[Active-l] (NEWS) Today's Cultural Warfare Update

[Dara (R'ykandar Korra'ti)]

I've got a copy of a paper-mail-based mailing from the Faith and  
Freedom Network trying to rally everybody to get those signatures in,  
saying that they're well under their targets and need to really step it  
up. It's possible this is true, but just as likely (if not more likely)  
that they're lying about that; we just don't know. I _also_ have a  
letter from a group raising money for the referendum battle, which is  
assuming it makes it to the ballot - they specifically talk about how  
they think the FFN is lying, and that they're actually on signature  
goal track, and are saying otherwise so they can claim a huge comeback  
just in time to make it to the ballot. I don't know what good this  
would do, but, well, now you have it.

And now, today's news.

Supreme Court allows Washington State decision regarding lesbian child  
custody to stand;

Evangelical Patrick Henry College fires some faculty, loses others, all  
over challenging students too hard to think - one was fired for telling  
a student that a scripture quotation in response to a question was  
"simplistic";

Another article on Patrick Henry College, which sends more interns to  
the Bush White House than any other college;

Focus on the Family and "Medical Institute for Sexual Health," a  
medical group set up to push abstinence-only approaches to sexual  
health issues, claim that studies showing abstinence-only education  
doesn't work;

Slate article on the Medical Institute for Sexual Health;

Focus on the Family attacks San Francisco sexual health  
text-message-driven service;

FotF ACTION ITEM against CBS; they're getting involved with the  
Traditional Values Coalition, which, amoungst other things, wants  
transgendered people to be involuntarily institutionalised as  
delusional - it's very Soviet of them, it really is - to condemn the  
GLAAD PSAs that CBS is running; FotF has not traditionally been  
involved with the more coarsely-spoken TVC, preferring to put a softer  
edge on its anti-gay activism;

FotF condemns Democratic efforts to get a vote on a stem cell research  
bill;

Focus on the Family keeps the drumbeat going on the _lie_ that  
emergency contraception causes abortions;

Howard Dean sticks his foot in his mouth again, Focus on the Family  
likes it and uses it to warn that Democratic votes in the fall will  
lead to FAG MARRIAGE!!!1!;

Focus on the Family displeased that the US Supreme Court has declined  
to intervene in a Washington State case which granted joint custody of  
a child she and her former partner had;

***** It's not a fluke; Concerned Women for America are again attacking  
"transhumanism" by name, condemning any attempt to enhanse human  
capabilities via genetic research;

CWA links to a story about an effort by a local fundamentalist in  
northern Georgia to get the Harry Potter books banned;

Concerned Women for America attack morning-after pill and condoms both  
in the same article;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM: the anti-marriage-rights  
"Marriage Protection Amendment" vote will be on June 6th; they're  
trying to get another around of anti-gay calls and letters to Congress  
before then;

AFA goes over the _End of the Spear_ film again, with the controversy  
amoungst the fundamentalist movement over the casting of a gay actor in  
one of the major roles; various groups assert that no lesbian or gay  
actor should ever be cast in a "Christian" film;

AFA condemns use of Plan B, the emergency-contraception pill - see  
above also;

Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight condemn California  
education bill SB 1437, which has now passed the Senate; they're  
calling for a veto;

AFA/Agape Press worry about VP Cheney's opposition to the anti-marriage  
"Marriage Protection Amendment," and also that Laura Bush doesn't want  
it used as a campaign issue;

Palm Beach County (Florida) school district blocks access to GBLT group  
websites, but does not block access to anti-gay groups such as NARTH,  
the AFA, Focus on the Family, and so on;

Andrew Sullivan gives his take on the latest permutation in the Air  
Force religious-harassment scandal and the various revisions to the  
guidelines - and the way that the fundamentalists keep getting them  
re-revised.


----- 1 -----
High court declines to hear gay parent case
Move leaves intact state ruling that OKs a lesbian to seek parental  
rights
Associated Press
Updated: 11:36 a.m. ET May 15, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12700602/

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to block a gay woman from  
seeking parental rights to a child she had helped raise with her  
partner.

Justices could have used the case to clarify the rights of gays in  
child custody disputes stemming from nontraditional families.

They declined, without comment, to disturb a ruling of Washington  
state’s highest court that said Sue Ellen Carvin could pursue ties to  
the girl as a “de facto parent.” The girl is now 11.

[More at URL]


----- 2 -----
A Clash of Ideas at Evangelical College
Five of Patrick Henry's 16 faculty members leave over its mission and  
curriculum.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
May 13, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na- 
college13may13,1,2794204.story?coll=la-headlines- 
nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

WASHINGTON — Patrick Henry College, the small evangelical Christian  
school founded six years ago to train students for careers in public  
life, gained national prominence for placing many students in White  
House internships and other government positions. Now five of the  
school's 16 faculty members have left, saying the school's approach is  
too doctrinaire to prepare students for the realities of American  
politics.

[...]

The controversy began last fall after M. Todd Bates, a professor of  
rhetoric, delivered a lecture about St. Augustine's search for truth  
that Farris faulted for not mentioning the Bible or the college's  
Christian mission. Patrick Henry does not offer its professors tenure,  
and after Bates was criticized, he and eight other professors made a  
pact that if one of them was dismissed, the rest would leave in  
protest, Noe said.

The pact took effect this spring after Farris told government professor  
Erik Root he would not be rehired next year unless Root explained why  
he told a student, in the presence of one of her parents, that  
responding to a question by quoting Scripture was "simplistic."

[More at URL]


----- 3 -----
Debating The Fundamentals: Professors Leave PHC in Rift
Charlie Jackson
Online as of 15 May 2006

http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=5&newsid=12026

May 12, 2006 -- It’s mid-day at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville  
and Professor Erik Root sits behind his office door with a student.  
Outside, two other students wait for Root, but for the moment grades  
and assignments aren’t on their minds—Root’s door is.

[...]

Sophomore Farahn Morgan, who is intent on leaving the school, summed up  
the academic debate.

“The faculty has said the Bible is the ultimate truth and what we base  
our faith on,” she said. “But also that God endows people with natural  
reasoning abilities, what we call General Revelation, in addition to  
scripture to come to truth.”

[...]

More than anything, what bothers Hoskins is the tone of the discussion  
on campus. Debate is fine, the students say, but minority viewpoints,  
or viewpoints contrary to those held by Farris, are shot down.

“They will characterize those that disagree as bad people,” Hoskins  
said. “They will say ‘You are destroying our unity.’”

[...]

Since the college’s inception, Stacey was a popular figure on campus.  
He taught the school’s flagship course, Freedom’s Foundations. But  
shortly after the brouhaha over academic freedom began, Stacey says he  
told his students that if they thought he was not teaching them in a  
Christian worldview, they ought to leave. And one student did. Stacey  
said this wasn’t the first time he asked students this question. But  
this time, the consequences were dire. Stacey was fired.

[...]

“I’ve been told there are things I cannot teach,” Root said. “There are  
things I cannot ask.” At most any liberal arts college, political  
science students study Thomas Hobbes and his State of Nature, in which  
the lack of government causes chaos and an ugly, every-man-for-himself  
state.

[...]

“We don’t know from day to day, what is going to be accepted or what is  
not going to be accepted,” Root said. “It’s a moving target.”

That “moving target” has had an impact on discussion, the professors  
say.

“Students are afraid to raise questions or criticize the school,” Noe  
said.

[...]

Among the thousands of colleges and universities across the country,  
Patrick Henry, during various semesters, has sent more interns to the  
White House than any other. The school doesn’t stray from its  
present-day vision to spawn Christian conservatives who will work in  
government and politics.

Students flock to the school located 6,500-resident town set on leading  
a Christian lifestyle and creating change. Browning, however, sees a  
shade of irony.

“They’re not so much conservatives,” she said. “They’re progressives  
trying to [create] change.”

[More at URL]


----- 4 -----
Analysis of Negative Abstinence Reports Reveals Faulty Logic
Study shows attacks are rooted in false representation of scientific  
evidence.
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040477.cfm

A flurry of news stories proclaiming abstinence education does not  
decrease unwanted pregnancies among unmarried teens, and that teaching  
it is dangerous, prompted one group to investigate the source of those  
claims.

The Medical Institute for Sexual Health — a nonprofit organization  
dedicated to evaluating scientific evidence — examined two recent  
reports in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The position papers,  
written by a team headed by John Santelli, maintained that abstinence  
education is "scientifically and ethically problematic."

[More at URL]

[Editor's Note: "The Medical Institute for Sexual Health" was set up to  
push abstinence as the solution to all sexual issues. Their Federal  
funding has come via earmarks, a classic source of tasty, tasty pork.  
See next article.]


----- 5 -----
Chastity, M.D.
Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, Congress.
By Amanda Schaffer
Slate
Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006, at 12:08 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2139675/

As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush  
administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the  
benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the  
government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents.  
But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has  
another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress,  
the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease  
Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for  
doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the  
hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on  
merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use  
the institute's work.

Based in Texas and Washington, D.C., the Medical Institute provides  
technical material on sexual health to youth organizations and  
educators. Its founder, Dr. Joe McIlhaney, served as adviser to  
President George W. Bush while he was governor of Texas and now sits on  
the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, as well as on the  
Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC. Unlike some conservative  
groups, the Medical Institute strives for medical respectability,  
focusing on public-health arguments in favor of virginity rather than  
moral virtues. The institute objects to being called "abstinence-only,"  
perhaps because it wants to distance itself from more blatantly  
ideological groups, or perhaps because according to a recent poll, most  
Americans believe that abstinence-only education doesn't work. Yet the  
institute mainly discusses condoms to disparage them and sexually  
transmitted diseases to assert that only abstinence offers reliable  
protection. Its core message is that "the behavior choices necessary  
for optimal health are sexual abstinence for unmarried individuals and  
faithfulness within marriage."

[More at URL]


----- 6 -----
Health Agency Targets Pre-Teens with Sexual Information
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 12, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040475.cfm

The San Francisco Department of Health has developed a text-messaging  
service to provide children as young as 12 with "sexual health  
information" -- without their parents' knowledge.

The "SexInfo" service, according to CNSNews.com, allows users to seek  
sex-related information by using the typical shorthand employed in  
cell-phone text messaging: "SEXIBFO: reply with code for answrs. 'A1'  
if ur condom broke 'B2' if u think ur pregnant 'C3' to find out about  
STDs 'D4' to find out about HIV."

[More at URL]


----- 7 -----
CBS Airing Pro-Gay Spots for Free
The announcements are being run during lucrative daytime soap operas.
Focus on the Family
Citizenlink Features
May 12, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040472.cfm

CBS is teaming up with a radical gay-activist group to air public  
service announcements (PSAs) during daytime soap operas. Pro-family  
groups are asking the network to pull the spots that, unlike  
commercials, are carried by the network for free.

One spot, backed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation  
(GLAAD), features two General Hospital actors saying "every day people  
young and old face hatred, discrimination and even violence because  
they're gay. Prejudice and discrimination of any kind is wrong…"

[...]

"The networks have to run these PSAs, but they usually run them at  
night when most people don't see them" she told Family News in Focus.  
"This is nothing more than to try to promote homosexuality and the  
acceptance of homosexuality."

[...]

TAKE ACTION:
You can contact CBS through this form (  
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.shtml  )  on the  
network's Web site.

[More at URL]


----- 8 -----
Senate Democrats Press for Life-Destroying Research
Call to fund embryonic stem-cell experiments ignores success with adult  
stem cells.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 12, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040473.cfm

Senate Democrats made a final attempt Thursday to get the controversial  
Stem Cell Enhancement Act to the floor for a vote — even though  
President Bush promises a veto.

Democrats called on Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to bring the  
legislation up for a vote.

[More at URL]


----- 9 -----
Christian Pharmacy Students Pit Ethics Against Employment
Advances by abortion advocates reverberate in the classroom.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 15, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040489.cfm

Christian pharmacy students are facing a career that may find them at  
odds with the demands of customers and abortion-activist groups; they  
may find their employers or their states demanding that they prescribe  
pills that could induce an abortion.

Cristina Gonzalez, a pharmacy student at Christ-centered Palm Beach  
Atlantic University, said her classes are tackling the issues head on.  
She's already decided where she stands on prescribing drugs such as the  
morning-after pill that can sometimes cause an early abortion.

[Editor's note: THIS IS A LIE. The way the morning-after pill works  
means that chemically, it _cannot work_ in the event of an active  
pregnancy. What they're doing is trying to date "pregnancy" back to  
"fertilised egg," despite the fact that around 70% of fertilised eggs  
fail to implant. _This is also an attack against most forms of birth  
control_, and no, that's not an accident. See previous CWUs for  
details.]


----- 10 -----
Gay-Activist Group Returns DNC Donation Over Marriage Misstatement
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) returned a $5,000  
donation to the Democratic National Committee after DNC chairman Howard  
Dean incorrectly said the party's 2004 platform declared "marriage is  
between a man and a woman. That's what it says." — a remark he later  
corrected.

According to The Associated Press, Dean's mischaracterization came  
during an interview with Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network  
News last week in which he attempted to court religious conservatives.

[...]

Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issues analysis for Focus on the  
Family Action, said she hopes the effort to mislead will bolster  
support for marriage.

[More at URL]


----- 11 -----
Gay Parental-Rights Case Troubles Pro-Family Groups
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 15, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040495.cfm

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a 2004  
Washington State Supreme Court ruling which granted a lesbian  
permission to pursue some parental rights with the daughter of her  
ex-partner.

Ellen Carvin and Page Britain lived together in the 1990s, and during  
that time Britain conceived a child through artificial insemination. In  
2001, Britain left the relationship and later married the child's  
biological father. Both parents agree that they want to raise the girl,  
who is now 11 years old, in a traditional household and do not wish  
Carvin to have parental rights.

[More at URL]


----- 12 -----
Case Western Professor Awarded Grant for ‘Human Enhancement’ Research
Concerned Women for America
5/12/2006
By Cara Cook

CWA and others shocked by NIH backing of transhumanist ideology.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10745/CWA/misc/index.htm

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $773,000 grant to  
Maxwell Mehlman, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, to  
develop ethical guidelines for the use of humans in “genetic  
enhancement” research, which seeks to develop human beings who are  
smarter, stronger and more attractive.

Genetic enhancement, an application of so-called transhumanism, moves  
beyond treatment to heal or restore so as to develop technology that  
will perfect and add to normal human functioning.

[...]

The WTA Web site lists Maxwell Mehlman as a scholar who supports  
transhumanist study, which includes human enhancement research.  
According to Mehlman, genetic techniques currently used for therapeutic  
purposes have the potential to be used for human enhancement. One such  
treatment is erythropoietin, a substance that can boost athletic  
performance. Mehlman hopes to develop “legitimate, approved ways of  
conducting research” so that substances like erythropoietin cannot go  
underground for criminal use.

[More at URL]


----- 13 -----
School board to make decision about Harry Potter books
The Associated Press - SUWANEE, Ga.
Online as of 15 May 2006

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=75060

The Gwinnett County Board of Education is expected to make a decision  
this week on whether "Harry Potter" books should remain on public  
school shelves.

An evangelical Christian who has three children at J-C Magill  
Elementary School -- Laura Mallory -- has objected to the books. She  
says in complaint forms she objects to what she calls the books --  
quote -- "evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood  
sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this."

[More at URL]


----- 14 -----
ACOG Tells Women to Get Morning-After Pill Prescriptions in Advance
Physicians’ association perpetuates risky sexual ideology.
Concerned Women for America
5/15/2006
By Cara Cook

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10753/CWA/life/index.htm

In the wake of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision not to sell  
Plan B (the morning-after pill) over the counter, the American College  
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is advising women to get  
prescriptions for the emergency contraception before a possible  
unwanted pregnancy. The pill, claims the group of gynecologists, is the  
perfect solution to condom failure, forgetting to take one’s usual  
contraception, and rape.

ACOG’s lack of confidence in condoms and a woman’s capacity to remember  
is interesting in light of the widespread confidence among health and  
reproductive rights groups that condoms and contraception are the best  
solution to curbing STDs and preventing unintended pregnancies.

[...]

For example, condoms have a 15 percent failure rate, prevent the spread  
of only about one-fifth of the more than 25 currently identified  
sexually transmitted diseases, and the outpouring of contraceptive  
devices over the past two decades has clearly increased rather than  
controlled reckless sexual behavior. These same groups that masquerade  
as the objective servants of science and medicine will not give an inch  
of credit to abstinence education, despite its past and current success  
in getting to the root of the problem of reckless sexual behavior: not  
waiting until marriage.

[More at URL]


----- 15 -----
U.S. Senate To Vote On Homosexual Marriage June 6TH
The most important vote in the Senate this year! The future of our  
children is at stake.
American Family Association
Online as of March 15, 2006

http://www3.capwiz.com/afanet/8762656.html

On June 6th the U.S. Senate will vote on the constitutional amendment  
defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Time is short! It is critical that you contact your senators and ask  
them to vote for the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA).

Once homosexual marriage is legal, our religious liberties will be  
stripped away. Even pro-homosexual marriage advocates agree with that  
statement. To understand how this will happen, please take time read  
Dr. Maggie Gallagher’s rather long and accurate article by clicking  
here. Print it out and give a copy to your pastor!

[More at URL]


----- 16 -----
A Blunted Spear? Controversy Over Film Challenges Evangelical Community
Analysis by Ed Vitagliano
American Family Association
May 15, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006a.asp

(AgapePress) - It must have seemed like a slam-dunk, a no-brainer. Take  
what is arguably the most famous -- even iconic -- missionary story of  
the last century and make it into a major motion picture. It could  
inspire Christians and perhaps even reach unbelievers with the Gospel.

[...]

After all, if actors aren't perfect messengers, neither are preachers.  
Is it biblical to say, then, as Green and Saint do, that the message is  
what is important, not the messenger? Is this a defensible New  
Testament position?

Absolutely not, says Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum and  
founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and the  
Christian Filmmakers Academy. He insists that there is a difference  
between End of the Spear -- produced by Christians with a  
Christ-centered message -- and movies like Lord of the Rings or  
Chariots of Fire, "both of which were secular productions from  
beginning to end that cast homosexuals in lead roles."

[...]

"Not only did they knowingly and wholeheartedly embrace this homosexual  
activist as their lead actor, but they are now telling the world that  
their decision was loving, correct and biblical," Phillips added. "For  
this reason, I believe we can objectively describe their actions as  
reprehensible."

[More at URL]


----- 17 -----
Christian Doctor Critical of Physicians' Push for 'Morning-After' Pill
By Mary Rettig
American Family Association
May 15, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006c.asp

(AgapePress) - A Christian OB-GYN in Kentucky says the American College  
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is taking a bold step with its new  
"Ask Me" campaign. He contends the doctors association didn't examine  
all of the evidence before promoting the "morning-after" pill.

Last week the ACOG launched the campaign urging doctors to encourage  
women of child-bearing age to get prescriptions of the morning-after  
pill before they needed it. Dr. Iffath Hoskins, an ACOG spokesman, says  
the campaign is his group's way of "standing up for our patients." One  
of the goals of the campaign, he says, is "to make awareness of EC  
[emergency contraception] so widespread that it's no longer a best-kept  
secret in medicine." The theme of the campaign is "Accidents happen.  
Morning afters can be tough."

Christian physician Dr. David Hager contends the ACOG's motive behind  
its campaign is to push for over-the-counter sales of the drug. In  
fact, ACOG President Michael T. Mennuti states that his group's  
"proactive approach -- by promoting advance prescriptions for EC --  
will improve wider access and greater usage of EC." He also describes  
unplanned pregnancy as a "major public health issue" in the U.S.

[More at URL]


----- 18 -----
Groups Condemn California Senate's Passage of Pro-Homosexual Education  
Bill
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
May 15, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006b.asp

(AgapePress) - The governor of California could be all that stands in  
the way of a proposed new law that would endorse and promote the  
homosexual lifestyle in public schools statewide. The bill has already  
passed the California Senate and, if it gains Assembly approval as  
well, only a veto will be able to stop it.

The legislation known as SB 1437 requires California education  
officials to re-write textbooks to include "gay" themes and homosexual  
people, positively emphasizing their contributions and their place in  
history. It also bans any negative reference to homosexuals based on  
religious beliefs, which is why Bob Knight of the Culture and Family  
Institute sees the law as an attack on biblical values.

[Ed. Note: The Culture and Family Institute is an office of Concerned  
Women for America.]

[More at URL]


----- 19 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
May 15, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
Agape press/American Family Association

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/152006h.asp

...Christian conservatives hoping to stop courts from legalizing  
homosexual "marriage" are getting mixed signals from the White House on  
a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution. President Bush  
supports the amendment, but Vice President Cheney does not. On "Fox  
News Sunday," First Lady Laura Bush would only say that Americans want  
to debate the issue, adding that it must be done with "a lot of  
sensitivity" and not "as a campaign tool." She was joined by Mary  
Cheney, the vice president's lesbian daughter, who said defining  
marriage as the union of a man and a woman would be "writing  
discrimination into the Constitution." But on CNN's "Late Edition,"  
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pledged to bring the amendment before  
the Senate next month to stop judges from redefining marriage. [AP]

[More at URL]


----- 20 -----
District's uneven blocking of Web sites draws criticism
By Christina DeNardo
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 09, 2006

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/ 
05/09/s1b_skWEB_0509.html

Millions of Web sites are off limits to Palm Beach County students  
because they promote violence, racism and pornography, but some are  
criticizing the district for taking censoring too far.

The district has blocked access to gay and lesbian advocacy Web sites,  
including one belonging to a local group that serves gay youth, while  
allowing students to surf sites for the National Association for  
Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, Traditional Values Coalition,  
the American Family Association and Focus on the Family — organizations  
that oppose gay rights.

[...]

Inlet Grove High senior Joe Dellosa recently wrote about the censorship  
in a story for the school's online news site,  
www.inletspin.com/text/11.htm. Last week, he won an award for the  
story. Those wanting to read his article, however, will have some  
problems.

It's been blocked.

[More at URL]


----- 21 -----
Christianism and the Military
15 May 2006 12:10 pm
Andrew Sullivan

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/05/christianism_an.html

One of the most disturbing aspects of the rise of Christianism has been  
the attempt to coopt the armed forces. We have already seen what  
happened at the Air Force Academy, where Christianists corralled  
individuals, Christian and otherwise, into public praying along the  
lines of the religious right. We have seen a top army general publicly  
depicting the war on Islamist terrorism as a fight between Christ and  
Muhammed. We have another general sending out campaign pamphlets from  
his work computer, urging the election of Christianists to Congress. No  
one objects to private and voluntary prayer groups that allow  
servicemembers a choice as to how they collectively pray. But in public  
meetings, where everyone is present, the prayers should indeed be  
non-sectarian, inclusive, perhaps ideally be a moment of silence, as  
current military rules insist. That's what the Christianists object to.  
They seek to impose their faith as the public one for all Americans,  
and have slipped such a provision into the military appropriations  
bill. The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces opposes  
it. Others do too:

[More at URL]
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