On May second I sat down to access on the internet the current religious news of the past week. It reminded me again of the desperate situation our country is actually in. Let me share with you some recent news.
     On April 25th the Vermont House of Representatives passed the same-sex union bill and their governor signed it on April 26th. Vermont becomes the first state in America to grant “marriage benefits” to homosexuals. The U.S. Constitution says that states must recognize the laws of other states. But when Hawaii appeared likely to legalize gay marriage in 1996, more than thirty states (including Kentucky) and the U.S. Congress passed Defense of Marriage Acts, defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
     On April 25th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether or not the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude gay members. The issue came about when an Eagle Scout assistant, James Dale, was expelled ten years ago after the Boy Scouts discovered he was a homosexual activist. Mr. Dale sued under the New Jersey anti-discrimination law because it includes protection for sexual orientation. Last year the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts are a place of public accommodation and therefore they must allow for gay members. This ruling totally disregarded the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of association which should protect the rights of the Boy Scouts.
     The Supreme Court justices are still weighing the ramifications. Here are some of the issues the justices brought up:
     If the Boy Scouts cannot exclude gays, can they still exclude girls?
     Would a Jewish social group be forced to accept non-Jewish members.
     In the past, the courts rejected the public accommodation claim for all-male organizations such as the Jaycees and the Rotary Club. Now the Supreme Court must determine whether or not the public accommodation law should apply to private organizations such as the Boy Scouts. The decision for this case will not be decided until early summer.
     “With God all things are possible” has been Ohio’s state motto since 1959. However, a federal appeals court ruled that the statement violates the U.S. Constitution. The court sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who believes the motto is a government endorsement of Christianity. The motto has appeared on Ohio’s secretary of state’s stationary, and on some state reports. In 1998 a federal judge permitted the motto as long as the Bible was not cited as its origin. The ACLU asked an appeals court to reverse this decision.
     In the name of tolerance, the state of Massachusetts is using public schools as training ground for teaching children about homosexual sex. Each year, their governor budgets $1.5 million for his “Governor’s Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth” which works through the Massachusetts Department of Education. Attending teachers and administrators receive “professional development credits.” They also received instruction on “how to expand homosexual teaching into lower grades.” It included a workshop entitled “The Religious Wrong: Dealing Effectively with Opposition in Your Community.”
     The Psalmist said, “Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). God’s authority is no longer the strong influence in our nation, as it has been in the past. The influence of godless Humanism is apparent throughout our society. It has infiltrated our government, courts, our schools, the work place, even our homes and our “churches.” We are a nation that has sunk to new lows, far below God’s standards of righteousness. This is certainly a twisted concept of being One Nation Under God.—PO Box 313, Mayfield, KY 42066