Thursday, May 12, 2005

Approve Clinton Judicial Nominees Now!

As a uniter, not a divider, one of my periodic duties is to read stuff from sources with which I may disagree. Not to debate, not to snipe, ridicule or contradict, but simply to try to comprehend, with empathy.

Some days it is, as they say, hard work. Very hard work.

One of my email subscriptions is The Rick Scarborough Report on the War on Faith. Scarborough is the acting chairman of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, which is the Christian name for stopactivistjudges.org. As his day job, he has a similar gig as president of Vision America. It's the usual stuff: Homosexuality out of schools, military recruiters and creationism in; stop activist judges and activate the "Constitutional Option" to prevent filibustering of federal judge nominees.

The newsletter features the usual tactics for stirring up the faithful and shaking loose donations (warning: not tax deductible). Here's the formula. Pick a ridiculous example — such as a public school dance instructor being fired for playing religious music in class — and then inflate it into a transgression of the judiciary: "Even when the courts are willing to allow something like this, over-zealous school officials seem determined to expunge even mild manifestations of religion from our public schools." Huh?

If true, this might be grounds for a little empathy with the beleaguered. I mean, we might go along with banning "Kumbaya" and the "Barney Song" on aesthetic grounds, but firing teachers who play Handel, Bach and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"?

A search for the source of the item, which lacked specifics except for "a dance teacher in the San Diego [sic] was terminated," failed to unearth coverage by mainstream local media. The only two references found cited the same source as Scarborough's tale, a news release from the pro-faith Pacific Justice Institute, which has filed suit against the unnamed school district on the unnamed teacher's behalf.

So much for the attack on the court's role in removing religious music from schools, which pales in comparison to the real fight, which is to preserve any teaching of the arts by specialists in public schools being slowly starved across the nation.

But it was the lead item — "Clinton judge puts hold on sex-ed indoctrination" — that really got me reading this morning...

JUDGE PUTS HOLD ON PRO-HOMOSEXUAL CURRICULUM

Last week, we reported on a new “sex education” curriculum about to be inflicted on children and families in Montgomery County, Maryland. More propaganda for the homosexual agenda [Editorial note: For two definitions of the agenda, see here and here..] than instruction, among other absurdities, the material claims, “Many religious denominations do not believe that loving people of the same sex is immoral.” The material does not specify which denominations or their rationale for taking this anti-Biblical position.

Only churches that have abandoned the clear and unambiguous teachings of the Bible (to make their peace with modernity) are willing to sanitize exceedingly sinful conduct. The curriculum neglects to note that most denominations – Catholic, evangelical, Orthodox Jewish, etc. – flatly reject this heresy.

Apparently, we’re not the only ones who find the “instruction” outrageously one-sided. Recently, U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. (a Clinton appointee, no les)
[sic] issued a temporary restraining order to prevent implementation while arguments are heard.

In his decision, Judge Williams noted that the Montgomery County Public Schools propose to “open up the classroom to the subject of homosexuality, and specifically the moral rightness of the homosexual lifestyle. However, the Revised Curriculum presents only one view on the subject – that homosexuality is a natural and morally correct lifestyle – to the exclusion of other perspectives.”

The judge added that the public interest is served by preventing school officials “from disseminating one-sided information on controversial issues.” He’s absolutely right. Too many schools have taken sides in the culture war – against Christianity and in favor of secular values. It’s good to occasionally have a federal court acknowledge this reality.


Gee, if only the Republicans hadn't prevented so many Clinton nominees from being approved by a full vote of the Senate, think how far ahead they might be!

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