Written by Pastor Leroy Childress

Pray for God’s desire instead of your own.

When you pray and list your desires before the Lord, is your habit to go on a tangent for the things you desire and how you want things to be?  When your church sings a song you don’t like, or when a bill is passed in Congress you don’t care for, do you begin to pray the Lord will do what you desire to be done?  In our prayer lives, we must be humble and thoughtful enough to ask the Lord what His desire is.  Certainly we are limited in our ability to see all of the full tapestry the Lord has in perspective. Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us:

“ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ ”

Therefore, let us come into His presence with respect and a determination of seeking His will and not our own. Instead of asking the Lord to let you have your way, pray He will have His way. Ask Him how He feels about things; then be silent and still long enough for Him to reply.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:5-8).

Pray the leaders of the country will stop practicing prejudicial politics.

TV and radio stations bombard the airways with the notion of voting for a party.  Vote Democratic! Vote Republican! Neither party has all the right answers and ways.  The party cannot be bigger than our God. There are faults throughout all parties.  (By the way there are more than just two of them.)  We should demand politicians to work with all of the elected officials across the board and not just those who look like them.

We know this country has a history of slavery, segregation, bigotry and prejudice.  Perhaps it’s time we move past those roots and begin to embrace a party that looks and acts differently than the current parties. Pray for unity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate for the welfare of the country.  Jesus taught even Satan cannot stand if he is divided against himself (Matthew 12:22-28).  Pray against this division that holds our country hostage.

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation” (Matthew 12:25 NKJV).

Pray Psalm 119:9-16, 32.

Pray this Psalm for yourself and our nation. Take time praying each verse.  Pray the Lord enlarges our hearts more than the Grinch’s — which grew three sizes, as the story goes — so we can keep the Lord’s commandments as He desires.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

[32] I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!”

More than “racial reconciliation,” we need a spiritual realignment.

The problem is bigger than race, abuse of force, disrespect to officers, abortion, LBGTQ, gun control or any other political “hot topic” that is prevalent in our society.  Those are just subsets of the real problem which has been “weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27, NIV). I’m referring to the two great commandments of loving God and loving people.  Before there was black-on-black crime there was brother-on-brother crime with Cain and Abel. And before there was refusal to obey police authority, there was refusal to obey the authority of God in the Garden of Eden.

If Adam and Eve truly loved God they would have followed His commands.  If Cain truly loved God he would have offered a better sacrifice. And if he truly loved his brother he wouldn’t have gotten envious/jealous of Abel’s offering and killed him. He killed him with his heart before causing his blood to seep into the ground.

What we see happening in the world today is a result of a love deficiency towards God and people. Our prayers must be for hearts of stone to turn into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). We pray people will humble themselves in the sight of God, pray, seek His face [and his commandments] and turn from their wickedness, so that God can hear from Heaven and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

More than racial reconciliation, we need the Lord to “give us a new heart and put a new spirit inside of us” (Ezekiel 36:26). This is spiritual realignment!

Let Christians not depend on the politicians to do their job.

Christians around the country have taken a back seat to standing up for their beliefs.  We’d often times rather be politically correct than not lose friends or perhaps experience shame and embarrassment. Christians are not willing to stand up publicly and declare God’s commands as the Psalm writer said in Psalm 119:13, “With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.”

Should we really expect the politician who represents us to say and do what we ourselves are not saying and doing? So our prayer should be that those who profess Christianity will walk in Christianity.  Pray we don’t ask the politicians to be more Christ-like than we are called to be.  Pray for boldness in love, as we are commanded.

Pray for you.

This is a big one. A lot of effort is spent on being better. We go to conferences, watch webinars, read books, and invest countless hours to be better. Whether this is in the corporate world or ministry, the question is often asked, “How can I be better?” Much emphasis is placed on this across this country.  Although it is not a bad thing to desire to be better at work or ministry, it shouldn’t be our only area of desired growth.

When is the last time you devoted just as much attention on being a better spouse, parent, or son/daughter?  We go to conferences to learn how to bring more money in the house, but what about giving more of your biggest treasure — yourself. In 1 Samuel 3, 7, & 8, we see Samuel being anointed and doing ministry by judging and traveling often, but we also how his sons did not follow his ways when he tried to establish them as successors.  They became evil in the sight of men and the Lord.  One cannot be certain, but perhaps they resented their dad for not being present with them and modeling in the house what he was teaching in the land.

Don’t ask the Lord to change your spouse. Spend considerable amounts of time seeking the Lord on how you can be a better spouse.  Pray you would have a bigger desire and capacity to serve your spouse in love than you currently do. Pray you can be the parent your children need to grow in a healthy relationship with Christ. Pray you can serve your children and your parents in the way Christ serves you. If you love your family from a distance, it’s time to go home and be mentally all in. Pray for YOU to do better.  Pray for you!

Pastor Leroy Childress is the Senior Pastor of Grace Church in Lansing, Illinois.  He is is dedicated to helping people understand the Gospel in everyday language and life.  He has a passion for marriages and family unity and has  a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Pastor Childress is married and has three daughters.  In his years of ministry, he has served in church, school, prison, and street ministries. 

When William “Bill” Henry Gates III was born to William Henry Gates II and Mary Maxwell Gates, in Seattle in 1955, little did they know he would grow up to be (reportedly) the world’s wealthiest man.

Bill III and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, and grew the fledgling company into an $85 billion multi-national computer software business. Bill transitioned from CEO to CSA (Chief Software Architect) in 2000, the year he and wife, Melinda, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Then in 2006 Bill backed off, becoming part-time at Microsoft and full-time at BMGF.

Three trustees shepard BMGF, commonly called The Gates Foundation: Bill Gates III, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. Buffett (Chairman/President/CEO of $65B Berkshire Hathaway Inc.) is ranked as one of the world’s wealthiest men (net worth of about $66 billion) and has vowed to disburse 99% of his fortune to charities and causes mostly via the Gates Foundation. One Buffett pet cause being the Democratic party; he endorsed Hillary Clinton in her run for president.

The Gates Foundation, by all appearances is a humanitarian endeavor, seeking to help the least of these throughout the world, and especially in Africa. As written on the opening page of the BMGF website:

WE BELIEVE

That by giving people the tools to lead healthy, productive lives, we can help them lift themselves out of poverty.

Every year, millions of people find ways to transition out of poverty—by adopting new farming technologies, investing in new business opportunities, or finding new jobs. We know women and girls have a unique power to reshape societies. When you invest in a woman’s health and empowerment, it has a ripple effect, helping families, communities, and countries achieve long-lasting benefits.

A “woman’s health and empowerment” — now that’s an interesting phrase. Just what might that mean?

Click on the link under A CLOSER LOOK Help women make informed family-planning decisions and more of the BMGF agenda is revealed:

The Challenge

Voluntary family planning is one of the great public health advances of the past century. Enabling women to make informed decisions about whether and when to have children reduces unintended pregnancies as well as maternal and newborn deaths. It also increases educational and economic opportunities for women and leads to healthier families and communities. Family planning is a smart, sensible, and vital component of global health and development.

However, more than 220 million women in developing countries who don’t want to get pregnant lack access to contraceptives and voluntary family planning information and services. Less than 20 percent of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and barely one-third of women in South Asia use modern contraceptives. In 2012, an estimated 80 million women in developing countries had an unintended pregnancy; of those women, at least one in four resorted to an unsafe abortion.

Significant challenges stand in the way of making contraceptives more widely available and accessible, including insufficient donor and developing country funding, lack of appropriate products that meet users’ needs, weak distribution systems, lack of reliable monitoring and data collection mechanisms, and cultural and knowledge barriers.

Farther down The Foundation Strategy is defined:

Our Strategy

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Family Planning program is working to bring access to high-quality contraceptive information, services, and supplies to an additional 120 million women and girls in the poorest countries by 2020 without coercion or discrimination, with the longer-term goal of universal access to voluntary family planning.

With our partners, we support national governments that have committed to the goals of FP2020 and are leading the development and implementation of their own country-specific plans.

Foundation support includes assessing family planning needs, particularly among the poorest and most vulnerable populations; identifying access barriers and funding gaps; developing and testing interventions; sharing evidence-based practices; promoting accountability through real-time performance monitoring and data collection; and fostering coordination among governments, partners, and donors.

The verbiage repeatedly refers to “contraceptive information” and “contraceptives and voluntary family planning” and then, tucked away, “at least one in four resorted to an unsafe abortion.”

So, a whole lot of talk about women and contraception information and worries about unsafe abortions. What is starkly missing from the page is any mention of “life” or “babies.”

Also of note, The Gates Foundation operates with entities aligned with FP2020: Family Planning 2020. What is the goal of that initiative?

FP2020 is an outcome of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning where more than 20 governments made commitments to address the policy, financing, delivery and socio-cultural barriers to women accessing contraceptive information, services and supplies and donors pledged an additional US$2.6 billion in funding. Since then, the number of countries with FP2020 commitments has grown to 36 and, in 2014 alone, donors provided US $1.4 billion in bilateral funding for family planning—32 percent more than in 2012.

Led by an 18-member Reference Group, operated daily by a Secretariat, and hosted by the United Nations Foundation, FP2020 is based on the principle that all women, no matter where they live should have access to lifesaving contraceptives.

One of the FP2020 guiding principles:

• Universal access to voluntary contraceptive information, services and supplies, within the context of integrated programs to achieve sexual and reproductive health and rights and the health-related MDGs.

The website, like its partner the Gates Foundation, is full of mentions of contraceptive information and “sexual and reproductive health and rights.” And even more telling, the list of “Core Partners“:

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• The Department for International Development (DFID)
• UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund
• USAID (The United States Agency for International Development)

Much has been made of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s investment in African charities, but a closer inspection yields something less of a true philanthropic effort to save lives, and more of an effort to advance family planning and abortion. And this pro-abortion, utilitarian worldview was cultivated in Bill Gates III from a young age.

In a 2003 interview, Bill Moyers questioned Gates about his interest in advancing “family planning”:

MOYER: But did you come to reproductive issues as an intellectual, philosophical pursuit? Or was there something that happened? Did you come upon… was there a revelation?

GATES: When I was growing up, my parents were always involved in various volunteer things. My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that. And so it’s fascinating. At the dinner table my parents are very good at sharing the things that they were doing. And almost treating us like adults, talking about that.

My mom was on the United Way group that decides how to allocate the money and looks at all the different charities and makes the very hard decisions about where that pool of funds is going to go. So I always knew there was something about really educating people and giving them choices in terms of family size.

Indeed, Bill Gates II, a prominent Seattle lawyer, also served on the board of Planned Parenthood. His wife, Mary, Bill III’s mother, was the first female president of King County’s United Way. The United Way shunts a portion of all donations, unless earmarked otherwise, to Planned Parenthood.

Gates Sr. is Co-Chair of the Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

All of these connections explain Bill Gates’ implicit pro-abortion biases, they all add up. And The Foundation doesn’t dicker, it contributes major bucks to abortion providers. Live Action News’ Josh Craddock wrote in June 2014:

Fr. Boquet notes that, “The Gates Foundation has in the past and will continue to give tens of millions of dollars to the largest abortion providers in the world, including International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International. These large sums of money will undoubtedly expand the reach and influence of the abortion industry.”

According to the Gates Foundation grant database, the Foundation gave Planned Parenthood of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington about $71 million from before 2009 through 2013. Additionally, the Gates Foundation gave $46.1 million to Marie Stopes International in 2012 alone.

A year later, Micaiah Bilger writes for Life News:

The Gates Foundation promised to give an additional $120 million to Family Planning 2020 programs that support “the rights of women and girls to decide when and how many children they want to have,” the news website All Africa reported today.

. . .

Both Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International, two of the largest abortion businesses in the world, are partners in the global Family Planning 2020 initiative, according to a press release from the initiative.

Now factor in BMGF Trustee Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton’s BFF. Remember that Planned Parenthood awarded Hillary the Margaret Sanger Award in 2009 and the Democratic Presidential candidate has pledged to have “Planned Parenthood’s back if elected president.” In fact, not only is Mrs. Clinton pals with Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, she was also good friends with Cecile’s mother, Ann Richards.

The mafia had a term to describe who they were, “cosa nostra,” translated that means “our thing.” And “our thing” to Bill and Melinda Gates, Bill Gates Sr., Mary Gates, Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton, Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood, United Way, Marie Stopes International, and FP2020 is a desire to advance an abortion agenda around the globe.

And at its heart, abortion countermands the culture of life admonished in Deuteronomy:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

Yes indeed. Mainstream Media adores The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and touts their Progressive “Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),” but that’s just one small endeavor and not the heart of what the Microsoft billionaire really does with his fortune.

The word Philanthropy comes from the Greek: philos loving + anthrōpos man. Alas, Philanthropy, Gates-style, has absolutely nothing to do with real love of human life.

Our get-out-the-vote campaign is up and running. We are distributing the IFI Voter Guide to hundreds of churches, civic groups and tea party organizations. Will you financially support our endeavor to educate Illinois voters and promote Judeo-Christian values?  Donate today.

P.S. Listen to recent IFA podcast episodes at : illinoisfamilyaction.org/podcast

“The memory of the righteous is a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.”
~Proverbs 10:7~

Last week, Target announced a $20 million public relations diversionary tactic to make you believe the company has changed its bathroom policy.

Don’t fall for it. Target has not changed its policy.

While it is true the company is adding single-stall, lockable bathrooms to all store locations, Target says it will continue to allow men to use the women’s restrooms and fitting rooms inside their stores.

Adding more bathrooms isn’t the solution. Not allowing men in women’s facilities is the solution.

Please take a minute to read my open letter response to Target CEO Brian Cornell concerning his company’s refusal to address the real problem.

Let Target know you are not fooled by its misleading language by doing three things:

1. Most effective: Make a personal comment on Target’s Facebook page here.
2. If you haven’t already, sign the boycott pledge here.
3. New!!Read the latest news on the Target boycott from FoxNews’ Todd Starnes here.

If our mission resonates with you, please consider supporting our work financially with a tax-deductible donation. The easiest way to do that is through online giving. It is easy to use, and most of all, it is secure.

Written by J. Warner Wallace

When we heard about the shootings last week, my wife and I were heartsick. Seven people died in what feels like an escalating national crisis. Two people died at the hands of police officers, while five officers died at the hands of a single suspect. The tension and distrust between African Americans and police officers is at the highest level in my lifetime. As my son Jimmy (a third-generation police officer himself) flew as a member of the Honor Guard to represent our agency at five officer funerals in Dallas this week, I began to gather my thoughts about how we, as Christians, might respond to the growing dilemma. I’ve tried to accurately communicate the nature of police work, but for every person who asks for my police perspective, there’s another who wants my advice as a pastor and Christian Case Maker. In this article, I’d like to outline six things each of us, as citizens and Christians, can do to respond to the growing dilemma:

1. Educate with a purpose.

I’m often surprised to witness the vitriol and intensity of those who are ready to debate the issues before they’ve taken the time to examine the facts closely. It’s easy to find yourself in an argument without truly understanding the perspective of those involved. A balanced education requires us to view the issues from both sides of the coin. All of us should take the time to do the research and be informed. As Christians, however, our desire to be educated must involve more than merely the consumption of information. Our education must have a goal: empathy and compassion. When Jesus saw the crowds of people in the region near Capernaum, He “had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). These people weren’t yet disciples of Jesus, and they likely didn’t yet agree with what Jesus’ had to say. But Jesus understood their situation, and this knowledge informed His response. The information resulted in compassion and empathy, in spite of the fact the crowds may not have been in agreement with Jesus or his disciples.

If you’re on one side of this debate or another, you may be having difficulty feeling empathy for those with whom you disagree. Take some time to educate yourself. There’s enough human struggle on both sides to warrant your understanding and compassion. Let me give you two examples of how a brief education can help you rethink your vitriol. A law enforcement agency recently reached out to an African American civil rights leader and invited him to participate in a day of “Shoot or Don’t Shoot” training. This realistic exercise placed the civil rights leader in several law enforcement scenarios that required him to make a quick decision about the use of force. In one scenario he acted too slowly and was “killed” by the role-playing “suspect”. In a second scenario he “shot” an unarmed “suspect” role-player. By the end of the day, this educational experience helped the leader to empathize with the burden of the officers. In a similar way, a recent experiment was conducted to see if people treated a little girl differently if they thought she was underprivileged or homeless.  The same girl was dressed as a lost, upper class child and as a lost, under-privileged, homeless girl. She was treated in two remarkably different ways. People asked the better-dressed girl if they could help her find her parents, but walked by the homeless girl as though she didn’t exist. After watching this video, I began to understand the inherent bias we express toward certain people groups. As a result, it’s now easier for me to empathize with those I used to shun, ignore or vilify. Educate yourself about the plight of those with whom you disagree. You just might feel your heart grow.

2. Love the other side because there is no “other side.”

At the police memorial in Dallas last Tuesday, President Obama said, “Faced with this violence we wonder if the divides of race in America can ever be bridged. We wonder if an African-American community that feels unfairly targeted by police and police departments that feel unfairly maligned for doing their jobs can ever understand each other’s experience.” One way to bridge the divide is to remember that what we have in common far exceeds what separates us. As Christians, we should know this better than anyone. Each of us, regardless of race, has at least three important things in common. First, we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Second, we are deeply rebellious and lost in our sin nature (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8). Finally, every one of us is desperately in need of a Savior (Ephesians 2:1-7). Regardless of any other differences we may have, these three foundational truths are common to all of us. I bet you’re a lot different than many members of your own family, but somehow you manage to come together on holidays and get along. Why? Because you have something important in common. Guess what? All of us may be different racially, economically or culturally, but we also have something important in common: we are members of the human family. There is no “other side” when it comes to family. All of us have something for which we can be praised, and something we can do better.

Take an honest look at your own shortcomings before you point a finger at others, then adopt Jesus’ view toward those you’ve thought of in an adversarial way. Jesus was, after all, the master of “counter-intuitive compassion.” He famously taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’” (Matthew 5:43-45). As Christians, we’re called to love those we previously described as our enemies. Let’s talk the talk and walk the walk. Love the people on all sides of this issue and look for what we have in common rather than what might divide us.

3. Be a patient leader.

Most of us understand the value of patience, as long as it’s required ofsomeone else. In the instantaneous Information Age in which we live, the virtue of “measured response” has become a lost art. But Scripture is clear about the value of being “quick to hear, slow to speak,” and “slow to anger” (James 1:19). This is an important quality for good leaders. In my career, I worked for three different police chiefs. Each of them understood the value of patient, appropriate, disciplined response. If a questionable incident or shooting occurred, they would address the press within 24 hours and tell reporters that the officers involved had been removed from the field pending investigation, and that the full resources of our agency (and the DA’s office, if necessary) would be mobilized to determine the facts of the case. If asked to comment specifically on the “rightness” or “wrongness” of the incident, these leaders refrained from taking a positon or making any kind of statement in one direction or the other. They remained neutral and told reporters there would be nothing further to report until the investigation was conducted. While this measured response usually frustrated the press, it was a sign of true leadership.

If you’ve ever been involved in an investigation of this kind, you know one thing for sure: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). It’s a fool’s game to think you know the truth before you’ve taken the time to talk to everyone, examine every perspective, and collect all the facts. Good leaders don’t jump on social media and make a provocative, early statement. Leaders should be patient, measured and disciplined. It’s time for all of us, as Christians, to be leaders. Next time you see something in the press, even if it’s a short video clip that appears to be decisive, resist the temptation to draw an immediate conclusion. Let the process run its course, there will be plenty of time to respond later with more accuracy.

4. Rely on prayer and the power of God.

It might sound trite for a Christian to suggest prayer as the proper response to a crisis, but at the risk of saying something obvious, let me remind you of two important aspects of prayer. First, God alone is powerful enough to change the hearts of everyone involved in our present dilemma. Even though I know this is true, my actions are often contradictory; I know I can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16), but I often fail to do so. Maybe you’re the same way. If, however, you’re frustrated that you don’t seem to be in a position to effect the kind of change you’d like, maybe it’s time to summon someone who is (and can).

There’s a second important truth related to prayer: communal prayer has the power to unify. There’s plenty of evidence to support this truth; we’ve seen many examples following the shooting in Dallas.Officers who pray together before watch are unified as a team, despite their diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. Communal prayer reminds us of our common dependence on God. In a similar way, we’ve seen a number of examples of prayer unifying those who might otherwise be dangerously opposed. When one Black Lives Matter group met a counter-protest group on the streets of Dallas, the potential for conflict was palpable. But when members of both groups came together to hug and pray for one another, they reclaimed their identity as brothers and sisters in Christ. Prayer does more than bend the ear of God; it bends our hearts toward one another. Take the time to pray for our situation, and whenever possible, seek opportunities to pray together.

5. Help agencies train and hire.

Most concerns related to law enforcement personnel revolve around two important questions: (1) Will our police officers act ethically, and (2) Will they use an appropriate level of force? As it turns out, police agencies can train their officers in both of these areas. As I mentioned in my last article, my Chief asked me to develop a six-session ethics program for our agency. Prior to this, we’d never engaged in a systematic, prolonged approach to ethics training. We were always in compliance with our state regulations related to ethics training, but we wanted to raise the bar and do even more, so we developed our own program. In a similar way, our agency also decided to exceed the state requirements for defensive tactics training by using several professional grapplers and force experts who happened to already work for our agency.

If you’re suspicious about police officers and their use of force, you might think it unwise to offer them additional training in this area. But, the more proficient an officer becomes in his or her use of force, the less likely they are to over-react when confronted physically. If you don’t feel confident grappling with a suspect, you’re all too likely to resort to a higher level of force in an effort to control the situation and defend yourself. Many shootings involving unarmed suspects are simply the result of an officer being afraid he or she was going to be fatally overpowered. The better we train police officers to handle themselves physically, the more likely they are to use an appropriately low level of force. But, in order to become proficient in this area, officers have to train regularly. That’s not an inexpensive proposal. If we want our police officers to be the most ethically and physically responsible officers they can be, we’ll need to support an increase in their training budget. As citizens, we need to make this clear to our local city governments.

We also need to address another increasingly difficult task facing local police agencies: hiring. When my son applied for his position five years ago, he was one of three-hundred candidates. Of these potential hires, only five passed the grueling testing and vetting process and made it to the Police Academy. Only three survived the Academy. Only two survived the training that followed. It tookthree-hundred applicants (and approximately one year) to produce two officers. That’s what it was like five years ago; it’s a lot more difficult today. Given the increasingly hostile climate and negative view of police officers, fewer good candidates are interested in law enforcement. We’re lucky to get eighty people to show up for the first battery of tests. As a result, agencies are shrinking. You and I can help, however. It starts with something simple: resist the temptation to vilify the entire law enforcement community when single officers make a mistake or do something unethical. This is still a noble profession. This is still the kind of calling you’d be proud to have your children answer. And people on both sides of “the divide” are invited to participate. Dallas Police Chief, David Brown (a devout African American Christian), reminded protestors following the Dallas murders that they could “become a part of the solution.” He told them to “serve your community, don’t be a part of the problem. We’re hiring… get off that protest line and put an application in, and we’ll put you in your neighborhood and we’ll help you resolve some of the problems you’re protesting about.”

6. Be courageous enough to seek (and address) the root causes.

When a paramedic responds to someone who’s having a heart attack, he or she responds to the attack, not the cause; the paramedic has no control over the bad eating habits or genetic history that preceded the attack. In a similar way, when a police officer responds to a violent assault, he or she confronts the attacker, not the underlying cause of the assault; the officer has no control over the social or environmental conditions that preceded the behavior. Police officers respond and react to crimes committed in their city, they don’t cause or create the conditions that resulted in the crime.

Politicians, sociologists and philosophers can debate the underlying causes for crime, and many have attributed some form of systemic racism as the chief culprit. Let me also offer an explanation that is grounded in my own anecdotal experience and in a number of important studies. When I served on my agency’s Gang Detail in the early 1990’s, I was in constant contact with a wide spectrum of gang members. We engaged white, Hispanic, Asian and African American gangsters from every economic background. I was interested in what caused these young men to become gangsters in the first place. It certainly didn’t seem to be something in their cultural, racial or economic lineage; they came from a very diverse set of circumstances. The more I got to know these young men, the clearer the problem became: all of them suffered from what I call, “lack of dad.”

Some of their fathers were uninvolved, alcoholic or “deadbeat” dads. Others were workaholics who were never home. Some were habitually incarcerated. Others simply hadn’t stuck around long enough to raise their sons. Over and over again I saw the same thing: young men who were wandering without direction or moral compass, in large part because they didn’t have a father at home to teach them. Many studies have confirmed my own anecdotal observations.

The evidence is clear: kids do best, in nearly every metric, when raised by two biological parents in a committed, low conflict setting. One study found that “Children with involved fathers have better social skills, more successful relationships, stronger self-esteem, more self-control and higher grades. They are less likely to be overweight, suspended from school, bully others, take drugs, engage in risky sexual behavior or commit crime.” Intact families guided by engaged fathers are the remedy, at least in my view. When I first recognized these gangsters all suffered from “lack of dad,” I started to assess my own paternal leadership. Was I leading my sons? Was I available and attentive? Was I modelling what it means to be a man, a husband and a father? Was I impressing God’s Word on my children and talking about it with them when sitting at home, walking along the road, lying down or sitting up (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)? If we want to confront one of the most prevalent root causes of crime, we need to model fatherhood for our culture and advocate policies that affirm and support families (and fatherhood) nationally.

This is a crisis we can actually address, if we choose to. I wasn’t raised in an environment in which my father was present every day. My parents divorced when I was three. But he was an important role model for me when we were together, and my grandfather, Warner, was a paternal icon. Christians have the power to come along those young men who are fatherless and provide them with the role model they need. Are we willing to do it?

This article, along with the first in this set, are two of the longest pieces I’ve written for this website, yet neither truly does justice to the complexity of the problem or potential solutions. But they’re a start. The bar is high for police officers, and it’s just as high for Christians. We’ll have no voice in our society unless we commit to the principles we are suggesting for others. Are we willing to surrender our pride? Are we willing to love our “enemies”? Are we willing to put our money where our mouths are? Are we courageous enough to address the real issues? As Christians, we must lead, and our response to this growing dilemma must reflect both the mercy and justice of God.

This article originally posted on coldcasechristianity.com.

By Dan Babcock, missionary to Albania

The Kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus’ preaching in Galilee. His words and deeds captured the attention of the whole country. Multitudes thronged Him crying out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And there was nothing that delighted His heart more than this, because He could meet the needs of every one of them! Crowding into His Presence they came, and He healed them all! (Mt. 4:23-25, 12:12 & 28)

It strikes me that this scene is what God wants to do in our country. Something happens when people gather at the feet of Jesus, surrounding Him with their complete attention. And when He is in their midst, anything is possible. It’s His will for many to repent and unite in prayer for the coming of His Kingdom. Instead of isolating ourselves, our nation needs us to come together, in every county and in every state.

But how could it happen? God needs a person in every walk of life with a vision for the united prayers of His people – one who loves prayer and prays dauntlessly for its increase. Breakthrough starts with just one person, but it will not begin with fewer than that! Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.’ (Mt. 13:33) Leaven spreads from one molecule of dough to the next, secretly and powerfully transforming the whole loaf. This is how the Kingdom spreads. The woman kneads the dough as the Bride of Christ should pray. It is easy to sit and pray in church, but we also must sacrificially pray in secret, transmitting the influence of God to those near to us.

In its beginnings the Kingdom is hidden. Picture a mother praying alone on her knees, weeping for the salvation of her family. Tears are a profound pillar of the Kingdom, and have a key influence on its coming. They water the driest spiritual grounds, deserts untouched by God. One day that mother will reap joy because of her faithfulness, as the reign of God comes into her family. (Ps. 126:5-6)

In the days of Jesus the Kingdom of God was advancing. It was necessary that every man press in to enter it (Luke 16:16). Why? God was testing the hearts of all men and preparing those who would be given His Kingdom! There are many struggles between light and darkness, sin and holiness. Every day our old body with its fears and desires battles the Holy Spirit. The flesh in every one of us does not want to pray. The Kingdom advances every time we say “Yes” to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and “No” to self.

In the Pilgrim’s Progress, a prince traveled far to receive a kingdom rightfully his. When he arrived at the majestic palace, he rejoiced to see people walking high on its balconies clothed in gold. But then he noticed that at its stately entrance stood armed guards ready to destroy anyone trying to get in. Although fearful at first, the prince remembered the kingdom was his. So, drawing his sword, he tried to enter. Attacking fiercely, he hacked his way forward, and after trading many blows, he finally crossed the threshold! Suddenly he heard a beautiful voice, “Enter in! Enter in! Eternal Glory you shall win!” and he found himself clothed in shining garments.

Transitioning into God’s next plan for us is often not easy. It takes courage and perseverance to receive the Kingdom. But oh! What its coming has meant to cities and nations! (See Acts 8:4-8 and Jonah 3:5-10). Its arrival is an amazing thing!

Jesus could have been the greatest politician in history, but through his death, He became the Redeemer of mankind. By yielding the throne of the Jews, He won that of the universe. Men wanted to make him king, but political power cannot produce righteousness. There can be no justice on earth without a cross. At first, the apostles were fearful and confused about the crucifixion, but the day soon came when the apostles were able to speak of His death as the crowning glory of His whole career. In the cross is the Victory that is the Kingdom of God!

The Kingdom is a message that brings great hope, saying, “Repent, for something wonderful is about to happen!” An extraordinary manifestation of its power will come to every person and nation, for judgment or for mercy. Jesus will come again with great glory. “The saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom and possess it forever and ever!” (Daniel 7:18) Hebrews 12:28 tells us that we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. If we look away from the Kingdom we can be troubled seeing the ruin of political parties, institutions and countries. God weans our affections away from earthly things, establishing a people to inherit the Kingdom that belongs to those who hear and obey Him (Mt. 24:14, Dan. 4:34 & 7:18. Heb. 10:12-13 & 10:19-25, 1 Pet. 3:11-13)!

Over 2,000 years ago Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes penned these words:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven; … a time to weep, and a time to laugh;… a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; … a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…”

Following a 12 month preparation, a group of influential men in the Peoria community decided they could no longer keep silent about the loosening of morals, disappearing role models and deteriorating values. Friday, July 1st, 1994 marked the official birth of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens. Constitution Gardens at Riverfront Park was the site of the announcement.

The men represented a cross-section of our community that became tired of seeing our society rent apart by drugs, pornography, crime, violence and a host of other evils. They became a clarion to rally around, a vehicle in which to address issues that could destroy our society. They were encouraged by thousands in the Tri-county area who were ready to say “enough is enough!”

It was a fully organized movement under the umbrella of a not-for-profit charter, with a desire to return to common sense living by reclaiming “traditional American family values, which were and are essential to the moral fabric of the community. The Peoria Journal Star quickly recognized the CCC as a group with a “conservative” agenda, a label we wore proudly for the past 22 years! We found that our mission and message resonated with folks in Central Illinois.

Our quarterly newsletter, CHECKPOINT, reached more than 7,000 households in the Tri-county area of Peoria, Woodford, and Tazewell County.

However, over the twenty years, we found that means of communication had changed drastically with the maturation of the Internet. People, who once were content to receive their printed newsletter, now wanted information instantly. Operating in this parallel time frame was the growth and development of the Illinois Family Institute. We found so many issues and concerns that both organizations felt passionate about. As we began to work with them on the issues, we concluded that to join forces was the logical form of progression.

Meetings and discussions with both Boards resulted in the formation of Tri-County, downstate chapter of the IFI. It was a “win-win” decision for both organizations. The CCC would still have a voice regarding issues pertinent to the Tri-county area; they could communicate instantly via the Internet and email as opposed to a quarterly newsletter; and could strengthen the IFI by their presence in central Illinois!

To our many supporters who have stood with us for all these years, we urge you to continue by joining with us in working in and through IFI to address those issues that are our mutual causes. Your financial support to IFI will insure that we continue to employ the very latest in technologies to reach you, AND, to communicate our positions with political officials at the federal, state and local governments, as well as individuals and companies that do not share our views.

Thank you!

Editor’s Note:  On this Father’s Day weekend, it is our hope and prayer that at every opportunity we will commit ourselves to promoting and encouraging God’s design for the family and the optimum environment for a child’s future well being, the unique contributions that a married mother and father can bring.

According to an Associated Press report, the U.S. Senate voted to approve a $602 billion defense bill which also mandates that our daughters register for Selective Service and a possible future draft.  This gender blind, biologically indifferent proposal was sponsored by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who also happens to chair the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

Both Illinois U.S. Senators, Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, voted in favor of this irresponsible legislation.  The over all vote was 85 in favor, just 13 opposed.  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also voted for this atrocity.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke out in opposition to the measure, saying in an official statement that this political correct bill “is being used as a vehicle to further agendas that have nothing to do with actually defending America. Despite the many laudable objectives in this bill, I could not in good conscience vote to draft our daughters into the military, sending them off to war and forcing them into combat.”

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (S. 2943), if passed by the U.S. House and signed into law by President Barack Obama, would require:

(1)  The duty to register imposed on male citizens and persons residing in the United States by subsection (a) shall apply to female citizens of the United States and female persons residing in the United States who attain the age of 18 years on or after January 1, 2018.

(2)  The responsibilities and rights of female registrants under this Act shall be the responsibilities and rights of male registrants under this Act, and shall be subject to such terms, conditions, and limitations as are applicable under the provisions of this Act to similarly situated male registrants.

(3)  Any reference in this Act to a registrant or other person subject to the duties, responsibilities, and rights of a registrant under this Act shall be deemed to refer to female citizens of the United States and female persons residing in the United States registering pursuant to this subsection.

The bill now heads over to the U.S. House.

Tragedy struck again in the United States at the hands of a young man whose mind was poisoned by pernicious ideas and perhaps darkened by mental illness, this time at a well-known homosexual night club in Orlando, Florida.

There are numerous indicators that the shooter, Omar Mateen, was influenced by radical Islam. His father, however, suggests another motive. As of this writing, his father believes the primary or sole motive for the horror his son wreaked was his son’s anger about homosexuality which was intensified by witnessing homosexuals kissing when he was with his three-year-old son.

While it is justifiable to feel anger about public displays of perversion, especially in the presence of young children, hatred of those human beings who experience homoerotic feelings and affirm a homosexual identity is evil. Radical Islam, which foments hatred of and murderous acts against persons, is evil.

For followers of Christ, this should be a day of sorrow. Jesus stopped the Pharisees from stoning the woman caught in adultery, not because Jesus no longer viewed adultery as sin, but rather because he sought to redeem her. Christ in his mercy granted the adulteress freedom and opportunity to repent and follow him, just as he offers his free gift of salvation to all.

No one knows which of the men and women at the club were followers of Christ. It is the hope and prayer of Christians that all those whose lives were mowed down by a man consumed by malignant ideas and diseased feelings were saved by the blood of Christ before they died.

And now as our prayers turn to their loved ones, let’s pray that their hearts will turn to Christ:

“Come to me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest”
~Matthew 11:28

Illinois Family Institute joins our long time friends and national affiliate at the American Family Association calling for a boycott of Target. The boycott was called for after the retail giant said it would allow men to use the women’s restrooms and dressing rooms in their stores.

On its web Target announced “[W]e welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. …Everyone deserves to feel like they belong.”

This means a man can simply say he “feels like a woman today” and enter the women’s restroom…even if young girls or women are already in there. Target’s policy is exactly how sexual predators and voyeurs get access to their victims. Moreover, with Target publicly boasting that men can enter women’s bathrooms, where do you think predators and voyeurs are going to go?

On May 11, 2016, officials from AFA met with Target management and presented to them 1.2 million petition signatures. Target management said they will not change their policy. We urge you to sign the AFA pledge and join over a million people who have decided to BOYCOTT all Target stores.

CLICK HERE to sign the boycott pledge today!

“[T]he only way of getting rid of Christianity
is to allow it to die little by little.”
~Adolf Hitler

Yes, there have been evil men who have done evil things in the name of false Christianity. To a limited degree, Adolf Hitler was one such man. Still, and as even he frequently admitted outside the public eye, he was no Christian.

As a counterweight to stigma associated with the tens of millions slaughtered in the 20th century alone under the atheist regimes of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, et al., the secular left is quick to thunder, “But what about Hitler? He was a Christian!”

Bad news, kids. Herr Führer was your guy, too.

“I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie,” Hitler confessed (audio transcribed in “Hitler’s Table Talk” [1941-44]). “It would always be disagreeable for me to go down to posterity as a man who made concessions in this field [to be labeled a Christian].”

Did Adolf Hitler ever call himself a Christian? Certainly. He did so, and as he would later admit, for the singular purpose of disseminating political propaganda.

“To whom should propaganda be addressed?” he wrote. “It must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses. … The whole art consists in doing this so skillfully that everyone will be convinced that the fact is real.”

The Nazi Germans of the 1930s and ’40s are not alone in swallowing Hitler’s Christianese-peppered puffery. Today’s secular-“progressive” establishment likewise bandies about a handful of carefully crafted Hitlerian quotes released for public consumption. His “pro-Christian” proclamations in “Mein Kampf” and elsewhere, for instance, were universally a perversion of biblical Christianity leveraged for the sole purpose of justifying the extermination of the Jewish people.

“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter,” he wrote. “In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge [the Jews] to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. … For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.”

That was the extent of Hitler’s plastic “Christianity.” The Bible, always taken out of context, served as a twisted weapon to justify the mass slaughter of over 11 million Jews, Christians, disabled people and other “undesirables.”

In reality Hitler insisted, “In the long run, National Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together.”

What Brutal Hitler and Softer Modern Day Progressives Share in Common

Sounds an awful lot like today’s American church-state separatists. Roger Baldwin, founder of the ACLU, for example, held, “I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself. … I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”

Indeed, the ACLU’s promotional materials similarly advocate anti-Christian intolerance and mirror Hitler’s directive that, “Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together.” “The message of the Establishment Clause is that religious activities must be treated differently from other activities to ensure against governmental support for religion,” imagines the “American” so-called “civil liberties” union.

That’s viewpoint discrimination and it’s unconstitutional.

This is secular socialism in a nutshell. It’s a religion, and its devotees, be they Nazi Germans or American leftists, are Communist Manifesto-thumping fundamentalists.

“There is something very unhealthy about Christianity,” Hitler opined. “As far as we are concerned, we’ve succeeded in chasing the Jews from our midst and excluding Christianity from our political life. … The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity’s illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. … Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless.”

Indeed, Hitler’s robust anti-Christian hatred lives on beyond the death of the Third Reich. Modern-day progressives like Hillary Clinton, though, tend to take a kinder, gentler, more surreptitiously totalitarian approach: “Rights have to exist in practice – not just on paper,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee recently said in the context of some phantom “right” to exterminate undesirable infants. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

Yikes. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

While Hitler was more direct, he nonetheless shared Hillary’s secular socialist vision: “We’ll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State. We shall continue to preach the doctrine of National Socialism, and the young will no longer be taught anything but the truth.”

Sound familiar? Progressive “truth,” of course, invariably means Christian torment.

Hitler, borrowing from socialist icon Karl Marx, said that all Germans must “free themselves from the drug of Christianity. Let’s be the only people who are immunized against the disease.” Marx, a hero to the secular socialist left, famously called religion, “the opium of the people.”

Hitler a Christian? No chance.

Anti-Semitism, Islam and a Dash of Darwin

Moreover, like the preponderance of today’s similarly anti-Semitic secular progressives, Hitler, too, was an apologist for Islam. As America’s own Dear Leader has done, Hitler partnered with Iran, present-day “Palestine” and other Islamist regimes in the shared goal of eliminating the Jews: “The world had fallen into the hands of the Jews, so gutless a thing was Christianity!” he fumed. “Then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedanism, that cult which glorifies heroism and which opens the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world. Christianity alone prevented them from doing so!”

Hitler also parroted the godless ideology of modern atheists. Like so many of today’s secular progressives, he was an avowed materialist, neo-Darwinian evolutionist and hardhearted God-denier: “When understanding of the universe has become widespread, when the majority of men know that the stars are not sources of light but worlds, perhaps inhabited worlds like ours, then the Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity.”

“Christianity, of course, has reached the peak of absurdity,” he said. “And that’s why one day its structure will collapse. Science has already impregnated humanity. Consequently, the more Christianity clings to its dogmas, the quicker it will decline.”

Two thousand years and still waiting.

And so Hitler endeavored to assist “natural selection” and, as he wrote in “Mein Kampf,” “establish an evolutionary higher stage of being.” He placed his hope in Germany’s youth because they were “absolutely indifferent in the matters of religion.”

A beloved Hitler Youth marching song captured the Führer’s heart on matters of Christ and Christianity:

We follow not Christ, but Horst Wessel,
Away with incense and Holy Water,
The Church can go hang for all we care,
The Swastika brings salvation on Earth.

Today’s progressive “social justice” warriors are angling for a dystopian, Swastika-free repeat. Their hope, too, lies in the youth (witness the socialism-fueled anarchist insurgence occurring on college campuses nationwide).

Like then, progressive secular socialists endeavor to rule the world.

And “Christianity alone,” to update Hitler’s own words, will “prevent them from doing so.”

Discrimination against conservatives on campus is a dramatic story being told by Peter Fricke and other great reporters at CampusReform.org. In many cases, however, pro-lifers at colleges and universities across the country are pushing back. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, has been reporting not only on how “progressives” are running rampant, but how pro-life students are making their views and presence felt. Her organization has sponsored more than 900 student groups on campuses representing all 50 states. Here are some recent examples of where conservative and pro-life students and faculty are fighting back:

• Notre Dame will be giving pro-abortion Vice President Joe Biden the oldest and most prestigious honor accorded to American Catholics at their graduation ceremony this spring. The Notre Dame Chapter of University Faculty for Life opposes the University’s decision, saying it’s “a scandalous violation of the University’s moral responsibility” and that Catholics should never honor “those who act in defiance of fundamental moral principles about the sanctity of life.” It notes that Biden “has for decades conspicuously rejected Church teaching about life. He has rejected it repeatedly and consistently in the context of abortion, where (he has been quoted as saying) he would not want to ‘impose’ this teaching upon a woman and her doctor. He also favors killing embryonic human beings for research purposes, even to the extent of committing taxpayers’ money to support it.”
• Loyola Marymount University, another well-known Catholic university in California, has asked disgraced, pro-abortion former President Bill Clinton to give their 2016 commencement address. The Cardinal Newman Society called it “a new low in the University’s repeated betrayal of its Catholic mission.”
• At the University of Iowa, the school administration decided that Students for Life sidewalk chalk messages were too “offensive” and had them removed. The messages included “abortion stops 3200 hearts each day in the US,” “women deserve better than abortion,” “Students for Life supports pregnant and parenting students,” and “Smile, your mom chose life.”
• At Southern Methodist University, the Students for Life group created a cemetery with 3,000 crosses to represent the number of lives lost to abortion every day. Members came out the next day to find out their entire display had been taken down.
• The University of North Georgia Students For Life revealed photographs of decapitated baby cookies taken at a pro-abortion rally held by the North Georgia Skeptics Society, an atheist group on campus. The pro-abortion table included baby-shaped cookies, some with their heads cut off to signify dismemberment. The North Georgia Skeptics Society said it was a misunderstanding and that “many of the fetus shaped cookies broke of their own accord.”
• The University of Colorado at Boulder initially rejected funding for the campus Students for Life group to host Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood Director and now pro-life advocate, as a speaker. The funding to the group from the university’s Cultural Events Board was denied because the Johnson speech was not considered “educational” and balanced. The Alliance Defending Freedom was consulted for help in the case, and noted in response that speakers that the Board had previously funded included one-sided lectures from Angela Davis, recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize and former leader of the Communist Party USA; transgender activist Janet Mock; Bernie Sanders’ socialist buddy Cornel West, and Jose Antonio Vargas, a pro-illegal immigration activist. Eventually, the event received full funding and Johnson was able to come and give her speech.

As we reported, Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning in America, hosted Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. The campus Students for Life group brought Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood Director, to campus the same day. Her organization, And Then There Were None, is dedicated to helping abortion workers and doctors leave the industry.

As if conservatives didn’t face enough liberals on campus, the richly endowed leftist outfit known as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is trying to establish “Southern Poverty Law Center clubs” on colleges and universities. The website for this effort recommends use of the SPLC “Hate Map,” a device that inspired a homosexual militant to open fire with a weapon in the offices of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. The gay terrorist wounded a security guard and had intended to massacre the staff in protest over the FRC’s support for traditional marriage.

The SPLC is still offering “Teaching Tolerance educational kits,” even though one of its projects had previously praised communist terrorist bomber Bill Ayers as a “civil rights organizer, radical anti-Vietnam War activist, teacher and author.” An “editor’s note” in one SPLC publication went so far as to say that Ayers had become “a highly respected figure in the field of multicultural education.”

On the other hand, the SPLC uses the “hate” and “extremist” label to deny conservatives a voice on college campuses. The SPLC was a factor in the recent decision by the tax-funded SUNY New Paltz administration to cancel a debate on campus simply because I was included in it. I have filed a Freedom of Information request under state law for all of the evidence in this censorship case. We want the names of all of those faculty members and administrators involved in subverting academic freedom on campus.

Originally published at AIM.org