Between the increasingly bitter political divisions, intensifying anti-Christian hostility, and coronaviral pandemic, it is becoming challenging to feel hopeful. But there are many reasons for Christians to feel hopeful.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

But there remain many temporal reasons for hope as well. Allan C. Carlson, senior editor of Touchstone Magazine, founder of the World Congress of Families, and author of Conjugal America: On the Public Purpose of Marriage, offers hope for a Republican Party led by true conservatives who understand the value of each and every human life and the critical importance of true marriage and properly ordered sexuality. Watch this short video and be encouraged!

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12).

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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On Saturday evening (Feb. 8, 2014), U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) was presented with the “Freedom” award by Equality Illinois, the state’s leading homosexual pressure group, at a swank fundraising banquet in Chicago. You can watch a video of the presentation below [or on YouTube HERE].

Senator Kirk has become one of the most liberal Republicans in Washington D.C. on homosexual-related issues with ever greater acts of pandering to the LGBTQ Lobby. (He came out for homosexual “marriage” and is pushing for passage of ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act [see homosexual activists release on Kirk and ENDA HERE], 

Read more about ENDA in the Heritage Foundation’s report on the ENDA bill HERE.

You might recall how Senator Kirk – in a capitulation whose cowardice was eclipsed only by its pettiness – recently blocked the respected pro-family organization  World Congress of Families (WCF) from securing a meeting room on Capitol Hill. This towering act in defense of “freedom” (sarcasm) came after the Senator heard complaints against WCF from some homosexual activists. World Congress, affiliated with The Howard Center, is based in Rockford, Illinois.

Thus it appears that Senator Kirk’s conception of “freedom” matches that of his intolerant homosexual activist allies. In 2012, Equality Illinois launched a vicious and slanderous campaign to deny Chick-fil-A restaurants the “freedom” to operate in Illinois. As you can see below, EQ falsely accused C-f-A of “discriminatory policies” because the latter’s Chief Operating Officer, Dan Cathy, had spoken out publicly against homosexual “marriage” as tempting the judgment of God. The Chicago “gay” group launched this “Flick the Hate” petition campaign designed to boot the Christian-owned chicken fast food franchise out of several college towns:

As you can see, Equality Illinois’ malicious campaign smeared Chick-fil-A and its COO, Dan Cathy, as representing “hate”–merely because Cathy disagreed publicly with “gay marriage.” EQ sought to petition stakeholders into cancelling their rental leases to the 19 Chick-fil-A restaurants then operating in Illinois. (Thankfully, they failed; there are now 32 C-f-A franchises in Illinois, according to the company’s website.) The EQ page reads, in part (emphasis theirs):

Chick-fil-A has 19 restaurants across Illinois, mostly on university campuses and in shopping malls.This petition will be give to key stakeholders in Illinois who lease, rent or allow Chick-fil-A to continue to sell their hate-filled homophobic “Chiken,” asking them to cut ties….

That kind of hate has no place in a business, especially in Illinois. It is a shame to be associated with such extreme intolerance and hate.

[Petition:]

…We urge you, as business and institutional leaders in Illinois, to challenge the discriminatory policies of this fast food chain and end all relationships that enable the Chick-fil-A brand to operation on your premises.

This kind of hate has no place in a business, especially in Illinois. It is a shame to be associated with such extreme intolerance and hate. 

I urge you to sever your ties immediately and “Flick-the-Hate!”

Background on Chick-fil-A

It is important to remind the reader that Chick-fil-A as a corporation never “discriminated” against homosexual customers or employees. In fact, one homosexual C-f-A franchise owner defended the restaurant chain and a New Hampshire Chick-fil-A restaurant owner supported a  “gay pride” event. What ignited the LGBT-obsessed Left was that Dan Cathy actually spoke out publicly against counterfeit “gay marriage.” The pro-homosexual/liberal campaign against Chick-fil-A also involved political opposition to proposed restaurant openings in Chicago and Boston–with liberal politicians seeking to banish C-f-A in the name of “tolerance.”

The Left’s opposition to Chick-fil-A led to a massive Christian pro-family backlash in the form of “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” organized by Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate. Americans by the hundreds of thousands nationwide went to their local Chick-fil-A to support the restaurant chain.

Thankfully, the homo-fascists at Equality Illinois–and their Democratic political allies who used their offices to attempt to deny Chick-fil-A the right and opportunity to expand and do business (e.g, in the economically-struggling State of Illinois) did not prevail. In fact, they succeeded only in generating more support for Chick-fil-A among many, many consumers.

As you can see below, Sen. Kirk is still recovering from the stroke he suffered in 2012. We wish him a continued and speedy recovery. Politically speaking, however, we at AFTAH are appalled at Kirk’s pandering to Hard Left activists of the sort usually associated with Democratic politics, and we plead with him to return to supporting the pro-family principles of the Republican Party Platform.

Take ACTION:  Call or write Senator Mark Kirk R-IL)  at his Washington D.C. office (202) 224-2854; or at his Chicago office (312) 886-3506; or through his online Comment Form HERE] and urge him to stop rewarding anti-Christian bigotry. Ask him to return this “Freedom Award” from the hateful anti-Christian homosexual group, Equality Illinois–which in 2012 launched a failed pressure campaign to kick Chick-fil-A restaurants out of Illinois.

More ACTION:  Call or write the Republican National Committee [Contact Form HERE] and its Chairman, Reince Priebus [202-863-8500; choose ext. “1”], and urge them to stand firm against the aggressive Homosexual Lobby, which is targeting Christian leaders and businesses like Chick-fil-A for demonization. Tell Priebus that when Republicans like Senator Mark Kirk embrace Democratic-type social liberalism, it only deflates the pro-family GOP grassroots. Lastly, urge Priebus to PUBLICLY oppose ENDA, the radical Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Thank Chairman Priebus for being publicly pro-life–but urge him also to make the case against “Big Gay Government” (e.g., ENDA)–and Obama’s push to nationalize “same-sex marriage”–as part of the RNC’s regular public Talking Points. 

You can watch the YouTube video of the Equality Illinois presentation of the “Freedom Award” to Sen. Kirk HERE

This article was originally published at the AFTAH.com blog.

More than 120 pro-family and pro-life leaders from 11 countries signed a letter initiated by the World Congress of Families, protesting the U.S. Embassy’s participation in the Prague “Gay Pride” parade on August 18.

Signers include a former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, a former Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, a former Arkansas Governor, the head of Torah Jews for Decency and the former Venezuelan Ambassador to the Vatican.

The letter notes that the Obama administration has made promoting gay rights – including same-sex marriage – a foreign policy priority. If also observes the irony of those who complain ceaselessly about “cultural imperialism,” trying to force the worldviews of the American left on societies with traditional values.

It further comments that: “The United Nations has never affirmed homosexual marriage or rights” and that the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically says that “men and women…have a right to marry and found a family.” Family is described as “the natural and fundamental group unit of society” and, as such, “is entitled to protection by society and the state.”

The Madrid Declaration of  World Congress of Families VI (May 25-27, 2012) – unanimously adopted by more than 3,200 delegates from 72 countries – reads in part: “We affirm the natural family to be the union of a man and a woman through marriage for the purposes of sharing love and joy, propagating children, providing their moral education, building a vital home economy, offering security in times of trouble, and binding the generations.”

The letter continues: “Regarding ‘gay rights,’ those caught up in this lifestyle have the same rights as other citizens. This does not include the ‘right’ to force others to validate a lifestyle they find objectionable, for religious or other reasons. It also does not include the right of men to marry men and women to marry women. The foregoing pseudo-rights do not advance human freedom and dignity but debase them.”

Click here to read the full text.

Defunding Planned Parenthood is only part of the story regarding taxpayer funding under Title X. The negative social effects on women, children, and families and the economic impact from Title X have not even been discussed during the current national propaganda campaign by Planned Parenthood and its allies over its defunding in the Continuing Resolution amendment offered by Congressman Mike Pence.

“How timely is it that the most recent issue of The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy would highlight the harm and exploitation of women and children under Title X programs, commented Larry Jacobs, vice-president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. Marking the 40th anniversary of the federal government’s entree into “family planning” through Title X of the Public Health Services Act of 1970, the latest issue of The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy explores “the U.S. War on Fertility” with hard-hitting essays that quantify the downside of President Richard Nixon’s attempt to outdo his predecessor’s efforts to usher in the Great Society.

Those essays include Robert W. Patterson’s feature linking the ruinous social effects of federal family planning to the failures of the War on Poverty; Jennifer Roback Morse’s examination of the incoherence of federal “sex” policy; and Allan C. Carlson’s examination of how changing Protestant attitudes toward contraception paved the way for “population control” measures like Title X. Learn more atwww.familyinamerica.org.

The issue also carries a fitting analysis, “From Anthony Comstock to Jocelyn Elders,” a review by Charlotte Allen of Alexandria M. Lord’s Condom Nation, as well as Bryce J. Christensen’s look at polarization of American life in his joint review of Bill Bishop’s The Big Sort and Naomi Cahn and June Carbone’s Red Families v. Blue Families. Also reviewed byRobert W. Patterson, is James T. Patterson’s Freedom Is Not Enough. The issue also contains 20 “New Research” commentaries that glean insights from the latest empirical studies that confirm the positive social, health, and economic outcomes of life-long marriage and the child-rich family.

Robert W. Patterson’s lead feature not only explores the dubious genesis of Title X but also demonstrates how the track record of dramatic increases in unwed childbearing since 1970 indict Nixon’s scheme to reduce “untimely and unwanted childbearing” as just another tragic experiment in social engineering. The journal’s editor also exposes the disingenuousness of the public-heath establishment in defending its vested interests, explaining why questionable estimates of the theoretical construct of “unintended pregnancy” provides no basis for the formulation of sound public policy.

Jennifer Roback Morse’s essay explores the incoherence of federal efforts to reduce American fertility (through both Title X and Medicaid) and the Supreme Court’s 1972 Eisenstadt “right to privacy” decision that allegedly demanded that the government remain neutral in matters of sexual behavior, marriage, and childbearing. The noted economist also explains how, when coupled with the 1973 Court decision creating an unrestricted right to abortion, that incoherence dramatically weakened normative expectations of marriage, leaving young unmarried woman vulnerable to the sexual exploits of men.

Allan C. Carlson places the entire federal experiment with family planning into historical and cultural perspective, documenting how American Protestants – and particularly evangelical Protestants -reversed their historic opposition to birth control in the 1960s, a cultural shift that dramatically lessened public opposition to the U.S. War on Fertility.

All three feature authors (Patterson, Morse, and Carlson) are available for interviews, which can be arranged by contacting Larry Jacobs at (815) 222-2490 or larry@profam.org. Visit http://www.profam.org/THC/thc_member.htm for more information on becoming a member of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society or to receive a subscription to The Family in America.

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (www.profam.org), located in Rockford, Illinois is an independent, non-profit research and education center (think-tank) that strives to be the leading source of fresh ideas and new strategies for affirmation and defense of the natural family, both nationally and globally. The Howard Center is also the organizer of the World Congress of Families project which unites people of goodwill who recognize that the family is the fundamental unit of society and coordinates the efforts of pro-family groups from more than 60 countries worldwide.