Group Asks Bush to Quit Boy Scouts Role
By Joey Lomicky - Trustworthy, helpful, friendly and kind are all traits found in the Boy Scout Code; however, homosexuals and atheists are not.

Washington, D.C. - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - infoZine - That is why Scouting for All, a grassroots advocacy group aiming to make scouting available to everyone, publicly requested for the second time Thursday that President Bush resign as honorary president of Boy Scouts of America.

At a press conference, Bush was given a badge of dishonor for backing BSA.

Volunteers and former Eagle Scouts joined the California-based group, as did representatives from the American Humanist Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Secular Coalition of America and the Liberal Catholic Church, which is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

"How can President Bush support this?" asked Steven Cozza, the group's 20-year-old cofounder and a former Scout.

"The BSA is giving out a message of hate and bigotry," he said. "They're educating youth every day. ... If they taught inclusion instead of hate, things would be different."

In June 2000, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that as a private organization BSA had protection under the First Amendment to control its membership.

Since then, Boy Scouts of America, one of the largest youth organizations in the country, has denied membership to atheists and homosexuals. BSA membership was more than 3 million in 2004, with more than 1 million adult leaders.

"It's an atrocity that's happening in America," said Scott Cozza, Steven's father, a former assistant scout master and Scouting for All's president.

Scouting for All is holding Bush to his 2003 State of the Union address in which he, referring to education, vowed that no child should be left behind.

Scouting for All advocates said leaving children behind is exactly what Bush is doing by supporting BSA.

"There is no reason that No Child Left Behind should not expand itself beyond the realms of education," said the Rev. Edward Correll Jr. "Bush is associating himself with an organization that habitually leaves children behind."

Bush is not the first president to serve as honorary president of the Boy Scouts, but he would be the first to resign.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., who in July 2000 led several congressional colleagues to request then-President Clinton to resign as honorary head of the Boy Scouts, is troubled by the organization's intolerance. Clinton did not resign.

"Private groups have the right to choose their membership and leaders, but the federal government should not honor intolerance because it is not a value we want to teach to our children, nor is it a value that the president of the United States should support," she said.

Gregg Shields, BSA national spokesman, said Bush's endorsement of the Boy Scouts is simply his choice.

"It's the president's decision and we respect it," he said. "Our membership standards reflect our values."

Shields said he understands Scouting for All's desire to change BSA's policies, but the organization has decided not to change.

"The value structure is different," he said. "If you were an atheist or homosexual, the Boy Scouts isn't probably the best place for you."

While they don't expect Bush's resignation or changes in BSA's policy any time soon, the group hopes that parents and Scouts across the country will sever their connections with the Boy Scouts until inclusion is granted.

Eric Marx, 46, of Chevy Chase, Md., a former Scout, will not allow his 9-year-old son to join. Marx said he remembered Scouts as having a historical mission of respecting others and teaching fair and just treatment.

"I've not been an activist," he said. "But because of their policies, we never joined."

Roy Speckhardt said he was once asked by a humanist Eagle Scout, "Why doesn't performance alone prove worthiness?"

"A person's religion and sexual orientation have nothing to do with the merit behind scouting ideals," said Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

Shields disagreed. "Performance alone is not enough," he said. "These are values that we share."

Shields said that boys with differing values have the option to join "other fraternal organizations."

 Prayer rally organizers invite ACLU members

By David Williams Oconee-Pickens Bureau
November 4, 2005

SENECA - American Civil Liberties Union officials say they welcome an invitation to an Oconee County Prayer Rally.

The rally, sponsored by the Oconee County Ministerial Association and the Beaverdam Baptist Association, is a call to show support for Oconee County Council and Anderson and Seneca city council members who pray in the name of Jesus to open their meetings, said the organizer, the Rev. Wayne Morton.

"We support people praying; that's their right," said Mike Cubelo, president of the Piedmont Chapter of the ACLU.

The ACLU, which has sent letters to the three councils advising them their prayer practice, may be in violation of the law. Mr. Cubelo said the ACLU's point is that when a government official offers a prayer at a government meeting, then it's a government prayer.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster weighed in on the issue this week, saying the ACLU's letter is legally inaccurate. But the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a specific deity cannot be named in invocations given at governmental meetings.

The case of Darla Kay Wynne versus the Chester County town of Great Falls ended when the U.S. Supreme Court would not hear an appeal. The town was eventually ordered to pay about $53,000 in legal fees.

"Mr. McMaster already tried all this and got slapped down," said Neil Caesar, a Greenville attorney and ACLU member who is handling legal maneuvers for the ACLU. "We simply ask Mr. McMaster to offer advice and council to local governments. This all started as information and now you have those who are going out of their way to violate the law. We need to be rational and weed out the hysteria."

Mr. Morton, president of the Oconee County Ministerial Association, said the Nov. 17 Prayer Rally is a way Oconee County can come together and show support for its elected leaders.

"We've invited Mayor Richard Shirley (Anderson) and Mayor (Dan) Alexander (Seneca) and the Oconee County Council," Mr. Morton said. "We'll even invite the ACLU because there are a lot of people who want to pray for them."

Mr. Morton said waging a campaign for prayer is war and it requires a war chest.

"We've had several physicians and businessmen come forward and offer financial assistance if it does go to litigation," Mr. Morton said.

He did not say how much had been raised and he did not want to identify the financial backers.

The ACLU is a non-profit organization that operates on contributions and does not receive government funding, Mr. Cubelo said.

Mr. Morton said the Beaverdam Baptist Association has about 86 churches as members, many of which are also members of the 144-member Ministerial Association.

Mr. Morton said about 40 members of the Ministerial Association attended a breakfast meeting Friday and heard from the Rev. Bill Rinehart, a county council member and the council's official chaplain who leads the invocation.

"Bill Rinehart shared his perspective on how he should not have to limit his personal faith just because he has been elected to office," Mr. Morton said.

Mayor Alexander said, "the power of prayer for me is one of the strongest things we can do for each other. Seeing more people united together is very comforting."

The rally will be at 7 p.m. at the Seneca High School Auditorium on Wells Highway. For more information about the rally, call Mr. Morton at (864) 247-5428.

Rally planned by religious leaders over council prayers

(Seneca-AP) November 5, 2005 - An Oconee County minister says faith groups have begun lining up financial contributors in case a fight over prayers in public meetings goes to court.

The Reverend Wayne Morton is president of the Oconee County Ministerial Association and says several physicians and businessmen have come forward and offered financial assistance if the issue brings litigation.

His group and the Beaverdam Baptist Association are sponsoring a prayer rally on November 17th to support local elected officials who want to say Christian prayers in meetings.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sent letters to several local governments that say their public prayers may violate laws that prohibit government-sanctioned prayers to a specific deity.

Attorney General Henry McMaster weighed in this week, saying the ACLU's letter is legally inaccurate.

The dispute is over a July 2004 ruling by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a lower judge's decision that prayers mentioning Jesus' name before meetings of the Great Falls Town Council were unconstitutional because they honored one faith over another.

ACLU Concerned Over Gideons
by Jay on 11-05-05 @ 6:53 pm Filed under Church And State, News

Rememember your parents talking about how times have changed? I’m only 28 but I’m starting to feel old. I’m starting to say things that my parents used to say. My, my, how times have changed.

When I was in the 8th grade, the Gideons came to our school with boxes full of tiny little pocket sized New Testaments. There was no requirement to take one, just take one if you wanted it. All voluntary, no problem. I remember taking two. That same day I got in a fight with someone, and I was inciting it. We had a high porch outside our gym, and one of the known bullies kept pushing me off. I was attempting the philosphy of “turn the other cheek”, and it was working. I kept going back to the porch, and saying, “that was fun, do it again.” Each time he pushed me harder, and was getting very aggrevated that I seemed to be enjoying it when he was trying to show he was more powerful than I was. We both got in trouble.

Back in those days they had a cut piece of wood called a paddle. Perhaps unbelivable to many of you, they would use this paddle on your behind as a means of discipline. As we waited for our punishment, I suddenly realized that I had two Gideon’s Bibles! An ephiphany began! If I could put the little books in my back pockets, perhaps I could cushion the pain of the paddling. I mentioned the idea to the bully. He thought it was ingenious! We became best friends right there, and throughout our highschool years. Though we have lost contact, I would still consider this guy as one of my best friends. So did the philosphy of “cover the other cheek” work? Well, of course not. The teacher was too smart for that.

Anyway….as my parents used to say, “times have changed.”

    Two Gideons International representatives were in the Robert S. Payne Elementary School cafeteria Friday alongside a table of small red Bibles.

    The two men had permission to be there from Lynchburg City Schools. Superintendent Paul McKendrick said city school policy requires students to give the Gideons representative a form signed by a parent before they can accept a Bible.

    The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, Kent Willis, said the practice merits a closer look. Source

Permission slips to recieve a little book. Whats so threatening about a little book? Something that each individual have a choice on reading or not. Something each individual has a choice on whether to belive as truth or not. The ACLU were concerned over the permission slip portion too, but for different reasons.

    School division policy requires that parental permission forms to accept the text be sent home with students prior to the Gideons’ arrival, McKendrick said.

    For Willis, that raises more concerns.

    “The most important question here is what role does the school play in the religious activity?” Willis said.

    “The reason courts have allowed schools to have Gideons come is that the school can claim to play a passive and neutral role. They’re not recruiting Gideons.

    “But if a school goes so far as to send a note home, that seems to me to be a much more active role.”

I find this a very ironic position for the ACLU to take. The very reason the school even went through the effort of providing permission slips was probably out of fear they would get sued by the ACLU, or some other bloodthirsty liberal activist group.

My how times have changed. This school shouldn’t need permission slips of any kind according to the legislative judicial branch in the 9th District. They just ruled a blanket decision that parents have no right on what a public school can teach their children. In that particular case the school was teaching seven year old children about touching private parts, and sexual desires. No permission from parents required in this. The ACLU, no where to be found. Not a peep from them. But to hand out a tiny little New Testament, the ACLU are concerned.

Informing Parents of what goes on at school concerns the ACLU when it fits their agenda. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky has urged state school leaders to do a better job informing parents of their right to keep their child’s information away from military recruiters.

One father faced criminal charges after expressing his concern over his 5 year old son being taught gay tolerance. In another kindergarten class a teacher cenored a five year old’s drawing because it included a drawing of Jesus. In another school they were teaching children to be Muslims. The ACLU were nowhere to be found in any of these cases. But when it comes to tiny little books, the ACLU feel that liberty is threatened. My, how times have changed.

Turning Failures into Successes


In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

I have something this morning with which probably every one of you is familiar.  They are called Post-It Notes.  If you need to leave a note for someone, you can just write a note and stick it on their door.  If you need to remind yourself of something you have to do, just write a Post-It note and stick it up in a place where you will be sure to see it.  My computer at school has sticky notes all over it to remind me of things I need to do.  We use Post-It notes at home to remind us to take out the trash, to go to the store, and pick up the clothes from the cleaners.  I don't know how we ever got along before Post-It notes were invented.

The Post-It Note was invented by the 3M company.  That is the same company that makes Scotch tape.  The Post-It Note is one of their best selling products and one of their most successful products ever, but did you know that it got its start with a failure?  A scientist at 3M was working to try to improve the glue that they put on their tape so that it would stick better.  He came up with a new formula for glue, but the new glue didn't stick very well at all.  It would stick at first, but then it was very easily pulled off.  He thought his new glue formula was a failure, but instead of throwing the formula in the trash, he decided to share it with others in the company and see if there might be some use for it.  A man named Art Fry started trying the new glue in different ways and finally he came up with the idea for the Post-It Note.  The rest is history!  What started out to be a big failure for 3M turned out to be one of their greatest successes.

Sometimes the things we try to do in our lives don't turn out the way we thought they would.  We were trying to do what we thought was best for us, but it just didn't work.  When that happens, it is easy to just give up.  Instead of giving up,what we need to do is turn it over to someone else.  We need to turn it over to God!  The Bible says that we plan our course, but the Lord directs our steps.  Maybe we know where we want to go, but just can't seem to get there.  If we will just put our faith and trust in Jesus, he will direct our steps.  He can turn our failures into success.

Dear Lord, help us to remember that you can turn our failures into successes if we will trust in You.  Amen.

A Backpack Full of Worries

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Psalm 68:19

School started this week and I am sure most of you are back into your daily routine. I know that most of you use a backpack to carry all of your school supplies and books back and forth to school. I see some children with backpacks that are almost as big as they are! Sometimes their backpacks are so loaded with all those heavy books that it is just about more than they can carry!
 
Life is a lot like that too. Sometimes we have some pretty heavy burdens that we try to carry around with us. Some of you may be worried that you won't have any friends in your class, or that the other kids won't like you, or that you just won't fit in.  Maybe some of you are worried that you won't have the right clothes. Maybe you are still wearing a "Star Wars" t-shirt and all the other kids are wearing "Pokemon" t-shirts. Maybe some of you are worried that you might not be able to do the work in your new grade and are afraid you might fail. Those can be pretty heavy problems to carry around with us.

Well, I have some good news for you! You don't have to carry all those worries around with you! The Bible tells us that God will carry those burdens for us. So, if you started school this week with a load of worries and problems, this morning you can give them to Jesus. He will carry them for you.

Lord, we are thankful that we do not have to carry the heavy burdens of life around on our backs. This morning we give them to you.  Amen.

  Scared?

By: Steve Self
Steve@tddm.org


“Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’"   Matthew 26:38-39(NIV)

"If you are a Christian, life will be perfectly easy and all your problems will magically dissolve away." That is one of the biggest lies I've ever heard, but that lie doesn't normally come from other people, it comes from Satan who can be a loud voice inside us.  He tells us we aren't really Christians when things mess up or if we struggle with problems, because he tells us you shouldn't be afraid of anything if you are a Christian.  By following Satan's advice, we totally leave the example that Jesus taught us right before He died.

I've heard people say that if you are a Christian, you shouldn't fear death.  I don't fear death but I'm a little concerned with the journey from here to there.  Being anxious, hurt and even being scared is normal.  God gave us emotions, while fear does not come from Him; it comes from the sin and death in the world.

As we look at the actions of Jesus in this passage, Jesus is overwhelmed terribly by what is going to happen.  He is worried and He tells the disciples He took with Him about His feelings.  Not only was Jesus real, He was honest.  He didn't pretend that everything was going to be OK, He didn't act like "a good Christian would" because true good Christians are real.  I have actually heard preachers tell people with terminal illnesses that, "A true Christian would not be afraid".  That is a lie.  Sometimes life is scary!  When you follow God it can get even scarier.  If you don't believe that, e-mail me and I will be glad to tell you about the first time I preached a sermon!

As Christians, we are to be real, not perfect.  Following God can be scary and we can get into situations where it may mean our life is at stake.  But I want to be sure to point out one last thing here.  Look at what Jesus prays to God, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."  Sometimes God may ask us to do things that terrify us, but He will never give you a job without the right tools.  You may even lose your life for it, and you have every right to be scared or worried, but remember that God is in control and truly the safest place is to be in the middle of God's will.

  The Promises of God

By: Jeff Lappano
Jeff@tddm.org



“So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to
me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing for
which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

I heard a preacher say something so interesting one time that it stuck with
me and I want to share it with you. What we consider to be promise of God,
He considers a prophecy. What does that mean and how does it work? Whatever
God says has to come to pass; as it is written that God is not a man that He
should lie. Whether He speaks a prediction type of prophecy or he speaks
just a simple word, it can only come to pass.

Has the Lord ever made a promise to you? If you’re His child, chances are
that yes He has promised made a promise to you! That’s point A, and point B
being of course, getting a hold of that promise. It can be a long road from
Point A to B; just remember Israel from their flight from Egypt to the
Promise Land! However, we have the benefits of the instructions of the Word!
First of all we should write down the promise. Secondly, we need to wait on
the Lord for Him to bring that promise to pass.

As time progresses on you can surely bet that the devil will come to you and
tell you that God is liar and will not fulfill His promises. We must always
remember that the promise is for an appointed time. God already has perfect
timing, and knows the exact day when it will come to pass, we are commanded
to wait on it because God is not a liar! God’s word will always come to pass
when He want it to.

So, check it out, I want you to think about what God has spoken to you. It
sure has been a while since He spoke about it, hasn’t it? It will come to
pass, I promise you! How do I know?  Because the Bible tells us so!

I will include her into my prayer list.

DW, this is a reminder for you.

Dreamweaver,

     BUT, are the cows armed?

It looks like they could be.

I have no doubt as to the honesty of the Federalist Patriot but I was wondering about the honesty of the source. Then again Sen Kennedy has displayed that he thinks himself above the law and therefore untouchable many times. I find it surprising that he is still in office.

Hi Friarbob,

Welcome to the forum. There are many fine Christians here that would enjoy fellowship with you. There are a number of us here that also have various handicaps but it doesn't stop us from doing all we can for God either.