While the media and the liberal elites repeatedly said that this was a vote to ban gay marriage, 61% of North Carolina voters who suppored marriage protection knew it was never about banning anything.  It was about the coercion and compulsion of the majority to recognize and affirm same-sex relationships as the same as marriage.   Homosexuals can live as they choose, but they do not have the right to redefine marriage for everyone else.  Here is an excellent article from National Review explaining this issue and the misinformation surrounding it that even came from Vice President Joe Biden.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/299394/north-carolina-biden-and-same-sex-marriage-ryan-t-anderson

Have you ever thought about the benefits of religious faith to America?  We often think of faith in terms of our personal and spiritual benefit, but research has long shown that religious faith helps society in ways no government program can replicate.  Faith improves marital bonds between a mother and a father and between parents and their children.  It lowers the rates of poor behavioral outcomes and substance abuse among children and teens.   Take a look at the findings in this Heritage Foundation report on the link between religion and positive social outcomes:

http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/17/promoting-the-positive-the-link-between-individual-religious-practice-and-social-outcomes

Contrary to popular perception, the search for a “gay” gene has always come up empty handed.  In spite of such a notion being opposed to evolutionary theory (why would a “gay” gene ever be passed along?) and opposed to creation theory many people have bought into the idea of people being “born gay.”  Here is a flyer from PFOX, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays that you may want to print out and keep as a resource for discussions with those who say that behavior defines who we are, or that some are born destined to live out risky lifestyles.   The PFOX flyer includes various facts from groups like the American Psychological Association and other often misquoted sources on the issue of sexual orientation and change.  View PDF color brochure here: http://www.afain.net/Can-Sexual-Origintation_Change.pdf

As the 2012 Indiana General Assembly wound down, a movement occurred in which $80 million of your tax dollars was poured into a popular educational trend known as Full Day Kindergarten.  Governor Daniels and many legislators sang their praises for “fully funding” FDK for one year.    However, is this major expenditure really a good use of public funds?  Will it be a wise investment that improves the academic achievements of Hoosier children?  Politicians (and some in the media who love all forms of government spending and expansion) say “yes,” without any hesitation.  Yet, longitudinal studies of FDK indicate that it may be a giant misuse of our taxes.   Read an AFA previous editorial on this topic here: Full-Day Kindergarten’s Benefits Not So Evident

This is what happened during the second half of the 2012 Indiana General Assembly.  A controversy erupted over a first of a kind (OK, second of a kind, but the other state has over 740 license plate groups) specialty license plate for a homosexual recruitment center called the Indiana Youth Group.  The media and many legislators immediately tried to dismiss the issue as “trivial’ or much to do about nothing.  Three times, House leadership blocked efforts to revoke the plate.  The Senate got caught up in a game among moderates who also scuttled the issue, because they were so fearful of what the media might say about them. If only they had taken the time to investigate this group. They too would have wondered why the BMV ever approved supporting such a group.

Read an AFA editorial on this issue submitted to papers across the state: http://www.afain.net/those-who-care-to-know-do-care/

Historian David Barton takes a look at the acts of President Barack Obama and concludes that he is possibly the most “anti-Biblical president ever.”  Whether this is a legitimate conclusion, the list of actions against the values of our Judeo-Christian heritage and traditional values chronicled in this new article from Wallbuilders are truly an astonishing reminder to see and consider. 

Read article Here

Cathy Ruse, herself a Georgetown Law School graduate, now a Senior Fellow for Legal Studies at the Family Research Council takes a look at the firestorm ignited in the media over another law school student’s testimony before Congress in which she demanded that the government force companies and religious entities to pay for contraceptives and abortion services as a part of government “health care.”   Ruse reveals the set up behind the scenes of specifically using Sandra Fluke before the US Congress and the intentional frenzy that her testimony raised.  More

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.

Read more here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/scholar-punctures-illusions-of-pro-cohabitation-study

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.

Read more about this concern here: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/09/no-child-left-behind-waivers-let-team-obama-seize-control-your-childs-education/#ixzz1lwOfWAmt

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