OUR COLUMNISTS Where Do I Stand on Rick Warren? Commentary by Matt Friedeman Some Christians quibble with Rick Warren for his use of technology and contemporary music and the fact that he never buttons up for a church service. Time for some of us to grow up and get over it. Governed by Faith Commentary by Jane Jimenez Attacks on Christian politicians are frequent. Lacking restraint, critics compare them to Hitler, Nazis, facists ... well, you get the idea. So what is the answer? America without religion? A Good Kind of Hurt Commentary by Brad Locke It's curious why so many people in this world take exception to affliction. A lost job, a broken relationship, an illness -- they all can cause bitterness and regret. It can lead one to question why God would allow this to happen. Papal Souvenirs! Get 'em While They're Hot! Commentary by David Sisler When Pope John Paul II passed away, it opened the floodgates for the gluttonous and the unappeasable. Shortly after his death, John Paul II souvenirs numbered over 12,000 on eBay. Now they are down to about 5,000. I guess folks are gobbling up the goodies. A Dark Day for North Carolina Commentary by Mark Creech It was certainly one of the saddest days of my life. The arguments made by certain lawmakers on the floor of the North Carolina House in favor of the lottery were unbelievably shallow and morally bankrupt!

...Republicans are under assault on many fronts from Democrats; and whether the conservatives are judicial nominees, GOP leaders, or appointees, apparently no one is getting a pass. United Nations ambassador nominee John Bolton is one recent target, but White House spokesman Tim Goeglein says Bolton is being gracious despite one unsubstantiated charge after another. Meanwhile, pro-life and Christian judicial nominees are still being held up by unprecedented filibusters in the Senate. The attacks on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay persist as well. Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute believes he knows what is behind the attacks. "The left has decided they are going to attack Tom DeLay personally," he states, "and it's analogous to a team not being able to beat the other team, so they decide to rough up the other team's pitcher in the parking lot before the game." [Bill Fancher]

...California Democrats are pushing ahead today with efforts to legalize homosexual "marriage" licenses in the state, even after an April 26 hearing at which citizens and pro-family leaders voiced anger over the legislation and the way the voice of the people is being ignored. AB 19, the bill put forth by homosexual Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco, would delete "a man and a woman" from California's marriage law and replace it with "two persons." This, despite broad consensus that a previously passed ballot initiative, Proposition 22, clearly prohibits the creation of same-sex marriage in the state. Many pro-family citizens are upset, asserting that AB 19 violates the California Constitution, which forbids state lawmakers from repealing voter-approved initiatives. Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families contends, "This legislature has zero authority to pass this bill. Proposition 22 said, 'Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.'" Noting that all 30 legislative coauthors of the homosexual marriage bill belong to the Democratic Party, the CCF spokesman adds, "If the Democrats in this Legislature want to reject the vote of the people, you're basically telling the people ... if they want to protect marriage, they can't vote for Democrats. I think that would be a sad message for this Legislature to send." Thomasson says the California Legislature is not superior to the voters and cannot trash them, nor can it "burn up a section of the Constitution." (See commentary on this topic) [Jenni Parker]

...The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over federal dollars going to Alaska Christian College. The lawsuit claims that the relatively new, unaccredited school in Soldotna has only 37 students but has received more than one million dollars in federal money in the past two years. The college is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska. More than 90 percent of its student body is either Alaska Native or American Indian. The Freedom From Religion Foundation's Annie Laurie Gaylor says, "It is so primitive and so racist, this missionary agenda, pretending they are doing some good for Native Alaskans." The college says it "has acted with integrity and honesty and has spent the money in the manner that has been approved by the Department of Education." [AP]

...Walk on water, good Samaritan, pearl of great price, the last shall be first. Those are just a few of the literary and cultural expressions that today's students do not understand if they are biblically illiterate. Virtually all high school English teachers surveyed for a new Gallup poll -- 98 percent -- say understanding the Bible gives students a distinct educational advantage. Survey researcher Marie Wachlin said students who lack biblical knowledge are "clueless" when it comes to understanding many references that are common in English literature. Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center says the Bible can be taught as literature in public schools without violating the Constitution. [AP]

...Congressman Jim Ryun (R-KS) announced yesterday that Kansas State University has been awarded a $992,000 government grant to designate the school as the national center for the Study of the American Soldier. "Our men and women in uniform are the protectors of freedom," Congressman Ryun remarked. "This funding will help ensure that the stories of these military heroes are never forgotten." The federal grant, issued by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow Kansas State's campus to house the center under the auspices of the Institute for Military History and 20th Century Studies. The "American Soldier Project" will provide money for a number of primary objectives, including scholarly research and writing on the histories of American soldiers and combat units; the development and implementation of curricula related to these topics; the funding of dissertation fellowships for Ph.D. students from K-State and other universities; and the provision of stipends for research assistants for faculty involved with the project. [Jenni Parker]

...The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) has begun a second wave of data collection, adding longitudinal dimension to the organization's research. The Lilly Endowment, Inc. recently approved funding for Wave II of the NSYR study, to be administered through the Carolina Population Center with ongoing cooperation from the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science and the Department of Sociology, all based at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The $1,101,092 Wave II NSYR grant will continue and expand upon the work done in the initial wave of research. Over the course of the study, NSYR will be conducting telephone surveys and face-to-face interviews with the same teenagers surveyed and interviewed in the "first wave" of the research project. At the beginning of Wave I, respondents were between the ages of 13 and 17 and will be between 16 and 20 when re-interviewed. Through the study, NSYR hopes to investigate the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent to which youth participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities religious communities offer them; to foster informed national discussion about the influence of religion in young people's lives; and to encourage sustained reflection about cultural and institutional practices relating to youth and religion. Wave II of NSYR will run through December 31, 2007. [Jenni Parker]

...Liberty Counsel is representing a Florida woman who says the abortion clinic she went to refused to respond to her screams for them to call 911 after her aborted baby was born alive. Angele, a single mother with two children, entered the EPOC Clinic in Orlando for a late-term abortion on April 1. According to her account, she was given Valium and another medication to begin dilation and told to return the following day. On April 2, she took prescribed medicine to induce labor and returned to the clinic, cramping and in tears. Eventually, she was left alone in a room and began to bleed as her labor progressed. She cried out, but no one assisted her. Then, after one hard push, she gave birth to a baby boy, fully intact and alive. The Florida woman says her newborn moved his leg and then "curled up a bit, like he was cold." Meanwhile, she screamed and pleaded for clinic workers to call 911, but they did not. The mother caressed the infant, stroking his head and rubbing his body in an attempt to comfort him. But when the clinic staff continued to ignore her pleas for help, the woman ran to get her cell phone, still holding the baby. However, help did not come in time. Angele says when she realized for certain that her son was gone, she held him to her chest and "rocked him and prayed" and "could not stop crying." She named him Rowan. Liberty Council president and general counsel Mat Staver visited the baby at the funeral home. Looking at the perfect, fully formed body, blond eyelashes and tiny fingernails, the attorney says he wondered "How can we continue to kill our children and hide behind the rubric of choice?" But Staver adds that Rowan's short life will not be in vain if his story can give life and hope to mothers who believe their only choice is abortion. [Jenni Parker]

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