Gary Bauer, Senior Vice President of Public Policy
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Another FYI today, since there are a few folks who believe we’re getting too political here. My simple answer is just because we answer to a higher calling, and a higher standard of truth and righteousness, does not mean we’re not to be involved in the life of our nation and our world, for that is where the church is… Yet, So Get Ready!
Is it conceivable that Christians could be banned from teaching in public schools? Some radical secularists have advocated for it. Now, a school board in Arizona has gone a step further. The Washington Elementary School District, serving students in the Phoenix area, just cancelled a contract the district had with Arizona Christian University (ACU). The contract made it possible for ACU’s student teachers to be placed in local schools for “field experience.”
There were no complaints from parents or students about the arrangement, which has been in place for five years. Then some school board members read ACU’s website where they found a mission statement that said the university is “committed to Jesus Christ – accomplishing His will and advancing His kingdom on earth as in heaven.” The university also stated that it believed in “the centrality of family …traditional sexual morality and lifelong marriage between one man and one woman.”
That simple statement of biblical belief was too much for the three members of the board who identify as LGBTQ+. The effort to cancel the contract was led by board member Tamillia Valenzuela, who describes herself as “a bilingual, disabled, neurodivergent Queer Black Latina.” She attends board meetings wearing cat ears. Another board member attacked Arizona Christian University for “teaching with a biblical lens.”
ACU has now filed a lawsuit represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The lawsuit asserts: “This civil rights action seeks to protect a Christian university and its students’ fundamental rights to religious exercise and speech, and to be free from unlawful governmental discrimination simply because of their religious status and beliefs … Despite there being zero complaints about an Arizona Christian student teacher or alumnus, the School District decided to terminate its relationship with Arizona Christian and its students solely because of their religious status and beliefs on biblical marriage and sexuality.”
If history is any guide, what started in this school district will not stay in that school district. This outrage is a perfect example of what Dr. James Dobson and our team has argued for years. Someone’s values win. America once universally welcomed morally upright men and women to teach in our public schools. Today, there is increasing hostility to Christian teachers and acceptance of radical teachers who are exposing children to inappropriate LGBTQ propaganda.
This is a good time to remember the importance of voting, going to school board meetings and taking every initiative you can to save your children and grandchildren.
Biden Budget Disaster
James Dobson Family Institute (JDFI) does not usually weigh in on the, sometimes, arcane budget battles in Washington, D.C. But we cannot ignore the budget proposal just unveiled by the Biden administration. From economic policy to social policy impacting faith, family and freedom, the budget is a disaster.
Biden’s budget includes, what even the pro-Biden Washington Post called, “unprecedented tax hikes” of five trillion dollars. The administration claims taxes have to be increased because our national debt is growing. But the same budget does not decrease the national debt – it increases it another $20 trillion over the next 10 years. That means President Biden is proposing major tax hikes and major new spending. In fact, the budget is 40% bigger than the last budget before COVID! All of this new debt will be left to our children and grandchildren to deal with. That amounts to an immoral generational transfer that will destroy their economic hopes and dreams.
Under the budget, big government grows even bigger and more powerful, while everything else, including economic growth, will get smaller. One of JDFI’s priorities is stopping America’s drift away from free enterprise and toward the “dead hand of smothering big government socialism.” This budget takes that disturbing trend and puts it on steroids. The IRS alone will get 86,000 new agents!
The priorities in the budget are also distorted. In a computer analysis of its 184 pages, the police are only mentioned four times, during a time when America is experiencing a nation-wide crime wave. Unbelievably, words like “transgender” (8 times), “intersex” (7 times) and the offensive slur “queer” (7 times) are all used more often, reflecting the Biden administration’s commitment to pushing the radical “52 genders” woke agenda.
How about our veterans? The budget includes $137.9 million for the Department of Veteran Affairs, but bizarrely sets part of the money aside for “providing gender-affirming care to the nation’s veterans,” including sex change operations. At a time when homelessness impacts many veterans, are sex change operations really a top priority?
Of course, the budget does have its “fans.” One of the most powerful supporters is Planned Parenthood, the nation’s top abortion provider. Biden calls for providing them another $1.2 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars for their “vital” work of abortion on demand. This budget will be and should be “dead on arrival.” America can do a lot better.
Biden HHS Attacks Rights of Conscience – Pro-Life Members of Congress Fight Back
Unfortunately, the Biden administration continues to be obsessed with keeping the number of abortions performed in the U.S. as high as possible. Fortunately, 25 pro-life senators and representatives are fighting back.
Biden’s regulators have proposed a new rule that threatens to erase the conscience protections that prevent medical professionals from being forced to participate in abortions. The proposed rule states, “our health care systems must effectively deliver services, including safe, legal abortions, to all who need them in order to protect patients’ health and dignity.” Predictably, the “health and dignity” of the innocent preborn child, who will be dismembered or scalded with powerful chemicals, is not mentioned.
The Biden administration’s proposed rule is morally repugnant and also likely violates federal conscience statutes that have been passed by Congress, including the Conscience Protection Act.
The pro-life members of Congress, led by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK), along with Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) in the House of Representatives, have filed a public letter with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), demanding they “enforce all conscience protections” Congress has passed. The senators remind Biden’s HHS bureaucrats that those statutes protect all medical professionals from performing or assisting in any health care services, procedures or research to which “they may object for religious, moral, ethical, or other reasons.”
JDFI believes this battle over the “conscience rights” of Christians and people of other faiths should be a wake-up call to the Church. This attack on conscience safeguards along with the continued effort to force all taxpayers to subsidize abortions, euthanasia and radical gender surgeries is a direct attack on our basic liberties and freedom of religion.
JDFI is working diligently to encourage additional pro-life members of Congress to sign the letter. Those who have currently signed include: Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman(R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Jim Risch(R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Jim Banks (R-IN), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Andy Harris (R-MD), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).
Gary Bauer’s New Podcast, “Defending Faith, Family, and Freedom”
Listen to Gary Bauer’s new podcast, “Defending Faith, Family, and Freedom” on our website or on your favorite platform, including Google, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Click the button below to subscribe. Every episode will help you stay informed and engaged on the policy and cultural issues that matter most to you and your family.
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Accept His Love. Live His Joy. Embrace His Peace. Share His Hope. Refute Evil…... merlin