Texas Governor Rick Perry signs bill to legalize saying “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah”

CNS News reports.

Excerpt:

By law, it is now okay to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah” in Texas public schools.

Gov. Rick Perry signed House Bill 308 on Thursday, allowing public school students and staff to use traditional holiday greetings and display religious scenes and symbols on school property.

“I’m proud we are standing up for religious freedom in our state,” Gov. Perry said.

“Freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion, and people of faith often feel like they can’t express that faith publicly. HB 308 works to address that by ensuring that people of all faiths are free to use traditional holiday greetings, and display religious scenes and symbols, even on school property. It ensures freedom of expression where, for many students, teachers and administrators, it’s most important.”

The bill states: “A school district may educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations, and allow students and district staff to offer  traditional greetings regarding the celebrations, including: (1) “Merry Christmas”; (2) “Happy Hanukkah”; and (3) “happy holidays.”

The bill specifically says that schools may display scenes or symbols associated with religious holidays — as long as the display includes scenes or symbols of more than one religion or at least one secular scene or symbol.

Displays “may not include a  message that encourages adherence to a particular religious belief,” the bill says.

Supporters of the bill argue that allowing teachers to display various holiday symbols associated with certain religions makes it possible for them to educate students about the history and roots of different religions.

Gosh, how will the militant fascists at American Atheists and Freedom From Religion Foundation deal with this? Militant atheism’s “good works” consist of threatening, jailing and execute people who have different beliefs than they do. That’s true atheist worship, right there. It’s about feeling good by taking away the basic human rights of other people who make you feel bad. Now that Texas has put limits on the practice of militant atheist religion (i.e. – Stalinism), the militant atheists might have to move to a country like North Korea. There, they will be happy because imprisoning and murdering Christians for acting like Christians in public is legal. If militant atheism stands for anything, morally speaking, it stands for tyranny and totalitarianism.

Filed under: News, Christianity, Freedom, Freedom of Religion, Judaism, Liberty, Religious Liberty, Republican Party, Rick Perry, Texas

Ronald Reagan’s 40th anniversary D-Day speech: the boys of Pointe du Hoc

June 6, 1944 D-Day Normandy Invasion Map

It’s June 6th, today, and it’s the anniversary of D-Day: the Allied invasion of northern France – the beginning of the end of World War 2. One of the most pivotal events of that day was the assault on German gun emplacements by members of the Army Rangers at a fortified position called “Pointe du Hoc”.

President Ronald Reagan recognized the soldiers who attacked Pointe du Hoc back in 1984:

You can read the full transcript of that speech here.

Ronald Reagan also made the case for gratitude and vigilance:

Here’s the hymn that starts to play at the end:

The Boys of Pointe du Hoc

Here’s a summary of the Pointe du Hoc mission:

[Lt. Col. James Earl] Rudder took part in the D-Day landings as Commanding Officer of the United States Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion. His U.S. Army Rangers stormed the beach at Pointe du Hoc and, under constant enemy fire, scaled 100-foot (30 meter) cliffs to reach and destroy German gun batteries. The battalion’s casualty rate for this perilous mission was greater than 50 percent. Rudder himself was wounded twice during the course of the fighting. In spite of this, they dug in and fought off German counter-attacks for two days until relieved. He and his men helped to successfully establish a beachhead for the Allied forces.

You can watch a three-clip documentary on it, too: part 1, part 2, part 3.

You can read the complete story about their successful effort to destroy the 6 155mm German guns here on Military History Online. Although initially, the Rangers did not find the guns where they had expected them, they did find them further back behind the cliffs and destroyed them there, removing a threat to the forces that would be landing later.

What does D-Day mean to Christians in particular?

A female Christian friend asked me what she should be thinking about when I sent her one of the videos above, and so I wrote her this to explain why I sent her the video:

To make you close your eyes and think in a more practical way about what it means for someone to sacrifice their lives to save you, of course. What it means to look up cliffs at machine guns, barbed wire and mortars raining death on you and to take a rope in your hands and to climb up a sheer cliff, under heavy fire, in order to save generations yet unborn and freedom itself.

To think about a concrete example helps us to be able to appreciate what Christ did for us in giving his life for us so that we could be free of sin, as well.

This is the insight that drives my entire interest in war and military history, in fact.

What does this mean: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

The more you know about D-Day, the more fearful what Jesus did appears, and the more you can be grateful.

Bullets and shrapnel are scary… and so are nails and lashes. Why on Earth would anyone endure either for me? And what should my response be to it?

I think it is helpful to explain Christianity to those who are not yet Christian, and for Christians to fully appreciate what Christianity is all about.

We were in peril. And now we have been saved. But at a cost.

I think that it’s important for Christians to look to history, art, poetry and music to help them to reflect and comprehend the sacrifice that Christ made for us in dying on the cross to protect us from peril. What must the cross have looked like to Jesus? It must have been something like what the Omaha beach looked like to the Americans landing in Normandy. Jesus saw whips, thorns and nails, and the heroes of Normandy saw 88 mm AT guns, 81 mm mortars and MG42 machine guns. How should you feel about people who face death on your behalf? Think about it.

Filed under: Videos, Army Rangers, Beaches, D-Day, Force, Freedom, Grateful, Gratitude, Just War, Lead the Way, Liberty, Normandy, Omaha Beach, Patriotism, Peace, Peace Through Strength, Pride, Rangers, Strength, War, Warrior, World War 2, World War II

Christian valedictorian tears up censor-approved speech and recites the Lord’s Prayer

From WXII 12 local news, a story from South Carolina.

Full text:

A school district under pressure to keep prayer out of meetings and gatherings got an unexpected delivery from one high school valedictorian

Saturday, at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum, Liberty High Valedictorian Roy Costner IV took his speech to the podium, and in front of the crowd, tore it up.

John Eby, Pickens County School District spokesman, said, “They write their speeches. They send them to someone on staff to have them approved.”

But Costner clearly had something else in mind.

After speaking for a few minutes, he thanked his parents for leading him to the Lord at a young age, and then he said, “I think most of you will understand when I say, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…” as he began to recite the Lord’s Prayer.

Much of the crowd broke into tentative applause that then grew into cheers that nearly drown out Costner’s voice as he continued the prayer.

Brian Hoover, who is from Liberty and attended the graduation, said, “You couldn’t even hear him doing the prayer anymore because everybody was clapping and cheering.”

Costner finished, pointing his finger in the air for emphasis, saying, “For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen,” followed by more cheers and applause.

Hoover said, “From the ACLU sending FOIA requests to every district in the state this year after the Chesterfield County case, then the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent us a complaint about religion at board meetings and some other issues as well. That is why the reaction to the prayer at graduation was loud.”

The district says there will be no repercussions because of the prayer.

Costner was out of town on Monday, but he said he added the prayer to the speech because God is the biggest part of his life.

According to a school publication, “Costner plans to head to Clemson University in the fall to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. He said he hopes to work as a computer programmer overseas, but has dreams of saving up enough to come back and start a chain of restaurants in the U.S. He said computer programming was an interest he picked up outside of school as he developed a local news website, “Liberty Speaks.”

In the publication Costner is quoted as saying: “I have big ideas for mobile applications, and even for starting a new social network, but I don’t have the knowledge to pull it off yet.”

It warms my heart to see a good, brave Christian man take up computer science, where he should be able to find work in spite of the politically correct censors he might find on campus.

Here’s the verse that should scare anyone about what exactly it is that Jesus expects from his followers:

Matthew 10:32-39:

32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,

33 butwhoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 

36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

That’s why he did what he did. He had to do it to honor God instead of pleasing godless men.

In other news, the ACLU, which opposes free speech that secular leftists find offensive, is also in favor of sex-selection abortions and race-selection abortions. I wonder which is more offensive? Free speech or killing a baby because it is the wrong sex or the wrong race? That’s what the ACLU stands for: sexism and racism and fascism.

Filed under: News, ACLU, Censor, Censorship, Christian, Education, Faith, Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Public, Public Square, Religious Liberty, Valedictorian

Dan Barker debates Casey Luskin on academic freedom on the Michael Medved show

The Michael Medved show is a national radio show broadcast out of Seattle, Washington. According to Talkers magazine, he has the fifth largest radio audience. He has a regular weekly segment on science and culture featuring  scholars from the Discovery Institute.

Here is the sixth segment from this past week, courtesy of the Intelligent Design: The Future podcast.

The MP3 file is available for download. (38 minutes)

The description is:

On this episode of ID the Future, the CSC’s Casey Luskin and atheist Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation debate academic freedom and free speech on the Medved Show. This debate was inspired by the ongoing case of Professor Eric Hedin, a physicist at Ball State University who is being threatened by the Freedom From Religion Foundation for favorably portraying intelligent design in the classroom.

Please lend your voice to defend Professor Eric Hedin and academic freedom. Sign the petition at www.academicfreedompetition.com.

Each week, leading fellows from Discovery Institute will join Michael Medved to talk about the intersection of science and culture. Listen in live online or on your local Medved station, or stay tuned at ID the Future for the weekly podcast.

Topics: (note that I am paraphrasing Dan Barker for the sake of humor, and he will probably sue me, since that is his entire contribution to the search for truth in this debate)

• Michael Medved: untenured Ball State University professor Eric Hedin is under fire for teaching both sides of intelligent design in a college course
• Dan Barker: this complaint against professor Hedin came to our attention from Jerry Coyne not from students of Professor Hedin
• Dan Barker: professors are not allowed to question the presuppositions atheism, materialism, naturalism in the physics classroom
• Dan Barker: this is a science course and you cannot question the religion of naturalism in class or else it’s teaching religion
• Dan Barker: we need to use the power of the courts to stifle any dissent from of my religion (naturalism)
• Dan Barker: the classroom of a university is not the proper place for students to inquire about both sides of scientific disputes
• Dan Barker: even if students are paying their money and choosing this course of their own free will, they can’t be allowed to hear both sides
• Casey Luskin: this course is not a science course, it is open to non-science students
• Casey Luskin: the course evaluations from students of all majors is overwhelmingly positive
• Casey Luskin: the course features people on both sides
• Casey Luskin: the course features brilliant scholars like Lennox and Penrose, both from Oxford University
• Casey Luskin: the course features opponents of intelligent design like Francis Collins and Karl Gilberson
• Casey Luskin: the course features non-Christians like Lee Spetner, Paul Davies, Roger Penrose and Gerald Schroeder
• Dan Barker: (taking over the host) you cannot study scientists like Francis Collins who mapped the human genome, that is “creationism”
• Michael Medved: academic freedom allows professors to put a slant on what they are teaching
• Dan Barker: if the professor’s slant is against my religion of naturalism, then I have to put them in jail and inquisition them
• Dan Barker: you cannot teach science like the Big Bang and fine-tuning  as if it is science because it contradicts naturalism
• Casey Luskin: Even radical atheist PZ Myers says that professors have the right to academic freedom
• Dan Barker: I’ll burn that creationist at the stake, too! And smash his filthy microscopes and telescopes!
• Michael Medved: Casey, would you use state power to fire a professor who disagreed with you because you were offended?
• Casey Luskin: no, I had to take tons of courses from professors who had a slant against my views and I learned a lot from different views
• Dan Barker: you will address me as the Holy Father, please! Every professor who disagrees with my religion must burn!
• Casey Luskin: Barker has no idea what is going on in the class, he never attended it
• Casey Luskin: The atheists students who took his class gave him high ratings and said he graded fairly
• Dan Barker: I don’t have to look through the telescope to know the Earth is flat – Hedin is a traitor! Off with his head!
• Dan Barker: Creationist PZ Myers is wrong, and I’ll burn him at the stake for creationist heresy against my Holy Church!
• Dan Barker: Oxford professors like John Lennox are creationists because his Big Bang religion is grounded on experimental data like the cosmic background radiation, the hydrogen/helium abundances and the redshifting of light from distant galaxies
• Dan Barker: I have a degree in Religion and I write hymns, which makes me smarter than John Lennox since he is a “creationist”
• Dan Barker: I haven’t published any scientific research myself, but I have written some atheist praise hymns, so I am qualified to burn the heretics!
• Michael Medved: The course is taught by someone with a PhD in Physics, and the syllabus says that it investigates science and religion
• Michael Medved: Why is it wrong to investigate the science that questions philosophical assumptions like naturalism and materialism?
• Casey Luskin: The syllabus features amazing readings from all the latest science relevant to that question from both sides
• Michael Medved: What will Ball State U do to the professor?
• Casey Luskin: So far no action from Ball State U, but people need to sign the petition to protect the professor
• Michael Medved: Isn’t academic freedom being applied inconsistently here?
• Casey Luskin: Yes and science is supposed to move forward by disagreement and debate
• Casey Luskin: How confident can intelligent design censors really be if their contribution to the debate is coercion and intimidation?
• Michael Luskin: Is Dan Barker right to say that Oxford professor John Lennox is a “creationist”?
• Casey Luskin: Creationism starts with the Bible, but intelligent design starts with scientific data

And there is a period of questions from the callers. This episode features a debate, so it is not to be missed.

You can see more about Dan Barker’s educational background:

Dan became a teenage evangelist at age 15. At 16 he was choir librarian for faith-healer Kathryn Kuhlman’s Los Angeles appearances. He received a degree in Religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975.

[...]Dan preached for 19 years. He maintained an ongoing touring musical ministry, including eight years of full-time, cross-country evangelism. An accomplished pianist, record producer, arranger and songwriter, he worked with Christian music companies such as Manna Music and Word Music. For a few years, Dan wrote and produced the annual “Mini Musicale” for Gospel Light Publications’ Vacation Bible School curriculum.

I’m not sure if Dan Barker has the right background for disputing whether intelligent design belongs in a classroom or not. Remember, the bulk of his life was spent writing and singing feel-g0od, happy-clappy songs. In his debates with Christians, it’s quite clear that he is totally unequipped to assess scientific evidence from the Big Bang, the fine-tuning, the origin of life, the Cambrian explosion, or habitability. It’s just not his thing, and I don’t think that musicians have what it takes to understand those arguments enough to feel comfortable using the courts to suppress people with actual PhDs in science.

You can read more about my opinion about how Dan Barker arrived at his atheism through a mistaken view of the Christian life.

I subscribe to the ID the Future podcast, and I really recommend that you do as well!

Previous entries

• Episode one: Stephen C. Meyer on Thomas Nagel and intelligent design
• Episode two: Stephen C. Meyer on Richard Dawkins and the Cambrian explosion
• Episode three: John G. West discusses Darwinism and the value of human life
• Episode four: Stephen C. Meyer and John Lennox discuss human exceptionalism
• Episode five: Jay Richards and Stephen C. Meyer discuss scientific consensus

Filed under: Podcasts, Academic Freedom, Atheism, Ball State University, Casey Luskin, Censor, Censorship, Church, Dan Barker, Education, Eric Hedin, Fascism, Free Speech, Freedom From Religion Liberty, Indoctrination, Inquisition, Intelligent Design, Liberty, Materialism, Michael Medved, Naturalism, No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition, Philosophy, Science, Scientism, Spanish Inquisition, Stalinism, Totalitarian, Tyranny

Why celebrate Memorial Day? Why is Memorial Day important?

Arlington National Cemetary

What is Memorial Day? It’s the day that we remember all those brave men and women who have sacrificed to protect our liberties and our lives so that we could be safe from harm.

This video may help you to understand.

From Hot Air, a quote from Ronald Reagan.

Memorial Day is an occasion of special importance to all Americans, because it is a day sacred to the memory of all those Americans who made the supreme sacrifice for the liberties we enjoy. We will never forget or fail to honor these heroes to whom we owe so much. We honor them best when we resolve to cherish and defend the liberties for which they gave their lives. Let us resolve to do all in our power to assure the survival and the success of liberty so that our children and their children for generations to come can live in an America in which freedom’s light continues to shine.

The Congress, in establishing Memorial Day, called for it to be a day of tribute to America’s fallen, and also a day of national prayer for lasting peace. This Nation has always sought true peace. We seek it still. Our goal is peace in which the highest aspirations of our people, and people everywhere, are secure: peace with freedom, with justice, and with opportunity for human development. This is the permanent peace for which we pray, not only for ourselves but for all generations.

The defense of peace, like the defense of liberty, requires more than lip service. It requires vigilance, military strength, and the willingness to take risks and to make sacrifices. The surest guarantor of both peace and liberty is our unflinching resolve to defend that which has been purchased for us by our fallen heroes.

On Memorial Day, let us pray for peace — not only for ourselves, but for all those who seek freedom and justice.

And check some of my Medal of Honor posts:

• Navy SEAL Michael Murphy awarded Medal of Honor
• How Sal Giunta earned a Medal of Honor and lived to tell about it
• What can Christians learn from Rob Miller’s Medal of Honor story?

If you want to help out our troops, you can send them things through Soldier’s Angels.

I am listening to this podcast from the Heritage Foundation about the origin and meaning of Memorial Day.

God bless our soldiers, airmen and sailors!

For more reading, why not check out some of the military bloggers?

• BlackFive
• Mudville Gazette
• Froggy Ruminations
• Michael Yon
• Bill Roggio
• Adventures of Chester

If you want to help out our troops, you can send them things through Soldier’s Angels.

Filed under: Commentary, Air Force, All Gave Some, Army, Bravery, Freedom, Grateful, Gratitude, Honor, Liberty, Marines, Medal of Honor, Memorial Day, Military, Navy, Protect, Rangers, Remember, Remembrance, Rights, Sacrifice, Self-sacrifice, Some Gave All, Special Forces, Troops, USA, Valor