World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News
relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume 4 Issue 42 - November 1, 2005
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Quote of the Day: "It is a good
thing to sit down and commune with
yourself, . . . and
decide in that silent moment what your duty is to your
family, to your
church, to your country, and to your fellowmen.”
—David O. McKay
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Articles
1. U.N. launches child AIDS drive
2.
First lady vows to focus on fixing youth's problems
3. New
Hampshire Panel Rejects Gay Marriage
Related Article: Granite State Stands Firm
for Marriage
4.
Critics: Prop 2 threatens even traditional marriage
Related Article: Marriage-amendment backers
claim fraud
5.
School Permits Prayer After Previously Prohibiting Student Prayer Rally
6. The Supreme Court takes up a case involving a New
Mexico sect that could be
important for other minority religions.
7.
Legal Advice to U.S. Schools: Don't Be a Grinch About Christmas
8. UK
Euthanasia Update
B. Coming
Events - World Congress of Families IV
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1. U.N. launches child AIDS drive
CNN.com
October 25, 2005
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations is launching
a global campaign to combat the AIDS pandemic which is threatening children as
never before: every minute a child under the age of 15 dies as a result of AIDS
and every day nearly 1,800 youngsters are newly infected with the HIV virus.
At a pre-launch press briefing on Monday, UNICEF's
Executive Director Ann Veneman said children are the "invisible face"
of a very visible disease and are missing out on the help that is going to
adults to fight AIDS and help prevent its spread.
According to a new report from UNICEF and UNAIDS,
children under 15 account for 1 in 6 global AIDS-related deaths and 1 in 7 new
global HIV infections. An estimated 15 million children have lost one or both
parents to AIDS, but less than 10 percent receive any public support.
"It is critical that the world unite for children
and unite against AIDS," Veneman said. "The size of the problem is
staggering, but the scale of the response has been inadequate."
At the official campaign launch on Tuesday, Veneman is
scheduled to join U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador
Sir Roger Moore, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot and young people affected
by AIDS. Launch events are also being held in India, El Salvador, Brazil,
Mozambique, Djibouti, the Netherlands, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, and
Australia.
The campaign's message is simple: AIDS is a growing
threat to children and if serious action isn't taken immediately the world will
not achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the
AIDS pandemic by 2015.
To read entire article, including statistics:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/10/25/un.childhood.aids.ap/index.html
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2. First lady vows to focus on fixing
youth's problems
By Brian DeBose
The Washington Times
October 28, 2005
The president and first lady Laura Bush, speaking at a
youth conference yesterday at Howard University, said they are committed to
"identifying the challenges" facing the nation's children and
crafting solutions to those problems.
Mrs. Bush has been touring the nation, listening to
researchers, teachers, youth services professionals and children to develop
locality-specific approaches. But she said the real work begins in the home.
"Children whose parents show them love and
support and stay active in their lives have an enormous advantage growing
up," she said. "Yet too many children grow up in homes where one
parent is absent, most often their father."
Mrs. Bush said the focus must be placed on parenting,
with particular emphasis on fatherhood, and helping young men learn how to stay
involved in their children's lives.
"Being a good dad doesn't always come naturally,"
she said.
More than 20 colleges and universities nationwide
participated in the White House Conference on Helping America's Youth, with
scholars and professionals sharing ideas and listening to experts.
Among the key initiatives to help communities was the
introduction of an online guide to assist communities in developing
partnerships, prioritize needs relative to their environment and identify
existing resources, in addition to finding gaps in their efforts to educate and
protect youth.
To read entire article:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051028-011841-8932r.htm
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3. New Hampshire Panel Rejects Gay
Marriage
By Beverley Wang
ABC News
The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. Oct 24, 2005 — A state commission on
same-sex unions dealt a series of defeats Monday to proponents of gay marriage.
The panel voted to urge state lawmakers not to allow
gays to marry, not to recognize out-of-state same-sex unions, and not to set up
a domestic partner registry for couples who cannot legally marry.
"My hope is before I die I will be able to
approach a justice of the peace in the state of New Hampshire and be legally
married," said Ed Butler, an openly gay commission member, who had
submitted the recommendation for marriage.
Soon afterward, the panel defeated his recommendation
by a 10-2 vote.
The commission has been meeting since April, gathering
testimony from the public as well as doctors and other experts. It is expected
to issue its report to the Legislature on Dec. 1.
Earlier this month, the panel voted to recommend a
constitutional amendment stating marriage is between one woman and one man,
though the measure seems unlikely to gain traction in the Legislature.
Since Massachusetts last year became the first state
to allow same-sex marriage, 41 others have passed laws or constitutional
amendments banning it.
To read entire article:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1246919
Related Article: Granite State Stands
Firm for Marriage
CitizenLink
October 26, 2005
N.H. commission dismisses calls for same-sex marriage
and recommends passage of a constitutional amendment.
A commission in New Hampshire has bucked the trend
toward legalizing gay marriage in New England by strongly recommending the protection
of traditional marriage to lawmakers.
In a contentious meeting Monday that at times
degenerated into a shouting match, the panel set up to study and make
recommendations on same-sex marriage roundly defeated proposals that would
allow gays to marry, recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages or set up
domestic-partner registration.
Earlier this month, the commission voted to recommend
a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one woman and one man.
The panel's advice now goes to the Legislature, where
Sen. Andre Martel said it will probably become law.
"It will go to the full Senate and it will pass
there, by a pretty large margin," he said, "and then go to the House,
and I think it will pass in the House as well."
To read entire article:
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0038369.cfm
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4. Critics: Prop 2 threatens even traditional marriage
Amendment's wording focus of same-sex debate
By Polly Ross Hughes
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
NOV. 8 ELECTIONS
STATEWIDE PROPOSITIONS:
Proposition 2: House Joint Resolution 6 would provide
that marriage in Texas is solely the union of a man and woman, and that the
state and its political subdivisions could not create or recognize any legal
status identical to or similar to marriage, including such legal status
relationships created outside of Texas.
AUSTIN - Opponents of a proposed amendment to the
Texas Constitution banning same-sex marriage said Monday the initiative's poor
wording could effectively nullify all marriages.
Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot states that
marriage exists only as a union of one man and one woman.
It then adds that the state or political subdivision
of the state "may not create or recognize any legal status identical or
similar to marriage."
"That in the hands of an activist judge could
lead to the ruin of my marriage and every other marriage in this state because
the status that is most identical to marriage is obviously marriage
itself," said Trampes Crow, a graduate student at the University of Texas
and a former army captain who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, who authored the
amendment, called the group's assertion "ludicrous" and said no legal
scholar could possibly agree that Proposition 2 could negate traditional
marriages.
To read entire article:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3413565
Related Article: Marriage-amendment
backers claim fraud
WorldNetDaily.com
October 26, 2005
Some opponents of Texas' marriage amendment believe it
would put all marriages at risk (courtesy Austin American-Statesman)
As early voting begins on a Texas marriage amendment,
pro-family groups claim a fraudulent campaign is under way to deceive voters
into defeating the measure, which aims to limit matrimony to one man and one
woman.
Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market
Foundation and an author of the proposed amendment, Proposition 2, says Texans
are being flooded with deceptive automated phone calls telling people to vote
"No" because of a purported flaw in the legislation.
"There must be a lot of them because we are
getting calls from a number of supporters who are confused," Shackelford
said.
The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins condemned
the "misleading campaign" and urged voters to "protect marriage
by voting 'Yes' on Prop. 2, which is the only way to ensure that marriage will
be protected from redefinition by activist state judges."
The group sending out the controversial messages is a
registered political action committee, or PAC, called Save Texas Marriage.
On its website, the group contends the language in
Proposition 2 would effectively annul all marriage in the state. . . .
The amendment doesn't say the state may not recognize
"marriage," Shackelford says, it prohibits only attempts to create a
status similar or identical "to marriage."
He points out that other states, such as California,
have "created copy-cats of marriage and just called it by a different name
and thus avoided [the] constitutional marriage amendment passed by its
people."
The Texas amendment does not allow this, he maintains.
To read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47039
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5. School Permits Prayer After Previously Prohibiting Student
Prayer Rally
By Jim Brown
October 28, 2005
(AgapePress) - Christian students in New Jersey have
chalked up a big win. After initially being barred from holding a "See You
at the Pole" (SYATP) prayer rally, a group of middle school has been
permitted to hold a "do-over" prayer event.
Last month, administrators at Brackman Middle School
in Barnegat, New Jersey, told three students they were "mixing church and
state" by praying before school in front of the campus flagpole. The
students were then ordered to stop praying and move around the corner so other
students arriving at school on buses would not see them praying.
However, after attorney Jeremy Tedesco with the
Alliance Defense Fund stepped in and threatened to file a federal lawsuit
against the school, Brackman school officials changed their position, allowing
the students' to go ahead with their "do over" prayer gathering. He
notes that the student-led prayer assembly ended up being a huge success,
garnering more attention and participation than it would have had the students
been allowed to proceed with their original plans.
"The praise in all this," Tedesco says,
"is that somewhere around 20 students showed up at the make-up event. It
was heavily advertised at the school. Community members, parents, apparently
the mayor of the town, and a local radio station -- all came in support of the
kids' right to pray. So it was really a great outcome."
The pro-family attorney feels the school officials
should be applauded for doing the right thing. "ADF is happy to have been
a part of helping the school to understand what the Constitution really says
about the First Amendment rights of its students," he says. Apparently, he
notes, Brackman officials were initially unaware that the student prayer rally
was constitutional.
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/282005a.asp
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6. The Supreme Court takes up a case
involving a New Mexico sect that could be important for other minority
religions.
By Warren Richey
The Christian Science Monitor
October 31, 2005
WASHINGTON – In a case with potential important
significance for minority religious groups in America, the US Supreme Court
this week takes up a clash between the nation's drug laws and a statute
protecting religious liberty.
At issue in the case set for oral argument Tuesday is
the scope of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The law
requires the federal government to justify any measure that substantially
burdens a person's ability to practice his or her religion.
But what happens when a religious ceremony requires
consumption of a drug outlawed under the Controlled Substances Act? That is the
essence of the dispute in a case called Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita
Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal (UDV).
Although the case involves the use of drugs, how the
high court resolves the matter could have an impact on a wide array of
religious groups in the United States that depend on a robust defense of
religious liberty to practice their faith free of government interference. If
the nation's drug laws are found to trump religious protections, other laws
might also be applied in ways that substantially erode religious freedom, legal
analysts say.
On the other hand, if religion may be invoked to
easily bypass the nation's criminal laws, that could greatly complicate and
undermine federal law-enforcement efforts, analysts say.
To read entire article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1031/p02s02-usju.html
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7. Legal Advice to U.S. Schools: Don't Be
a Grinch About Christmas
By Jim Brown
October 25, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Christian educators group is teaming
up with a Christian legal group as part of a national campaign to warn schools
against prohibiting celebration and discussion of Christmas.
The campaign, called "Friend or Foe,"
provides education about celebrating Christmas in public schools and on public
property. For the past three years, Florida-based Liberty Counsel has conducted
the campaign, offering pro bono legal advice and defense to government entities
that do not censor Christmas, but filing suit whenever Christmas is censored.
Joining Liberty Counsel this year is the Christian
Educators Association International, which is asking its 8,000 members to be
the "eyes and ears" of the campaign. CEAI executive director Finn
Laursen says the members of his organization are being encouraged to report
incidents of religious discrimination -- specifically, attempts to censor
Christmas -- as the holiday approaches.
"We're finding that there's an increase of
adversarial attitudes really resulting in religious discrimination when it
comes to the recognition of Christmas in our public schools," Laursen
shares. "There are some schools that really believe that the holiday needs
to be sanitized out of school."
The CEAI leader says schools that willfully engage in
religious discrimination will be challenged in court by Liberty Counsel.
Contrary to what many school administrators believe, he says, Christmas is not
constitutionally "taboo" in public schools.
"The public school, because it's an arm of the
government, cannot inhibit the expression of religion," he explains.
"And we have to admit that Christmas is certainly a major part of our
culture across this nation, both by those that are faithful and also from a
secular perspective."
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/252005a.asp
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8. UK Euthanasia Update
from"Andrea Minichiello Williams"
23 October 2005
Britain is teetering on the brink of legalising
physician-assisted
suicide (PAS) and possibly also euthanasia as the
result of a powerful
campaign by pro-euthanasia factions to change the
opinion of the
public, media, politicians and (perhaps most
significantly) doctors.
Here is a review of recent events which will bring you
up to date with
the latest developments.
House of Lords Debate
The long-awaited debate on the House of Lords' Select
Committee report
on Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill
Bill took place
on 10 October. In all 73 peers took part in a debate
that started at 3pm
and finished just before midnight. Speakers were more
or less evenly
divided for and against the bill (34 for, 36 against,
3 neutral) with
the 13 Select Committee members finally showing their
individual
hands. The seven to five split in favour of a change
in the law was no
surprise to anyone who had read their report.
For: Baroness Jay, Baroness Hayman, Lord Patel, Earl
of Arran, Lord
Taverne, Lord Joffe and Baroness Thomas
Against: Lord Carlile, Lord McColl, Baroness Finlay, Lord
Turnberg and
the Bishop of St Albans
The chairman Lord Mackay once again took a neutral
position. There was
no vote on the day of the debate but the arguments put
forward will
play a major part in determining future events.
It is clear from the Lords debate that the key issues
that are driving
this debate are:
1. The belief
that autonomy should take precedence over the
sanctity of life
2. Public
opinion polls (allegedly 80% in favour)
3. The fear of
dying badly (fuelled by stories of bad experiences
and misinformation)
******
What happens now?
Lord Joffe has announced his intention to introduce a
revised bill
attempting to legalise euthanasia along the lines of
the Oregon model
(physician assisted suicide but not euthanasia) in
late October/early
November.
The bill once tabled (first reading) will proceed to a
second reading
(where there is traditionally no vote in the Lords)
and then to a
committee of the whole House where it will be further
debated and
amended before coming back to a third reading and
final vote. If it
passes this, then provided that the government grants
the bill
parliamentary time (which is likely), it will proceed
to the House of
Commons. If it successfully traverses the Commons it
will become law.
This whole process could happen in a matter of a few
months.
For more information:
Majority of doctors oppose euthanasia. Hospital Doctor
2003; 13 March
http://www.hospitaldoctor.net/hd_archive/hd_refarticle.asp?ID=10102#
UK Christian News has produced a 9 minute video on the
Assisted Dying
Bill which can be viewed on their website at
http://www.ukchristiannews.tv/
This is a good introduction to show to church groups
to bring them up
to date.
In addition the debate at the BMA annual meeting on 28
June, in which
6 Christian doctors took part, is available on the BMA
website. It lasts
just over 30 minutes and gives a more in depth
overview of the issues
and arguments on both sides. Go to:
http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/AssistedDyingDebate
High bandwidth users go to
http://www.voiceprompt.co.uk/bma/28debate_hi.wvx
Low bandwidth users go to
http://www.voiceprompt.co.uk/bma/28debate_lo.wvx
To see the Select Committee on Assisted Dying for the
Terminally Ill Bill First Report - UNITED KINGDOM PARLIAMENT:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/ldselect/ldasdy/86/8604.htm
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COMING EVENTS
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WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES IV
Meeting in Rockford, Illinois (October 23-25), a
planning committee of the World Congress of Families chose Warsaw, Poland as
the site of the 4th World Congress. The Warsaw Congress will be held in May,
2007.
The Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements, an
organization with over 130 affiliates throughout the nation, will serve as the
local host for WCF IV.
For more information: http://www.profam.org/press/thc.pr.051027.htm
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Note: The Featured
Articles excerpts are highlights of current events and
do not necessarily
represent the views of the World Family Policy Center
or Brigham Young
University.
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Newsletter created
and distributed by:
World Family Policy
Center
J. Reuben Clark Law
School
Brigham Young
University
Managing
Director: Richard Wilkins
Executive
Director: A. Scott Loveless
Newsletter Editors:
Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg
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