OUR COLUMNISTS So, Now the Church Is the New Whipping Boy for the GOP? Commentary by Matt Friedeman While acknowledging GOP Senator Tom Coburn has courage to "slap around" the Religious Right, columnist Matt Friedeman questions the lawmaker's accusation that the church has played a role in food stamp fraud. The Gift of Kindness Commentary by Jane Jimenez With the entire country engaged in finding the perfect Valentine's Day gift, could we imagine a year of endless days for Valentine gifts ... a day that never ends? A Cynic's Playground Commentary by Brad Locke The Olympics...NASCAR...spring training...March Madness.... Unfortunately, much of the current optimism will give way to the cynicism that has been infecting the sports world with alarming frequency the last few years. Comparing Islamic Fascists to Christian Conservatives Commentary by Mark Creech The media has often compared Christian conservatives in America to violent Islamic radicals. Such comparisons are common today by those on the left, but nothing less than asinine -- and recent events on the world stage prove it.

...The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) have wrapped up their annual convention with warnings of potential threats to their proclamation of biblical teachings. NRB President Frank Wright said some members of Congress would like to reinstate the fairness doctrine, which until 1987 required stations to offer air time to opponents on controversial issues. Wright noted that much of Christian teaching is controversial, and that donors would be less likely to support Christian stations that are forced to spend half their time airing opposing views. NRB Chairman Ron Harris talked about the opposition Christians already face in the Muslim world, and suggested that God may be preparing Christian broadcasters to offer hope in some future crisis or disaster. [AP]

...A group of 86 evangelical leaders who have sided with proponents of global warming are threatening more than their own credibility -- that's according to one Christian leader on Capitol Hill. The group, which includes Pastor Rick Warren, says millions of people could die from climate change if nothing is done about global warming. Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council says these "evangelical climate experts" are posing even a greater threat than that. "Many evangelical leaders have withdrawn themselves from this debate," Schenck says. "It's not a genuine debate. And I think that these evangelical leaders are not only losing credibility themselves, but may in fact be putting the evangelical message at risk." Reports have now surfaced that a pro-abortion group, the Hewlett Foundation, has provided the Evangelical Climate Initiative $475,000 to use in its campaign. [Bill Fancher]

...Indiana Congressman Mike Sodrel says a judge's ban on certain kinds of prayer in the Indiana House is "a clear example of judicial activism." He says he is introducing legislation to bar federal judges from ruling on the content of prayer in state legislatures. The bill is co-sponsored by Indiana's five other Republican congressmen. Sodrel says his bill will provide immunity, with few exceptions, for the content of speech by lawmakers or their guests during a legislative session. The bill would also prohibit the use of federal funds to enforce a decision like the one barring any mention of Jesus during prayers before the Indiana house. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which filed the suit that resulted in the federal judge's ruling, calls Sodrel's bill a disservice to the American legal system. [AP]

...A pro-life nemesis of Planned Parenthood has launched a campaign to de-fund the nation's leading abortion provider. Jim Sedlak, director of STOPP International, wants to dry up a key source of the abortion provider's funding -- the American taxpayer -- which gives millions of dollars to the organization. "Last year it was $265 million," says Sedlak. STOPP, which stands for Stop Planned Parenthood, began by working in various states to turn off the tax-dollar spigot. "We now have six states that are not giving money to Planned Parenthood," he shares. "So we've now launched a national effort to get support for taking all taxpayer money away from Planned Parenthood." By law, tax dollars cannot be used to provide abortions, so Planned Parenthood says the tax dollars are used for expenses other than providing abortions. One key element of Sedlak's campaign is a petition drive. "Our intention is to collect the petitions and use them not only at the federal level but at the state level and the local level to take away this taxpayer money that Planned Parenthood relies on," the pro-life activist explains. "It accounts for one third of their income." Last year alone, Planned Parenthood received more than $265 million in tax money. [Bill Fancher]

...A well-known country music singer has jumped on the homosexual cowboy "bandwagon" with the release of the first "homosexual cowboy" song. The hoopla over the homosexual cowboy flick Brokeback Mountain has spilled over into the music scene with Willie Nelson's release of "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other." Stephen Bennett, a former homosexual and a Christian evangelist, had this reaction to the song's release. "I think Willie Nelson's braids are pulled too tight," Bennett says. The ministry leader suspects Nelson is just taking advantage of the "gay western" fad. "I don't understand why everybody is jumping on the bandwagon of homosexuality," says Bennett. "It is like the 'in thing' today. And, of course, with this movie Brokeback Mountain, everybody is jumping in now to do what they can to capitalize on this newest, latest fad that people are accepting." The founder of Stephen Bennett Ministries is now a married man with children who has found his career in Christian music. [Bill Fancher]

...An author and conservative activist hopes his new book will be an eye-opener to many uninformed Americans about just how much control the left-wing academic establishment has on the nation's university campuses. David Horowitz calls his book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. But the former leftist says there are thousands of such radical educators in colleges all across the U.S. "I estimated in the book that there were 30,000 of these radicals on faculties, but that's a very conservative estimate," the author says. "My real estimate is about 60,000." According to Horowitz, the nature of the university also has changed; he contends liberal educators "use the grading system to force students to agree with them." As a result, he says, these professors have been able to turn America's universities into institutions of indoctrination. "It's a vast recruitment system for the radical left," he says. "If you allow the Communist Party to have Harvard as a training institution, you better believe there will be a lot more communists in the next generation -- and that's essentially what's going on." Horowitz argues that if this trend continues, America will lose its schools permanently. [Chad Groening]

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