rights", pornography - they're all for it. On the other hand, they vigorously oppose any moral, religiously-based initiative in public life: the Ten Commandments, school prayer, creation as an alternative to evolution - they're all against it. As an Orthodox Jew, I was taught that our mission was to be a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.... A light unto the Nations." Are these lost Jews truly the descendents of that great people who entered into a solemn covenant with G-D in the desert of Sinai? How could we have sunk so low that we now are an example of utter moral depravity before the nations of the world. "American Jews, alert to Christian anti-Semitism, are in danger of forgetting that it was the pagans - the Babylonians and the Romans - who destroyed the temples and twice imposed exile on the Jewish people." -Irving Kristol, ibidem ....."

Jews for Morality 9/22/99 David Ben-Ammi "....The suspension of the Bible's moral barriers made possible all the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin. Both the Third Reich and the Soviet State identified the Bible and its teachers as primary enemies. If G-D is really "dead", by what authority do we say that any particular practice is prohibited or permitted? The greatest threat to the Jewish community today is not anti-Semitism but intermarriage at a rate that exceeds 50%. No community can survive if it is persuaded - or even if it suspects - that its members are leading meaningless lives in a meaningless universe. "I reluctantly conclude, atheists cannot be good citizens." Richard John Neuhaus, Can Atheists be Good Citizens? ..."

United Press International 10/19/99 ".....The 11th U.S. District Court of Appeal in Atlanta heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether students can give messages of their own composition, that could include a prayer, during graduation ceremonies at Jacksonville, Fla., schools. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued the procedure violates a 1993 U. S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing school prayer. They maintain that since the graduation exercises are held in facilities provided and paid for by the school board, including any religious content is covered by the constitution requirement for the separation of church and state. The hearing lasted about one hour. The court will rule on the matter later. It is anticipated that regardless of the decision, the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court......"

The Washington Post 10/20/99 Hanna Rosin ".... The U.S. Catholic bishops today will launch their most extensive campaign for political influence, distributing millions of election guides urging the nation's 61 million Catholics to get involved in the 2000 races. The guide, "Faithful Citizenship: Civic Responsibility for a New Millennium," which will be mailed to churches around the country in the next month, does not promote specific candidates. But it does urge Catholic voters to choose candidates who comply with the church's position on issues including abortion, the death penalty, concern for the poor and international debt relief. ....The message is that the electorate has been lulled by a robust economy into forgetting their moral responsibility. "We are at an age where it is possible not to think about values because for so many Americans things are going so well," said Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark. "But we want them to know that as American Catholics, we want them to vote thoughtfully, with values in mind." ...."

Washington Weekly 10/6/99 James Traficant "...Mr. Speaker, a football team in Texas was overheard saying a prayer. My colleagues guessed it, now there is a lawsuit to ban football players in high school from praying. Unbelievable. Mr. Speaker, even though the First Amendment states Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, children cannot pray in school. School functions cannot mention God. Now football teams cannot pray. What is next? Are they going to ban the Hail Mary pass in football? Beam me up. A Nation that outlaws God, so help me God, is inviting the Devil. I yield back the trampled rights of the majority of the American people....."

Washington Weekly 10/4/99 James Traficant "...Mr. Speaker, it is not just about the Virgin Mary splattered with cow manure; it is about common decency. The Brooklyn Museum of Art is displaying a portrait of a pedophile that features the handprints of the children he murdered. Think about it: on display in New York City, the handprints of America's murdered children. Beam me up, Mr. Speaker. This is not freedom of expression; this is stone cold promotion of garbage. Congress should be supporting Mayor Giuliani's attempt to stop public funding of this type of trash. I yield back the handprints of America's murdered children on display in the great City of New York...."

The Washington Times (1995) TC Ruthford "..... I remember the Nazis. Let me share a little about them and recall some of their exploits. First of all, "Nazi" was gutter slang for the verb "to nationalize". The Baader-Meinhoff gang gave themselves this moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was "The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany". Hitler and the Brownshirts advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, national resources, manufacturing, distribution, and law enforcement........ Being a Nazi was politically correct. They called themselves "The Children of the New Age of World Order" and looked down their noses at everyone else. As Hitler accrued more power, he referred to his critics as "The Dark Forces of Anarchy and Hatred". Anyone who questioned Nazi high-handedness in the German press was branded a "Conservative Reactionary". ........"

The Washington Times (1995) T C Ruthford "..... The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the Jews, Bohemians and Gypsies who were said to be arming themselves to overthrow the "New World Order" and Hitler demanded that all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of "terrorists and madmen". ....Then the Reichstag (government building) was blown up and Hitler ram-rodded an "Emergency Anti-Terrorist Act" through Parliament that gave the Gestapo extraordinary powers. The leader then declared that for the well-being of the German people, all private firearms were to be confiscated by the Gestapo and the Wermotten (federal law enforcement and military). German citizens who refused to surrender their guns when the "jack-boots" (Gestapo) came calling, were murdered in their homes...... When the Policia Bewakken, or local police, refused to take away guns from townsfolk, they themselves were disarmed and dragged out into the street and shot to death by the S.A. and the S.S...... "

The Washington Times (1995) TC Ruthford "..... The Gestapo began to confiscate and seize the homes, businesses, bank accounts, and personal belongings of wealthy conservative citizens who had prospered in the old Republic.......Public schools rewrote history and Hitler youth groups taught the children to report their parents to their teachers for anti-Nazi remarks. Such parents disappeared. Pagan animism became the state religion of the Third Reich and Christians were widely condemned as "right wing fanatics"......Evil was declared as being good, and good was condemned as being evil. World Order was coming and the German people were going to be the "peacekeepers". Yes, indeed, I remember the Nazis and they weren't Republicans, or "right wing", or "patriots" or "militias". They were Socialist monsters....."

Village Voice 10/20/99 Frank Owen "..... Though his fellow Catholics didn't recognize him, New Jersey native Kevin Smith- director of the controversial new religious comedy Dogma they'd come to voice outrage against- had briefly walked among them. Smith, a lifetime adherent of the Church of Rome, has defended Dogma as "a love letter to both faith and God," albeit filtered through a sensibility combining National Lampoon's Animal House with Monty Python. Nonetheless, a couple of hours earlier, hundreds of angry but peaceful protesters- fired up by a description of a movie featuring a female descendant of Jesus who works in an abortion clinic and a jive-talking 13th apostle (played by Chris Rock) who claims Christ was black- besieged the glittery premiere of his new picture, singing hymns, chanting prayers, and giving speeches denouncing "the dominant culture of impiety and blasphemy." "Dogma is a blasphemous movie that mocks and scorns everything that is holy to Catholics," protest leader Raymond Drake, president of the Protestant-sounding American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, told the Voice outside the cinema. "If (Kevin Smith) is a good Catholic, he wouldn't make a movie like this." ...Ask most ordinary Catholics, and they'll tell you anti-Catholicism as a significant factor in American life ended around the time John F. Kennedy got elected. But if you trust the assorted wisdom of Cardinal O'Connor, the New York Post, and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, there's a resurgent wave of anti-Catholicism sweeping the nation- "the only fashionable bigotry left," according to Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire....."

Joseph Sobran 5/99 ".... In our time the Jews are defined less by ancestry than by "anti-Semitism," which is cited for many purposes, including the legitimation of the state of Israel. Most Zionists no longer claim that God gave the Holy Land to the Jews; instead they contend that the Jewish state is necessary as a haven for world Jewry. According to this modern myth, the Jews are in no way responsible for their own unpopularity from ancient times. What, then, is the source of such persistent hostility to this fundamentally innocent people? Why, the Catholic Church, of course! ...... The smear of Pius XII - and of the Church - persists, and will no doubt continue indefinitely, in the endless campaign to make Christianity and anti-Semitism synonymous. Wistrich barely acknowledges that the diplomatic Pius may have feared that a more explicit condemnation of Nazism would have backfired not only against the Church, but against the Jews themselves. Besides, if papal condemnations of Communism had failed to deter the persecution of Christians, how could Pius expect papal animadversions against Nazism to be any more efficacious? Even American Jewish groups refrained from denouncing the Shoah during the war, for fear that speaking publicly about it might do more harm than good. This policy of silence has resulted in bitter recriminations between American and European Jews, but it has discouraged few Jews on either continent from blaming Pius for saying too little....... "

Conservative News Service 10/19/99 Jim Burns "....Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX) along with Congressman Charles Stenholm (D-TX) have introduced a "sense of the Congress" resolution expressing the belief that prayers and invocations at public school sporting events are indeed constitutional. A federal court last April ruled that the "establishment clause of the First Amendment prohibits the Santa Fe (Texas) independent school district from conducting a school sponsored invocation before football games." The decision affects school districts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Bonilla told a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday, "High school football is a family tradition in many communities and especially in Texas. It's also a tradition to start the games with a prayer." Bonilla also said that the legislation "notes that prayer contributes to the moral foundation of America and is part of our heritage. Prayer contributes to the development of character and instilling sportsmanship." Bonilla then pulled a quarter out of his pocket and said, " If I can pull a quarter out of my pocket and read 'In God We Trust,' how the courts stop our children from asking God to watch over them as they play a little football on Friday night." ...."

CNSNews.com 10/20/99 Dennis Peacocke ".....The recent controversies in New York City over "Mary-bashing," and "Gospel-bashing," using stool-laden art and semi-obscene movies to do it, raises a number of very interesting questions. One of them is: Do Christians have any human rights? In modern America, the answer increasingly appears to be "No." A friend of mine was nearly fired recently for describing an Asian man, whom he was trying to identify for someone who inquired about him, as an "oriental." But the Virgin Mary can swim in elephant dung in a publicly paid for art museum with no consequences to anyone. You can't use slang words publicly at work about homosexuals, but movies can portray Jesus or His followers as adulterers, fornicators, pedophiles, or "gay." No foul here because that speech is First Amendment art and therefore not personal but generic. "Hate crime speech" is spoken against everywhere, but "hate crime" ridicule against Christians is subtly encouraged throughout the culture...."

CNSNews.com 10/20/99 Dennis Peacocke ".....Why don't the plantation owners ridicule the Black Muslims in speech, film, and art? Why don't the plantation owners ridicule and submerge Buddha or Gandhi in urine or dung and call their followers sexual predators? Why don't the plantation owners depict the pedophiles luring away helpless children or the "gay" urinating on each other as is commonly discussed in some of their literature? Why don't the plantation owners start mocking Allah or make ludicrous films about the Shiite Muslims? And let's hear it for more side-slapping ridicule of the straight white husband routinely portrayed on TV as a wussy-fool led by his wife and constantly outwitted by his kids. We all know why the plantation owners of America don't do these things (except the last one)! It's because those groups would rise up and kick their tails regardless of what the Supreme Court did or didn't do! ...."

Nando Times 10/20/99 Claire Cooper ".....Withdrawing a decision that allowed religious landlords to refuse to rent to unwed couples, a federal appeals court Tuesday sent the case to an enlarged panel of judges for reconsideration.......In January, a panel of three 9th Circuit judges broke new legal ground by ruling in an Alaska case that freedom of religion trumps state and local laws against housing discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation. For the first time the ruling created a "hybrid" constitutional right by combining freedom of speech and property rights to give new legal protection to religiously grounded housing discrimination. Such discrimination may be wrong, the court said, but, unlike race discrimination or sex discrimination, it violates no "firm national policy" that would warrant government interference with a religious practice......"

MSN.COM and women.com 10/22/99 Susan McCarthy "..... Why must presidential candidates drone on about their values and their faith when they should know how annoying it is? It's no excuse that everyone thinks everyone else should have better values. Most Americans tell pollsters that the nation's moral problems are worse than its economic problems, so politicians imagine that if we see them coming out of church or hear them ranting about values, we'll think they can fix the situation. In truth, the public isn't that easy to fool.....Experts agree that religion is only a useful selling point if it's some variety of Protestant Christianity, so Catholics, Jews, Muslims and members of other faiths might as well shut up. To say nothing of atheists. Atheism is my family tradition - third generation on my father's side..."

World Magazine 10/22/99 Gene Veith "....Most political leaders still pay at least lip service to "organized religion," but many don't let it stand in their way. President Clinton, despite his sexual adventures, is a Southern Baptist. Vice President Gore has impeccable Bible Belt affiliations, but he buys into the worldview of environmentalist Gaia-worshipping extremists. Both men support abortion, as do a great many congressional members of pro-life churches. Many Catholic lawmakers are stalwart defenders of abortion, despite the strong opposition of their church. The same is true of certain members of Protestant evangelical churches, of both parties. The point is, American culture has come to the point where many of its political leaders are open about feeling no responsibility or accountability to a power higher than themselves....If the leader chooses his own beliefs (Mr. Bradley) or is so "strong" that he doesn't need religion (Mr. Ventura) or has a religion but doesn't let it influence his views (pro-abortion Catholics and evangelicals), he is making himself sovereign. Such leaders become the only source of the laws they make, with no transcendent moral limits to their power. They have a worldview that equips them to be tyrants.

The Nando Times 10/22/99 Lance Gay ".....If artists can display pictures of a dung-encrusted Virgin Mary in a Brooklyn art gallery, 41 members of Congress say they can't understand why anyone could take offense if they spearhead a campaign to post the Ten Commandments in capitals and courthouses across the country. So these 41 lawmakers on Thursday joined in New York's raging culture wars by taking the pledge to install framed copies of the Ten Commandments in their Capitol offices. They plan to work with the conservative Family Research Council to install the documents in any schools, courtrooms or statehouses that want them....... Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said he doesn't understand the objections. "We're not asking taxpayer funding for this," he said. "I don't understand what they feel the threat is." Souder, who has marble scrolls of the Ten Commandments on his office desk, also accused civil liberties activists of having "an incredible double-standard." He noted that they support the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, which has on display a portrait of the Virgin Mary marked with elephant dung, while they oppose those who want to put the Ten Commandments on their walls....."We're doing this without blush or embarrassment," Parshall said. "This is a reminder for our nation that the Ten Commandments belong in the public square." ....Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., said the campaign is supported by conservative Democrats as well. He noted that the words "In God We Trust" are engraved on the speaker's podium in the House chamber, and Moses is the only plaster relief on the House wall of historic lawgivers who is shown full-face and not in profile. "The Ten Commandments," he said, "is already the fundamental legal code for the laws of the United States." ..."

Dayton Daily News 10/22/99 Dave Lance "....Unsatisfied with an out-of-court settlement, London High School football coach Dave Daubenmire is out for blood. The American Civil Liberties Union's blood. "I'm not sure that as an American citizen I'm going to let this lie," Daubenmire said. "I'm going to take a hard look at litigation "I think the ACLU has violated my rights." What has Daubenmire so upset is the lawsuit the ACLU filed last June on behalf of parents of London players. They complained that Daubenmire was leading his players in prayer, thus violating the law that separates church and state. Daubenmire has admitted his guilt, but said he stopped the prayer sessions last year once he found out it was against the law. The settlement agreed upon Monday prohibits Daubenmire from leading prayer sessions or other religious activities while coaching or teaching....."

WORLD Magazine 10/30/99 Anne McCain Susan Oasky "....Placing 1, 2, and 3 on the bestseller charts, children's literature sensation Harry Potter increasingly descends into darkness, raising concerns of parents and school boards around the country. Moral ambiguity and alienation of youth are strong themes in the series, which are wrongly marketed as modern successors to The Chronicles of Narnia. Unlike biblical stories, in Potter's world bad things seem to happen for no reason.......The big debate in literary circles last month was whether children's books should be eligible for the prestigious Times list; a win, place, and show by one author brings out the envy in many. The newly emerging question, though, is whether Harry's world is a good one for the intended 8- to 12-year-old audience. The American Library Association is now reporting four serious challenges-in South Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York-to use of the books in schools. On Oct. 12, the South Carolina Board of Education agreed to review the suitability of all three Harry Potter books for classroom use. Elizabeth Mounce, a parent who addressed the board, said, "The books have a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect, and sheer evil." A member of the board, Clarence Dickert, agreed, saying that "censorship is an ugly word, but it is not as ugly as what I've heard this morning." ....."

United Press International 10/21/99 Lisa Burgess "....Representatives of more than 500 Muslim taxi drivers are asking Department of Transportation officials to lift a ban that prevents them from offering group prayers at Reagan National Airport in Washington. Cab drivers held a press conference at the airport Thursday to highlight the ban, ordered March 10 by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. ``The drivers pay money to the airport every time they take a trip from here,'' said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on Islamic Relations. ``We are asking the airport to be accommodating....Our drivers deserve to pray, and in safe areas.'' ...."

Libertarian Party 10/24/99 "….. A threat by an Alabama school to disciplinean 11-year-old girl for wearing a cross necklace shows why you can't trust government schools to protect religious freedom, the Libertarian Party said today. "Students go to school to learn -- but what kind of lesson do they learn when the government says that wearing a cross is a crime?" asked Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "It seems the lesson of the day in Alabama is Religious Intolerance 101." Earlier this month, attorneys for Kandice Smith, a sixth-grader at Curry Middle School in Walker County, Alabama, filed a lawsuit in federal court to overturn what they called an "unconstitutional" dress code. …."

AP 10/28/99 "….Over 100,000 Muslims in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state attended a mass celebration marking the state's historic adoption of Islamic law. The outdoor ceremony, held Wednesday in the state capital of Gusau, ushers in sharia - fundamentalist Islamic law - for the first time in a Nigerian state. The new measures, put in place by Zamfara's Governor Ahmed Sani, included segregating men and women on public transport throughout the state...."

Calgary Sun 10/28/99 Linda Slobodian "…..The call, like these types usually are, was anonymous. The gentleman was decidedly not impressed. "I find it really interesting, your opinion about this Billy Graham and his son (Franklin) thing," he fumed. "I don't think you guys have done your homework . Have you checked this guy's previous record? What the guy's gone through? Addictions and everything else. "Why do you think they put on all these big religious festivals? Where do they get all their money?" It troubled him that "they have big concerts, play nice music and make people emotional. "Just do your homework before you publish stuff, before you give a front page to Graham." We did our homework. That's exactly why Graham was on the front page -- surrounded by a bunch of happy, cherub-faced children who helped kick off the Operation Christmas Child campaign, which helps hurting kids worldwide, no matter what their faith. By gosh, it doesn't get much seedier than that, now does it? And what of the thousands of terribly misled Calgarians who worked tirelessly to get Graham here for Calgary Festival '99 -- despite his dark past, the one where he smoked cigarettes and drank scotch. Way back 25 or so years ago when he wasn't much more than a kid. He's made such a great effort to hide it, he's written about it in his book Rebel With a Cause, and willingly talks to the media about tossing those things out of his life --giving all the credit to God. Quite frankly, anyone who has wrestled with anything and overcome, and then uses their experience to try to inspire others, has a lot more credibility than someone who hasn't….."

Chattanooga Free Press 10/24/99 "….In our "Bible Belt" section of the South, most homes have not just one but several copies of the Bible. Some are worn, dog-eared and underlined from daily use. Others may be a little dusty. But Bibles are readily available. It may be surprising, therefore, to read that throughout the world, demands for Bibles go far beyond their availability. In China, the world's most populous nation with an estimated 1.2 billion people, there are said to be only 30 million Bibles for the 80 million to 100 million Christians there. Some Chinese Christians face persecution or at least severe restrictions -- but their demand for Bibles is large and growing……"

Newsweek 10/25/99 "….Forty percent of all Americans and 45 percent of Christians believe that the world will end, as the Bible predicts, in a battle at Armageddon between Jesus and the Antichrist, according to a new Newsweek Poll on prophecy. Fully, 71 percent of Evangelical Protestants, but only 28 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 18 percent of Catholics share that view……In the poll, large majorities of believers in the second coming of Christ believe that current events such as natural disasters (83%), epidemics like AIDS and Ebola (66%) and outbreaks of violence like shootings (62%), are a sign that it will happen soon. An overwhelming majority of believers in a second coming (95%) believe that, under such circumstances, it is important to get right with God and a majority (65%) think it is important to convert non- Christians…. (68%) expect that they will be going to heaven…."

Business Wire 10/25/99 ".... The American Center for Law and Justice announced today that a jury verdict in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri has resulted in the successful defense of the religious beliefs of a social worker who faced discrimination by his former employer, the Department of Social Services for the State of Missouri......The ACLJ represented Larry Phillips who served as a social worker from March 1994 through November 1996 at the Division of Family Services. The ACLJ filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Social Services in May 1997 on behalf of Phillips who maintained that his supervisors began to mistreat him by lowering his performance evaluations and recommending that he be fired after he told him that his religious beliefs would not permit him to endorse the granting of a foster parent license to an admitted lesbian. After a weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, a jury late Friday found that Phillips was discriminated against for objecting to the licensing of homosexual foster parents. The jury unanimously concluded that Phillips' supervisor violated his federally protected right not to be discriminated against on the basis of religion. The jury assessed actual and punitive damages against the supervisor in the amount totaling $26,000....."

Reuters 11/2/99 "….The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning Tuesday of possible Year 2000 violence by cults seeking to spark the apocalypse or by groups who see a conspiracy to impose world government. "Extremists from various ideological perspectives attach significance to the arrival of the Year 2000 and there are some signs of preparations for violence,'' a 32-page report by the FBI's domestic terrorism unit concluded……. The project, based on intelligence-gathering, was named Megiddo after a hill in northern Israel linked to Armageddon, the prophesied final battle between the forces of good and evil. Carter said the FBI decided to publish "Project Megiddo'' on its Web site (www.fbi.gov) because "it is something the public should be aware of.'' ….The study focused largely on end-of-the-world prophesies by religious extremists and on conspiracy theorists fearful of a supposed United Nations plot to create a "One World Government.'' ….."

Sunday Times U.K. 10/31/99 Bryan Appleyard Jonathan Glover "…..First, the bad news: the 20th century has been the worst in human history. Second, the really bad news: people are still startled to the point of denial when they are told this. The facts are plain. Thanks to, in descending order of body counts, Mao Tse-tung, Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, our age has been more systematically cruel and murderous than any other. Yet, in the comfort of our affluence, we cannot quite bring ourselves to face this fact. We still, colloquially, use the word "medieval" to signify unusual barbarity, when, strictly speaking, we should use the word "modern".. .So Jonathan Glover's book is necessary. Much of the text is simply a catalogue of evil, of the nuances of psychology and politics that can, in Auden's words, drive a culture mad. But, in addition to the clear, personal evil of Mao and Stalin, he also anatomises the systemic evil that led Europe to "sleepwalk" into war in August 1914, that led the world to the edge of annihilation during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and America to "demonstrate" the atom bomb on Hiroshima rather than on an uninhabited island…... But to Glover, a philosopher, modern evil is also an episode in the history of ideas. God died in the 19th century and Nietzsche danced on his grave. The foundation of the external moral law was destroyed and, in its place, was a vacuum, soon gleefully filled by the psychotics of Nazism and communism. It may not be possible to say that the death of God led directly to the gas ovens; but, equally, nobody can ignore the fact that the cruellest era in history was also the first to deny the existence of an external moral force…… Yet there are many ways in which, in the normal course of events, people are sustained in their belief that starting a nuclear war, murdering children or exterminating Jews are all bad ideas. Glover points to "moral identity" - the feeling that "I am not that sort of person" - to "moral resources" - the normal, humane responses that seem to come naturally - and to self-interest - if you behave kindly to others, they will probably behave kindly to you. All of these might be said to be replacements for God's law. But, unfortunately, none of them worked. Ideology of one kind or another provided new amoral identities that made it good to be the sort of person who slaughtered children. Humane responses were destroyed by forms of tribalism that defined outsiders - Jews, kulaks, revisionists - as vermin who threatened the civilised order. And that threat also changed self-interest into the paranoid need to conform with the dominant tribe….."

Associated Press 11/1/99 Tom Hays "….A federal judge ordered the city today to restore millions of dollars to the Brooklyn Museum of Art that was cut off in a dispute over a controversial art exhibit. U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon, in a 40-page opinion filed this morning in Brooklyn federal court, granted the museum's request for a preliminary injunction against the city. She concluded that the museum ``has established irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on its First Amendment claim.'' Gershon's order bars Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and city officials from ``taking steps to inflict any punishment, retaliation, discrimination or sanction'' against the museum for the exhibit that opened last month, called ``Sensation.'' ….Aside from the portrait of the Virgin Mary decorated with elephant dung, the show includes mannequins with genitals as facial features, a glass tank featuring a fake cow's head and 20,000 live maggots and farm animals bisected and displayed in formaldehyde……"

The Detroit News 10/20/99 Cathy Young "....Earlier this year, there was plenty of (justified) gloating on the right when the story of Guatemalan activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and multicultural icon Rigoberta Menchu was exposed as largely fictional. Her family was not poor, she had not been illiterate and many of the atrocities she described witnessing never happened. More scandalously, quite a few professors defended Menchu and pledged to continue teaching her book. Conservatives have gleefully cited these responses as evidence of the left's postmodernist disregard for truth. What will conservatives do now that an icon of their own is in doubt? .....Few would begrudge Cassie's grieving mother, author of the best-selling She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall, whatever solace she can find. The book briefly admits the facts about Cassie's death are unknown and focuses on her life as a troubled teen who found Jesus....... Will the noble message, the "greater truth," of the Cassie myth be seen as more important than the real story? This is not to equate Cassie with Rigoberta. Rigoberta lied; Cassie, a tragic victim, was the subject of an honest error by some witnesses. But the issue of icon versus fact is the same..."

L.A. Times 10/30/99 Margaret Ramirez "…..Condemning the recent defacement of several murals depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe, Sen. Barbara Boxer asked U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno on Friday to investigate the attacks as hate crimes. In recent weeks, about two dozen streetside murals of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Boyle Heights and South-Central Los Angeles have been desecrated with slashes of paint, some including "666" and "La Bestia" ("The Beast") scrawled under the Virgin's womb……"

BBC 10/30/99 Tom Brook "….An action movie backed by conservative Christians in America has become so successful that its distribution is now being expanded to additional cinemas. The Omega Code, which stars Michael York and Hollywood heart-throb Casper Van Dien, could become the most successful movie ever financed by Christian fundamentalists. Michael York plays an evil media mogul turned politician determined to take over the world by using prophecies from a so-called Bible Code programme. The plot is based on the premise that there is a mathematical equation that can be used to decipher hidden truths in biblical text. Michael York's character has plans for world domination York says "it's such a multi-layered story, there's much more going on than meets the eye". That is an understatement, because The Omega Code may resemble a secular Hollywood action thriller, but it is designed to re-affirm faith in the Bible and save souls.

BBC 10/30/99 Tom Brook "….The film shows that there is a relationship between Biblical prophesies and developments in the world today. Hal Lindsey, who served as a Biblical prophesy consultant on the film, says he believes that The Omega Code will "open people up to the Gospel as few events ever have." The film, financed by the Trinity Broadcast Network, America's largest Christian broadcaster, caught Hollywood off guard when it suddenly appeared in its first week of release in the coveted list of Top 10 grossing movies….The Omega Code campaign made use of the Internet and grass roots activism, relying heavily on church volunteers and the power of the pulpit. …. Many of those who worked behind the scenes on the film are committed Christians who hope they have crafted a Hollywood entertainment that is more than just escapist fantasy. For instance, stunt man Eddie Matthews is a Christian who has also worked on Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger action films. He sees The Omega Code as "a good film, a good story that secular audiences can see and say 'there was something about it, that touched me'. "…."

BBC 10/30/99 Tom Brook "….So far the thriller has done well in the Bible belt states, but in the next two weeks the picture will open up in the Northeast which will serve as a crucial test of its strength among non-Christian audiences. Whether or not it has cross-over appeal, The Omega Code has already proved that there is a huge Christian audience hungry for Biblically inspired movies that are packaged as a slick Hollywood product…… Not everyone is happy that a film catering to Christians is doing so well. Some critics feel the movie could become another powerful vehicle to advance the politics of the Christian right…."

Reuters_AP 10/29/99 Julia Lieblich "…. A Southern Baptist Convention official says he knows that critics say it is arrogant to target Hindus, Jews and Muslims for conversion on their holiest of days…… The denomination enraged Hindu leaders in the United States this week when it released a booklet urging Southern Baptists to pray for Hindus on their major festival, Divali. Last month, it published a booklet aimed at Jews on the High Holy Days. An earlier book addressed Muslims on Ramadan…… "

BBC 10/29/99 "…. An Islamic group based in the UK has issued a death fatwa against a playwright whose London stage production depicts Jesus Christ as a homosexual. Terrence McNally was sentenced to death by the Shari'ah Court of the UK as his play, Corpus Christi, opened in London on Thursday night. The play depicts Jesus Christ and his followers as a group of homosexuals. He is seduced by Judas Iscariot, but is later crucified as "king of the queers". It caused an outcry among Christians when it was staged during the Edinburgh Fringe festival during the summer. Muslims regard Jesus as a messenger of God, and revere his mother, the Virgin Mary. The play was declared blasphemous by the Al-Muhajiroun - The Defenders of The Messenger Jesus….."

The Detroit Free Press 10/29/99 "…. It was a scene for the history books: Pope John Paul II next to the Dalai Lama, and representatives of 20 of the world's faiths standing nearby, at a meeting Thursday to denounce religious extremism. In St. Peter's Square, the 200 clerics and lay people appealed to world leaders to "refuse to allow religion to be used to incite hatred and violence." "Any use of religion to support violence is an abuse of religion," John Paul said in his final message to the four-day meeting, speaking to a crowd of red- and orange-robed Asian monks, Catholic priests in black cassocks, Muslim women in head scarves and Africans and American Indians in the attire of local religions. …."

The Associated Press, via News Plus 10/26/99 Brenda Coleman "….Heart patients who had someone praying over them without their knowledge suffered 10 percent fewer complications, according to new research published this week. "It's potentially a natural explanation we don't understand yet. It's potentially a super- or other-than-natural mechanism," said William S. Harris, a heart researcher and lead author of the study. Harris and other researchers at the Mid America Heart Institute, the heart program of St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., studied 990 patients admitted during a year to the institute's coronary care unit. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. In one, patients were prayed for daily by community volunteers for four weeks; the other patients didn't have anyone assigned to pray for them….."

The Detroit Free Press 10/30/99 David Crumm "…..On Sunday, Roman Catholics and Lutherans in Michigan and around the world will celebrate a new agreement that comes close to ending a 500-year-old dispute over salvation. "This agreement speaks volumes about the greater unity we're moving toward," said the Rev. John Budde of Holy Family Catholic Church in Novi, who is helping to coordinate a Catholic-Lutheran worship service in Taylor on Sunday to celebrate the agreement. ..."

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. But at the same time that our nation has seen so many achievements, we have to admit that there are some areas where we are not making the progress that we should. Tonight I regret to say that one area where we're losing ground is our treatment of religious believers. We are witnessing a rising level of bigotry against people of faith, especially Christians. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you about some of the most recent examples that I've seen.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. Mr. Speaker, there are still other examples. Whether we wish to admit it or not, Christians are now subject to ridicule, mistreatment and bigotry--pure and simple. The television show Nothing Sacred lived up to its billing by trying to develop storylines with ministers of the cloth engaging in immoral activity or finding ways to belittle people of faith all together. According to the New York Post which ran in March of 1998, Nothing Sacred set an all time low for viewership last year on a major network with 94% of the available market bypassing this program. And Hollywood isn't any better. Movies such as this summer's release of Stigmata attack the Catholic Church accusing it of being on a millenium long crusade to stamp out the true teachings of Christ.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. But Mr. Speaker there's more evidence that our society, rather than protecting freedom of religion, is discouraging religious expression. According to the Associated Press the ACLU sued the city of Republic, Missouri on behalf of Jean Webb, a Wiccan witch to have its city seal altered to remove the fish symbol. The May 6th article stated that the ACLU planned to also argue that since the "symbol is often found in Christian establishments, not non-Christian ones, and that most of the people who wrote letters supporting the fish identified it as a Christian symbol," the ACLU had plenty of evidence that the city's support of keeping the fish symbol constituted an establishment of religion.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. USA Today ran a story last week announcing that the Augusta, Kansas school board has revoked a policy that allowed students to lead classmates in prayer over the school intercom after the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the policy as unconstitutional.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. On the May 21 broadcast of CNN's Crossfire, Barry Lynn, the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State went so far as to criticize the acclaim given to Cassie Bernall, the young girl who was shot at Columbine High because she wouldn't renounce her faith. He said, "I think that what we've done here is to take this one victim, turned it into an example of martyrdom, and then used to it become the springboard for even more exploitation of this tragedy by people with a religious, political agenda." Such insensitivity would have been denounced if said about John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King or even Rodney King.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. The District of Columbia public school system was sued this summer for allowing a church to use an abandoned park as a parking lot in exchange for providing after school services for neighborhood children. The September 17th story as reported in The Washington Post revealed that members of the Metropolitan Baptist have been parking about 300 cars on the field on Sundays for more than 10 years. Rev. Hicks agreed to cancel the contract rather than force the city to defend the suit. Reverend Hicks, pastor of the 5000 member Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. got my attention with his statement when announcing plans to terminate the contract saying that, "there has been a shift in culture." He said, "We've reached the point where God no longer has a place in our communities."

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. Jeff Jacoby complains in his August 19th column in the Boston Globe of a blatant case of anti-religious bias involving an inner city Boston church. On July 15, the city of Boston sent a letter to Mason Cathedral, warning the church center (which receives taxpayers subsidies to help wayward youth) not to involve its teenage counselors in "religious activities including but not limited to the following: praying, reading Bible stories, drawing Bible pictures, and cleaning in the areas of the church where there are religious symbols. . . .All religious activities must cease immediately." Jeff Jacoby interviewed the pastor. "For five years they've been saying I do good work," says the Rev. Thomas Cross. "This year, everything changed." Conversely, if anyone stood up and said that groups like the National Organization of Women and the National Abortion Rights Action League shouldn't be allowed to operate shelters for battered or homeless women because they can't separate out their political agenda, they would be laughed right off stage.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. Amazingly, our own federal Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention even funds a middle school curriculum "Healing the Hate" that suggests that among the warning signs for school counselors that a child may be dangerous is if he or she grows up in "very religious" home. This without one shred of evidence showing any linkage between Christians and any of these terrible acts of violence that our nation has faced. Imagine saying that a warning sign that a child may be dangerous or a threat to other classmates was the skin color or sexual orientation of that child's household.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. In case after case, people of faith are told to mind their own business, keep to themselves and stay out of the affairs of the rest of society. People of faith are called extremists, labeled out and out threats to our nation and generally find "Not Welcome Here" signs all over the place. Law-abiding people who regularly attend church, try to live their lives as examples to their children and their community are lampooned and mocked. Priests, ministers, and the laymen who support them are expected to sit at the back of the bus when it comes to participating in the public square. As you've seen from my examples, when the rights of people of faith are trampled, newspapers and other leaders in our nation are either silent or complicit. Why is this? What about the rights of people of faith?

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. Bigotry of any kind should be confronted. It is always irrational and unjustified. Madmen who kill at a synagogue deserve our most stinging disapprobation. The tragic death of James Byrd was worthy of national condemnation. But just as we should be eternally vigilant against racial bigotry, we must also protect the rights of people of faith. People of faith are decent, loving and patriotic. They work hard to provide for their families and are tireless advocates for improving our communities across the nation. Let's join together and condemn those who would deny freedom and opportunity for every American.

WorldNet Daily 10/29/99 David Bresnahan ".....It's not often that you meet a former high priest of the Church of Wicca. In fact, Ted Rabouin, 66, claims he's the only "former" one there is. No other witch of such high rank has ever left the practice of witchcraft as Rabouin has done. Rabouin says that witches are evil, they worship Satan, and they commit many despicable crimes all over the world. Young teens and others searching for an answer to life's many questions are enticed to participate in witchcraft. Rabouin warns that the danger is not apparent because witches by their very nature are deceptive and intent on making evil look good...... Rabouin left the practice of witchcraft in 1980 when he had an experience he will never forget. The Westborough Fire Department responded to a fire at Rabouin's home, a fire he says was started by Satan. "The thick door burst right off the hinges and ignited. He, or it, was just a black shape. There were burn foot marks on the floor," described Rabouin in a phone interview. Until that night he thought his 25 years of witchcraft amounted to nothing more than fun and games. After years of spells, incantations, coven meetings, and assorted satanic related activity Rabouin discovered something he didn't expect. "Satan is real, David. It's all very real," he insisted. It was no longer just a con game. It was not just a slick way to get people to hand over a lot of money in a short time. Rabouin learned it was all real, and it scared him to death. ...... He warns that the public image of witches has been carefully shaped over the years to remove concern from the public. The young and the curious participants don't often become exposed to the true nature of witchcraft unless they remain involved for many years. "They're just dime store witches," says Rabouin of those who profess to use witchcraft. "They're deceived by Satan. They don't know," he said. He warns parents to not be deceived by the nice sounding information being promoted about Wicca and witchcraft. Rabouin says it's not what it seems, and anyone attracted to it should turn and run the other direction......"

The London Times 11/4/99 "…. CZECHOSLOVAK secret service agents told their Italian opposite numbers in 1990 that the KGB had connived at the "physical elimination" of the Pope, according to secret documents made public by Italy's parliament yesterday. The revelations could be the first independent confirmation of Russian involvement in the 1981 attempt on the life of the Polish pontiff. Spies controlled by Prague infiltrated the Vatican and placed microphones in a statue of the Madonna in the dining room of the then Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, according to the documents released from files of the Italian counter-intelligence service SISDE ..."

National Post 11/4/99 Brad Evenson "….For millennia, the religious have prayed for the sick. Now an American study of heart patients hints it works -- even when the patients don't know they're being prayed for and those praying are strangers. A year-long trial of 990 patients at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., found heart patients fared 11% better when a volunteer prayed for "a speedy recovery with no complications," suffering fewer infections, heart attacks and treatment failure than the unprayed-for patients. "If this was a drug, a device or a standard medical procedure, there would be no question that there was an effect," said lead researcher Dr. William Harris. "This may be unconventional, but that shouldn't matter." …."

The Times UK 11/3/99 Ruth Gledhill "….A PRAYER that describes God as "mother" could be introduced to the Church of England's liturgy for the first time if it is accepted by the General Synod this month. The prayer is likely to prove controversial when the synod meets at Church House, Westminster, in two weeks. The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, wants the prayer to be said at the centre of the Eucharist, the most sacred moment of a church service. A similar prayer was rejected after being debated at the synod three years ago...."

FOX News 11/4/99 Christiana Nunez "…..God's taking quite a beating at the theater these days. The summer was dominated by forces of evil and the undead with Sixth Sense, Blair Witch Project, The Haunting and the Catholics' least favorite, Stigmata taking top spots on box office lists. Next week, Kevin Smith's Dogma will heave another stake into old-fashioned Christian tradition…… But ministers can be market-savvy too, and Hollywood is watching with open mouths as word of God overcomes word of mouth on some studio films. As of last week, The Omega Code (or, as the Hollywood Reporter christened it, "the little Christian thriller that could") had made almost $4.5 million in three weeks. In its opening weekend, it made $2.28 million - about $1.28 million more than the hyped Melanie Griffith-Antonio Banderas effort Crazy in Alabama made in its debut one week later. Code also had a higher per-screen average in its debut than the ultimate force of evil, Fight Club….."

Christianity Today 11/99 Wendy Zoba "…..The mainstream press unquestioningly accepted Salon.com's flimsy "debunking" of the Columbine confession. ….. But the larger question is this: Why has Cullen's dubious assertion, based on incomplete reporting, so captured the imaginations of the media? …… In a Washington Post article (Oct. 14), Hanna Rosin took the controversy to new levels when she dismissed the encounter as a myth and then made the leap that "myth" alone is sufficient to animate the religious fervor of evangelicals, regardless of whether it is true. "It's the power of the story that counts," she wrote. "The truth is a trifle. . . . Should believers accept the literal truth, they'd be left with a hopeless equation." Mary Schmich and Eric Zorn echoed these thoughts in the Chicago Tribune (Oct. 20). "I suspect history will ultimately favor the Bernall myth over the Schnurr facts," Zorn wrote. "I'm not surprised," Schmich replied-conceding that Cassie's biography, She Said Yes, is "an interesting little book, even if the title is wrong." Leave aside, for the moment, the disparaging and demeaning implications behind these assumptions about believers-how are they different from Jesse Ventura saying "organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people"? Neither Rosin nor Zorn nor Schmich, let alone Cullen, has proven the debunking case. The writers settle for the Jefferson County Sheriff Office's opinions about something that the investigators themselves claim to have no stake in. In two separate interviews, information officer Steve Davis told me, "We are not in a position to say it didn't happen" and "We have no reason or desire to prove or disprove this story." …..But many people can't seem to grasp that truth is not a "trifle" to evangelicals-myths and legends are not what animate our confession. Truth is everything. What really happened in the library that terrible day may be beyond the scope of any investigation. But Cassie's "yes" carries sufficient testimony not to be dismissed out of hand. As for what her life means to the religious community, it takes tremendous courage to say yes to God in the face of death; it takes courage of another kind to keep saying yes to God while living every day in an incredulous and jaded culture……."

Washington Post 11/10/99 Lorraine Adams David Bise "..... Angela Wood, 24, of Athens, Ga., pleaded guilty to arson and conspiracy to burn seven churches in southern Indiana. In exchange for her testimony against her former boyfriend, Jay Scott Ballinger, 37, of Yorktown, Ind., prosecutors agreed not to charge Wood for her role in burning churches in 19 other states, according to the plea agreement entered in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Ballinger has been indicted on federal charges with burning at least 29 churches, including five arsons committed with Wood in Indiana. His trial is scheduled for February. He also has been indicted in California, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina in connection with 11 other fires....."

Chattanooga Free Press 11/7/99 "….It couldn't be a bad thing for members of Congress and other officials, high and low, to glance up on the walls of their offices and see a copy of the Ten Commandments before they make important decisions for themselves and for all the rest of us. But some who are seeking to create a national religion out of hostility to religion just go wild when it is suggested that the Ten Commandments might come within the view of public officials -- or school-children….."

Chattanooga Free Press 11/7/99 "….In considering issues of church and state, it's important to realize that public piety and religious liberty go hand in hand. If you doubt that, just recall Thomas Jefferson, who declared "that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a dep arture from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone." ….Those who use Jefferson as a weapon for the complete secularization of public life, then, are distorting his true position. The key for him, as it should be for us, was religious freedom -- not an "Establishment of Irreligion." …."

Fox News – AP 11/9/99 "….South Carolina's largest religious denomination voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in support of lowering the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse dome, joining the NAACP's call to remove the banner. The South Carolina Baptist Convention's resolution, passed at its annual meeting, asks the General Assembly to consider moving the banner to a "public place of heritage, honor and recognition." "We want to be a force to achieve racial harmony," said Mike Hamlet, pastor of North Spartanburg First Baptist. About 1,100 delegates are attending the meeting, but resolutions are not binding on individual churches...."

EWTN News Brief 11/9/99 "….A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that a California school district could refuse an advertisement at a baseball field from a businessman who wanted to post the Ten Commandments. A panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that the First Amendment does not protect advertisers who want to post religious messages. The court said the baseball field was open only for a limited public purpose: education, and held that the Ten Commandments would not advance that educational purpose……"

New York Observer 11/8/99 Philip Weiss "….…..Then, in October, a Gallup poll came out underlining the larger issue: Religious observance among Jews is lower than any other major faith. Jews are one of "the least religious groups." Only 30 percent of Jewish respondents said their religion was "very important" to their daily lives, as compared with 60 percent of Americans over all…….. Part of this reflects class. Jews are likely the richest ethnic group in America, and like rich Episcopalians or Muslims, tend to believe in material things, not God. (It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven.) But a bigger part is cultural: As Jews have sought success and security in America, they have thrown off traits that embarrass them or present a conflict, and Hebrew religion is one …… For another thing, Judaism is not an easy religion to follow. It's rule-bound, it's a way of life aimed at improving individuals and the world. Impatience with Jewish law was one of the theological bases of Christianity and, later, Protestantism, and indeed the absence of law in WASP culture is something that draws the guilt-ridden Jew to the Christian bosom, or bosoms. "Christianity is much more easily grasped. It doesn't have all these rules, it's Jesus loves you," says an intermarried friend who experienced a Jewish renewal in midlife……. I've tried here to make observations, not judgments. Yet secularization disturbs me. The real issue is godlessness, and what it has done not just to the Jews, but to our society. Think of the things that are worshiped in America now to a degree they never have before: celebrity, fame, success, money, status. All of them opposite to any religion's values. A culture of what The New York Times Magazine called "radical selfishness," in a special millennium issue in October……"

Daily Telegraph (UK) 11/8/99 Auberon Waugh "…. CHRISTIAN evangelism has taken rather an aggressive turn as we approach the dreaded Millennium. It is all very well for Christians to argue that since the event celebrates the 2000th anniversary of Christ's birth, they should be given all the television time, but they seem to be demanding more than that. A Church of England report urges members to get on-line and flood the Internet with Christian material to counter what it sees as a tide of pornography. "Putting material up is easy," it says. "If every Christian put up specifically Christian material and linked it with other sites, cyberspace would become increasingly populated with helpful content." …… "

FoxNews_AP 11/7/99 Mark Bibineck "…. More than 100 people protested outside one of the nation's largest Baptist churches Sunday over a booklet that urges Southern Baptists to pray for Hindus' deliverance from the "power of Satan.'' "We want all people to understand that religious intolerance is rearing its head in this country,'' said Houston attorney Amit Misra, a leader of the coalition of local Hindu groups who organized the protest. "Some people aren't aware of the type of hate that is being preached by mainstream churches,'' Misra said. …."

New York Post 11/5/99 Hallie Levine "….As presidential candidates battle over whether religion belongs in the classroom, one 7-year-old upstate boy has entered the fray - with crayons and a lawsuit. Little Antonio Peck of Syracuse drew a poster of Jesus for a classroom assignment, but his teacher told him it wouldn't be displayed because of its religious content. Now his mom, Jo Anne Peck, is suing the Baldwinsville Central School District and Catherine McNamara Elementary School, accusing them of violating her son's constitutional rights by censoring the poster in the incident last year……"

WORLD Magazine 11/13/99 Bob Jones "….Yes, Ken Starr's faith affected his investigation of President Clinton, but not in the way most people think. Far from making him too partisan, it kept him from responding to White House mudslinging. Now a private citizen, Mr. Starr tells WORLD readers the story behind "the recent unpleasantness" …… Twelve days. On Oct. 30, that's how long Ken Starr has been a private citizen. After five years in the public spotlight-and in the president's crosshairs-he's having a bit of trouble readjusting to private life. He forces a dollar bill on an admirer who has brought him a Dr. Pepper. He can't accept gifts, he explains. Oh, wait, yes he can. The James Carvilles of the world have other reputations to destroy these days. Mr. Starr can now accept sodas with impunity. Life is good. Judging from his demeanor, you'd never guess that Ken Starr is "the most hated man in America," as one pundit recently crowned him. He's John Q. Citizen again, and he's loving it…….. The religious faith that kept him from going on the attack also gave him comfort in the midst of attack. "From a Christian standpoint, we know that our Lord did not fare well in the polls 2000 years ago," he muses. "Even His friends turned against Him at the pivotal moment.... I tried not to take things personally. I also tried not to exalt the importance of public perception and public opinion. Public opinion will wax and wane, but there is truth, and there is right, and it is far better to try to align oneself with that which is true and right, regardless of public opinion." ……"

World Magazine 11/13/99 Candi Cushman "….Defying school officials but supported by the governor and the U.S. House, Texas students continue tradition of prayer before football games In Stephenville, Tex. - Hidden from Dallas super-malls by more than 120 miles of windy hills and wind-swept fields, residents of Stephenville, Tex., boast of a different claim to fame-the Yellow Jackets high-school football team……As junior class president, Alan had eagerly anticipated giving the opening prayer before the first Yellow Jackets home game on Aug. 27. But at 10:00 a.m. that morning, school authorities had informed him that, for the first time in decades, there would be no prayer. isappointed but undeterred, Alan and his friends turned to creative options: Instead of using the stadium sound system, they led a crowd of 4,000 in prayer through cheerleading megaphones. At the next home game, they brought a donated sound system onto the track for a more amplified pre-game prayer. They tried to do the same thing at Stephenville's third home game, but an electrical outlet fueling their speaker system mysteriously switched off moments before prayer began. Things were worse on the night of the otherwise glorious victory over Cleburne. Before the game, school officials restricted access to the track and forbade the use of privately owned amplifiers there……. "Let's just pray about it," said one. And with bowed heads, they chose humility over rebellion……"

Florida Times-Union 11/5/99 "…. In ruling for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, a federal judge implied ''freedom of speech'' means people are obligated to pay for spreading views diametrically opposed to their own. That is an Orwellian definition of the term ''freedom.'' The controversy began when the museum displayed a painting of Virgin Mary covered with manure, mannequins with genitals as faces, and a variety of dead animals and live maggots…… The judge ordered that funding be restored and the eviction withdrawn, pending resolution of the case, because Giuliani's decision very likely would be found to violate the First Amendment. In other words, the manure-laced portrait of the Virgin Mary contained an important message - and Giuliani's sanction against the museum had a chilling effect on the artist's ability to convey that message to the public. It isn't clear exactly what message the art contains. Presumably, there is one. Whatever the message is, it could be spread without a tax subsidy - the way most other messages, controversial and non-controversial alike, are spread….."

Electronic Telegraph 11/5/99 Ben Fenton "…..Stan Roth, who taught biology to the equivalent of British sixth-formers, had to retire at the age of 64 a few weeks before the Kansas state board of education removed evolution from the obligatory part of the curriculum. Mr Roth said yesterday that his dismissal arose from his treatment of a 16-year-old Christian fundamentalist pupil who asked him in class: "When are we going to learn about creationism?" He said he became exasperated and told her that the subject was not worthy of being taught. Miss Harvey, one of nine children, said: "He told me, 'When are you going to stop believing that crap your parents teach you?'" Mr Roth's former students and other teachers have leapt to his defence, arguing that he was used as a scapegoat to appease a growing religious movement in Kansas….."

Star Tribune 11/17/99 Sarah Wyatt "….Students attending alternative high school classes at a Salvation Army center will no longer see religious posters and banners there because of efforts to keep religion out of the classroom. The Freedom from Religion Foundation, which advocates separation of church and state, filed a complaint with the Madison School District last spring after discovering that religious items were present at classes held at a Salvation Army community center. Since 1997, the district has held special education classes at the center because it could not find room anywhere else for the students, said Bob Hoekenga, Madison high school special education coordinator, on Wednesday. The Salvation Army was reluctant to remove the religious pictures after the foundation complained. But attorneys finally worked out a compromise to cover them up while students were at school, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, a foundation staff member….."

Capitol Hill Blue 11/18/99 Cal Thomas "…..Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer recently delivered a speech at St. Anselm College in Bedford, N.H., that touched on familiar moral issues at the center of his campaign. Among other things, Bauer said, "Many ... assaults on the Catholic Church and traditional Christian beliefs take sexually explicit forms because, for some on the extreme left, unrestricted sex has become a sacrament .... So long as we Christians insist that there is a moral dimension to human sexuality, our values will be made the target of obscenity by those who would strip this most intimate of human relationships of any moral consideration beyond `If it feels good, do it.' " There has been a lot of talk like this lately. Christians and their "values" aren't getting the respect they deserve from non-Christians. In fact, say many on what the press calls the Religious Right, they are being persecuted for their beliefs…..The Apostles suffered greatly for their faith. Some were flogged. Others lost their liberty and all but one lost his life, the last one suffering exile and dying a "natural" death on an island. None complained or asked the government to step in and stop the persecution. In fact, the record tells us they "rejoiced" that God counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name (Acts 5:41). So, lighten up, Christians, and get about the business of doing the things that will bring real persecution. You're not being fed to the lions, but you are being fed a lot of baloney by some of your leaders who, frankly, don't know what they're talking about when it comes to real persecution. …."

The New York Post 11/17/99 Susan Brady Konig "….HIGH school football's in the news these days, but not for what's happening on the field. There's that Illinois mess where students were expelled for brawling in the stands at a game. And in Texas, public school kids want to pray before a game. Which group gets the support of the Reverend Jesse Jackson? The thugs in Decatur -- he's not only trying to get them re-enrolled ahead of the already fair deal offered by the school board, but he's getting himself arrested and comparing the whole battle to Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham and black South Africans under apartheid. Meanwhile, the kids in Texas' Sante Fe school district are up against the Supreme Court in their efforts to pray. The one thing we don't want kids thinking about is God, for goodness sakes. We wouldn't want to offend anyone….."

Reuters 11/15/99 "….The U.S. Supreme Court, which has barred public school prayers in the classroom since 1962, said on Monday that it would decide whether high school students may read Christian prayers at football games. The justices agreed to review a U.S. appeals court ruling that the Santa Fe Independent School District in Texas violated the constitutional requirement on church-state separation by allowing student-led prayers at football games. The high court will hear an appeal by the school district, which said students should be given the right to participate in student-initiated group prayers at football games….."

CBS online 11/15/99 "…. Thousands of people showed up at a rally to support the Harrisburg, Ill., board's decision to post the Ten Commandments in district schools. The event Saturday night drew about 2,500 people to Southeastern Illinois Community College near here. "Our meeting tonight is not about the Ten Commandments," said Darrell Scott, whose 17-year-old daughter Rachel was one of the 12 students and a teacher gunned down at Columbine High School in April. "It is about our young people - our children." ... The board unanimously approved posting the edicts last month, fueling a controversy that has already touched much of the country....

INSIGHT Magaznine 12/6/99 Janet Parshall "….. . . . . For 200 years, Americans have like the people of Israel derived their moral judgments from the ideals embodied in the Ten Commandments. Not every American, to be sure, believed that God gave us the Commandments. But few openly question that the Decalogue, as it sometimes is known in academic circles, formed the basis for our public life together. George Washington knew the importance of God's law in the maintenance of civil peace. In his famous Farewell Address, he urged Americans not to listen to those who would strip away the foundations of our national life: "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.". . . . Those who would strip the Ten Commandments from our national life are doing exactly what Washington warned against. As he put it, "Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice?"…… . . . . As we face daily examples of horrible crimes -- murders, rapes, child molesting -- is it really so surprising? For 30 years there has been a vigorous effort on the part of some to do exactly what Jefferson warned against, to "remove the only firm basis" of God-given liberties from the minds of the people.

INSIGHT Magaznine 12/6/99 Janet Parshall "…... . . . Where does this effort begin? In our schools, for a start. I don't want to refight here all the battles over evolution and intelligent design or to make the case for voluntary student-initiated prayer. Those issues are separate and can be addressed separately. But I do want to say that there is something terribly wrong when a kindergarten girl is ordered to stop distributing Christmas cards to her classmates because they say, "Jesus Loves You." This actually happened in suburban Howard County, Md. . . . . Students are being required to read textbooks from which any references to God have been carefully removed. One example, found by New York University psychology professor Paul Vitz, described Pilgrims as "people who go on journeys." The Pilgrims gave thanks, but the book blotted out mention of the God to whom they gave their thanks. Another example Vitz found, "Zlateh and the Goat," is a story of a young Jewish boy in Poland who is saved from freezing to death. In Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer's original story, Zlateh thanks God for his survival. In the censored version, Zlateh thanks not God but "goodness."

www.catholicleague.org 11/11/99 William Donohue ".... On the November 11 edition of the ABC show, "Politically Incorrect," host Bill Maher interviewed "Dogma" director Kevin Smith. In doing so, Maher blasted Catholics: "Catholics practice what they want to practice. They go to see the Pope 'cause he's a big celebrity, but they go home and they masturbate, they practice birth control...well they do." When someone remarked that a lot of people are not attending churches or synagogues these days, Maher stepped up his attack on Catholicism....William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, issued the following statement on this matter: "This is not the first time that Bill Maher has proven to be an anti-Catholic bigot. Not surprisingly, the audience laughed at his comments, showing how utterly acceptable anti-Catholicism is these days. Indeed, Maher's remarks prove that it is anything but politically incorrect to bash Catholics on "Politically Incorrect." "If ABC has as low a tolerance for Catholic bashing as it does other expressions of bigotry, it would terminate Maher immediately. At the very least, the Catholic League wants an apology. We await the network's response." ....."

Insight on the News Online 11/12/99 Catherine Edward "….When Kathleen Ward Atchason left Wicca, or witchcraft, to join the Roman Catholic Church she never dreamed she would encounter witchcraft wit-hin the walls of Christendom. Atchason lives in Salem, Mass., and still encounters practicing Wiccans in the community and on the street -- but in the church? . . . . In fact, Atchason positively identified for Insight a Wiccan practice gaining currency in many churches. It is documented in two articles in Wellsprings, a defunct journal for Methodist clergywomen. The articles, "A Croning Ritual" and "Reflections from a New Crone," were written by the Rev. Nancy Webb, minister of education and children's education at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington -- which the Clintons attend -- and by the Rev. Mary Kraus of Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Washington. Webb and Kraus provide details of the Wiccan croning ritual in the articles from their own eyewitness accounts. . . . . "I am surprised that they are doing that," Atchason tells Insight. "A croning ritual is a Wiccan rite of passage." According to Atchason, "the Goddess" worshipped by Wiccans takes on three forms: maiden, representing sexual ripeness; mother, representing birth; and crone, representing old age……. Most Wiccans worship a feminine deity called "the Goddess" and her consort, "the horned God." According to Wiccan high priestess Phyllis Currott, the goddess takes on many forms such as the mythological Greek deities Artemis, Gaia and Sophia as well as Roman, Celtic and Norse goddesses. Some Wiccans meet in groups called covens or circles, while others prefer to practice Wiccan rituals and cast spells alone. …."

Insight on the News Online 11/12/99 Catherine Edward "…. Connie Alt, a former Methodist cleric, is one of those concerned. Alt left her church partly because of what she perceived to be a lack of discernment in the matter of witchcraft by the church's leadership. . . . . When Alt read the Wellsprings article she telephoned Foundry Methodist to speak with Webb. Alt tells Insight that Webb informed her that she found Northern European practices of Wicca very helpful. She then recommended that Alt read a book called The Spiral Dance, by a Wiccan high priestess who calls herself Starhawk. . . . . Disturbed that a professing Christian and Methodist minister would admit to any relationship with witchcraft, Alt called her friend Karen Booth, pastor at Long Neck United Methodist Church in Delaware. They had reason to believe that their bishop, Susan Morrison, herself had taken part in the croning ritual. When questioned, however, Booth tells Insight that Morrison said she could "neither confirm nor deny having taken part in the croning ritual, but that she had witnessed many croning rituals." . . . . Although disturbed by this response, Booth did not bring up the matter for several years until last fall when she found out that one of her parishioners' daughters was reading Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation, by a Wiccan high priestess called Silver Ravenwolf. Alarmed that Wicca was influencing young women in her own congregation, Booth, along with Long Neck's lay leader, Elaine Wood, reluctantly filed charges against Webb and Kraus for practicing a spirituality contrary to the teaching of the Methodist church.. . . . Of particular concern to Booth was a blessing mentioned by Webb at the end of the Wellsprings article which she noted bears a striking resemblance to a blessing mentioned in Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, except that Webb's blessing omits a line about "the Goddess." When May asked Webb why she left this line out, says Booth, Webb told him she had said the blessing from memory and she would have inserted the line about the goddess had she remembered it.

Insight on the News Online 11/12/99 Catherine Edward "….. . . . Much of the media attention about goddess worship in churches first focused on an event held in Minneapolis in 1993 called the Reimagining Conference, but more-isolated incidents such as the "croning ritual" have not received a great deal of coverage. Most mainline denominations sponsored the Reimagining Conference, at which a group of Methodist clergy, among others, encouraged participants to reject traditional notions of Christ's death to atone for sin because "in light of women's experience, such as slavery and female sexual abuse, understandings of sacrifice, atonement and martyrdom are being re-examined." . . . . According to a report by Methodist clergy who attended, as many as 2,200 conference participants shared in a communion of milk and honey and recited a feminist liturgy: "To our maker Sophia, we are women in your image, with nectar between our thighs we invite a lover, we birth a child, with our warm body fluids we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations." Sophia was honored at the conference as "our creator Sophia." "Sophia" is the Greek translation of the Old Testament word for wisdom. Some feminist philosophers claim that wisdom is portrayed as a woman in the book of Proverbs……."

Insight on the News Online 11/12/99 Catherine Edward "….. . . . Mary Hunt is a feminist who does not share Dooling's concern and is pleased with the growth of feminist philosophy in the Christian church. Hunt is a Roman Catholic and codirector of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, or WATER. An editorial on the front page of Waterwheel, WATER's quarterly newsletter, reads, "Starhawk gets it right in her new introduction to the twentieth-anniversary edition of The Spiral Dance, the book that launched Goddess religion into the contemporary mainstream. 'How do I learn this ... how do I pass this on?' " . . . . Hunt tells Insight that while her newsletter quotes Starhawk, a Wiccan high priestess, that she and codirector Diann Neu consider themselves to be Catholic, although WATER is not affiliated officially with the Roman Catholic Church. "We seek to influence it however and receive funding from some Catholic bishops," she says….."

AP 11/12/99 "….On the wall of Carolyn Sherrod's business, a laminated paper tells visitors: ``God is like Coke ... he's the real thing.'' Outside is a copy of the Ten Commandments. Ms. Sherrod is among area residents rallying around the school board's decision to post the edicts in district schools. A rally in support of the display is planned for Saturday night……. The board is expected to discuss the policy at its Tuesday meeting. School officials say the district's lawyers have provided a legal opinion on the issue, but have declined to reveal what they said. Saturday's rally at Southeastern Illinois College is expected to draw thousands from throughout southern Illinois who support the display. It gives Stalcup, the waitress, confidence that supporters will prevail….."

Chattanooga Free Press 11/12/99 "….. Most Americans are rightly dedicated to the constitutional protection of freedom of speech. The French philosopher Voltaire is often credited with a quote that he probably did not make (but could and should have) to the effect that: "I disagree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it." Now, that's standing up for freedom of speech. But Thomas Jefferson made a needed point when he said: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." ……. Defending the mandatory fee, a Wisconsin assistant attorney general said: "It is important to facilitate the speech of diverse groups." No one has denied diverse speech. But denying others their right not to finance ideas they oppose is unjust and anti-freedom, amounting to tyrannical extortion. We can only hope and pray that the learned justices of the Supreme Court will defend both freedom of speech and a person's freedom not to have to pay for "the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors." ….."

FBI 11/11/99 "…The year 2000 is being discussed and debated at all levels of society. Most of the discussions regarding this issue revolve around the topic of technology and our society's overwhelming dependence on the multitude of computers and computer chips which make our world run smoothly. However, the upcoming millennium also holds important implications beyond the issue of computer technology. Many extremist individuals and groups place some significance on the next millennium, and as such it will present challenges to law enforcement at many levels. The significance is based primarily upon either religious beliefs relating to the Apocalypse or political beliefs relating to the New World Order (NWO) conspiracy theory. The challenge is how well law enforcement will prepare and respond. The following report, entitled "Project Megiddo," is intended to analyze the potential for extremist criminal activity in the United States by individuals or domestic extremist groups who profess an apocalyptic view of the millennium or attach special significance to the year 2000. The purpose behind this assessment is to provide law enforcement agencies with a clear picture of potential extremism motivated by the next millennium……

FBI 11/11/99 "…Potential cult-related violence presents additional challenges to law enforcement. The potential for violence on behalf of members of biblically-driven cults is determined almost exclusively by the whims of the cult leader. Therefore, effective intelligence and analysis of such cults requires an extensive understanding of the cult leader. Cult members generally act to serve and please the cult leader rather than accomplish an ideological objective. Almost universally, cult leaders are viewed as messianic in the eyes of their followers. Also, the cult leader's prophecies, preachings, orders, and objectives are subject to indiscriminate change. Thus, while analysis of publicly stated goals and objectives of cults may provide hints about their behavior and intentions, it is just as likely to be uninformed or, at worst, misleading. Much more valuable is a thorough examination of the cult leader, his position of power over his followers, and an awareness of the responding behavior and activity of the cult. Sudden changes in activity - for example, less time spent on "Bible study" and more time spent on "physical training" - indicate that the cult may be preparing for some type of action….."

Orlando sentinel 11/25/99 Charley Reese "….The politicians in Washington ought to build a museum for the American holocaust -- the slaughter of 42 million American babies by abortionists since the Roe vs. Wade decision by the Supreme Court. If 42 million deaths isn't a holocaust or genocide, I guess I'm just not politically correct. Gee, I always thought I was. Now, of course, the filthy abortion business has developed a sideline of selling human parts in a scheme carefully worked out by Clinton-like lawyers to evade the poorly written law that forbids commercial traffic…… Within minutes of passage means as soon as the abortionist has killed the baby. Notice that you can get tissues between 40 days and term. Term means a fully developed baby. The middle men -- the body snatchers -- are outfits that set up inside abortion clinics. They pay rent for space and subsidize the abortionists' staff payroll. In exchange, they snatch the baby, slice it up and send out the parts. "Donations" or "service fees" evade the law against selling dismembered human beings. ….Thus you have two evils joining forces to create a new and evil industry. One evil, of course, is the dismemberment of the U.S. Constitution by political hacks appointed to the federal bench. No sane human being can find two syllables in the Constitution that would justify the Supreme Court forbidding the states to ban abortions……. The other evil is science, devoid of God and human compassion, which sees humanity as so many pieces of tissue….."

EWTN News 11/24/99 Vatican news Service "…. The following declaration was released yesterday afternoon by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls relative to the decision to authorize a mosque several meters away from the historical Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the successive protests by the Christian Churches: "Last Sunday, the Upper Islamic Council of Jerusalem released a communique in which it declares its opposition to the construction of a mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. By adopting this position, the Upper Islamic Council of Jerusalem has demonstrated its solidarity with the Christian ecclesial authorities in the Holy Land. "The Israeli government decision seems to lay the foundations for future dispute and tension between the two religious communities, Christian and Islamic. I feel that, in this matter, the political authorities have a great responsibility as, instead of supporting unity, they create the foundations for fomenting dissent."…."

worldnetdaily.com 11/22/99 J Farah "…. Washington Post ombudswoman E. R. Shipp suggests I am "hostile to homosexuals." In the popular lexicon, that makes one a "homophobe." I'd like to explain why I am not a "homophobe." First of all, the Latin root "homo" simply means "man." "Phobe," or "phobia," has to do with fear. I certainly do not fear men. I also do not fear homosexuals -- though, as much as possible, I do avoid them, as Christians and Jews are cautioned to do in Leviticus 18. Why are we cautioned to avoid homosexuals in the Bible? Here's what it says in the relevant verses of Leviticus 18 (KJV):

22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

23. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

24. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

25. And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

26. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

27. (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

28. That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

29. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

30. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

You see, God, speaking through Moses, tells us that practices including homosexuality will cause those involved and those around them to be spewed out of the land -- to be rejected, outcast, vomited from the land. I don't want to be too close when that happens. In other words, it's not homosexuals I fear. It is God…."

Insightmag.com 12/3/99 Kelly Patricia O'Meara "....In a polemic presented as a threat report, the FBI has targeted religious groups and right-wing eccentrics as potential terrorists likely to go postal as the new millennium arrives...... The redacted 32-page report recently released to the public names religious organizations, militias and cults and links Americans to these organizations as potential terrorists whom the FBI says are hell-bent on encountering Armageddon - God's final and conclusive battle against evil on Earth. While the FBI admits that it has "identified very few indications of specific threats to domestic security," the report claims to have divined "indicators of potential violent activity on the part of extremists in this country." Who are these people, and since when does the government have the right to investigate fools, fanatics and religious eccentrics on the basis of their millennial rhetoric alone? Project Megiddo specifically identifies, but is not limited to, the followers of the Christian Identity movement and Odinism, white-supremacy groups, militias, the Black Hebrew Israelites and apocalyptic cults - all presented as potential terrorists. Even at the height of the Cold War during the seventies and eighties the FBI was not allowed to pursue openly declared revolutionary Marxists in this way, being required by the courts to show cause by establishing an actual attempt to commit illegal acts......"

Insightmag.com 12/3/99 Kelly Patricia O'Meara "....While much of the Project Megiddo report targets the religious right, the FBI also has identified members of various militias as potential millennial threats. The FBI's definition says a militia is a domestic organization with two or more members; the organization must possess and use firearms; and the organization must conduct or encourage paramilitary training. According to the report, "Most militias engage in a variety of antigovernment rhetoric which can range from the protesting of government policies to the advocating of violence and/or the overthrow of the federal government." This could, of course, include the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, every one of the Founding Fathers and virtually all of those on America's pioneer wagon trains moving West. The report clearly states, however, that "the FBI only focuses on radical elements of the militia movement capable and willing to commit violence against government, law-enforcement, civilian, military and international targets." ....."

Insightmag.com 12/3/99 Kelly Patricia O'Meara "....Such loose talk and purple rhetoric in an alleged threat assessment by the FBI directed at religious groups is shocking to Jan LeRue, senior legal adviser at the Family Research Council. LeRue thinks the FBI not only has gone way beyond the call of duty but well beyond constitutional authority. "The FBI is treading dangerously close to trampling on the constitutional rights of some Americans. The problem is that they are looking into peoples' beliefs with no account of actual criminal action. Putting law-abiding people of faith under suspicion without criminal conduct is wrong." John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute wrote in his Nov. 7, 1999, syndicated column that the Project Megiddo report amounts to "religious profiling - targeting potentially dangerous persons based on their religious beliefs. The truth is that if Jesus Christ were alive today, He would in all likelihood be a target of Project Megiddo."....."

WorldnetDaily 12/3/99 Frank York "….. Chicago's rebuff of the Southern Baptist Convention's plans to meet in the Windy City next summer, on the grounds that the large Christian group might foment "hate crimes" against minorities, is sounding alarm bells among Christians who fear that merely speaking openly about their core religious beliefs will soon be considered a crime. The Southern Baptist Convention -- with a membership of 15.8 million and representing more than 40,000 churches nationwide -- has been planning for two years next summer's evangelistic outreach in Chicago. Along with performing good deeds -- including housing rehabilitation and medical clinics -- the initiative also would encompass church-starting, door-to-door evangelism and block parties. But when the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago sent a letter to Paige Patterson, head of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, urging the Baptists to reconsider their plans, the Baptists were shocked and dismayed. It seems Chicago's council leaders -- representing 40 mainline denominations, Jewish synagogues, and African-American denominations -- believe the outreach might spark violence and hate crimes against minority religious groups in the city. "We are particularly disturbed that the two groups who appear to be among your primary targets, Muslims and Jews, have during the past six months been victims of faith-based terrorist violence in Chicago," said the letter urging the Baptists to stay home…….. However attitudes toward Christianity have changed in America in recent decades, a parallel shift seems to have occurred worldwide. What about the future of Christianity in America? Will evangelism be chilled, or even silenced -- or perhaps just neutered -- due to an ever-more-intolerant culture? Will it end up as an underground movement as it is in many corners of the world? Phil Roberts, of the Baptists' North American Mission Board, sees it this way: "As a result of this effort" to evangelize in Chicago next summer, "Canada and the United States will either have been closer to being truly and fully evangelized -- or we will see our culture becoming increasing pagan." …."

CnsNews.com 11/19/99 Theodore Forstmann "…..The 13th-century Italian poet Dante observed, "A great flame follows a little spark." For me, the spark was ignited by my involvement, beginning many years ago, with the Inner City Scholarship Fund, which is run by the Archdiocese of New York. I was so impressed with their success in helping to educate children at half of what it costs the public schools to fail to educate the same children that I thought, why not start a similar enterprise to help low-income families seek a good education wherever it can be found? I got together with John Walton, one of the directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and we offered 1,000 scholarships to low-income students in Washington, D.C. After a few months, with virtually no media coverage and no advertising, we had received nearly 8,000 applications. This huge demand persuaded us to go national. In June 1998 we donated $100 million toward funding 40,000 scholarships, and the Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) was born….."

South African Daily Mail & Guardian 11/20/99 "…..The publishers of Hustler magazine have agreed to withdraw their November 1999 issue from general distribution, with immediate effect, the Film & Publication Board announced on Friday. The decision follows complaints from the Muslim Judicial Council that the article, 'Heroin for Allah', was not only 'offensive, insulting and derogatory' to Muslims, but also an attack on their constitutional right to have their dignity respected and protected. Although the article purported to expose the trade in heroin in areas of Afghanistan under Taliban control, the reference to Allah was unnecessary ….."

St Paul Pioneer Press/Associated Press "…..Pope John Paul II issued a stern rebuke Saturday to grass-roots Catholic movements, rejecting their demands for women priests and a greater role for laity. John Paul spoke to bishops from Germany, home to a movement for change as active as the one in the United States. The pontiff has never left any doubt he opposes the aims of such movements. On Saturday, he made it clear he disapproves of the movements themselves and their methods. ``These groups are trying to provoke within the church, through concerted action and insistent pressure, changes that run counter to the will of Christ,'' John Paul said. ….."

Answers In Genesis Jerry Bergman 1999 First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 13(2):101-111, 1999 "…… Leading Nazis, and early 1900 influential German biologists, revealed in their writings that Darwin's theory and publications had a major influence upon Nazi race policies. Hitler believed that the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding similar to how farmers breed superior cattle strains. In the formulation of their racial policies, Hitler's government relied heavily upon Darwinism, especially the elaborations by Spencer and Haeckel. As a result, a central policy of Hitler's administration was the development and implementation of policies designed to protect the 'superior race'. This required at the very least preventing the 'inferior races' from mixing with those judged superior, in order to reduce contamination of the latter's gene pool. The 'superior race' belief was based on the theory of group inequality within each species, a major presumption and requirement of Darwin's original 'survival of the fittest' theory. This philosophy culminated in the 'final solution', the extermination of approximately six million Jews and four million other people who belonged to what German scientists judged as 'inferior races'. …… Of the many factors that produced the Nazi holocaust and World War II, one of the most important was Darwin's notion that evolutionary progress occurs mainly as a result of the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival. Although it is no easy task to assess the conflicting motives of Hitler and his supporters, Darwinism-inspired eugenics clearly played a critical role. Darwinism justified and encouraged the Nazi views on both race and war. If the Nazi party had fully embraced and consistently acted on the belief that all humans were descendants of Adam and Eve and equal before the creator God, as taught in both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, the holocaust would never have occurred….."

WorldNetDaily 11/19/99 John Doggett "…. I'm old school on this one. Thanksgiving is not just a day or a weekend, it is a state of mind. Thanksgiving is the day that I acknowledge that I give thanks every day that the Creator chose America as my home. I didn't always feel this way about America. After all, when I was born in San Francisco in 1947, it was darn near illegal to be black. I now teach at the University of Texas at Austin. However, when I was born, they allowed no one who looked like me to teach or even attend my university. Nevertheless, as the ad says, that was then, and this is now. Tens of millions of Americans of all colors and creeds first fought the scourge of slavery and then moved on to root out legal segregation. In fact, the history of America is one of a profound commitment to the very concept of equality. A commitment that is unmatched by any other civilization ever known to man. ….."

Catholic League 11/17/99 William Donohue "… "The nun that is featured in the new movie, "All About My Mother" is pregnant. She's also HIV-positive. It opens Friday in select theaters. "All About My Mother" was described by one reviewer as "a loose homage to 'All About Eve' populated by an outrageous (as usual) assortment of drag queens, transvestite hookers and pregnant nuns." The Sunday Times of London said that the Pedro Almodovar film was "a blend of his favorite elements--delirium, drugs, sexual deviation, arresting visuals and, most of all, the solidarity and sacrifices of women." ..."

Sobran's 9/28/99 Joseph Sobran ".... The great vice of liberal thinking is its failure of imagination with respect to Christians. For all their preaching of "sensitivity" and "multiculturalism," they are belligerently ignorant of Christian culture and Christians' feelings. In fact they seem to think that there is something specially "artistic" about offending Christians. Offending blacks, Jews, feminists, or homosexuals is "insensitive," while offending Christians is "irreverent" - a word that has come to suggest a rather cute sassiness. Yet the whole history of Western Civilization is rooted in religion. Unless you understand Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism, along with the rise of Islam, you don't understand the events that shaped the modern world. The issues of the Reformation were still alive when the United States was founded, when slavery was debated, when the Civil War tore the country apart, when Prohibition was adopted, when Joe McCarthy assailed "godless Communism," when John Kennedy became the first Catholic American president. The Christian Right is closer to its own historic roots than most Americans, yet the media and the history textbooks treat it as a marginal, virtually un-American movement. This isn't "multicultural"; it's anti-cultural. It refuses to take America's real origins seriously, adopting the Supreme Court's shallow and ahistorical interpretation of the separation of church and state..... Yet the young pass through our entire educational system without being taught what the Christian perspective was, and is, or how it has shaped the great events of history. Few of them know that many of the authors of the Constitution were clergymen; fewer still realize that the separation of church and state applied only to the federal government, not to the states. (The First Amendment says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," leaving the states free to do so.) Like Soviet history, American history has been rewritten, with inconvenient facts deleted. In both countries, the "progressive" forces have subverted their subjects' sense of the past….."

Sydney Morning Herald 11/24/99 Chris McGillion "…..Clerical sexual abuse is a ''direct consequence'' of the failure of the Catholic Church to treat men and women equally in the church, a landmark report commissioned by the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference has found. ''A clear and resounding message received in the course of this research study centred on those elements of the 'culture of the Catholic Church' which contribute to a lack of respect for women, and subsequently their subservient role in the life of the church,'' the report says. ''A direct consequence of this cultural attitude is the ready victimisation of women through sexual offence. As long as the culture of the church does not put men and women on a basis of true equality, then women and children will remain vulnerable to abuse.'' …."

Associated Press (via Yahoo News) 11/22/99 A J Dickerson "….Afraid of offending blacks and Christians, the new director of the Detroit Institute of Arts has suspended an exhibit that included a Jesus figure wearing a condom and an artwork whose title contains a racial slur. The exhibit, which also featured a vial of urine from Andres Serrano's highly publicized photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine, had been accepted by the museum two years ago. ``I felt strongly I could not defend a couple of the pieces,'' said Graham Beal, who became director seven weeks ago and suspended the exhibit Friday, two days after it opened. ``A couple of the pieces were surprises.'' …..Beal, in his previous job as director of the Los Angeles County Art Museum, refused three times to exhibit the show now on display in Brooklyn……"

EWTN News Brief 11/30/99 LONDON (CWNews.com) - Veteran '50s pop star Cliff Richard on Monday topped the UK singles charts with his version of the Lord's Prayer -- despite efforts by most major radio stations to block the song. "I'm over the moon," said Cliff, 59, once heralded as Britain's answer to Elvis Presley. "It is quite hard to believe that I'm number one against all the odds. I will be celebrating with friends with a couple of glasses of champagne and pinching myself to believe that this is really happening." Cliff, who is as well known for his Christianity as he his for his music, recorded the Our Father to the tune of Auld Lang Syne and called it Millennium Prayer in an attempt to remind the British public just what the coming celebrations are all about. But EMI, his record company of 40 years, refused to release it and he was forced to move to Chrysalis records. The proceeds will go to a children's charity……"

The Orlando Sentinel 11/30/99 Charley Reese "…. Read the words of George Washington, our first president. "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God . . . ." That's from the text of the very first Thanksgiving proclamation, given Oct. 3, 1789. Now, a question: Would a Congress that wrote the First Amendment call for a national day of prayer but forbid high-school students from praying at graduation ceremonies or at their football games? Not hardly. The current host