Tebow to attend national prayer breakfast

Tim Tebow — the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who will appear in a pro-life ad during the Super Bowl — will attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, his agent tells POLITICO.

Asked if Tebow will speak at the breakfast, his agent, Susan Vanderlinde, said, “Yes, I believe he is.”

President Obama and several lawmakers plan to attend the breakfast.

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Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad: an astonishingly bold stand

CSM

The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback says he stands up for what he believes. Even so, the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad against abortion threatens to politicize ‘Super Sunday’ and turn some fans and NFL coaches against him.

By Patrik Jonsson

Atlanta

In a historic career at the University of Florida, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow has kept his faith and his convictions confined mostly to a few square inches beneath his eyes: Every Saturday, he would write a Biblical citation on his eye black.

Now, at the very moment when his hope of becoming a pro football quarterback hangs in the balance, Tim Tebow is taking on perhaps the single most divisive topic in America – abortion – in an advertisement set to air during the single most-watched television program of the year: the Super Bowl.

For a handsome and humble young man, who has become revered throughout much of the South for his devoutness as well as his on-field skill, it is an astonishingly bold decision. In the 30-second ad against abortion, he will speak from his own experience of how his mother did not abort him despite medical advice to do so.

Abortion-rights groups are already calling for the ad’s removal, saying that the group behind the ad is “anti-woman” and “anti-equality.” Online chatter is expressing an unease about Tebow’s willingness to infuse Super Bowl Sunday – an apolitical American rite – with politics. And, perhaps most concerning for Tebow himself, pro football teams already skeptical of his ability to transition to the National Football League might see this as further reason to avoid him on draft day.

“I do stand up for what I believe,” Tebow told Sports Illustrated last summer. “And at least you can respect that.”

Tebow’s story

Raised on a farm outside Jacksonville, Fla., by the son of an evangelist preacher and a mom who home-schooled him, Tebow is an amalgam of charismatic leader, world-class athlete, and devout Christian Southern boy. His faith resonates among fans in the Deep South.

But by targeting the Super Bowl, his “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ad ranges far beyond the familiar confines of the conservative South. Fans and coaches in the NFL might resent him for pushing a cultural message on a day usually reserved for quarterback matchups and halftime extravaganzas.

“We’re going down a road here that is filled with potholes, moral and otherwise,” writes Orlando Sentinel sports columnist George Diaz, suggesting that the ad could lead to more advocacy ads, which Super Bowl broadcaster CBS has said it will consider.

The ad, funded by the Focus on the Family organization, is expected to tell the story of Tebow and his mother, Pam. Ill while pregnant with Tim, Pam refused suggestions to abort her son. Those who have seen the ad describe it as “uplifting.”

“I asked God for a preacher, and he gave me a quarterback,” Tebow’s dad, Bob, has famously said about the trying pregnancy.

The appropriate venue?

But various groups, including the National Organization for Women, have called for CBS to withdraw the ad. They say that both the ad’s advocacy content, as well as the group behind it are unacceptable. So far, CBS has said it intends to run the ad.

“This un-American hate doesn’t have a place in this all-American pastime,” Kierra Johnson, executive director of Choice USA, told Fox News.

Tebow has for years had to walk the line between the conviction of his faith and open proselytizing. But the ad comes at a crossroads for Tebow. Professional scouts have said Tebow’s throwing motion and skill-set are poorly suited for the NFL, and his preparations for the upcoming Senior Bowl, which offers coaches a first up-close look at college prospects, haven’t gone well so far this week.

“The anti-abortion ad that he’s in that will possibly run during the Super Bowl will likely create an uproar for him as well that some teams might not want to get involved in,” writes Mark Miller on Yahoo! Sports.

Yet it is the timing of his ad – and not necessarily the content – that could knock Tebow down a few notches among NFL fans. Indeed, a May 2009 Gallup poll found that, for the first time since the poll began in 1995, more Americans are anti-abortion than pro-abortion rights. But timing is everything.

“There are going to be about 100 million of us who won’t be happy for 30 seconds of the Super Bowl,” writes CBS Sports’ Gregg Doyel. “I’m not complaining about the ad because it’s anti-abortion and I’m not. I’m complaining about the ad because it’s pro-politics. And I’m not. Not on Super Sunday.”

Joel Osteen Prays for Houston’s First Openly Gay Mayor

CHRISTIAN POST

By Lillian Kwon

Globally recognized pastor Joel Osteen has been drawing some flak from the press and the public in the past few months over his comments on homosexuality.

His remarks last year on “The View” and “Larry King Live” that “homosexuality is not God’s best” drew fire from the gay rights community and from Christians for avoiding to identify the behavior as a sin.

More recently, his participation in the inauguration of Houston’s first openly gay mayor has also drawn some – but less fiery – attention.

Pastor of America’s largest church, Osteen was invited to offer the opening prayer at the inauguration of Houston’s elected city officials on Monday. While praying for the 14-member City Council, he also specifically thanked God for the new mayor, Annise Parker, a partnered lesbian.

“She’s our mayor. Joel doesn’t view Annise through a gay lens,” Don Iloff, Jr., spokesman for Lakewood Church in Houston, told The Christian Post. “He sees her as a person.”

And the Bible instructs believers to pray for and respect those who govern us, he added.

“If you ask Joel he’ll tell you ‘when I can pray at an event over government leaders and in Jesus’ name it’s hard to resist,’” Iloff said. Osteen prayed for the previous mayor, Bill White, at his inauguration.

The spokesman also pointed out that Parker has never pushed or highlighted any kind of gay agenda during her time in government and during her campaign.

“She’s an all business kind of gal,” he said.

During the swearing-in ceremony Monday, the former city controller addressed the economy, public safety and education. She also briefly addressed the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community saying, “I feel your excitement and your joy, your apprehension and your longing for acceptance. I will gladly carry you forward. But today is simply one step toward a tomorrow of greater justice,” according to the Houston Chronicle.

If Parker begins pushing a homosexual agenda, Iloff said Lakewood Church and Pastor Osteen are likely to distance themselves from her.

“Annise says she’s a believer. Let her stand before God; that’s kind of where Joel is,” Iloff noted. “He’s not going to tell homosexuals they can’t come to our church. If the Holy Spirit convicts them, then they’ll change.”

Osteen does not affirm homosexual behavior. Though the pastor himself has never specifically called it a “sin,” his spokesman Iloff says they believe homosexuality is a sin. But sin is sin and homosexuality is no worse a sin than others, such as adultery, Iloff pointed out.

Lakewood Church maintains good relations with city officials, some of whom attend the megachurch. Two of the City Council members are regular Lakewood attendees. Politicians, however, are not allowed to speak from the pulpit.

Prayer to Satan during MTV telecast

ONENEWSNOW

 

By James L. Lambert

During last month’s MTV music video awards ceremony, actor Jack Black urged the audience join hands and pray to “dear dark lord Satan.” In his prayer, the actor prayed that the musicians and nominees would have “continued success in the music industry.” The awards program was broadcasted on the MTV network (a subsidiary of the Viacom Corporation) throughout the country through cable and satellite television.

The Radio City Hall audience readily acquiesced to Black’s invitation to pray to the devil. In a video posted on YouTube, Black encouraged the large audience to join in by saying, “let me see those horns.” Black, dressed in a “muscle suit” continued by asking the awards ceremony audience to join hands during “the prayer.” He then held hands with actress Leighton Meester while he prayed aloud.

Black’s prayer went basically unnoticed among most conservative and Christian media circles — perhaps because they feel the comedian was simply joking as he displayed his contempt for Christianity with the prayer invocation. In fact, this would be in keeping with Black’s previous behavior.

In 2008 he participated in a video that mocked supporters of California’s marriage initiative, Proposition 8. In commenting on that video, the Culture and Media Institute (CMI) said Black “appears as Jesus rebuking the Proposition 8 supporters while munching on a shrimp cocktail and saying that the Bible condemns eating shellfish too. Then he [Black] reels off some scripture references without context to suggest that the Bible is self-contradictory and unreliable.” In their press release (December 4, 2008), CMI described Black as “an anti-Christian bigot.”

Others claim last month’s public “prayer” to Satan was just a publicity stunt to promote the new heavy metal video game, “Brutal Legend.”

But regardless how one looks at Black’s actions, it sets a dangerous precedent. Author and King’s College professor Paul McGuire labels Black’s prayer to Satan as “just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening in our nation and in the entertainment industry.” The conservative commentator contends that “although it is hidden, Satanism is one of the fastest growing religions in America.” He adds: “We can expect to see Satanists demanding and getting the same rights as any other religion.”

Former Hollywood actor Bob Turnbull says Black’s prayer to the “dark side” was “pathetic and sick,” which shows a “heartbreakingly sad” side of Hollywood’s culture. Turnbull, also known as the “Chaplain of Waikiki,” knows a little something about Hollywood. In the ’60s and ’70s, he appeared in a number of well-known movies (The Little People, Camelot, Tora Tora Tora) and television shows (Hawaii Five-0, Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, Another Life).

Phil Magnan, director of BFamilyAdvocates.com, chimes in, wondering if Black “really knows what he is invoking or has any idea how destructive Satanism really is.”

Radio talk-show host Jesse Lee Peterson has a different take on Black’s prayer. Peterson is instead at odds with MTV, the network that hosts the awards. He says it is “disturbing that MTV continues to promote the most degenerate and base programs on its network….[They] intentionally air programming designed to seduce and corrupt the minds and hearts of America’s youth” (like Sex…with Mom and Dad, among others).

Ultimately, McGuire believes there could be some encouraging signs to come. While he affirms his belief that the level of darkness will continue, the Christian author strongly believes that simultaneously Americans will “see a revival among the youth similar to the Jesus Movement in the ’70s.”

Oprah Winfrey or Jesus: Who’s right?

WND

Evangelical author Josh McDowell takes on theology of media icon

DALLAS, Texas – “One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live, and we don’t accept that there are diverse ways to being in the world. There are many paths to what you call God.”

Oprah Winfrey said it. And when she did, many Americans who love Oprah believed it.

But one of the best-selling living evangelical authors, Josh McDowell, is not about to sit back and let that statement go unchallenged.

The result is a very unusual book – both in Christian publishing and in the world of secular literature.

Get your autographed copy of “O God” exclusively from the team that published it – WND Books and the WND Superstore.

It’s called “O God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah’s Spirituality” – and its official debut in bookstores nationwide comes tomorrow.

“As Christian apologists who believe that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone, we wanted to create a fictional, almost Socratic dialogue that would cover many of the themes of Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual teaching in recent years,” explain McDowell and co-author Dave Sterrett in their preface.

Rather than pile on Oprah with Bible verses to contradict her casual New Age proclamations, McDowell and Sterrett use a fictional conversation – or series of conversations – between two female graduate students, both seeking spiritual truth.

The book comes out as Oprah is very much center stage in the news world.

Even in her bid with first lady Michelle Obama to land the Olympics in Chicago, her rhetoric took a markedly spiritual tone.

“I love this city, because this city has been so great to me and I know what this city has to offer,” Winfrey said. “My message is really about my love for Chicago and … the spirit that we know the games will bring and the spirit that the people of Chicago will bring to the Games.”

Oprah is also lending her name to a new movie about abusive relationships called “Push,” for which she serves as executive producer.

“Push” is about an abused, obese teenager in Harlem who is pregnant with her second child and how a teacher at an alternative school tries to pull her out of her situation. Winfrey was inspired by the message of hope that the book and film present.

“What struck me is that you can live in those circumstances and still find hope,” she said. “You can’t do that on your own. Somebody has to show it to you. For me it was teachers.”

It is Oprah’s compassion that lures millions to her TV show and her magazine and the persona that has become an industry. Yet, McDowell and Sterrett explore the possibility that misguided compassion, based on human emotions rather than divine revelation and God’s law, can lead people in dangerous directions.

“If you are a Christ follower who believes, as we do, that God’s salvation is only through Jesus Christ alone, perhaps this book, ‘O God,’ will inspire a conversation with friends who are asking you questions,” they write. “How do you respond when a friend at your work, school, book club, gym or family reunion brings up Oprah Winfrey’s teaching or a form of new spirituality? Do you know how to speak and live the truth in love? This book probably won’t provide every single answer to all your questions about God and spirituality, but we hope it will provide some. Our desire is that ‘O God’ will create friendly and perhaps robust spiritual conversation about the most important things in your life.”

McDowell has authored or co-authored more than 110 books with more than 35 million in print worldwide. His classic “More Than a Carpenter” alone sold more than 15 million copies.

Get your autographed copy of “O God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah’s Spirituality” by No. 1 bestselling author Josh McDowell and Dave Sterrett exclusively at the WND Superstore.

Obama pushes gay rights, but not without criticism from activists

CSM

Many gay rights activists think Obama isn’t doing enough. But he’s in no rush on same-sex marriage or the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

In last year’s presidential election, Barack Obama won 70 percent of the gay vote, John McCain just 27 percent.

Does that kind of clearly dominant constituency — one that’s more politically-attuned than the rest of the electorate — come with any political obligation regarding gay rights? You bet it does, and this weekend Obama is acknowledging the debt.

On the eve of Sunday’s National Equality March, expected to draw thousands to Washington, he’s addressing the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group.

So far, his is a mixed record.

While Obama remains opposed to marriage among same-sex couples, in June he extended some benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees. And he has taken steps to include among his administration openly gay officials.

John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, is the government’s highest-ranking gay official. David Huebner, chief lawyer for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has been nominated ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Mr. Huebner would be just the second openly gay US ambassador. (The first was appointed by Bill Clinton.)

Marriage and the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay men and women in uniform remain the toughest issues for the nation — and especially for Obama.

The Pew Research Center reported Friday that while most Americans favor civil unions for same-sex couples, they remain opposed to gay marriage.

It’s an issue that transcends government policy to an unusual extent, carrying significant moral and religious overtones. Pew finds that “nearly half of the public (49 percent) says homosexual behavior is morally wrong, while 9 percent say it is morally acceptable and 35 percent say it is not a moral issue.”

Meanwhile, the armed services for years have wrestled with the Pentagon’s policy regarding gay service members — a policy which senior retired officers (and even some on active duty) increasingly have spoken out against at a time when the troops, like the relatively young cohort of Americans they’re part of, don’t see the point in discriminating against gay men and lesbians.

Many gay rights advocates are losing patience with Obama who (unlike Bill Clinton) has no inclination to jump right into the military issue.

“Eleven months after his election, he has failed to deliver on any of his commitments to gay Americans, but even worse has been his refusal to engage around these issues,” Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton’s administration on gay and lesbian policy, told the Associated Press.

“What he needs to do now is engage and deliver,” said Socarides. “Spend some of his political capital on ending the gay military ban, a hugely symbolic issue. And with no intellectually sound arguments left against it, come out squarely for gay marriage equality.”

Obama also is being nudged to retire today’s military policy by many members of Congress. Led by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) of Pennsylvania (the first Iraq war veteran elected to Congress) 176 House members have signed on to a bill doing away with don’t ask, don’t tell.

Meanwhile, the US Senate — and just last week, the US House of Representatives — have passed versions of a bill broadening the federal hate-crime law to cover violence against gays.

Obama is eager to sign the new hate crimes law. And White House officials push back against the notion that the president is dragging his feet on gay rights.

“The president has been very clear. He’s not hiding, he’s not avoiding [the gay and lesbian] issue,” Melody Barnes, the president’s top domestic policy adviser, told the Washington Post. “He has walked into a range of different communities as well as looked into the eyes of those in the GLBT community and been very clear about what he supports and what he wants done and the way he thinks it’s practical to get it done.”

Reality TV Star Kourtney Kardashian Chooses Life

LIFESITENEWS

“I can’t even tell you how many people just say, ‘Oh, get an abortion.’ Like it’s not a big deal,” says the star.

By Matthew Anderson

Kourtney Kardashian, the famous socialite and model, told People magazine in a recent interview that she considered having her unborn child aborted but changed her mind after reading about the traumatizing effects of abortion online.

“I looked online, and I was sitting on the bed hysterically crying, reading these stories of people who felt so guilty from having an abortion,” Kourtney told David Caplan of People.

Kardashian, who is most famous for her role in the reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E!, announced last week that she was pregnant.

Though Kardashian openly supports abortion as a legitimate choice in her interview, she says that she wrestled with the decision, something she thinks not many people do.

“I do think every woman should have the right to do what they want, but I don’t think it’s talked through enough.”

However, after researching the emotionally and physically devastating effects of abortion on women, she said, “I was just sitting there crying, thinking, ‘I can’t do that.’ “

“I felt in my body, this is meant to be. God does things for a reason, and I just felt like it was the right thing that was happening in my life.”

Further, Kardashian says she recognized that her motives for aborting the baby would have been selfishly driven. Kardashian, who with her sisters Khloe and Kim owns the clothing boutique DASH, said, “For me, all the reasons why I wouldn’t keep the baby were so selfish: It wasn’t like I was raped, it’s not like I’m 16. I’m 30 years old, I make my own money, I support myself, I can afford to have a baby.”

Disturbingly, though, Kardashian said a number of people advised her to get an abortion without much thought to the gravity of the matter.

“I can’t even tell you how many people just say, ‘Oh, get an abortion.’ Like it’s not a big deal.”

Luckily she was advised by a friend to see a doctor, and the doctor encouraged her to research abortion online. He also told her that she would never regret having the child, but she might very well regret aborting it.

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Obama: ‘We are God’s Partners in Matters of Life and Death’

LIFESITENEWS

Obama manipulates religion like Hitler

By Kathleen Gilbert

Obama uses religion as a deceptive tool

WASHINGTON, D.C.,

A sudden shift towards religiously-charged rhetoric in President Obama’s stumping for health care reform continued yesterday in a telephone conference, in which the president said that “we are God’s partners in matters of life and death.”

Obama told the virtual gathering of Jewish rabbis – as many as 1000, according to the Washington Jewish Week news service – that he was “going to need your help in accomplishing necessary reform.”

Washington, D.C. Rabbi Jack Moline posted some of the president’s statements in a series of live tweets, which went viral on the Internet before Moline deleted almost all the posts hours later.  A handful of other Jewish clerics tweeted the event, which was not publicized by the White House.

In a conference call with largely left-leaning faith leaders yesterday, Obama also used religously-charged terms to dismiss the notion that the government would fund abortion through the new legislation.

“These are all fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation – and that is that we look out for one another, that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper,” he said. He also accused opponents of his healthcare plan of spreading “misinformation” and “bearing false witness.”

Pro-life leaders immediately blasted the president for the comment, pointing out that the House version of the bill now explicitly calls for the funding of abortion in the government plan, as well as taxpayer subsidies of plans that cover abortions.

The social justice groups sponsoring the conference claim that 140,000 individuals attended the call.  The same groups – PICO National Network, Sojourners, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Faith in Public Life, and Faithful America – are now hosting a “40 Days for Health Reform” campaign to tell lawmakers “that quality, affordable healthcare is a moral issue for people of faith.”

The site’s attitude toward the arguments opposing the health care overhaul is remarkably similar to the White House’s own “Reality Check” Internet campaign. Visitors are encouraged to sign a petition that reads: “As a person of faith, I support health care reform, and I’m tired of shouting, disruptions and distortions preventing an honest debate.  Over the next 40 days, I commit to doing my part as a person of faith to promote health care reform. I commit to taking actions like writing my representatives, attending events, and telling my friends about our efforts to make the faith community a positive force for health care reform.”

40 Days for Life, an international movement encouraging prayer, fasting and advocacy for the end of abortion that has exploded in popularity in recent years, accused the health reform campaign of mimicking its pro-life counterpart, but with the opposite result.

“Who would have ever believed that the President of the United States would copy a page out of the 40 Days for Life playbook as a way to push abortion?” mused 40 Days for Life national director David Bereit in an email to members.  In Judaeo-Christian tradition, forty days is a spiritually significant length of time, often dedicated to sustained prayer and purification.

Meanwhile, strong warnings against the legislation in its current form have gone out from faith groups that oppose the killing of the unborn, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Focus on the Family, the Catholic Medical Association, the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and the Southern Baptist Convention.  While many of the groups express eagerness for genuine health care reform, they say that the current bill would amount to a vast expansion of abortion, among other troubling aspects, and therefore should not be accepted.

Christians Reviving America’s Values president Don Swarthout questioned the President’s apparent moralizing in favor of his own health care reform plans.

“I thought the use of religion in order to convince the people to follow anything political was prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court‘s rulings,” said Christians Reviving America’s Values president Don Swarthout in a statement.  “Now the President of the United States is using religion to convince people to follow his political position.”

He continued: “As a Pastor I may understand the Bible a little better than the average person.  Apparently, the President thinks the Bible says government should help the poor instead of the Bible calling upon Christians to give to the poor.

“The truth is our very salvation may depend upon helping those in need.  However, there is no place in the Bible which tells us that the government is supposed to do these things for us.”

Giant Webcast Thursday to Educate and Mobilize Pro-Life Americans Against Great Dangers of Obama Health Care Bill

LIFESITENEWS

Coalition of leaders alarmed that pro-lifers unaware of what is at stake with Obamacare

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A coalition of prominent pro-life leaders has arranged a giant, Stop The Abortion Mandate live webcast for the public this coming Thursday, July 23, to alert Americans about the great dangers of the Democrat-proposed health care bill. David Bereit, a coalition member and leader of 40 Days for Life, told LifeSiteNews that he is temporarily de-emphasizing his current 40 Days for Life tasks to concentrate on this issue because of its extreme importance. He is concerned that pro-lifers are not aware of what is at stake with the health care bill.

Connie Marshner, a well-known Washington pro-life political organizer, warned today that “this is the biggest issue since Roe v Wade. This is not just about funding. Everyone will be forced to have abortion coverage.” Further, she warned, the effect of successful passage of the Health Care bill will dramatically change the pro-life movement as we know it “because every doctor and health care worker will be forced to be involved in abortion.”

The pro-life webcast’s promotional material states that “Powerful abortion industry lobbyists and Washington, D.C. bureaucrats have just launched a massive effort to mandate taxpayer-funded abortions as part of their proposed trillion-dollar healthcare takeover.”

They list four main results of what they call “this abortion industry power-grab”:

• Impose one of the cornerstones of the “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA) by stealth
• Force taxpayers to fund a huge abortion industry bailout — something the majority of Americans oppose, and certainly cannot afford in these tough economic times
• Mandate that virtually every American be forced into a health plan that includes abortion coverage
• Require honorable medical providers to violate their consciences and perform abortions — or risk losing their jobs

The one-time-only LIVE webcast event will take place this Thursday, July 23, at 9 PM Eastern (6 PM Pacific, 7 PM Mountain, 8 PM Central.)

The live webcast, for which there is no charge, will be approximately 70 minutes long and will be accessible even to Internet users with only a dial-up connection. Participants who register for the event will be able to listen in on the live audio and submit questions.

During the event, the following nationally known leaders will be heard:

• MIKE HUCKABEE, Former Governor and Presidential Candidate
• DR. CHARMAINE YOEST, Americans United for Life
• TONY PERKINS, Family Research Council
• FR. FRANK PAVONE, Priests for Life
• MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, Susan B. Anthony List
• DOUGLAS JOHNSON, National Right to Life Committee
• TOM MINNERY, Focus on the Family
• CONGRESSMAN CHRIS SMITH, U.S. House of Representatives
• KRISTIN HAWKINS, Students for Life of America
• CONGRESSMAN JOE PITTS, U.S. House of Representatives
• DR. RICHARD LAND, Southern Baptist Convention
• CARMEN PATE, Point of View Radio Show
• DAVID BEREIT, 40 Days for Life

The Webcast organizers state that those who join the webcast will discover:

• The shocking facts about the sweeping legislation that the political power brokers are trying to ram through before Congress goes on summer recess…
• The devastating implications of the proposed mandates — facts the abortion industry doesn’t want Americans to hear…
• Why respected leaders, national organizations, and pro-life people are joining together in record numbers to challenge this attempted power-grab…
• The exact action steps YOU can take to make a difference at this crucial moment…

Registration for the event is accessed at http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com/. Registration also allows those who are unable to be online at the time of the webcast to later access a recording of the webcast audio.

Organizers are hoping that 100,000 people will participate in this very urgent and unique education and action event.

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Google blocks blog exposing homosexual agenda

WND

‘Actions represent trial balloon for government censorship of ‘hate’ speech’

By Drew Zahn

Google’s blog hosting service, Blogger.com, admits that in the name of “free speech” some of its blogs are “offensive, harmful, inaccurate,” but when one of its clients blogged in opposition to a transgender rights bill, Google drew the line.

A day before the Massachusetts Legislature plans to review a controversial gender identity bill, Blogger.com blocked the blog of MassResistance, an organization that exposes the increasingly open agenda of the homosexual movement in Massachusetts, with a warning that some of the content may be “objectionable,” requiring readers to confirm their intent to visit.

Screen shot of content advisory and permission requirement prior to accessing the MassResistance blog

“Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog’s content is objectionable,” the warning reads. “In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger Terms of Service.”

MassResistance blogger Amy Contrada, however, writes that the only potentially “objectionable” items on the blog are photos taken in public settings and her group’s politically incorrect viewpoints.

“We publish only facts, ‘uncomfortable truths,’ not rumors or personal attacks,” Contrada writes on her blog. “And obviously, our photos reveal the ugly truth. Then, we identify those public figures who are twisting the law to enable public perversion and subversion of our youth and culture.”

“We’ve had that blog on there since 2005,” said Brian Camenker, president of MassResistance, “and only when we started posting on the new transgender bill before the Legislature did this happen.

“If you look at Google’s policy on hate speech, they do state you can’t include hate against people for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Camenker told WND. “But the things we write are all factual; we don’t advocate beating anyone up. On the other hand, there are an enormous number of blogs against religious people that are clearly vile and hateful, particularly during the Proposition 8 battle in California. Some of that content was hideous, and it’s still up.

“Nothing on our site could be construed as ‘hate,’” Camenker said.

Specifically, Google’s terms of service state, “Google does not monitor the content of Blogger.com and Blogspot.com, and takes no responsibility for such content. … By their very nature, Blogger.com and Blogspot.com may carry offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate material.”

The website’s content policy further states, “It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.”

MassResistance, however, told WND that Google’s actions speak louder than the words in its policies.

“Google seems to have a double standard,” Camenker said. “It hosts a large number of gay activist sites that are vile and vicious, particularly against religious people, yet they put up an ‘objectionable content’ warning on our blog. How do they define what’s offensive?”

Contrada told WND that as more and more states – and even the federal government – look to pass “hate speech” bills and laws protecting the undefined labels of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” Americans will be shocked, both by what they see displayed on the public streets and by what they can’t say in the public square.

“I’ve been anticipating this for quite a while now,” Contrada said. “Obviously Google is a private enterprise at this point, but their actions represent a trial balloon for government censorship of undefined ‘hate’ speech. And just like the gender identity bills, nowhere is it clearly defined what the terms mean. What will be classified as ‘hate?’

“MassResistance’s blog has pointed out this can of worms, and I think that’s one of the reasons it draws ‘objections’ from transgender activists,” Contrada said. “This act of censorship is just a harbinger of what may come.”

Camenker also said that as Google becomes more technologically entrenched in every aspect of communications, he fears how content will be monitored in the future.

“It’s Orwellian,” Camenker told WND. “With Google controlling operating systems, blogs, Web searches, Internet access and software, it can get pretty bad. It could happen to anyone with a company as powerful as Google.”

WND contacted Google for comment on its content advisory and permission confirmation on the MassResistance blog, but a representative merely pointed to the site’s page on “flagging” a blog:

“The Flag button isn’t censorship and it can’t be manipulated by angry mobs,” the Google page reads. “Political dissent? Incendiary opinions? Just plain crazy? Bring it on.

“When someone visiting a blog clicks the Flag button in the Blogger Navbar, it means that person believes the content of the blog may be potentially offensive or illegal,” the Google help page continues. “We track the number of times a blog has been flagged as objectionable and use this information to determine what action is needed. This feature allows the blogging community as a whole to identify content deemed objectionable.”

WND has reported on Google’s history of being frequently criticized for its content policies and one-sided political slant, including the following actions:

• Issuing a statement publicly opposing Proposition 8, California voters’ attempt to constitutionally define marriage as between one man and one woman
• Restricting Christian advertising on the issue of abortion, until a lawsuit compelled Google to amend its policy
• Rejecting an ad for a book critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton while continuing to accept anti-Bush themes
• Rejecting ads critical of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., while continuing to run attack ads against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas
• Allowing the communist Chinese government to have the search engine block “objectionable” search terms such as “democracy”
• Ignoring major American patriotic and religious holidays, while honoring Remembrance Day in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Halloween and other observances.

In addition, the company came under fire for an editorial decision giving preferential placement to large, elite media outlets such as CNN and the BBC over independent news sources, such as WND, even if they are more recent, pertinent and exhaustive in their coverage.

MassResistance told WND it is currently in the process of backing up its blog content and transferring the blog to a different host service.

Editor’s note: Once a reader confirms he or she wishes to access the MassResistance blog, the content warning no longer appears in subsequent visits to the blog.

Technorati : ABORTION, AMERICAN HOLIDAYS, AMERICANS, Amy Contrada, BLING, BLOGGER.BLOGGING SOFTWARES, BLOGGER.COM, BLOGS, BREAKING NEWS, Brian Camenker, CHRISTIAN ADVERTISING, CHRISTIANITY, CHRISTIANS, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FLAGGING A BLOG, GAYS, GENDER IDENTITIY, GOD, GOOGLE, GOOGLE DOUBLE STANDARDS, GOOGLE NEWS, HATE CRIMES BILLS, HATE SPEECH BILS, HOMOSEXUALS, HOSTING SERVICE, INTERNET, INTERNET ACCESS, JESUS, LATEST NEWS, MASSACHUSETTS, MICROSOFT, MassResistance, Massachusetts Legislature, NEWS, POLITICAL DISSENT, POLITICS, PROXY SOFTWARES, PUBLIC STREETS, RELIGION, RELIGIOUS PEOPLE, SOFTWARE, TECHNOLOGY, THE EARLY TODAY, US NEWS, WEB, WEB 2.O, WEB 3.0, gay activist sites, homosexual movement
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