If you don't want to miss anything posted on the Americans For Truth website, sign up for our "Feedblitz" service that gives you a daily email of every new article that we post. (This service DOES NOT replace the regular email list.) To sign up for the Feedblitz service, click here.
Our good friend and AFTAH Board Matt Barber just posted the following open letter to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence–concerning proposed changes to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act–on his excellent website, Barbwire.com. Is it actually possible that we will see a pro-family “religious freedom” law turned into a homosexual “special rights” law in Republican-run Indiana? Let’s pray that this does not happen and that Gov. Pence will not capitulate to the demands of an intolerant Sin Lobby. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera
_____________________________
Dear Governor Pence,
Well, I guess “the fix is in.”
Time is short so I’ll be very direct. This past week or so you’ve experienced the visceral wrath of the organized left, spearheaded by homosexual activist extremists. You’re not used to it. We Christian advocates for religious liberty are. While their bark is loud, shrill and obnoxious, I assure you, it’s much worse than their bite. We are witnessing governance by mob rule. It’s tyranny of the minority and you’re letting it happen.
With all due respect, sir, show some moxie, would you? It wasn’t broken and the alleged “fix” that the Indiana legislature, at your request, has proposed to the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), will destroy the law beyond all recognition. In fact, it will turn it into the “RFDA” – the “Religious Freedom Destruction Act.” No bill at all would have been better than this anti-Christian, sexual anarchist disaster.
What was intended as a shield to every American’s First Amendment-guaranteed religious liberty, as proposed, will now become a sword used to destroy it. What was designed to defend people of faith against being discriminated against and bullied will, instead, codify anti-religious discrimination and bullying into law. It will unconstitutionally force people of faith, under penalty of law, to affirmatively violate their sincerely held religious conscience. It has been turned into a weapon that compels people of faith to disobey God or face government sanction.
This is unacceptable.
As the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer correctly notes, “The revised language has now been released, and it’s even worse than we thought. The new language forces Christian bakers to bake cakes in violation of their faith and conscience. Gov. Pence tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, and he broke it. The ‘cure’ in this case is far worse than the non-existent disease. Gov. Pence must veto this misbegotten piece of legislation.”
“It also appears that under the changes released today, it may be impossible for a business or individual to even make a claim under RFRA [the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act] of an infringement of their religious liberty in many parts of Indiana.”–Micah Clark, AFA-Indiana
Micah Clark, executive director of American Family Association of Indiana–and a wonderful pro-family advocate who does outstanding work in the Hoosier State–sent the following e-letter to his constituents today–after new proposed language surfaced amending the state’s new religious freedom law:
________________
Friends,
As you know, over the weekend, Governor Mike Pence began discussing a clarification of Indiana Senate Bill 101. This was due to the mass misinformation and fear campaign mobilized against it and against our entire state. He did not ask for a change to a newly enacted statute which has been proven, established and non-controversial language for 22 years.
The actions taken by the Indiana General Assembly do not clarify our Religious Freedom Restoration Act’s purposes or goals. Our legal advisors tell us that it actually changes our law in a way that could now erode religious freedom across Indiana. If this revised law does not adequately protect religious liberty for all, it is not really a religious freedom act.
What is worse, unlike our current law, this new language’s impact is something upon which few attorneys or legal scholars will likely agree.
We have also been advised that it is possible that the proposed changes may no longer protect a company like Hobby Lobby from participation in abortion matters. One of the primary motivations behind SB 101 was to protect the rights of conscience for business owners regarding their beliefs about abortion.
It also appears that under the changes released today, it may be impossible for a business or individual to even make a claim under RFRA of an infringement of their religious liberty in many parts of Indiana.
On the positive side there is some language left which protects Hoosiers from a government action against their religious beliefs.
We understand that legislators have been threatened with significant economic harms and bullied in many ways. We understand that Indiana has been unfairly harmed by blatant lies and a misinformation campaign around something for which RFRA laws have never been successfully used. We do not blame legislators for wanting to protect Indiana from a mob mentality. political opportunism, and mass hysteria.
AFA of Indiana is asking Governor Pence to veto these changes for the above reasons and because they went far beyond what he asked the legislature to do. If you would like to contact the Governor’s office, you can call 317-232-4567.
Thank you, and please continue to pray for this matter, our leaders, and our great state.
Condemns VP Biden, who tells “gay” group: “You’re never going to be able to eliminate the bigots”; Rob Bell embraces sin-based “marriage”
It was a pleasure to sit down March 13, 2015 with Jim Schneider of WVCY America on VCY’s TV-30 program “In Focus.” The theme of the show was the “Ingraining of Homosexuality in Society.”In Focus reaches Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin. Here is the Vimeo link, and some of the topics we discussed. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
2:00: Upcoming (April 28) Supreme Court hearing of same-sex “marriage” cases. I call a ruling nationalizing “gay marriage” the “Roe v. Wade” of the homosexual issue.
4:14 – Should Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, who officiated at homosexual “weddings,” recuse themselves from SCOTUS case? [more time breakdowns follow jump and video below…]
5:45 – Insidious comparison of the Black civil rights movement to the homosexual revolution; I bring up the late Ken Hutcherson, a Black preacher (and former NFL lineman), who said: “Don’t compare your sin to my skin”;
6:56 – Comments on Vice President Biden’s castigation of social conservatives at an HRC fundraiser: “You’re never going to be able to eliminate the bigots.”
12:45 – Amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging the (national) legalization of homosexuality-based “marriage” signed by 379 corporations (many major companies like Aetna, Amazon.com, AT&T, Delta Airlines and JP Morgan Chase–but also small firms and homosexual-owned businesses and organizations).
26:30 – Discuss the Republican Party and homosexual “marriage” and an amicus brief to the Supreme Court signed by pro-homosexual-“marriage” Republicans.
32:50 – Renegade evangelical churches and leaders like Rob Bell who are embracing “marriage” based on homosexuality. At 34:30, incredible footage of Bell’s interview with Oprah in which he and his wife embrace counterfeit same-sex “marriage.”
This America’s Survival interview with America’s Survival founder Cliff Kincaid and Jerry Kenney was conducted March 25, 2015. This aired live on AS’s Roku channel [see more AS episodes on YouTube HERE]. AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera discusses Republican politics and the homosexual agenda, and the escalating saturation of U.S. culture with pro-immorality messages. Specifically, around the 15-minute mark in the video, they discuss the ABC Family network’s promotion of a homosexual “boy romance” between two 13-year-old male characters on the show “The Fosters.” LaBarbera will be joining Kincaid and Barbwire’s Matt Barber for a press event Tuesday April 21 in at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to discuss the April 28 Supreme Court review of homosexual “marriage” cases that has the potential of producing a ruling that could nationalize same-sex “marriage.” After the video is Kincaid’s description of it.
America’s Survival description:
Will Jeb Bush Turn the GOP Gay?
Published on Mar 31, 2015
The homosexual movement has control of President Obama and the Democratic party. Now it is infiltrating the Republican Party. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth discusses the 2016 Republican presidential candidates, what the Supreme Court might do on homosexual marriage, and whether the homosexualization of America can be stopped. We also discuss the Marxist origins of the gay rights movement.
LGBT Activist Mocks the Lord: above is a Tweet sent out just before Christmas by influential Indiana “gay” activist Bil Browning. Secular leftists mock Christians and the Christian faith by referring to Jesus Christ as “Jeebus.” AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responded on Twitter to Browning’s bigotry. See full Twitter exchange HERE.
“If government can compel a Christian or Orthodox Jewish businessman to participate in a ceremony that attaches sinful homosexuality to “marriage,” then the State can compel ANY American citizen or institution to violate ANY of their cherished beliefs. That is the essence of tyranny.”
In the wake of a pro-LGBT, media-driven campaign against Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Gov. Mike Pence and leaders of the Indiana legislature are backtracking to appease the liberal political mob that has cynically recast the law as the “License to Discriminate.”
Good people everywhere are now intimidated from speaking plain truths about the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is not. The distortions and media hype attacking Indiana’s religious freedom law are obfuscating some key fundamentals in this debate. It is not the purpose here to dig into the “legaleze” about the law (for that, see this Reason.com piece) but rather to expose the core hypocrisy of pro-LGBT progressives on “discrimination.”
Homosexual activists and their sycophants in the media (e.g., CNN’s homosexual anchor/activist Don Lemon) are cunningly building upon their distortions of the RFRA to demand a pro-homosexual special-rights law in the Hoosier State.
It would be the cruelest of ironies if the media-driven backlash against Indiana’s religious freedom law were used to push through a statewide “gay rights” law in Indiana. Such pro-homosexual laws and corporate policies have been the engine driving PRO-LGBT DISCRIMINATION against people of faith for decades—all in the sweet-sounding name of “equality.” For example, the “gay” movement’s bullying of the Boy Scouts of America began with a lawsuit that relied upon New Jersey’s pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” law.
The pro-family movement has long referred to so-called nondiscrimination laws based on “sexual orientation” and ”gender identity” as “special rights” because genuine civil rights are not based on disordered, immoral sexual behavior and gender confusion. These Orwellian laws and corporate policies actually foment discrimination in the name of “non-discrimination.” That’s liberalism for you.
Our cherished American freedoms come ultimately from God, as recognized by our national charter, the Declaration of Independence, which appeals to “Nature and Nature’s God.” Homosexual behavior–which cannot produce life–is against both. Witness the grossly disproportionate STD rates linked to “men who have sex with men.”
It is ludicrous to posit “civil rights” based on homosexuality and gender rebellion as “constitutional.” But it is downright un-American to argue—as many LGBT activists do—that in a nation founded by people fleeing religious oppression, “rights” based on sexual sin should trump Americans’ freedom to uphold biblical sexual morality and real marriage between a man and a woman.
The LGBT Lobby and the media have raised the issue of potential discrimination in Indiana. Let’s talk about discrimination.
With the rise of “gay power” in the West has come an abundance of victims of pro-homosexual Political Correctness. All over the world, Christians and moral-minded citizens have been victimized by a liberal, elitist pro-homosexual orthodoxy that increasingly brooks no dissent. The media have trivialized the zero-sum conflict between “gay rights” and freedom of conscience as being merely about wedding cake bakers–but the escalating “LGBTyranny” goes far beyond that:
