Most Americans would agree that freedom of conscience ranks among our most cherished liberties. As such, the state should protect this particular right by almost any means necessary and reasonable (especially for citizens).

In California, an initiative has been undertaken to get a ballot before voters to determine the propriety of Christmas music in California public schools. Within the measure is a clause that would require schools to notify parents 21 days before the specified tunes would be played or performed so that students can opt out of being exposed to such material.

Those having embraced a rigorous interpretation regarding the separation of church and state will applaud the measure as a enlightened compromise as these voices will be among the first to point out that, in these swinging days of free thought, not everyone embraces the Christianity espoused by these Yuletide harmonies. One must ask then would the exponents of the unsullied conscience be as outspoken in defense of those wanting to be excused from exposure to more progressivist causes and material.

Absolutarian relativists claim that, in order to ensure the scholastic neutrality of the classroom, not even a whiff of religious material can be permitted to waft across young impressionable minds. That might be what is claimed in theory, but the reality falls far short as an exclusionary objectivity is applied only to Christianity with other worldviews and religions actually imposed upon students.

Any rational person will admit that, in order to have the most comprehensive understanding of the world possible, one must have an understanding of religion as one of history’s most influential motivating forces. However, there is a point at which education becomes advocacy.  read more »

One of the shortcomings I remember the most about the Christian elementary school I attended was how a number of the less-than dedicated educators would punish all of the students for the misbehavior of a single pupil. To this day, I remain convinced this had more to do with lazy teachers preferring not to mess around with recess than correcting actually delinquency.

As miniature societies, the dynamics of schools often reflect the processes that govern nations and countries. Unfortunately, the good students --- or rather citizens in the macrocosmic case --- are having something that is by every right their's taken away just because those in charge don't want to deal with those out to ruin things for everyone.

For nearly 15 years (or at least since I've been writing about the topic annually), Christians and allied conservatives have waged a noble effort against secularists claiming the First Amendment, through an expansionist interpretation of the Separation Clause, forbids the erection of Nativity scenes and even less conspicuously devout Christmas symbols on public property.

Since Christmas has become a pivotal component of our culture, most Americans instinctively recoil at efforts to banish the beloved winter festival even if they are not particularly religious. Thus to be successful, secularists realized they would need to pursue a different strategy.

One of the foundational dictums (feigning a posture of sophistication, those of this mindset eschew the notion of creeds) of radical ecumenicalism is that, if you can’t beat them, join them. However, the ecumenicalist does not seek union or compromise with the more thoroughgoing traditionalist for the purposes of common ground but rather to eventually wear down the traditionalist to the point where the traditionalist capitulates to the original demands of the ecumenicalist.  read more »

British Balls calls for mandatory sex education. The Secretary of Education there has announced that students over the age of 15 can no longer be exempt from compulsory instruction regarding human procreation and physical relationships. The parents of students failing to report to these classes could be fined or prosecuted.

Rosie O'Donnel denounced Glenn Beck as a carnival barker. If that's the case, then as a lesbian, wouldn't she be the bearded lady?

Cheryl Crowe is to be at National Christmas tree lighting. Wonder if this witch flew into town on a single sheet of toilet paper.

Are you morally obligated to obey a command from government that is not based upon any established law? That is the conundrum faced by a Perkaise, Pennsylvania woman who received a call from local authorities asking her not to dry her laundry on the clothesline and anonymous written threats from neighbors saying the practice made the COMMUNITY look like trailer trash. If these liberals are such prudes that they can’t stand the sight of someone’s unmentionables dangling in the breeze on private property, perhaps they should go back to the inner city slums they fled from even though they will continue to insist upon how much they embrace diversity.

The entire fiasco leading to the Kelo decision may have been for no other reason than to show that the power existed to do it. After demolishing the homes snatched from their owners, Pfizer has announced it has changed its mind and no longer wants to expand its complex on the disputed parcel.

With the government ready to seize control of a significant percentage of the U.S. economy in the form of pending healthcare reform legislation, it seems representatives of every form known of tyranny want their specific cut. And spiritual charlatans are no exception. Believing pain and sickness do not really exist, Christian Scientists want to be reimbursed for praying away something that is not even there to begin with.  read more »

Early in American history, one was pretty much free to do as one saw fit on one's property so long as it was moral especially if one lived in a rural area where one's actions were not likely to encroach upon the sensibilities of one's neighbors. However, now it seems the landholdings of the United States in general and private property in specific are for everyone else to decide what to do with except the one to which it is titled.

As of September 1, 2009, the Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries has announced that it is illegal to artificially feed the deer through the first Saturday in January. This regulation is part of a program to keep the number of deer in check.

In other words, it is hoped that a number of them will starve to death during the winter months. If pristine, untouched nature is to be the standard by which our actions and decisions are to be judged, then shouldn't we speak plainly as to the policy's goals and intentions?

While the government has every right to set policy as to what it wants done on public lands and in state parks, private property holders should be able to do in regards to this issue on their own lots and in their own yards what they themselves believe best. Not everyone is going to feed the deer to begin with.

It should be noted that this bureaucratic mandate will go beyond regulating one single activity. According to a story posted at Harrisonburg Daily News Record titled "Deer Feeding Now Illegal", those with deer eating the seed spilled from birdfeeders will be ordered to temporarily take their feeders down.

Seems unwanted deer aren't the only extraneous animals authorities hope will die off and I am not talking about the birds. Obama's healthcare plan hopes that the aged demographic will simply throw in the towel with little resistance so that resources might be directed towards preferred groups such as illegal aliens.  read more »

The White House has announced plans to expand its Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. In an address to the National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama said the office would reach out to nonprofit organizations and "help them determine how to make a bigger impact...and learn their obligations under the law." From a number of things said in the speech and that have transpired in relation to the economic bailout, those who cherish both religious liberty and sound theology should be deeply concerned.

Under the Bush Administration, those not wanting to pollute the purity of their doctrine by accepting government funds were pretty much free to say "No thank you". However, under the Obama regime, will reluctant religious organizations be permitted to back out amicably? Don't be so sure.

In regards to the bailout of the nation's floundering financial institutions, it has been insinuated that Wells Fargo did not want the government's handout but had its arm twisted by Lurch Jr, Hank Paulson into accepting the funds. For in the glorious opening days of socialism, no organization or individual can be seen as better or sounder than any other without at least some kind of penalty being inflicted.

If an administration at one time as dedicated as that of George W. Bush to liberty and free market principles can begin to nationalize the economy on the turn of a dime, then how much quicker will an administration already dedicated to socialistic principles such as experts being able to order your life better than you jump at the opportunity to manage the minutest aspect of our lives.?  read more »

The early 21st century stands as a period of profound moral confusion. On the one hand, mothers and doctors are permitted to crack open the skulls and suck out the brains of nearly-born babies with government sanction under the banner of partial birth abortion. Should these very same people hike into the woods and crack open a bald eagle egg, they could face serious prison time.

It would therefore seem that contemporary society is marked by two seemingly contradictory extremes --- that of extreme license and that of excessive control. However, upon closer inspection it could be concluded that these conditions are not as contradictory as the situation might originally appear. Rather, it would seem each is the result of the systematic removal of the ethical balance provided within the Judeo-Christian tradition with its emphasis upon transcendent standards provided by an infinitely just and loving God.

With the increasing complexity of knowledge and technology, those trained in the acquisition and use of this complex body of thought (those broadly referred to as “intellectuals”) have taken on increased levels of influence and responsibility throughout society. No longer does agriculture or manufacturing dominate society to the degree it once did.

Futurists from Alvin Toffler to Newt Gingrich have characterized the current sociological epoch as information-based, with those manipulating this information from government bureaucrats to Hollywood producers exercising unfathomable power over the composition of the contemporary mind. Therefore, it must be remembered, as Lord Acton is believed to have said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  read more »

A North Carolina church plans to have a Halloween Bible and book burning.

This might get me branded as a flaming liberal by some, but unless a publication contains blatant smut, there is no excuse to burn books.

Even if translations such as the NIV or New Living Translations are deficient, that is still no excuse to burn them as many of these still possess the power of God unto salvation.

And even if Billy Graham and Rick Warren are deficient theologically, shouldn't we study their works to learn for ourselves where these thinkers have gone astray rather than blindly accept the word of someone that destroys the evidence before we have the chance to judge for ourselves?

If one feels so moved by the Spirit to dispose of a work that one feels has compromised ones conscience, there are ways to part with the offending text that don't draw attention. What one is actually saying at a public book burning is that no one else should be allowed to read the book either.

Unless one's faith is anchored in the Savior rather than the church, this outrage is almost enough to make one to want to leave Christianity.

by Frederick Meekins

Congress is considering authorization of a tax deduction for pet expenses of up to $3500. Frankly, if you can’t afford to pay for your pet, you have no business owning a pet. Why should the rest of us have to pick up the tab for this? And unlike children, other than not deliberately running over it, I have no grand moral obligation to your pets. This is going to end up causing crazy cat people, who hardly pay any taxes anyway because of their near unemployability, to end up paying no taxes at all.

Van Jones is not only a professed Communist but also a high-ranking occultist as well. In an episode of PID radio, broadcasters Derek Gilbert and Doctor Future pointed out that Obama’s former special advisor for green jobs is also a fellow at the Institute For Noetic Sciences, a New Age think tank that researches “extended human capacities”, “integral health”, and “emerging worldviews”. These categories include psychic abilities, the survival of consciousness after death, and earth-worshipping pantheism.

Obama’s circle of advisors continues to grow more creepy and Nazi-like. Obama’s regulatory czar, who will play a pivotal role in overseeing how laws and policies are implemented, believes organs should be harvested from the terminally ill without their permission. WorldNetDaily reports Sustein as writing. “the state owns the rights to the body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions.” Before this is all over with and these tyrants driven from office, one of those “certain hopeless conditions” will no doubt be disagreeing with the Obama regime.  read more »

A number of Hispanosupremacists contend that a Halloween costume titled “Illegal Alien” consisting of an extraterrestrial mask, an orange jumpsuit, and a piece of cardboard labeled “green card” will hurt their friends that are illegals.

Would they prefer the costume consist of a sombrero, a beer bottle, and a book of Foodstamps?

Frankly, since illegals don't belong here, rather than worry how this costume hurts illegals, maybe we should worry how illegals are hurting the United States.

I remember one time it being said "undocumenteds" should not be referred to as "aliens" because these human migrants are from the planet earth and should not be referred to "illegal" either because "no human being is illegal".

Yet I bet all this posturing never stopped them from calling the White folks naive enough to fall for all this nonsense stupid gringos.

Now it seems we can't even refer to aliens as aliens.

Mark my words eventually you won't even be able to refer to "extraterrestrials" as "extraterrestrials" since that will be a "thought crime against galactic unity".

If retailers such as Target cave to this pressure and remove the costume from sale, conservatives of all stripes and hues should rally to have Kwanza items banned as well.

That might be the celebration of an ethnic group not even a party to this dispute, but those participating in that celebration are part of the same mindset out to destroy America.

by Frederick Meekins

On his 10/8/09 broadcast, Albert Mohler was in a tizzy wondering why fewer young men are going into missions work than women.

Since we are going to turn this into yet another opportunity to bash men, a pastime increasingly popular in certain Evangelical circles, could it be that as the Bible seems to indicate men might be less prone to the kinds of emotional manipulation many missionaries utilize to whip people up into a frenzy.

Just because someone in the pulpit is in a froth as to why we should do something does not mean by default that we have to go out and do it if it is not an explicit Biblical command but rather an individual interpretation.

One must also ask, if in these circles women are suppose to be keepers at home, who is suppose to go out and work in order to put something in the hands of these mendicants every time they come knocking?

Furthermore, is it really the call of God not being heeded or merely overzealous school administrators being ignored in terms of individual lives?

In his remarks, Mohler lamented the geographical blinders of Christian youth focusing on ministry closer to home.

Interesting also how someone headquartered in what is likely one of the most lily White sections of the country insists the rest of us aren’t pleasing God unless we trounce off to the Third World’s disease ridden cesspools.

I wonder what Albert Mohler’s done lately where a microphone wasn’t involved.

When one couples this Southern Baptist theologian’s obsession with those not married by the age of 22 and now this seeming ability to augur what young men should be doing in terms of career even better than they themselves can deduce, one could easily conclude that what Dr. Mohler has a problem with is the freedom we have in Christ to settle many of life’s most important decisions for ourselves.  read more »