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

[Dara (R'ykandar Korra'ti)]

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---- actual message starts here ----
Creationism-as-mythology course religion instructor attacked, beaten;

salon.com article on the so-called "war on Christmas," and how it's  
being used by fundamentalists to whip up religious hatred and paranoia;

President Bush attacked as apparent part of the so-called "war on  
Christmas";

Several fundamentalist evangelical megachurches can't be bothered to  
host Christmas services on a Sunday;

Focus on the Family: Writing new lyrics to "Silent Night" is  
UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it "mocks Christian Christmas songs"; they've  
got lawyers on standby to sue if the school doesn't perform the  
original lyrics; includes ACTION ITEM to write and phone the school;

FotF reports on success of pressure tactics against retailers saying  
"Happy Holidays", which they have previously labeled "anti-Christian";

Lawsuit against Ohio's unspecified anti-RU486 law in court;

Wisconsin Senate approves anti-marriage Constitutional amendment;

Anti-marriage signature collectors claim they have 3x the number of  
signatures needed for their anti-marriage Constitutional amendment in  
Massachusetts; no mention is made of the documented signature fraud;

Focus on the Family on Michael Schiavo's new PAC, formed in response to  
brutal fundamentalist abuse of him and his late wife's medical  
situation;

FotF launches attack ads against Colorado senator Salazar for not  
supporting Alito for SC; includes action item;

Fox News poll finds 59% of Americans buying into "Christianity is under  
attack" meme;

Concerned Women for America poo-poohs Alito memo showing strategy for  
repealing Roe v. Wade;

Social conservatives upset with Bill Frist over lack of progress on  
their issues in 2005;

Family Research Council ACTION ALERT on anti-marriage initiative in  
Florida;

AFA, Agape Press: Donor Network of Arizona was right to reject organ  
donations from gay man solely because the donor was gay (and yes, of  
course, HIV-negative);

Focus on the Family highlight African-American pastors opposed to gay  
rights;

Fundamentalist "Canada Family Action Coalition" is "delighted" that  
Tory Stephen Harper plans a new vote on marriage rights if he becomes  
PM, hope to turn it into the major issue of the campaign;

Agape Press, WorldNetDaily attack White House's "Happy Holiday Season"  
cards; same column reports that Ford is saying that the ad withdrawal  
was purely a business matter and that Ford would _NOT_ be dropping all  
advertisements in GBLT-friendly publications.


----- 1 -----
Mirecki hospitalized after beating
By Ron Knox, Eric Weslander (Contact)
Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World

Originally published 05:37 p.m., December 5, 2005
Updated 06:31 p.m., December 5, 2005

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/05/ 
mirecki_hospitalized_after_beating/?breaking

Douglas County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the reported  
beating of a Kansas University professor who gained recent notoriety  
for his Internet tirades against Christian fundamentalists.

Kansas University religious studies professor Paul Mirecki reported he  
was beaten by two men about 6:40 a.m. today on a roadside in rural  
Douglas County. In a series of interviews late this afternoon, Mirecki  
said the men who beat him were making references to the controversy  
that has propelled him into the headlines in recent weeks.

“I didn’t know them, but I’m sure they knew me,” he said.

Mirecki said he was driving to breakfast when he noticed the men  
tailgating him in a pickup truck.

“I just pulled over hoping they would pass, and then they pulled up  
real close behind,” he said. “They got out, and I made the mistake of  
getting out.”

He said the men beat him about the upper body with their fists, and he  
said he thinks they struck him with a metal object. He was treated and  
released at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

[More at URL]


----- 2 -----
How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas
The right-wing crusade against the liberal "war on Christmas" is great  
for rallying the troops. Too bad the war doesn't exist.
Salon.com
By Michelle Goldberg

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/21/christmas/index_np.html

In 1959, the recently formed John Birch Society issued an urgent alert:  
Christmas was under attack. In a JBS pamphlet titled "THERE GOES  
CHRISTMAS?!," a writer named Hubert Kregeloh warned, "One of the  
techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of  
religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas --  
to denude the event of its religious meaning." The central front in  
this perfidious assault was American department stores, where the  
"Godless UN" was scheming to replace religious decorations with  
internationalist celebrations of universal brotherhood.

At the time, the campaign to save Christmas was not widely treated as a  
matter of great national import. The John Birch Society was generally  
regarded as a crank, far-right outfit whose paranoid conspiracy  
theories (it believed fluoridated water was part of an evil Communist  
plot to poison America's brains) put it outside the pale of reasonable  
discourse. Staffers on the ultra-right 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign  
tried to prevent Birchers from volunteering because they carried the  
taint of extremism. The John Birch Society didn't have access to a  
major television network. But a lot has changed since then.

Last December, warnings about a war on Christmas -- a war whose central  
front was the nation's department stores -- once again emanated from  
the right, but this time, they were on national TV and talk radio. Fox  
News' Bill O'Reilly began running a regular segment called "Christmas  
Under Siege." "All over the country, Christmas is taking flak,"  
O'Reilly declared on Dec. 7. "In Denver this past weekend, no religious  
floats were permitted in the holiday parade there. In New York City,  
Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg unveiled the 'holiday tree,' and no Christian  
Christmas symbols are allowed in the public schools. Federated  
Department Stores -- that's Macy's -- have done away with the Christmas  
greeting 'Merry Christmas.'" Instead, Macy's was using the malign  
phrase "Happy Holidays." Noting this, Pat Buchanan wrote, "What we are  
witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity."

This year the war on Christmas canard has come early, and with it the  
latest opportunity for religious conservatives to cast themselves as  
the oppressed victims of secular tyrants. In October, Fox News anchor  
John Gibson published a book titled "The War on Christmas: How the  
Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You  
Thought," which envisions a vast conspiracy with tentacles reaching  
into many aspects of American life. "The plot to ban Christmas itself  
is anything but secret," writes Gibson. "It is embedded in the secular  
'Humanist Manifesto' (in its three iterations from the American  
Humanist Association), in the philosophy of teaching of John Dewey, in  
the legal opinions of Laurence Tribe, in the rulings of the Ninth  
Circuit Court of Appeals on which sits the most liberal jurist in the  
land, Stephen Reinhardt, who is married to Ramona Ripston, the southern  
California ACLU executive director and the national group's most  
liberal and effective leader."

[More at URL]


----- 3 -----
White House greetings going generic - 'Holiday' cards ringing hollow  
for some on Bush's list
By ALAN COOPERMAN
Washington Post

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3508042.html

WASHINGTON - What's missing from the White House Christmas card?  
Christmas.

This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush  
sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4  
million of his close friends and supporters a happy "holiday season."

Many are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter the  
greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if  
Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a  
loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in  
our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League  
for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure  
doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative  
Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as  
I got it."

[More at URL]


----- 4 -----
Some megachurches closing on Christmas
Pastors anticipate low attendance because day falls on Sunday
Wednesday, December 7, 2005; Posted: 7:33 a.m. EST (12:33 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/06/churches.closed.christmas.ap/index.html

(AP) -- This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches  
around the country.

Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches  
normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services,  
anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.

Critics within the evangelical community, more accustomed to doing  
battle with department stores and public schools over keeping religion  
in Christmas, are stunned by the shutdown.

It is almost unheard of for a Christian church to cancel services on a  
Sunday, and opponents of the closures are accusing these congregations  
of bowing to secular culture.

"This is a consumer mentality at work: 'Let's not impose the church on  
people. Let's not make church in any way inconvenient,' " said David  
Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell  
Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Hamilton,  
Massachusetts.

"I think what this does is feed into the individualism that is found  
throughout American culture, where everyone does their own thing."

[More at URL]


----- 5 -----
Weigh in on School's Rewriting of 'Silent Night'
Focus on the Family
Editor's Note
December 7, 2005

[Received in email; no URL]

Think you've heard it all when it comes to the war on
Christmas? Not if you haven't heard what a Wisconsin
public school has done to "Silent Night."

The powers that be at Ridgeway Elementary, it seems, were
so offended by the lyrics to the song, which detail the
miracle of Christ's birth, that they rewrote them. The
version to be performed by children during this year's
"winter program" is called "Cold in the Night" and goes
something like this:

"Cold in the night, no one in sight/winter winds whirl and
bite/How I wish I were happy and warm/safe with my family,
out of the storm."

These details come courtesy of the religious-liberties law
firm Liberty Counsel, which is representing a concerned
parent and demanding school officials change the program
-- because their actions are a violation of the
Constitution.

"When a public school intentionally mocks Christian
Christmas songs by secularizing their content," Liberty
Counsel President Mat Staver said, "they cross the line
from a neutral position, which the Constitution requires,
to a hostile position, which the Constitution forbids."

You can help Ridgeway Elementary's principal, Julie Piper,
understand this truth by contacting her and letting her
know -- respectfully -- what you think of the school's
efforts to marginalize Christmas. You can call her at
608-924-3461 or e-mail her by visiting the link below and
clicking on the "Take Action" button.

http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/issues/alert/?alertid=8299621&type=CU


----- 6 -----
Christmas Staging a Retail Comeback
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
November 7, 2005
by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038858.cfm

SUMMARY: In the wake of protests, some retailers are
rethinking their generic "happy holidays" advertising.

Pressure from family advocates has prompted some retailers
to bring back references to and symbols of Christmas to
their seasonal advertising efforts.

Even Target, the subject of a boycott called by the
American Family Association (AFA), seems to be on the
verge of changing its anti-Christmas tune. A spokeswoman
for the retailer told The New York Times on Tuesday that
it might make reference to Christmas in advertising later
this year.

That's a 180-degree turn from last week, when corporate
spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter told CitizenLink the word
"Christmas" was not in company's advertising plan.

"Our focus and our marketing theme is actually called
'Gather Round,' " Brookter explained. "So, all of the
marketing that you'll see in advertising has to do with a
particular theme."

[More at URL]


----- 7 -----
OHIO COURT BATTLES RU-486 IN COURT
A group of doctors calls the abortion pill a "recommended medical  
practice."
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 7, 2005

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038854.cfm

A ban on the use of RU-486, the abortion pill, beyond the
seventh week of pregnancy has landed Ohio in a court
battle with physicians, who claim the ban "criminalizes
recommended medical practices."

The law is intended to ensure that Ohio follows Food and
Drug Administration regulations.  Now the U.S. 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals is poised to hear arguments about its
validity.

Daniel McConchie, director of public relations and public
policy for Americans United for Life, said Oklahoma and
New Jersey tried to pass similar legislation last year,
but failed.


----- 8 -----
Wisconsin Senate Approves Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 7, 2005

[Received in email; no URL]

The Wisconsin Senate, on a 19-14 vote, today approved a
marriage-protection amendment to the state Constitution,
the latest step in long process to give residents the
chance to vote on how marriage is defined in their state.

Both the Assembly and the Senate approved the amendment
last year, but it must pass both houses in two consecutive
years before it can be put on a ballot. Traditionally, the
Senate is the harder of the two chambers for conservative
measures to clear, but the measure easily passed.

The vote broke along party lines, with two Democratic
senators -- Roger Breske and Dave Hansen -- voting against
the amendment this time even though they voted for it in
2004.

The amendment now goes to the Assembly for a vote, but it
is not expected to be addressed until early 2006.


----- 8 -----
Bay State Triples Signature Requirement for Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 7, 2005

[Received in email; no URL]

Activists in Massachusetts have gathered three times the
number of signatures required to petition the state
government to allow voters to decide the definition of
marriage in the state.

The effort is a response to a 2003 Supreme Judicial Court
decision that legalized marriage for same-sex couples. The
law took effect in May 2004 and thousands of homosexual
couples have since married.

In the past 60 days, VoteOnMarriage.org volunteers across
the state collected 170,000 signatures from residents who
want the chance to vote on the issue.

Kris Mineau, president of Massachusetts Family Institute
and spokesman for VoteOnMarriage.org, said that number is
almost three times the number needed.

"We believe this to be the most signatures ever collected
in Massachusetts history," Mineau said. "The numbers speak
for themselves: this has been a grassroots, bottom-up
effort by concerned, energized and determined citizens who
proved they will not sit idly by and lose their
democracy."

Mineau and others representing VoteOnMarriage.org
delivered the signatures to the secretary of state for
final validation today.  Once the required 65,825
signatures are certified, the new amendment must receive
50 votes in two successive legislatures before being
placed on the ballot in the fall of 2008.

"The people have not just spoken," Mineau said. "They have
shouted, 'Let the people vote!' "

And their message is clear: Marriage in the union of one
man and one woman.


----- 9 -----
Schiavo's Husband Forms PAC
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 7, 2005

[Received in email; no URL]

Michael Schiavo, the husband of the disabled Florida women
who died two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by
court order earlier this year, has launched a political
action committee to forward his "right to die" political
leanings.

With money earned through TerriPAC he intends to challenge
candidates on their view of the government's role in
issues such as the one the nation witnessed as he fought
for -- and ultimately won -- the right to watch his wife,
Terri, die.

"The easiest thing would be to move on and let the
headlines fade," Schiavo said. "But my experience with our
political leaders has opened my eyes to just how easily
the private wishes of normal Americans like me and Terri
can be cast aside in the destructive game of political
pandering.

"The best way to hold them accountable," he added, "is to
make sure voters know where the candidates stand when they
come looking for votes next November."

Carrie Gordon Earll, director of issue analysis for Focus
on the Family Action, said Schiavo's latest antics are
upsetting.

"Many Americans will be appalled to learn that Michael
Schiavo has formed a political action committee named
after his deceased wife, Terri Schiavo," Earll said.
"According to its Web site, one of the primary purposes of
TerriPAC is to solicit political donations to use against
elected officials who wanted to allow Terri's parents to
care for their disabled daughter."

Earll said Schiavo is using his late wife's name and
misfortunate to advance a political agenda.

"Instead of trying to pass legislation to protect the
disabled," she said, "he's openly using his limited name
recognition to affect the outcome of political races."


----- 10 -----
Focus Action Ad Targets Salazar
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 6, 2005
by Gary Schneeberger, editor

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038851.cfm

SUMMARY: Colorado senator's opposition to Samuel Alito is
politically motivated "schoolyard taunt," group contends.

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is the subject of a new Focus on the
Family Action ad campaign that spotlights his "politically
motivated attacks" on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

The ads, appearing today in newspapers in Denver and
Colorado Springs, Colo., question Salazar's comments to
The New York Times last month, when he said of Alito's
nomination that "America deserves better than what we got
here."

"It's clear that Colorado's junior senator has failed in
his duty of 'advice and consent' by dismissing the
unparalleled qualifications of Judge Alito," said Tom
Minnery, Focus on the Family Action's senior vice
president of government and public policy. "Judge Alito
possesses more federal judicial experience than 105 of the
109 Supreme Court justices in American history -- and yet,
Senator Salazar believes America deserves better?"

[...]

TAKE ACTION: If you live in Colorado, please take a moment
to contact U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and urge him to give
Judge Samuel Alito the fair hearing he is entitled to
under the Constitution. For contact information, including
an easy-to-use e-mail form, visit the CitizenLink Action
Center.

http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=31624

[More at URL]


----- 11 -----
Majority of Americans Think Christianity Under Attack
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
December 6, 2005

[Received in email; no URL]

Nearly six in 10 Americans believe Christianity is under
seige in the United States, according to a new Fox
News/Opinion Dynamics poll covering a wide range of issues
involving religious expression in the public square.

The survey, which questioned 900 registered voters and has
a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, found that
59 percent consider Christianity to be under attack, with
37 percent disagreeing and 4 percent unsure. Respondents
also were asked whether America is a more or less
spiritual nation today than it was 25 years ago:
Twenty-five percent said "more," 60 percent said "less"
and 8 percent said "the same."

Several questions focused on the controversy over the
banning of Christmas -- the word and its symbols -- from
the public square. While only 42 percent of those polled
said they believe there is a "war" Christmas in the U.S.,
58 percent said it appears that the public display of
Christian symbols of the holiday is more under attack this
year than in past years.

On another Christmas topic, 83 percent said Nativity
scenes should be permitted on public property.

As for non-seasonal-specific issues, 93 percent said "in
God we trust" should remain on U.S. currency and 90
percent said "under God" should remain in the Pledge of
Allegiance. More than three-quarters of respondents -- 76
percent -- said it should be legal to post the Ten
Commandments on public property, while 66 percent favor
the Decalogue being posted in public schools. Speaking of
public schools, 82 percent of those surveyed want to see
voluntary prayer in schools restored.

One final result: Nearly 8 in 10 of those polled believe
courts have gone too far in taking religion out of public
life.


----- 12 -----
Would O’Connor Have Passed the Left’s ‘Alito Test’?
Concerned Women for America
12/6/2005
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel

Document reveals Alito’s ‘strategy’ for reversing Roe v. Wade.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/9608/LEGAL/scourt/index.htm

The left is whipping itself into further frenzy over a newly released  
memo written by Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito 20 years ago.  
As a Justice Department lawyer in the Reagan administration, Alito  
expressed a strategy to “advance the goals of bringing about the  
eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade and, in the meantime, of mitigating  
its effects.”

Only the left is shocked when a conservative lawyer working in a  
conservative administration acts like a conservative.

The memo argued that the administration should involve itself in a case  
before the Supreme Court, Thornburgh v. American College of  
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, to argue that the state regulations on  
abortion were “eminently reasonable and legitimate.” Alito referred to  
an abortionist as an “abortionist” and criticized another opinion,  
which struck down an ordinance that he said was “designed to preclude  
the mindless dumping of aborted fetuses into garbage piles,” as “almost  
incredible.”

[More at URL]


----- 13 -----
Angst on right over Frist
By Alexander Bolton
The Hill

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/120705/ 
news1.html

Frustration is mounting among social conservatives over the Senate’s  
and Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) failure this year to  
schedule votes on legislation important to the movement.

The Family Research Council (FRC), one of the most prominent pressure  
groups representing Christian evangelical voters, dropped the Senate  
from its annual congressional scorecard because the chamber voted on  
not one bill the group cares about.

[...]

“They didn’t have anything that we saw as family votes,” he added.  
“Sometimes it seems like we got more done during the Reagan  
administration when [Republicans] didn’t have control [of Congress] or  
during the Clinton administration when we didn’t have the  
administration on our side. There is a level of frustration especially  
among our grassroots.”

[...]

Several conservative leaders have attributed the lack of action partly  
to Frist, who controls the Senate calendar, and suspect that his  
presidential ambitions may be to blame. Frist has tried to woo GOP  
officials in Michigan, an important presidential-primary state where  
independents and Democrats are allowed to vote in the GOP primary.

Others believe Frist has become less receptive to socially conservative  
initiatives since being criticized for his role in the controversy over  
Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who died this year after a state  
court sided with her husband and ordered her feeding tube removed.

[...]

“For a good period of time he was very receptive to the [conservative]  
social agenda,” said Weyrich of Frist. “It seems after the Schiavo case  
that he hasn’t been as interested. I don’t know whether a connection is  
there or not.”

[...]

The aide also cited Senate legislation this year that asked a federal  
court to review the Schiavo case. But Congress’s involvement drew much  
political fire. Polls showed that a majority of the American public  
disapproved of congressional intervention.

Frist was a primary target of scorn because, based on video footage he  
had seen, he questioned the diagnosis that Schiavo was in a persistent  
vegetative state. An autopsy later showed that Schiavo’s brain had  
suffered irreversible damage.

Several conservatives suspect that the incident may have made Frist  
wary of hot-button social issues.

[More at URL]


----- 14 -----
Less Than 25 Days Left to Protect Marriage in Florida
December 7, 2005 - Wednesday
Family Research Council
Forward to a Friend!

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL05L01&f=PG03I03

A massive, statewide petition campaign is in the final stretch in  
Florida to amend the state constitution to define marriage as being  
between one man and one woman. Your help is urgently needed to make  
sure this effort is successful.

There are 2 important steps you can take right now to play a vital role  
in this historic campaign:

Go to www.Florida4Marriage.org and click on "Sign Petition." Download  
the PDF document and print it out. Once you fill it in and sign it,  
simply mail the original document to the address at the bottom.

Become a "Defender of Marriage" by printing out 10 copies of the  
petition and give them out to family and friends who are registered to  
vote in Florida. Ask those 10 to do the same -- getting the petition in  
the hands of more and more people before the end of December.

The vast majority of Floridians want to see marriage remain as it has  
always been -- between one man and one woman. Your help is needed now  
to make sure that marriage is protected in Florida. Please, visit  
www.Florida4Marriage.org to learn more about this issue and to sign the  
petition today!


----- 15 -----
Donor Network Right to Refuse Organs from Homosexual, Says Christian Doc
By Mary Rettig
December 7, 2005

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/afa/72005g.asp

(AgapePress) - Friends and family of a Tucson man are crying  
discrimination after the homosexual man's organs were rejected by the  
Donor Network of Arizona. However, a Kansas surgeon who works in organ  
transplantation says the decision was a good one.

Albert Soto, 51, intended to donate his eyes and other tissues after  
death, but a spokesman from the Network says the Centers for Disease  
Control in Atlanta has established guidelines allowing centers to  
reject donations from men who have had sex with men in the last five  
years. Dr. David Pauls, a spokesman for the Christian Medical  
Association, says those guidelines are needed regardless -- even if the  
donor is HIV negative, as in Soto's case.

[More at URL]


----- 16 -----
Black Pastors against Gay Rights, Civil Rights Connection
Focus on the Family
December 7, 2005
by Josh Montez

African-American pastors are bristling at the idea of equating the gay  
agenda to the civil rights battles of the 60’s.

http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0038831.cfm

Gay activists like to talk about the civil rights battles of the 60’s.  
They claim their struggle is the same. But one group of  
African-Americans is bristling at the connection, pastors. The latest  
example is in Indiana where black pastors are protesting an  
Indianapolis city ordinance that gives special rights to homosexuals.  
Eric Miller with Advance America is opposed to the change.

“This ordinance stated that a business with six or more employees could  
not refuse to hire a homosexual or someone based upon their gender  
identity like a cross dresser.”

And he’s not alone. Joining him in dissent are 21 African-American  
pastors in Indianapolis. Pastor Terry Webster of Nu Corinthian Baptist  
Church is one.

“When they’re talking about civil rights, they actually have equated it  
to the civil rights struggle and discrimination that the black  
community went through. We’re not against human rights. We are for  
human rights and we are not for anyone being discriminated against, but  
we also feel that this is a smokescreen and it’s seeking still to  
elevate homosexuality.”

[More at URL]


----- 17 -----
Canadian Activist Sees Opportunity for Marriage Traditionalists in  
Upcoming Election
By Chad Groening
Agape Press
December 6, 2005

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/afa/62005e.asp

(AgapePress) - The head of a Canadian pro-family organization says  
conservative Canadians will be energized now that Conservative leader  
Stephen Harper has pledged to reopen the debate on same-sex "marriage"  
in their country.

Ousted Prime Minister Paul Martin, whose government had only been in  
power for 17 months, barely fought off an earlier no-confidence vote in  
May, but was voted down decisively last week 171-133. The Globe & Mail  
of Canada reported that within hours of the announcement of the  
no-confidence vote in Parliament, Conservative leader Stephen Harper  
pledged to work to reinstate the traditional definition of marriage if  
he is elected prime minister in January.

[Editor's Note: he pledged a free revote on C-38, more or less. If it  
passes again, he says he's done.]

Brian Rushfeldt of the Canada Family Action Coalition believes Harper  
has re-energized Canadians who were devastated after same-sex marriage  
was legalized six months ago.

"I was absolutely delighted to hear him go public with that  
[announcement], knowing that it's a risky move for a politician to do  
that in one sense," says the Coalition president and co-founder. "And  
yet I am so convinced that the majority of Canadians are going to be  
delighted by that. We're very encouraged with Stephen Harper's comment  
and commitment to reopen the whole issue on same-sex marriage."

-- and I think that dynamic certainly might help very much on the  
Conservative side for getting out the vote as well."

Rushfeldt expects the marriage issue will help bring more Conservatives  
to the polls. "They will be excited; I think we can mobilize them on  
this fact," he says.

[More at URL]


----- 18 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
December 7, 2005
Agape Press
Compiled by Jenni Parker

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/afa/72005h.asp

...It appears the George W. Bush White House has joined much of  
corporate America in avoiding the word "Christmas." The Washington Post  
reports many conservatives are taking offense with the fact that the  
White House has been sending out greeting cards in the last few weeks,  
wishing people a happy "holiday season" rather than "Merry Christmas."  
WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah opines that President Bush "claims to be a  
born-again, evangelical Christian, but he sure doesn't act like one."  
Farah says he threw out his White House "holiday card" as soon as he  
received it. [Fred Jackson]

...Ford Motor Company says it was not giving in to pressure from  
Christian conservatives when it decided to stop advertising Jaguars and  
Land Rovers in homosexeual publications. The second-biggest automaker  
has announced that the two luxury brands will not be placing any more  
ads in homosexual publications like The Advocate. Ford spokesman Mike  
Moran says it is "a business decision" and had nothing to do with  
conservative Christian boycotts. And he says Ford's Volvo brand will  
keep advertising to homosexuals. Last week, the American Family  
Association canceled a Ford boycott it started in May. AFA chairman  
Donald Wildmon credits intercession by Ford dealers, who Wildmon says  
"are basically our kind of people who share many of our concerns." [AP]

[More at URL]

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