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|  | AFA Journal NEWS OF INTEREST
AFA Journal, September, 2002 edition
AFA ACTIVISM
College sued over Quran book reading
University of North Carolina’s requirement that incoming freshmen read a book about the Quran has erupted into a major controversy.
The American Family Association Center for Law and Policy has joined the Family Policy Network in filing a lawsuit against the university, saying the requirement that students read and mediate upon the Quran is unconstitutional.
Incoming freshmen received a postcard telling them it was mandatory they read the book Approaching the Quran: The Early Revelations. The university planned for the students to discuss the book as part of the school’s summer reading program.
The school has since changed the policy, allowing students to opt out of reading the book. However, those who objected to the reading had to write an essay on why they objected.
“The use of coerced attendance transforms this exercise from an academic one to a religious one, complete with chanting the call to prayer which freshmen had no choice but to endure,” said Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel of the CLP.
The CLP’s lawsuit sought an injuction prohibiting the program from going forward as scheduled on August 19, as well as nominal damages.
Journal readers can help make America’s Christian Heritage Week a national observance
Bruce Barilla of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, has been encouraging American citizens and legislators for more than ten years to implement the observance of an “America’s Christian Heritage Week” (ACHW), both nationally and in their home towns and states. Barilla’s untiring efforts have resulted in several states and cities celebrating the week of Thanksgiving each year with events and activities supporting the fact that America’s roots are firmly planted in Christianity.
In the spirit of patriotism and love of country that have been prevalent since September 11, Christians this year have an opportunity to initiate a national observance to take place during Thanksgiving week (November 24-30).
Christian ministries nationwide have devoted a lot of time and effort since 9-11 to affirm and promote our country’s Christian heritage. For example, Florida’s Coral Ridge Ministries published an article titled “America’s Christian Heritage” in the July 2002 issue of Impact, its newsletter, which provided excellent information and insight into this issue.
A cover letter from Dr. D. James Kennedy, the ministry’s president, was mailed along with the newsletter to the 170,000 households on their mailing list. A petition asking President Bush to proclaim a national “America’s Christian Heritage Week” observance for November 24-30 was also included.
AFA supporters and friends can help by calling the White House Comment Line at 202-456-1111 to express their support of a national observance. In addition, anyone desiring to initiate an observance in their city or state can obtain a free planning guide, a sample proclamation and other helpful information on Barilla’s Internet Web site at www.achw.org.
“I urge you to call the White House comment line to support this national observance,” says AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. “Christians must be proactive in reminding Americans that we were born a Christian nation with beliefs and values undergirded by the Bible. I believe our country’s future depends on what we do with that fact.”
Virginians reject pro-homosexual school policy
Following a public outcry, a school superintendent in Virginia withdrew a proposal to give homosexuals special protected status.
The Lynchburg, Virginia, school system recently had a vote on several policy changes. One of the proposed changes was a provision to add “sexual orientation” to a list of categories dealing with discrimination.
Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, said the pro-homosexual language was quietly inserted by Superintendent James McCormick. The day the board was scheduled to vote on the policy changes, Glover appeared on a local radio talk show, just ahead of McCormick. Glover let listeners know the superintendent’s plan.
According to Glover, when McCormick came on the air, he was forced to answer questions about whether cross-dressers and homosexuals would be emboldened to flaunt their way of life before children if the change was adopted.
“It really put him on the ropes to have to defend adding ‘sexual orientation’ to the school board’s anti-discrimination policy,” Glover said. “So needless to say, school board members were bombarded with phone calls throughout the day.”
He added, “By the time they had their meeting that afternoon, the vote was going to be so overwhelmingly against adding ‘sexual orientation’ that, in fact, the superintendent himself removed the language – and the board agreed.”
AgapePress, 7/9/02
ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIAS
Police trounce pastor’s rights; CLP wins case
Matthew Trewhella knew he’d done nothing to warrant the treatment he received from a Bloomington, Illinois, police officer in October 2001. After a two-day trial, it took a judge less than a minute to agree with him.
Trewhella is pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and founder of Missionaries to the Preborn (MTP), a pro-life group. He was acquitted of charges arising from a peaceful pro-life rally in Bloomington. Trewhella had been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and multiple counts of resisting arrest. Trewhella could have faced up to four years in jail and $10,000 in fines.
AFA Center for Law and Policy attorney Bryan J. Brown represented Trewhella in court, and has since met with the State’s attorney, United States Attorney for Central Illinois and the FBI, requesting an investigation into Trewhella’s case. Brown’s call for an investigation alleges police brutality and witness tampering by Bloomington Police Officer David Goodman, perjury by Goodman and other Bloomington police officers, abuse of legal process and a conspiracy to violate the pastor’s civil rights.
These allegations stem from the October 17, 2001 incident. Trewhella – as supported by still photos, diagrams and a videotape as evidence – was tackled by Goodman while Trewhella was silently videotaping the rally. After being thrown to the ground, Trewhella was later held in the McLean County Jail.
In his ruling at the close of the trial, McLean County Judge Paul G. Lawrence said he found the pro-lifer’s testimony most credible, and noted the videotape testimony strongly suggested that Goodman was the one who acted inappropriately. State Attorney Charles Reynard admitted after the trial his office had “aggressively prosecuted” Trewhella.
“This so-called aggressive prosecution included the piling on of three additional charges on the morning of the trial and filing multiple frivolous motions seeking to exclude the very video evidence that moved the judge to acquit,” Brown said. “The utter lack of respect for due process, equal protection, and the rule of law demonstrated by the police and the State Attorney’s office in this case is deeply disturbing.”
ENTERTAINMENT
Obesity in children linked to television viewing
Children in America are getting heavier not only because of what they eat, but also because of how much time they spend in front of the television.
So says a new study published in the medical journal, Pediatrics. According to Dr. Barbara Dennison, the pediatrician who conducted the study, the more television that pre-school children watch, the more likely they are to be overweight.
“The TV in the bedroom is an even more powerful predictor of a child being overweight … (than) just the number of hours per week that they watch,” Dennison said.
Dennison suggested no more than an hour of TV a day for pre-schoolers and none for children under age two.
Family News in Focus, 7/10/02
Study: TV sex, violence don’t necessarily mean better advertising sales
Viewers of TV programs with high violent or sexual content are less likely than others to recall the names of products advertised on the shows, a new study reports.
The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, could eventually be used to disprove the popular notion among marketers and advertisers that if more people watch shows with sexual content or graphic violence, the advertisers are likely to get more response from their commercials. The researchers say their work could show advertisers and programmers that sex and violence, in fact, do not sell.
“The simplest explanation is that people who watch a sexual program are thinking about sex instead of about the ads,” said Brad Bushman, a psychology professor at Iowa State University. “People who watch a violent program are thinking about violence, not laundry detergent or soda pop.”
The steep declines in memory after explicit shows were seen in adults of all ages, among men and women, and among those who liked the program and those who did not. Perhaps most tellingly, the impact on memory was seen in people between ages 18 and 25 – a group advertisers covet and programmers try to attract with risque shows.
“There’s an emerging argument that sexually explicit media promote sexual callousness, cynical attitudes about love and marriage, an idea that promiscuity is the norm,” he said. “Especially when sex is combined with violence, it can increase aggression against women. All those behaviors do not contribute to a more healthy society.”
Washington Post, 6/17/02; AgapePress, 6/18/02
Violence, sex mar chart-topping video game
The nation’s most popular video game provides a player with plenty of thrills, great graphics and hours of fun – not to mention lots of violence, blood and sex.
Made for the Playstation 2 gaming console, Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III) is rated “M,” which means it is intended for mature audiences. According to Family News in Focus, however, plenty of kids are finding their way into the violent and hedonistic world of GTA III.
“Grand Theft Auto III is a game of immense technical achievement,” said Loren Eaton, a youth culture analyst for Focus on the Family. “It’s also a game that completely underachieves when it comes to morality.”
Eaton said a young person playing GTA III can mug a little old lady, shoot a businessman in the back with a shotgun, or run over a cop with his own police car. A player’s character can even engage in sex with prostitutes he or she picks up on the street.
Parents should be concerned. A study published last September in Psychological Science found that “[v]iolent video games increase aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings and arousal, which might explain why they increase aggressive behavior.”
Family News in Focus, 7/29/02; Reuters Health, 7/17/01
FAMILY
Studies: cohabitation loses again to marriage
Research released recently demonstrated once again that people who cohabit before marriage are more likely to divorce after finally tying the knot than people who did not live together first.
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after 10 years of marriage, 40% of couples who had cohabited beforehand had divorced. For those who did not live together prior to marriage, 31% eventually called it quits.
Scott Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, presented his own research in July at a Washington conference called Smart Marriages.
Co-author of the book Fighting for Your Marriage, Stanley told USA Today that men who cohabit with the women they eventually marry are less committed to the union than men who never lived with their spouses ahead of time. He also said that while many couples believe living together before marriage helps to weed out problems that eventually lead to divorce, the fact is that the divorce rate is higher among such couples.
The studies are certainly timely: more than half of all first marriages today involve couples who first cohabited. Approximately five million Americans are now living together out of wedlock.
According to the Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education, which sponsored the Smart Marriages conference, research has found that men, women and children are much better off in stable marriages than in any other family form. The benefits of marriage include better health, wealth, success, happiness, safety, and children’s success – things the Coalition said do not come with the cohabitation “package.”
USA Today, 7/25/02, 7/8/02, 6/26/02; AgapePress, 7/8/02; MSNBC, 7/24/02
HOMOSEXUALITY
Bay State Boy Scout council promotes gay agenda
The Boston Minuteman Council, the largest Boy Scouts of America (BSA) council in Massachusetts, appears to be defying the national policy of that organization by promoting homosexuality within its ranks.
The Boston council, which serves 18,000 young men, announced at its annual fund-raising dinner on June 10 that it was adding “diversity awareness awards badges.” The diversity awards are meant to encourage Boy Scouts to “promote diversity,” including homosexuality.
The homosexual magazine The Advocate applauded the decision, noting that the same BSA council last year adopted a policy of nondiscrimination when it came to sexual orientation, effectively allowing homosexuals to both participate as members and as troop leaders.
According to Culture & Family Report, the Boston Minuteman Council also clearly indicated its commitment to the homosexual community when it invited openly homosexual local radio talk-show host David Brudnoy to be the master of ceremonies at its fund-raising dinner.
Brudnoy said when the Boston council called him, “They said, ‘We want you because you’ll be signaling to people our policy, and we hope you’ll make reference to this in your remarks.’”
Gregg Shields, a spokesman for BSA’s national headquarters, told Culture & Family Report that the Boston council’s decision did not change the organization’s national policy prohibiting the participation of homosexuals, and that the national leadership was currently discussing the controversy in the Bay State.
C&F Report, 6/12/02; The Advocate, 7/23/02
‘Gays-can-change’ research published by APA
While the American Psychological Association (APA) still officially rejects the possibility that homosexuals can change their sexual orientation, it surprisingly published a recent article presenting the opposite view.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s article, “Initial Empirical and Clinical Findings Concerning the Change Process for Ex-Gays,” examined previous studies of individuals who tried to leave the homosexual lifestyle and found that, for some homosexuals, change is certainly possible. The article was published in the APA’s Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
Throckmorton, a past president of the American Mental Health Counselor’s Association, is currently director of college counseling at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. He said, “My literature review contradicts the policies of major mental health organizations because it suggests that sexual orientation, once thought to be an unchanging sexual trait, is actually quite flexible for many people, changing as a result of therapy for some, ministry for others and spontaneously for still others.”
Because the studies often found the experiences of ex-gays to have been beneficial, Throckmorton’s research also contradicts the claim from many in the mental health community that such gay-to-straight counseling efforts are always harmful.
PORNOGRAPHY
Cyber-porn, X-rated videos used by alleged child killer
Alejandro Avila, the Lake Elsinore, California, man accused of raping and murdering Samantha Runnion, has been reported by two Southern California newspapers as being involved with pornography through the rental of videotapes and visits to porn sites on his computer.
The Orange County Register in Santa Ana said Avila’s mother recalled finding pornographic images on her son’s computer, while a Los Angeles Times article indicated that Avila had a video rental membership at Video Shores, a store near his apartment. As an example of his viewing habits, store records indicate that last December 26, Avila rented two X-rated films and the children’s movie, The Emperor’s New Groove.
This high-profile case is just one of several U.S. tragedies in the past few months that involve the murder, rape and/or sexual assault of children. Statistics regarding such crimes are difficult to obtain for cases involving children 12 and under because most states don’t formally track them. However, a February 1997 report compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice and published online by Violence Against Women (www.vaw.umn.edu) reveals some disturbing facts. Police-recorded incidents of rape in three states revealed that 44% of victims were under the age of 18, while the self-reports of convicted rape and sexual offenders in those states revealed that 58%, or roughly six in 10, of their victims were age 12 or younger.
While this is of grave concern, the real “elephant in the room” is pornography and its relationship to sex crimes. Law enforcement officers typically report a criminal’s use of pornography if it is revealed in the investigation of a crime, but this information is seldom formally tracked or consistently reported. However, several studies of convicted sex criminals show an extremely high correlation between porn use and actual sex crimes committed. (See AFA Journal, 8/02) One prison chaplain said that during his 15-year career, 100% of the inmates he has known who have been incarcerated for a sex crime have been pornography users.
“Pornography use and the sickness it causes is growing in prevalence because of its unhindered availability on the Internet,” says AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. “It must be recognized as the major threat it is to this country, and Christians must become educated on how to stamp it out before the number of children raped and killed reaches epidemic proportions.”
Los Angeles Times, 7/20/02; The Orange County Register, 7/21/02;
Violence Against Women Web Site
Internet video technology mostly used for porn
Streaming Internet video has yet to catch on with most consumers, but that hasn’t stopped some companies from pitching the service with the seamiest of shows.
Internet video promoters have not seen the rush to use their service that was once predicted, but what business has been attracted is from those who view pornography online.
In January, DivXNetworks of San Diego, California, announced a deal to distribute clips of Jim Henson’s Muppet Show via the Internet using its DivX video-compression technology. While that venture might be squeaky-clean, DivX has made much more of its money through a deal with Vivid Entertainment, the top seller of DivX-formatted pornographic movies on the Internet. DivX has a revenue-sharing deal that provides DivX with a split of the sales of Vivid’s sex shows.
It’s not just the Internet pornographers who are profiting from streaming media, though. Everyday companies, such as RealNetworks, Microsoft (with its Windows Media Player) and Apple Computer (with QuickTime) are making money from the distribution of filth. These companies sell the technology and software to Vivid that is used to redistribute the porn over the Internet.
Forbes, 5/13/02
PRO-LIFE
Ultrasound device offers new outlook on life
Michelle Tooms, a pregnant mother from Mansfield, Texas, looked at the new “real-time 4D” ultrasound of her womb and was amazed at what she saw. The image on the screen had such clarity that it seemed like a high-quality photograph. “I even think I saw the baby smile. The images made me feel close to her,” she marveled.
Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist, pointed out in a recent World magazine article that General Electric, creator of the 4D ultrasound device, highlights the medical benefits to be derived from the machine’s existence. Doctors will be able to see a developing child more clearly, enabling them to better diagnose potential problems.
Thomas adds that GE publicity does not suggest the Ultrasound 4D be used in the war against abortion. Yet it’s his contention that “it will be and should be.” Referring to a TV commercial that shows the face of a woman reacting to seeing her baby for the first time, Thomas says, “If this scene doesn’t touch you in the deepest recesses of your heart, the device could determine whether you have a heart.”
He observes that the sophisticated new creation has great potential for impacting the choice made by women who are contemplating abortion. “Everyone who sees such a picture will find it extremely difficult to regard the image as anything but that of a baby: not a ‘fetus,’ not a ‘product of conception,’ not disembodied tissue,” Thomas asserts. “The hands move. So does the head.”
“In an age when federal law mandates labels on cans, bottles, and cars and truth-in-lending information at banks, why should women be denied information when it comes to a far more important choice about another human life?” he asks. “Few people regret choosing one car over another, or a can of string beans over a can of corn. But many women with whom I’ve spoken profoundly regret deciding to have an abortion ….”
Clinics and pregnancy help centers that offer abortion alternatives across the country are thrilled with the new device. Tim Wiesner, executive director of Choices Medical Clinic in Wichita, Kansas, says GE recently demonstrated the machine at their clinic.
“We had a number of women at all stages of pregnancy, and you should’ve heard all the ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ from everyone in that room. It was incredible, like being the first person to look inside King Tut’s tomb as we observed something lying in its natural state that nobody’s ever seen [this clearly] before.” Wiesner says although the unit is expensive, the clinic will be making a purchase, and hopefully having the device available for use in early September.
Cal Thomas asserts that every pregnancy help center in the country should have the device, and it should be required by law that every woman seeking an abortion look at her child on the screen.
World, 6/8/02
PORN
ALA defends unrestricted Internet access
Despite use by pedophiles, pornographers and terrorists, the powerful librarians’ group says ‘anything goes’ on public library computers
The American Library Association (ALA) is well known for its opposition to the use of filtering software on computers in the nation’s public libraries. The national organization contends that filtering blocks “constitutionally protected speech” and hinders library patrons’ free access to information. The ALA has been vigilant in its stance, even though some public libraries have fallen prey to sexual deviants downloading hundreds of child pornography images and masturbating at library computers; perverts who leave pornography on computer screens so that children will be exposed to it; and pedophiles using library computers to lure young girls to a “rendezvous” with them.
Amy White, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reported that in 2001 there were more than 300,000 porn sites on the Internet, with 3,000 new sites being added each week. And in 2000, there were 2,856 pedophilia cases rooted in online child pornography. No one will ever know how many of these cases involved pedophiles working their scams on library computers, but that apparently doesn’t matter to the ALA. What does matter is that the predators’ rights of “free speech” have been preserved.
White wrote that one of the judges who rejected the requirement for library filters said the court was “sympathetic” to the government’s goal of protecting children from the dangers of the Internet, but that such an outcome “is not available in this less than best of all possible worlds.” White sarcastically responded, “Our judges really do feel badly that the First Amendment is such a powerful deity, demanding so much sacrifice.”
Recently, the ALA has been engaged in yet another skirmish to protect the alleged First Amendment rights of library patrons. ALA has complained about visits to certain public libraries by FBI agents who view records and computer logs regarding suspected terrorists. This has transpired as a result of the enactment by Congress shortly after 9-11 of the USA Patriot Act (“the Act”) which allows new tools for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat terrorism while preserving individual liberties.
In very simple form, the Act broadens the parameters for intelligence gathering so that information regarding suspected terrorists can be more easily obtained. When searching library records, the government must still back up their search with a warrant from a court, and certification that the information likely to be obtained is “relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.”
But that hasn’t appeased the ALA. Instead, they have opposed the Patriot Act, indicating that any measures to allow more open access to library records infringes upon their First Amendment rights, as well as those of their patrons.
ALA persists despite the fact that militant Muslim groups are increasingly turning to the Internet to carry on their jihad, or holy war, against the U.S. A recent article in USA Today stated that one week after the September 11 attacks, the FBI subpoenaed the Broward County, Florida, library director to provide information on the possible use of library computer terminals by some of the suspected hijackers.
A second USA Today article reported that al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted messages hidden in files on digital photos on the auction site eBay.com. Most of the messages have been sent from Internet cafes in Pakistan and public libraries throughout the world.
“Under the present circumstances of the global war against terrorism, the Internet has become a vital tool and, obviously, an easy one to exploit,” says terrorism analyst Reuven Paz of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Militant groups use Web sites to plan attacks, recruit members and solicit donations, with little or no chance of being caught because they change Web site, and bank account names and numbers every 48 to 72 hours.
So, from advocating total, unrestrained access to pornography on library computer terminals, to protecting the rights of terrorists who use library computers to plan attacks on our country, the ALA stands firm. The group is determined to preserve unrestricted right to free speech, even at the expense of our children’s innocence, and our nation’s safety.
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