Teens collect change to loosen chains of slavery
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by Lori Arnold
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Alesia Clark probably won’t give you a penny for your thoughts, but she is more than willing to take them—plus quarters, dimes and nickels—to share some of what’s on her mind.
But these days, it seems she has a little competition from her junior high school church group.
Clark, a member at North Coast Calvary Chapel, and her students helped to spearhead a communitywide coin drive, which raised nearly $12,000 for an anti-slavery ministry. Six other congregations took part in the coin fundraiser, which ran between four and six weeks.
“It was neat to see how many little kids wanted to set the slaves free,” the youth worker said. “Some of them brought in their piggy banks, some brought in loose change in cans.”
Clark said she was looking for ways to involve her young teens in outreach when she heard about human trafficking from Zach Hunter, a teenager who founded “Loose Change to Loosen Chains” after becoming inspired by the film Amazing Grace, which chronicled the life of abolitionist William Wilberforce. Hunter wrote a book about the issue called “Be the Change.”
“When working with youth, it’s important to have a young role model,” she said. “It’s this generation, I believe, that will end slavery.”
She also obtained teaching materials from the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that assists victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
“It was a burden on my heart placed by God when I saw so many of the youth here affected,” she said. “Human trafficking and modern-day slavery are huge here.”
FULL STORY
Second Mount Soledad case advances
Christian Examiner staff report
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Attorneys representing the Mount Soledad War Memorial were in federal court April 14 to defend the monument—and its cross—against a lawsuit challenging its transfer from the city of San Diego to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The case is being brought by the Jewish War Veterans and Steve Trunk, a local atheist, who joined the case when former plaintiff Philip Paulson was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Paulson died last year.
Although the federal government is defending the cross, other legal organizations have offered their assistance.
Robert Muise, an attorney with the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, wrote a brief on the matter on behalf of two families, who memorialized their late Marines at the monument. The pair, Michael D. Martino and Gerald Bloomfield III, died in action in Iraq in 2006. The Thomas More legal brief included photos of families mourning at the memorial.
“Our brief demonstrates that tearing down the memorial cross will cause real, irreparable harm to these grieving families, as compared with the contrived ‘harm’ the ACLU will ‘feel’ because the memorial cross remains,” Muise said of the case. “Indeed, it is the ACLU in this case who is creating the sort of religiously-based divisiveness that our Constitution was designed to prohibit.”
The Thomas More Center has been a primary advocate for the cross in recent years, with most of the local legal work handled by attorney Charles LiMandri, who serves as the West Coast Regional Director for the center. LiMandri was part of a team that pushed to have the monument transferred to federal control to remove the state constitutional issues that threatened to bring down the cross.
The ACLU is arguing that the transfer was illegal and that the cross on the monument violates the “wall of separation of church and state.”
The case is being presided over by federal District Court Judge Larry Alan Burns. No timetable for a decision was released, but regardless of his finding, both sides vow to appeal.
Southern California HIV/AIDS ministry seeks local chapter leaders
Christian Examiner staff report
IRVINE, Calif. — He Intends Victory, an international ministry to those affected by HIV and AIDS, is launching a new branch-based project in an effort to expand assistance nationwide.
Dan Davis, director of the ministry, said the project will expand a network consisting of chapters and ministry associates. The idea is to provide resources closer to a patient’s hometown. The ministry also provides support to families.
Ministry officials will review applications to select committed Christians who, as chapter leaders, can facilitate local support groups and provide community resources on HIV/AIDS services in their geographical territory. Clients will be referred to the chapter leaders from the ministry’s headquarters in Irvine. Each of the chapter leaders will report to the ministry’s board and to Davis.
In addition to the chapter leaders, He Intends Victory also uses ministry associates to assist with phone consultations for people facing the struggles of living with HIV/AIDS.
The ministry has 28 chapters and ministry associates in its national network.
The Orange County chapter of He Intends Victory has been continuously running an open support group for people infected/affected by HIV/AIDS since 1989.
FULL ARTICLE
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OPINION
Legislation 2008: The good, the bad, the ugly
by Karen Holgate
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Every year California’s state Legislature introduces thousands of bills. In any two-year session, more than 5,000 pieces of legislation make their way through the legislative process. Each year hundreds of good bills get introduced, yet each year people who follow legislation ask, “Why are we always fighting bad bills, and where are the good bills?” Unfortunately, with the political climate in California, very few of the “good” bills get passed; most of them “die” in committee. The flip side is that a disproportionate number of bills deal with “sexual orientation.” What follows is just a brief look at this year’s legislative offerings.
The good
Two examples of good legislation are AB 2085 and AB 2086, both by Assemblyman Bob Huff, R- Diamond Bar. The pair of bills would have modified some of the more controversial elements of SB 777, authored last year by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. That bill passed both houses and was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. That bill amended two dozen sections of California’s Education Code, which now prohibits any instruction, school activities, or instructional materials that promote a discriminatory bias towards certain categories of people, including homosexuals, bisexuals, transgendered persons and cross-dressers.
AB 2085 simply deleted the reference to “sexual orientation” that was included in SB 777. AB 2086 took a different approach; it required the school to notify parents if discussions about gender identity or sexual orientation were planned and would have given parents the opportunity to notify the school if they wished to opt their child out of the specified instruction. As noted above, however, good bills often fail, and these two have already been consigned to the “graveyard.” They were defeated on a straight party-line vote in the Assembly Education Committee.
Another bill, AB 2888, authored by Doug La Malfa, R-Redding, required any person seeking a job working with children in an unaccompanied capacity to undergo a criminal background check. Opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, this bill also failed to pass its first committee hearing.
On the Senate side, SB 1274, a bill by Mark Wyland, R-San Juan Capistrano, would require that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited every day in public schools and that—by the end of third grade—both the Pledge and the national anthem be memorized by students. What many people don’t realize is that saying the pledge is not de rigueur in classrooms any longer. In some cases, children don’t even know what the pledge is. Efforts similar to SB 1274 have failed in the past.
The bad
From Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who continues to author legislation to make homosexual marriage legal, comes a bill (AB 2567) to memorialize homosexual icon Harvey Milk by designating May 22 as Harvey Milk Day. Harvey Milk, you may remember, was the first homosexual to openly declare his sexual preference and be elected to office in a major city—San Francisco. Although the reasons had nothing to do with his sexual orientation, Milk—along with then-Mayor George Moscone—was shot to death by a political rival in 1978. However, it isn’t enough that the day be declared as special for the general population; no, AB 2567 encourages schools to conduct “suitable commemorative exercises” to acknowledge the “special significance” of the day. This bill is another blatant attempt to indoctrinate children with the idea that homosexuality is commonly accepted, and that it should be celebrated. This is the agenda behind the creation of Harvey Milk Day, encouraging all public schools to give it attention.
Senate Bill 60 is the ongoing attempt by Senator Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, to legalize drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens. Cedillo has brought this bill forward every year since 1999.
SB 1729, by Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, requires nurses and doctors who work in nursing facilities to take mandatory “sensitivity training” that focuses on being “sensitive to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues.” Apparently Senator Carole Migden believes that it isn’t enough for health care providers to treat the health needs of each of their patients with compassion; she now wants to extend special status to homosexuals who are ill over and above the needs of other patients.
The ugly
California is one of the nation’s leaders in extending “domestic partnerships” to co-habitating same-sex couples and persons over age 62. SB 1066, another by Migden, will eliminate the age barrier and allow any two persons living together and not biologically related to file for domestic-partner status. This bill totally undermines the value and sanctity of marriage. Remember that domestic partners now reap all of the state tax benefits historically reserved for married couples. SB 1066, if passed—and there is no reason to believe that it wouldn’t—encourages unmarried persons to live together and to file as domestic partners if, for no other reason, than for the tax breaks. SB 1066 passed its first committee hearing.
As discouraging as it sometimes seems, the good news is that there is a growing movement by parents and churches to reclaim a position of power to change the culture of this state. Their numbers are growing as more and more Christians become aware of what is happening in our state.
Holgate is the legislative director for the California Family Council.
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