American Family Association of Indiana

New Study Claiming Co-habitation Just as Beneficial as Marriage Has Serious Problems

AFA-IN — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:16:15 +0000

A new study touting the “benefits” of cohabitation in place of marriage is based on deeply flawed ideas about human nature and fulfillment, according to a leading scholar on the social role of families. “It’s garbage-in, garbage out,” said Dr. Scott Yenor, a Boise State University political science professor. He also warns that conservative defenders of marriage have fallen into the trap of valuing marriage as primarily a source for the self-fulfillment of adults.

Indiana Walks Right Into Obama Administration’s Plan to Control Your Child’s Education

AFA-IN — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:31:04 +0000

News of Indiana receiving a waiver of the federal No Child Left Behind education program sounds like a step toward freedom and local control. Unfortunately, as the Heritage Foundation explains, just the opposite is true. Indiana is walking headlong into a national education plan that could have a dramatic impact upon what Hoosier students are taught. Indiana has signed onto a plan for “common core” standards that could spell trouble for students through federal testing and therefore, some say, federally driven curriculum content.

Influential Policy Group Calls Same-Sex Marriage Ruling an “Activist House of Cards”

AFA-IN — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:31:35 +0000

The influential Heritage Foundation weighs in on the decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declaring that a constitutionally allowed, state certified vote of the people to preserve the importance of marriage for the next generation is somehow “unconstitutional.”

Read more about this judicial activism and the flawed logic of the ruling here:

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/07/ninth-circuit-rules-against-marriage/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=culturewatch

Whose “rights” Matter Most? Libertarianism and the Pro-life or Pro-Choice Quandary

AFA-IN — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:32:07 +0000

Most people believe that Republicans are generally more pro-lfe and that Democrats are generally more pro-abortion on the issue of life. Where do Libertarians stand on abortion? Here is an interesting short article from Life News covering a debate between two Libertarian leaders each arguing the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the abortion debate from the Libertarian philosophical point of view. The arguments and observations are quite interesting, but the question of which view is most consistent with the Libertarian worldview remains unclear even if the ultimate conclusion for a pro-life voter is not as difficult.

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/01/26/libertarianism-pro-life-philosophy-pro-abortion-movement/

Indiana First to Offer “Gay” License Plate

AFA-IN — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:00:19 +0000

Homosexual activists are celebrating Indiana becoming the first state in the nation to approve a pro-homosexual specialty automotive license plate.

Hear AFA of Indiana Executive Director Micah Clark on the Peter Heck Show in Kokomo as he discusses the state’s approval of a “gay” License Plate to help fund Homosexual Youth Recruitment Center and High School Clubs in Indiana.

http://pn.b5z.net/i/u/6136888/m/1.18.s6.mp3

Read AFA of Indiana’s News Release regarding the new license plate on ChristianWire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/2057218698.html

Micah Clark Gives State Legislative Update on Peter Heck Show

AFA-IN — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:47:32 +0000

With Democrats showing up for work on Monday, the short session of the Indiana legislature is underway. And while much attention will naturally be paid to the Republicans top priority – Right to Work legislation – there are a number of pro-family bills that they will be attempting to guide through into law.

Peter and Micah also talked through the state of the Republican presidential contest and the increasingly toxic environment that persists for families here in the United States.

Listen to the interview HERE!

To learn more about Peter Heck visit him at http://www.peterheck.com

It is Time to Address Crime: The Community Defense Act Could Help Protect Indiana

AFA-IN — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:41:00 +0000

From the January 2012, Indiana Family Voice, AFA-IN Newsletter

“Does pornography cause crime?” Our answer may surprise you. The research is somewhat mixed. Many studies say “yes,” some (often funded by pro-porn organizations) say “no.”

What the research does show is that pornography usage changes people’s attitudes about sex, for the worse. It is a dangerous subtle addiction from the start, but one whose worst side effects are a progression into which not all users immediately fall. Yet, nearly all child molestors use pornography regularly and extremely high percentages of convicted rapists used porn prior to their crime.

Still, this discussion is somewhat of a distraction from what has been conclusively found to be true. Sex businesses do have a correlation with crime, particularly sex crimes. Dozens of studies over the last 40 years have found that crime, particularly sex crimes, occur at much higher rates around sexually oriented businesses. In fact, the findings are so consistent that the US Supreme Court has ruled that any city can rely upon any other city’s land use study as justification for constitutionally allowable zoning and business regulations.

AFA of Indiana believes that state and local governments have a duty to do what they can to protect women and children. If they ignore these contributors of crime, they are not good stewards of the public trust or law enforcement resources.

There were 84,767 forcible rapes recorded by the FBI Uniform Crime Report in 2010. In Indiana that number was 1,761, an increase of nearly 9% over 2009. There are 12,403 convicted sex offenders on the Indiana state registry.

Should Indiana pass a law addressing this verifiable contributor to such crimes against women and children? Ohio and Missouri have done so, and those two states provide the model for Senate Bill 183 authored by Sen. Jim Banks.

Senate Bill 183 prohibits contact between dancers and patrons, closes sexually oriented businesses at midnight, prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from entering or working at a sex business, and creates nuisance actions and penalties for repeated violations by such establishments across all of Indiana. Could it make a difference? Oklahoma may have the answer.

In the mid-80’s Oklahoma City had over 150 sex businesses. Half of all the rapes in Oklahoma were occurring in Oklahoma City. The city did an investigation and found a dramatic increase in crime in areas around sex businesses. Officials began to regulate its sex businesses in a manner similar to SB 183. The city saw a 27% reduction in rape during the first five years accounting for a 16% rape reduction statewide. Had its leaders not acted, then at the previous rate, there would have been nearly 1,000 more women raped in the city. Is SB 183 important? If we care about protecting women and children, the answer is a “yes.”

Legislators really need to hear from you on this issue. You can contact your Senator about SB 183 at 1-800-382-9467.

Read the introduced version of Senate Bill 183 here: http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2012/IN/IN0183.1.html

To see some studies detailing the increased rate of crime surrounding sex businesses click here: (Warning some of these findings are not for the squeamish ) http://www.communitydefense.org/cdcdocs/landuse/pdf/nlc_summaries.pdf

New Obama Administration Threat: Defining What is or Is Not Religious

AFA-IN — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:14:58 +0000

From the start of his administration, President George W. Bush attempted to encourage faith in the public square. They tried to welcome the positive, well documented roles religious entities play in terms of public charity, non-profit work, welfare ministry and these entities’ overall public good. Whether that effort succeeded as originally envisioned before the 9/11 attack affected the administration’s goals is certainly debatable. In stark contrast, the Obama administration is actively moving to harm the liberty and freedoms of private schools, hospitals, religious charities and non-profits. Should the government now determine what constitutes religious freedom, religious belief or behavior? Should this administration, (at a time when private charity is so vitally in demand) work against these longstanding 1st Amendment protections and harm these entities? The Capitol Research Center has a policy paper which should concern pastors, private school boards, hospital administrators and non-profit leaders everywhere as more and more of their peers wind up in court fighting for the freedoms they always assumed they had, and would keep in America.

http://capitalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/OT1211.pdf?9d7bd4

How Did America Come to This Point?

AFA-IN — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:12:22 +0000

Christmas has passed, but it gives us time now to look back at the season and wonder, how did we fall this far from our founding heritage? What does it say about America today when the traditions and values held by so many people, perhaps majorities, are under attack. Whose country is it anyway?

Gary Glenn of AFA of Michigan on His State’s New Bullying Law

AFA-IN — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:02:20 +0000

Late last month Michigan, with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate (35-2) and House (88-18) approved precisely the type of anti-bullying bill to which AFA-Michigan has repeatedly stated it has no objection: an all-inclusive bill that equally protects allstudents from all bullying for all reasons, without segregating students into special “protected class” categories based on behavior.

Gary recently went on WCAR Detroit Radio’s “Bonds and Fisher Show” where the hosts were flabbergasted to hear the truth about Michigan’s new anti-bullying law. Gary relentlessly explains an issue on which the state’s news media has for years repeatedly failed to simply report the facts.

This is an outstanding explaination of why Bullying Laws must be crafted carefully in order to protect ALL students equally.

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