Articles by David E. Smith
By David E. Smith
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09.04.17
Illinois Family Institute is excited to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary as an organization this year! To commemorate this milestone, we have been hosting a number of great educational forums across the state of Illinois. We hope you, your family, and friends will join us at one or more!
By David E. Smith
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08.22.17
Last year I was at lunch with an evangelist. After the meal, he handed our waitress a Gospel tract. I wanted to reinforce his compassion, so I told the young lady that her relationship with God was the most important thing in the world. She responded, “Yeah, that and global warming!” She proceeded to tell us that she wakes up in fear of what may happen to the earth during her lifetime. I was shocked.
By David E. Smith
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08.04.17
While the weather is certainly giving us a reprieve from the normally oppressive August-in-Illinois heat and humidity, the dog days of summer are taking quite a toll on the donations necessary to sustain IFI.
The Illinois Family Institute relies solely...
By David E. Smith
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08.01.17
Christians who hold to historic and traditional teachings of the Bible believe that God created us from the beginning “male and female” (Genesis 5:2; Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6). Biology and physiology empirically affirm that there are only two genders. Christians who hold to this theologically orthodox and scientific view believe that “gender-confirmation” surgery, hormone-blockers and cross-dressing damage humans.
By David E. Smith
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07.28.17
We recently alerted you to two pending pieces of legislation that Governor Bruce Rauner will soon have to grapple with. If you have not yet responded to this call-to-action, or even if you have, it is imperative that his office hears from us emphatically and frequently. The top priority during the summer is HB 1785 -- it MUST be vetoed!
By David E. Smith
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07.12.17
As Washington D.C. lawmakers wrangle about the details of the so-called "ObamaCare repeal," "progressive" politicians and activists are ramping up their rhetoric. Setting aside the fact that the repeal effort has turned into an effort merely to reform government healthcare and the fact that Congressional leaders are seemingly unwilling to undo the legislation that mandated socialized medicine, I think it is important to once again address the Left's dogmatic narrative that asserts that health care is a human right...
By David E. Smith
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07.05.17
Yesterday, the Illinois Senate took up the misguided proposal to massively increase the income taxes of citizens and corporations in Illinois. It is ironic that the General Assembly voted to impose oppressive government taxes on Illinoisans during Independence Day weekend.
By David E. Smith
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07.03.17
Late Sunday afternoon (July 2nd), the Illinois House passed a massive tax hike for families and businesses. What does that mean for taxpayers? Well, if this proposal isn't vetoed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, the personal income tax rate would increase by 32 percent, surging from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, and the corporate rate would jump from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. This would enable and fund business as usual. ("Enable" is the key word here...)
By David E. Smith
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06.26.17
Great news! On June 26th, U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 7-2 ruling in favor of religious liberty!
The High Court ruled in favor of a church in Missouri that sued the state after being denied taxpayer funds for a playground safety project because of a restriction that prohibited state taxpayer funding for religious institutions.
By David E. Smith
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06.15.17
We live in a divided and contentious culture where traditional Judeo-Christian values are rejected for humanistic ideals and cultural Marxism. Last Saturday morning IFI received two emails that demonstrate this dichotomy:
Laura from Crystal Lake sent this in response to...
By David E. Smith
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06.05.17
The General Assembly may have adjourned for the summer, but the legislative process is far from finished. HB 40, which forces taxpayers to pay for Medicaid abortions, must be stopped at the governor’s desk. So, once again, we call your...
By David E. Smith
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06.05.17
HB 1785 passed last week in the House by a vote of 63-32 and late Wednesday it passed in the Illinois Senate by a vote of 32-22. HB 1785 will allow gender-dysphoric persons to falsify their birth certificates, which are both legal and historical documents...
By David E. Smith
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05.25.17
This afternoon, the Illinois House debated and passed HB 1785 – a highly controversial proposal that would make it significantly easier for gender-dysphoric persons to obtain fraudulent birth certificates. This bill passed by a vote of 63-32. See the full roll-call vote below.
Six Republican lawmakers voted with fifty-seven Democrats to approve deceptive birth certificates...
By David E. Smith
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05.18.17
On February 28th, the Illinois Senate passed SB 7 - a massive gambling bill - by a vote of 31-26. Yet for lawmakers with an insatiable hunger for revenue at the expense of well-documented social costs, it wasn't enough.
Yesterday, the Illinois Senate passed an amended version of SB 7 to exploit even more citizens, by a vote of 33-24 with 1 voting present. (See roll call chart below.)
By David E. Smith
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05.10.17
With three weeks left in the regular session of the General Assembly, we are still working to stop a number of bills that are making their way through the legislative process. Almost two dozen great activists are traveling to Springfield today to join IFI’s full time lobbyists in the hopes of meeting with key lawmakers to discuss bills of concern. Please PRAY that God would bless these grassroots lobbyist...
