Do you know what your child is reading in school?

In one Fairfax County public high school, reading books with graphic depictions of gang rape, molestation, bestiality, and violence toward children without notifying parents is normal operating procedure. Laura Murphy, a parent of students at Lake Braddock Secondary School, was outraged when she found out what her son was being required to read for his AP English class. Toni Morrison’s book Beloved contains many scenes and references that most would consider inappropriate for a high school class. Ironically, when Murphy attempted to email direct quotes from the book to the State Board of Education, the firewall blocked the email due to its graphic content. Nevertheless, high school students are required to read it.

But Lake Braddock Secondary School is not the only school with inappropriate required reading. A New Jersey school district required, until outraged parents demanded otherwise recently, that high school sophomores read a book that contained graphic lesbian sex scenes. In Knoxville, Tennessee, high school freshmen are expected to read a book that encourages risqué sexual behavior. And in Fayetteville, Arkansas, third graders are being required to read the book It’s Perfectly Normal, which contains explicit sexual images. Clearly, this is not an isolated problem. But whenever books such as these are challenged by parents, the American Library Association cries that removing these books from required reading lists is equal to censorship.

However, Murphy and other parents are not seeking to have these books banned although that is often how the media reports it; they merely would like students to be given an opt-out to such books and for parents to be given advanced notification if books with mature content are to be read in the class. Opt-outs are offered for Family Life Education and teachers must send home permission slips if an R-rated movie is to be shown in a class. Books should not be treated differently.

Although her attempts over the past year to make the curriculum more family-friendly have so far been denied, Murphy has pointed out that SB 908 (a recently passed law going into effect on July 1, 2013) gives parents the fundamental right to direct their child’s education. After her case was rejected by the school, local school board, and the superintendent, eight members of the County Board of Education read the book and chose to let it remain a part of the curriculum, according to The Washington Examiner. Laura Murphy’s next step is to take her case to the State Board of Education. Right now, the Board is gathering other opinions on the issue and will discuss this at their next meeting on June 27^th. Email them today and ask the Board of Education to provide transparency, consistency, and choice through their policy decisions.  Ask them, similar to how they handle Family Life Education, to allow alternatives for students so that they are not forced to violate their conscience.  You can email the Board at BOE@doe.virginia.gov.

 

*This post was written as an alert for The Family Foundation

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Who Cares about Beyonce?

Everyone who watched the Super Bowl halftime show (which, is, almost everyone) watched Beyonce sing and dance in front of millions. Or, in my opinion, pretend to sing and strut around in a barely existent outfit while flipping around her voluminous locks. Afterward, a heated discussion on Facebook took place over whether her performance was good or not. People on both sides, myself included, passionately defended their opinion. That is the great thing about America. We can have opinions. And each opinion is valid until it is examined. 

But imagine if Christians were as passionate about defending biblical truth as they are in arguments about useless matters such as Beyonce. Imagine how different our country would be if The Church was not silent about issues that actually matter. Would homosexuality be as socially acceptable as it is now? I doubt it. What about abortion? Would political correctness have such a strangling a grip on our nation? (Since when was it a crime to call a Christmas tree just that, a Christmas tree?) Would the government be writing laws that purposely infringe on religious liberties and break down the wall between church and state by telling churches what they can and cannot do? No, I think our country would be very different. Christians have God on their side. The problem is, we choose to not acknowledge that. We choose to watch performances like Beyonce's and instead of criticizing the culture from which it springs, we shrug our shoulders and say "Well, she can sing and dance. Who cares that she looked like she was a Victoria's Secret advertisement?"

I have a few theories as to why we as Christians aren't speaking out as we should. First, we want to love people. God calls us to show love to everyone around us and we think that if we criticize, we aren't being loving. However, is continuing to let someone live in the sin of a homosexual relationship really being loving? Isn't that the same as accepting and loving the sinner and the sin? Tolerance and love are not the same things. Beyonce's performance may have been targeted to the mainly male audience, but should we tolerate it or love the men in our lives and want better for them than that? Second, we are afraid of offending people. We want to be the nice guys. Well, Neville Chamberlain just wanted to make Hitler happy and guess what happened? Just a little thing called World War II. Besides,the nice guy thing isn't really working. Everyday, the secular left accuses Christians of being hate-mongers, bigots, anti-woman, etc., etc. If those are the reactions we are getting from not speaking out, why are we risking our liberty by staying silent? The third theory: some feel like voicing their opinion is equivalent to forcing their opinion onto others. Like I said earlier, it's OK to have an opinion in America. And if that opinion lines up with Biblical teaching, then it should be heard! How can other people be truly "open-minded" if they can't hear our opinions? 

I recently had the opportunity to hear Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council talk about this very issue. His point was that America is never going to change unless our churches start acting. Until we start doing what we are called to do, until we stand up and defend Biblical principles in our culture and in our government, everything will simply continue getting worse. The hope is that there were 90 pastors in attendance that day and the Family Foundation hosts this event every year. (By the way, if you know of a pastor talking about the issues in Fredericksburg, I would love to know about them! I mean that sincerely.) Just because the rest of society approves of something does not mean that it's acceptable. Just because Beyonce may be able to hold a tune does not mean she should be held up as a role model. 

Our government wants to silence us. Now is not a time for complacency about the issues that actually matter. Wake up. 

Lessons from Lincoln

Along with being thankful for my wonderful family and every other blessing in my life, I'm also very grateful for movies. Films are incredibly good at both providing an escape from reality at the same time as educating the viewer about reality. On this Thanksgiving, as we have a habit of doing on free days, my mom and I went to the movies, this time to see Spielberg's "Lincoln." The timing of the release of this movie could not have been better. In a time when many Americans are wondering if the country is lost in days where people can make more money on unemployment than from a minimum wage job, "Lincoln" offers several lessons on why it's not over and how it can be changed.

1) Stand by your Principles.
        Lincoln didn't have to end slavery to end the war. The South was spent; they were running out of materials and the number of living soldiers was dwindling. Both parties in Washington agreed that ending slavery was just going to cause more problems than solve them. Lincoln, however  would not compromise until the Constitution said that slavery was abolished. Yet, Abraham Lincoln is considered by most to be one of America's greatest presidents. How can that be? I hear from the media that gridlock is Washington's biggest problem (*note the sarcasm*), that Republicans just need to embrace amnesty and abortion and higher taxes. Most people in the 1860's told the Radical Republicans that they should just calm down with the slavery rhetoric. If the likes of Thaddeus Stevens and other Republicans like him had backed down, we might still have slavery. If Lincoln had decided to end the war before the 13th Amendment had passed, it never would have had enough votes to be accepted. Don't ever embrace someone else's principles just to make peace. Peace isn't always what is best for the future of the country.

2) Don't Despair.
        One fact that the movie highlighted was Lincoln's ability to tell a joke in the darkest of moments. Early in the movie, Lincoln goes to visit a regiment on the front lines. While talking to several soldiers about their time in the army, the President tells them that his past three barbers had hung themselves after not being able to conquer Lincoln's hair and one of them had even left a pair of scissors to Lincoln in his will. The President of the United States during one of the darkest times in American history always had a joke ready at hand. It's very easy to become afraid and uncertain in times such as these, but crawling under the blankets doesn't change anything. There is always hope, even if it's just the knowledge that everything will work according to God's will. Lincoln held onto the hope that slavery could be ended once and for all. He did not go and hide in despair even though the war raged on his doorstep. He hoped and he kept fighting.

3) Politics: Use it to your purposes.
          Look, I know I know I'm odd for being my age and interested in politics. But as painful a fact as it may be to some, politics runs our world. Lincoln did not receive the needed amount of votes for his amendment out of the goodness of Congressmens' hearts. He and his cabinet pulled off crafty political wheeling and dealing. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not advocating political corruption. But I am saying that politics is a powerful tool and Christians shouldn't be afraid to use it. It gave us the Bill of the Rights; it abolished slavery; it gave women the vote. Christians need to learn how to be politically saavy. Goodness knows, the other side has been working on this for generations with so much success that if we don't become experts immediately, it's going to be difficult to ever win another political battle. Lincoln knew how to use the political system to accomplish his goals and yet his nickname is "Honest Abe." We should never be corrupt but we should also never be amateurs.

4) Thankful to be an American
        There aren't many countries who have ever had the opportunity to elect a man such as Abraham Lincoln. Yet, things work a bit differently here in America than in other countries. We can change our fate and I am grateful for that. God's plan for our country is set, but we don't know what it is. Every election has the potential to shift our direction. Americans are not voiceless.

These are just a few of the many wonderful aspects of this movie. If you haven't seen it yet, obviously I encourage you to do so. And if not for the lessons it teaches, then simply for the spectacular acting job done by Daniel Day-Lewis, or the fact that it highlights Virginia's beautiful Capitol Building or simply because you enjoy truly, well-done films. Maybe while you're out shopping tomorrow, you can sit back and take a break in a movie theater watching Lincoln.

Time to Save America: A Call to Action

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Well friends, we came to a crossroads and chose which road to take. And our choice grieves me to no end. I never thought I'd see the day when America would choose free stuff over liberty. We have forgotten who we are. My own state of Virginia has gone blue now for two presidential elections in a row. Virginia, the home of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, patriots who believed in a country where men were created equal and their status in life was not based on what family they were born into or what country they were from. Where people should have the chance to make of themselves what they dreamed of. No country had ever believed in ideals such as these before. Life to the original patriots was what you chose to make of it, not what the government told you was best. That use to mean you work hard if you want success. Now it means you take as much as you can get from the government. It use to mean you search for the truth and do the research. Now it means you either listen to what the mainstream media tells or you live under a giant rock and are happy not knowing what is happening in the world. And it's not as if these men always agreed with each other. Jefferson and Adams would have been hard-pressed to be more opposite from each other. But there is a difference between those two men, who differed on how the Constitution that they helped write was to be interepreted, and the huge worldview differece between traditional American ideals and the policies we have come to accept in recent years. God has shed his grace on this great nation, but we have squandered it. We have made government our god instead of Him.

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

But do not give up hope. Do not forget the fires we have been put through in history. We survived the Civil War and came out of it as one nation. Americans weathered the Great Depression and went on to help the allies win in WWII. The riots of 1918 and 1919 led many to belive America was over then. We are not beaten yet. But it will be a long, up-hill climb out of this mess. I believe God has a reason for the outcome of this election and I believe part of that reason is to make America stronger under fire and tyranny. He did it before, before 1776. The colonists begged the King for years and years and years before they finally decided to declare independence. They did not want to turn their backs on their Mother country. It may be years and years and years before we finally say as a nation they we have had enough of the liberal and socialist lies and tyranny. But we must hold out, as they did. The colonists knew something had to give, something had to change. And it wasn't going to happen unless they worked for it. God can't use us if we give up. We have to be willing to fight to be used as soldiers. Because this is a war. The election was just one battle. This is a war about freedom, about religious and economic liberty. "Till selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free!"

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

My favorite verse of this anthem: the patriot dream that sees beyond the years, that doesn't ever give up. The cities that will one day gleam again despite our fears and sadness in the wake of this election. Christians are the salt of the earth. Salt preserves, that's its job. Christians are called to preserve biblical values and to spread the truth. America was once the hope of the world and can be again if we fight for it. Whatever is suppose to happen will happen and we must have peace in that, I know. But if we have a chance at bringing about a change for the better, why not strive for it?

So what can you, as an individual, do about all this? First off, get informed if you aren't already. And that means stop solely watching MSNBC and CNN and other news networks because they aren't telling you the truth. Do your own reserach without the assistance of the media. Learn what Obama's healthcare law actually contains now that it will be implemented. Learn who it effects and how you can prepare for it. Learn about the Benghazi debacle. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that don't know anything happened in Libya. So figure out why it is a bigger scandal than Watergate or the Lewinsky affair. Think through the potential consequences of having a president who finds partial-birth abortion perfectly acceptable and who believes everyone should have access to free birth-control, instead of just buying it at Walmart with their own money. Know what true liberty is and why being constantly dependent on the government isn't freedom. Basically, learn how to articulate your values. We can't win unless we teach people why Obama's policies are so ruinous. And if Conservatives themselves can't articulate it, who will? Second, get involved. Fight for something. Don't be a silent bystander. Not being interested in politics is no excuse to not take action. And third: help your neighbor. Teach people by example the difference between being "saved" by the government and getting a helping hand from your neighbor. It doesn't matter what you do, but it's important you do something. To continue being a united nation, we must be willing to help each other. And here's a piece of good news: Obama did not win by a landslide. 49% of us didn't vote for him. We are not alone. But we must unite.

America is a beautiful experiment. Land of the free, home of the brave. The place where people have the courage and the freedom to take a stand for what they believe, especially when they don't know if they will be successful. But if we do nothing, we will fail. If we continue to accept ignorance and lies, we will fail without a doubt. If you weren't involved before, now is the time to act.

 "I wish none of this had happened," said Frodo. But Gandalf's replied, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

(Get ready to see blogs from me pop up more often. I think it's time for real education to return to America.)

Voting for a Third-Party = Voting for Obama

In 48 hours, I will either be booking my one-way ticket to New Zealand, or I will be having something akin to a Super Bowl party, celebrating a victory for America. However, at this point in the political season, most people are understandably fed up with politics. But I've noticed a disturbing trend growing out of this: support for third party candidates such as Gary Johnson and (in Virginia) Virgil Goode. I understand that voting independent gives people a sense of breaking away from the two-party system. It also lets them stand up for values they actually support rather than just voting to get someone else out of office. But let me explain  why this actually ends up hurting the case for freedom (at least in this election.)

First of all, a third party guy isn't going to win. We all know this. It's either going to be Romney or Obama. If you believe Obama is ruining the economy, infringing on religious freedom, and promoting values that just aren't good for America, the goal is to get rid of him. Take it or leave it, but that's the truth. And if you believe that's true of Obama and you vote for a third party, you're actually voting for Obama. Taking away a vote from Romney if you disagree with the current President is a vote for Obama. That's just how politics works.

Second, there is no such thing as the perfect candidate, so stop looking for him. No one is Jesus, ok? I don't agree with Mitt Romney 100%. There are a lot of things I wish were true of Romney but they aren't. However, I don't think I agree with Obama on a single issue. Here is where voting for the "lesser of two evils" comes in. Like I said, I understand why independents don't like to do this. But isn't voting for the lesser of two evils actually voting for less evil? Think about it. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone is capable of evil. Isn't the most we can strive for really just less evil? And if you can manage to get less evil in the White House than what we have now, it makes sense to do what you can to accomplish that. Isn't the guy who is pro-life in 99% of instances less evil than the guy who supports all forms of abortions, including partial-birth and gender based abortions? Isn't the guy who believes in getting America back on track financially less evil than the guy who plans to spend even more money because he believes in weakening America? And let's not even get on the subject of Libya....a President who knowingly lets an Ambassador and former Seals die is not good for America. A vote for the guy who isn't even in the equation of "two evils" is a vote for the more evil of the two.

Third: no, it's not a wasted vote. And that's the problem. I explained in an earlier post why voting is important in regards to the electoral college. To summarize: the person who gets the most votes in a certain state is who the electoral college votes for that state will go to. So that means that votes for third-party candidates detract from Romney or Obama. For example, Virgil Goode only needs 10,000 votes and Obama will get Virginia's 13 electoral votes. That's how close this race is. And yet, Goode's views are far closer to Romney's than they are Obama's. But the third-party guy still isn't going to win. So what do you accomplish by voting for him? It drives me up a wall when I hear people say "I don't agree with Romney on some issues, so I'm voting for *third-party candidate of choice.*" People, now is the time to wake up and smell those proverbial roses! Our country is in too dire of a crisis for that kind of wishy-washy thinking. Each election is a battle and that's not the way to get your principals in the White House. There are some elections where it's fine to vote third-party. But there is too much at stake here.

I'm not often an advocate for compromising on issues. But in order to move forward in the way of politics and to promote our values, we sometimes don't have a choice. Small steps forward towards getting America back on track are far better than huge steps in the wrong direction. By voting third party, people do exactly what they always complain about Congress doing: not working together. This is probably the most important election of our lifetime. Don't let America keep going in the wrong direction because you're not willing to budge at all. Vote, please vote, please exercise the right many countries would love to have, but vote for someone who can actually win and make a difference in the country. A vote for Romney is a vote for freedom.

Fashion and Politics

I don't know if you've noticed the recent clothing trend or not, but in my humble opinion, it looks like clothing designers believe the best outfit is the one that makes the least amount of sense. It almost looks like the country is in a cloth crisis because manakins and models can be seen sporting blue plaid, purple argyle, and yellow polka dots - in one outfit. Fortunately, I rarely see real live human beings running around in these atrocious outfits, but when I do (and don't judge, you think this too!) the thought of "do they not own a mirror or do they really think that's attractive?" always crosses my mind. Now, I don't claim to be any sort of fashionista. But when something looks terrible, it just looks terrible. The situation has become so appalling that I have started a collection of sightings of terrible get-ups. Articles from my collection include things such as these masterpieces:

( I couldn't decide if the employees were having a bit too much fun or if these were a meticulously planned part of the men's department.)

Or, my personal favorite:

And yes, that's actually a seperate shirt with matching pants, found in the main entrance to Macy's

 

Like I said before, I don't know many (or, really, any) people who would wear, much less spend money, on any of these outfits. So how do these stores stay in business? Because there are some of us who are willing to look at the rack hiding in the back that has any sort of clothing worth wearing. The good options are there but they are't being advertised.  The motto my mom and I find ourselves saying more and more these days: just because they sell it, doesn't mean you have to buy it.

 

What's even more appalling is that this trend of advertising terrible outfits is branching into the world of politics. Turn on just about any news outlet today and you will find yourself faced with a whole slew of terrible ideas being advertised. For example: Republicans don't care about women's health. Well, most logical people would see this as very illogical because many women are Republicans. So what, they don't care about their own health? Maybe, the issues behind this particular conversation have a whole lot more to do about unborn children than about women. But that's not what's being adverstied.

Another popular thing for sale: More gun control laws will prevent events such as the Colorado movie theatre shooting and the Virginia Tech massacre. But I think the more logical train of thought would be: people who want to kill other people probably don't care about any laws in the first place, much less laws that would prevent them from doing what they want to do. But again, logical isn't what's trendy.

And, of course,this one: Evolution is technically a theory, but there's no need to teach any other theories because we all know evolution is actually a fact......to the unknowing biology consumer in college, this might look good. But if you actually look into it, this is indoctrination, not education.
 

 

These are all fairly broad issues, I know, but they are all presented differently from what is actually true. So who says fashion and politics aren't related? Dig into the issues and find the truth behind them. Go look though the racks in the back to find the non-atrocious outfits. It takes a little more work than just accepting what you're told, but it'll pay off in the end.

 

Apathetic America?

America has problems. Let’s just get that out of our system right. Gas prices are too high; there’s too much traffic; it’s hot in the summer; people don’t know how to drive; Americans eat too much fast food; we don’t have enough Chick-fil-a’s; politicians are lazy; politicians spend too much energy spending money. Let’s admit it: the list of things we complain about in regards to our country goes on and on and on.  But I’ve noticed a new one recently (and maybe it’s not new, it’s just been brought to my attention) that disturbs me. The “our country is going downhill fast and since my vote doesn’t count, I’m not gonna vote or pay any attention to politics.”

Now, don’t take this too personally, but that’s one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard. That’s like saying “I think my freezer is on the fritz, but since I don’t know anything about how freezers work, I’m just gonna wait until all my food has gone bad to do anything about it.” I think most would acknowledge that that scenario is dumb, so why do they say the same thing about the state of our country?

Well first of all, there seems to be this rumor floating around that your vote doesn’t count because of this mysterious group of people called the Electoral College. This is a myth. Each state has a certain number of representatives in the Electoral College, kind of like how each state has a number of U.S. Representatives and Senators. A presidential candidate only receives the votes from a state’s Electoral College members if a candidate has received a majority of the popular votes in that state. For example, if a majority of Virginian’s vote for Romney this November, Romney will receive Virginia’s Electoral College votes. (I’m sorry if none of that was new to you). A candidate must have a majority of the Electoral College votes to win.

So you see, your vote actually does count. You are no longer allowed to make that excuse for not being involved.

Another rumor I’ve heard: one person can’t change anything when faced with the whole government. Well, that’s true if that person really does believe that. But just look at world-changers in history. John Adams, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., just to name a few. They each had a cause that they chose to stand by. They didn’t plan on being world-changers;  it just happened because they fought for what they believed in. Become informed, find a cause, and stand by it. Don't wait until election day rolls around and vote for the guy with the cooler sounding name.

Just because America has a few (well, a lot) of problems right now, doesn’t mean she isn’t worth saving. Yes, we are a katrillion dollars in debt. Yes, there are quite a few politicians who never should’ve been given office. But the only way to fix any of that is to pay attention and get involved.

The moment Americans become apathetic about politics is the moment we lose our country. If you wait for the freezer to break completely, it’s a lot harder to replace all the food and get a new freezer than to try and turn things around beforehand.  Let’s work on fixing things now before it’s too late.