Columnist.
Same-sex "marriage" is tying the knot -- right around Christians' freedoms. While the Left cries "discrimination" for their cause, grandmas like Baronnelle Stutzman are actually the victims of it. Out in Washington State, the long-time shop owner could lose her home just for telling two men that she'd be happy to sell them flowers but couldn't -- in good conscience -- arrange them for a ceremony that violated her faith. And she isn't alone. The clash between religious liberty and same-sex "marriage" continues to explode in businesses across America, where shop owners, B&Bs, and other vendors try to come to grips with the government's twisted definition of "tolerance." Faced with losing their jobs, businesses, and life savings, most Christians want to know: isn't there anything we can do?
How will same-sex "marriage" affect your home? A lot, if you don't have one to come home to. That's the stunning predicament Barronelle Stutzman finds herself in after a judge found the Christian florist guilty late yesterday. The popular grandmother, who's been a fixture in her Washington community for 37 years, knows the cost of conviction -- and if the state gets its way, she'll be paying it. Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander Ekstrom has officially made Stutzman's house, assets, and life savings fair game in the fierce debate over religious liberty. In a lengthy 60-page opinion, the court argues that Barronelle's "relationship with Jesus Christ" doesn't give her the freedom to turn down business -- even if that business violates her personal beliefs.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask..." In these challenging times, no one needs more guidance in their jobs than our leaders. Sadly, the Left is doing everything it can to keep them from asking for it! In the House Agricultural Committee, the majority party is acknowledging that someone else is in control: God. As proof of the change that Congress has undergone since the last election, Chairman Michael Conaway (R-Texas) has decided to kick off every meeting with a prayer. "We've got a lot of meaty things to deliberate on," Rep. Conaway told reporters, "and invoking God's wisdom and guidance on our deliberations is, I think, the proper thing to do." Of course, not everyone agrees. National atheist groups are convulsing over the idea, which -- the Supreme Court ruled last year -- is perfectly constitutional. With the chisel of political correctness slowly chipping away at the First Amendment, the justices agreed that it was entirely within a legislature's rights to ask for God's blessing -- as long as no one is forced to join. And if opening prayer is good enough for Greece, New York, then surely it's good enough for the U.S. Congress!
If she can nap during the State of the Union, it shouldn't surprise us when people wonder if Ruth Bader Ginsburg is asleep on the job! Late last week, the 22-year Supreme Court Justice stunned everyone by commenting on same-sex "marriage" -- just months before the Court is set to decide it. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ginsburg was surprisingly open about her feelings on the issue, crossing an ethical line that raises new questions about the justice's impartiality. For any judge -- let alone one on the country's highest court -- to speak publicly about a pending case is an indiscretion that shocked people on both sides of the debate. Fox News's Brit Hume tweeted out his displeasure: "Justice Ginsburg sounds off on an issue pending before the Supreme Court. Amazing impropriety." The liberal justice, who had nothing but praise for President Obama, insists that America would come around to the Court's redefinition of marriage if it did indeed sweep aside every state's marriage amendment in a ruling this summer.
Leave it to a federal judge named Granade to blow up the marriage debate into an even bigger legal debate. Federal Judge Callie Granade, whose ruling was as explosive as the weapon it sounds like, has been at the center of a national firestorm over marriage since she issued an opinion last month. Her January decision to overthrow Alabama's natural marriage amendment hit an unexpected snag when officials with legal jurisdiction in Alabama refused to capitulate to her judicial overreach. By order of Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore, several probate judges across the state have refused to issue same-sex "marriage" licenses -- stunning liberals and threatening to topple the Left's mirage of court-imposed power. As Justice Moore has clearly stated, Granade's decision is limited to the specific parties to the case and only serves as persuasive (not binding) authority to non-parties. But those non-parties include probate judges under Justice Moore's administrative authority. In that capacity, he has informed them that anyone who issues licenses to homosexual couples is "breaking the Alabama Constitution's marriage amendment, which has not been overturned by the United States Supreme Court." And Alabama's word is the final one on marriage until the Supreme Court intervenes this summer.
Bradley Manning is in prison for treason -- and now the Obama administration wants to help him break another law: nature's. The national security leaker, whose espionage put countless Americans at risk, is demanding that the U.S. Army -- not just recognize, but *finance* -- his gender transition. Since 2013, when he officially changed his name to Chelsea, he's fought to put taxpayers on the hook for his transgenderism. Now, two years later, it seems the Army is more than willing to cater to the traitor's whims, including footing the bill for thousands of dollars in radical hormone therapy. Col. Eric Nelson, Commandant of Fort Leavenworth finally caved to the convict's demands after pressure from the ACLU and others. "After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary... I approve adding (it) to Inmate Manning's treatment plan." Of course, one of the problems with that decision (and there are several) is that it violates the Defense Department's own policy, which bars funding for this kind of "treatment."
There are times when no one wants to be right. And FRC's fifth annual "Index of Family Belonging and Rejection" is one of them. With marriage rates in a freefall and liberals tinkering with the recipe for the family, experts warned that there were bleak days ahead for our country. [Thursday], one of those experts -- FRC's Dr. Pat Fagan -- explains why in an alarming new report on the health of the family in America. After combing through U.S. census data, the results are stunning. Dr. Fagan's team tracked the number of 15 to 17-year-olds who grew up with their married biological parents, and found the intact family in a full-blown meltdown. Only 46% of these teenagers lived in an intact home (down 20% since 1950). And while the number is slightly higher for white teenagers (54%), jaws dropped at the data for the African-American community.
It's a good thing President Obama doesn't work for NBC -- or else he might have been suspended for lying too! Like the NBC's Brian Williams, voters would have a difficult time narrowing down all the untruths to one. This President has told so many whoppers that Burger King should name a sandwich after him! David Axelrod, a former political advisor, spilled the beans about one of the President's most unconvincing fibs in his new book, *Believer*. Although it was no secret to anyone who followed Obama's early career, the candidate-and-later-President was fully on board with same-sex "marriage" from Day 1. Before he was an Illinois senator, the up-and-coming Democrat was clear on a questionnaire about where he stood -- only to change his position when it wasn't politically advantageous.
It may be the Supreme Court of the United States, but it isn't a united one. At least two justices are disgusted by the Court's activism on marriage -- and they aren't afraid to show it. Hours before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to same-sex "marriage" in Alabama, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia took aim at their colleagues in a blistering criticism of the majority's decision. Instead of defending the will of the people, Thomas blasted the Court for "(looking) the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws." This is "another example of this court's increasingly cavalier attitude toward the states," Thomas fumed. "This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court's intended resolution of that question. This is not the proper way for the court to carry out its role," he said, echoing the concerns of so many Americans, "and it is indecorous for this court to pretend that it is." All the Court has done, Thomas laments, is create more chaos and confusion. "I would have shown the people of Alabama the respect they deserve and preserved the status quo while the Court resolves this important question."
Politicians in other states may roll over and play dead as the federal courts trample their laws, but not Alabama! There's an organized resistance developing in the Deep South, and it might just be the turning point on marriage that many Americans have been waiting for. Late [Sunday] night, Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore began rallying state probate judges under his jurisdiction with a 27-page order drawing a line at the courthouse door over same-sex "marriage." "Effective immediately," Moore said in a warning shot across the state, "no probate judge of the state of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama probate judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent with the Alabama Constitution."
Plenty of people left the National Prayer Breakfast [Thursday] with a bad taste in their mouths -- and not from the food. In what must be an encore of his apology tour, President Obama chose [Thursday's] breakfast to join in the condemnation -- not of Islamist violence, but *Christians'*. While the rest of the free world is united in its outrage over ISIS's evil, this President seems all too eager to malign the faith he himself professes. Most Americans are tired of the apologist-in-chief, who takes every opportunity to lecture us about the atrocities of ancient Christians and how their tradition is as evil as Islam's. Are there things that have been done in the past under the mask of religion? Absolutely. But, as I told Fox News's Megyn Kelly [Thursday] night, almost all Christians universally, denounced that type of behavior -- whether it was the Crusades of a thousand years ago or slavery in this country 150 years ago.
NASCAR hall-of-famer Darrell Waltrip drove home the gospel message this morning at the 63rd National Prayer Breakfast. To a crowded room, he shared his testimony about how a serious accident "knocked him conscious" of his spiritual state of being lost. In a moving testimony, Waltrip said he asked Jesus to forgive his sins and become his Savior, a decision that transformed his life. President Obama followed the NASCAR legend on the program, and the cautionary flags came out almost immediately. "We see faith driving us to do right," he said. "But we also see faith being twisted and distorted, used as a wedge -- or worse, sometimes used as a weapon… We see ISIL -- a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion…" If the President had stopped there or juxtaposed the present fruit of Islam with that of Christianity, we could have ended on a high note. But he didn't.
At a new Kentucky theme park, Christians are the ones getting taken for a ride. Construction is already underway in Williamstown for a one-of-a-kind tourist attraction by our friends at Answers in Genesis (AiG). The organization behind the Creation Museum is working on a built-to-scale Ark Encounter -- but so far, all they've encountered is intolerance. Ken Ham, the group's President and CEO, had the support of plenty of key leaders to bring Noah's story to life, including Governor Steve Beshear (D-Ky.). But now, after pressure from a few vocal secularists, the state is stripping the tax incentives it gave preliminary approval to last year. Under a new Kentucky law, projects like AiG's are eligible for huge tax rebates, upwards of $18 million in this case. Essentially, this is money that would be returned to the theme park over a period of 10 years from sale taxes they collect.
Make them bake cake! That's the verdict of an administrative judge in the case of Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein. The couple, who became the brave face of America's religious liberty clash, were informed [Monday] by the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries that in the battle over marriage, their First Amendment rights no longer counted. In the first of what will almost certainly be several rulings, the Kleins were found guilty of violating state law for politely declining an order for a same-sex "wedding" cake. As part of his 52-page order, Judge Alan McCullough claims that "requiring them to provide a wedding cake for Complainants does not constitute compelled speech." Aaron Klein disagrees. "First Amendment, Constitution. Freedom of religion. I'm free to exercise my religion however I see fit. If I'm told to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, I feel that I'm violating my beliefs. I don't think I should have to do that."
While Pennsylvania's groundhog is seeing shadows, Republicans are hoping to cast one on the future of ObamaCare. After four years of grinding out votes against the President's health care failure, spring has finally come for Republican leaders. Four times the chamber has tried to sink ObamaCare (seven, if you count the appropriations process), but [today's] repeal vote will be the first under total GOP control. "We will begin the month renewing our commitment to individual freedom and opportunity," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told conservatives. And for once, they'll be able to renew that commitment without the brick wall known as Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the other side of the Capitol. With public support for ObamaCare slipping to the low 40s in most surveys, Americans are more anxious than ever to dispose of this "medical waste!"
It's almost a foregone conclusion that researchers who compare children raised by heterosexual parents to those raised by a homosexual one will be vilified, harassed, and professionally targeted. An amicus brief filed with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals might explain why. In their own words, four of these adult children are breaking their silence in an official court document about how growing up with homosexual parents changed their lives. At a time when the Left is desperately trying to prove that all families are the same, these stories -- from the powerful to the painful -- speak for themselves.
Loretta Lynch isn't Eric Holder -- but that still might not be enough to win over Senate conservatives. At [Wednesday's] Judiciary Committee meeting, the New York prosecutor was on the hot seat -- but it was former Attorney General Holder's record that was on the stand. The only man in Washington more unpopular than President Obama, Holder spent six years enforcing one thing: the American people's distrust of government. As the nation's AG for six years, Holder heaped disgrace after disgrace on one of the most powerful agencies in government. Loretta Lynch is the White House's best hope at redemption for a Department struggling to pick up the pieces after Fast and Furious, conservative targeting, terrorist trial, voter ID, and marriage law scandals.
Alabama's Ten Commandments judge is issuing one of his own: Thou shalt not trample state law. Unlike most people in his profession, Chief Justice Roy Moore actually seems to understand the limitations of the bench. And undermining the expressed will of the people is one of them. Last week, when another U.S. District Judge junked 697,591 votes on Alabama's 2006 marriage amendment, Justice Moore had a word for his colleagues: enough! If the courts are ignoring the Constitution that granted their authority, then Judge Moore will ignore the courts! "Be advised," he wrote to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R), "that I stand with you to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued without constitutional authority… As you know, nothing in the United States Constitution grants the federal government the authority to redefine the institution of marriage."
Federal judges may have the last word on marriage -- but they won't have the final one. That's becoming abundantly clear in Alabama, the latest state to feel the sting of a runaway court invalidating the will of the people on marriage. In a letter to Governor Robert Bentley (R-Ala.), Chief Justice Roy Moore made that quite clear -- explaining that this isn't an issue that the federal courts will resolve. Rather, he said, it "raises serious, legitimate concerns about the propriety of federal court jurisdiction over the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment." Unelected judges and a handful of lawyers have been pushing state marriage amendments over like sleeping cows. Meanwhile, stunned Americans have struggled to make sense of a legal system that puts its own political agenda ahead of the expressed will of the people. Like most conservatives, FRC has watched in horror as the courts have robbed tens of millions of Americans of their voice on an issue of critical importance -- not just to our nation's stability, but to its very survival.
John Adams famously quipped that, "Facts are stubborn things." If only the media's so-called "fact checkers" wouldn't be so stubbornly biased, the facts might just get a fair hearing. After the House passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 7) last week, The Washington Post fact checked Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), giving her 3 undeserved "Pinocchios," for saying: "The president's health-care law authorized massive subsidies to assist millions of Americans to purchase private health plans that will cover abortion on demand… hard-earned taxpayer dollars are now being used to pay for elective abortions." FRC wrote last year about the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which revealed that taxpayer-funded subsidies helped pay for 1,036 ObamaCare plans which cover abortion on demand. Even The Washington Post conceded much of Rep. Foxx's claim when they wrote, "abortion charges would range from 0.2 percent to 0.65 percent of an enrollee's monthly bill." The issue isn't how much, but whether taxpayer subsidized plans cover elective abortion at all.
