The Patriot Post® · Banned of Brothers
FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin has spent his career staring down cowards — and he isn’t about to stop now! Not even when the same Army he served is trying to take away the freedom he sought to protect. Fresh off of winning his position back at Hampden-Sydney College (over the protests of LGBT activists), the radical Left still hasn’t learned its lesson. Desperate to discredit the Special Forces vet, a familiar foe is pulling his typical stunts — this time at Kansas’s Fort Riley, where General Boykin was scheduled to speak at a base prayer breakfast next Monday.
Those plans came to an abrupt halt [Wednesday], when Mikey Weinstein, chief antagonist at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, complained about the General’s appearance to 1st Infantry Commander Major General Wayne Grigsby. Apparently, the appearance of an outspoken Christian was too controversial for an optional prayer breakfast — where, ironically, the announcement of the Delta Force hero’s talk was so popular that officials were concerned they didn’t have enough room. Initially, spokesman Master Sgt. Mike Lavigne blamed the disinvite on “a number of scheduling conflicts,” only to backtrack later.
“We are aware of the concerns an organization has brought to light concerning the invitation of Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin to the Fort Riley prayer breakfast, which was originally scheduled for June 6… Lt. Gen. Boykin’s credentials as a Soldier and leader speak for themselves and his 36 years of service to our nation are worthy of our respect and admiration. However, in an effort to ensure everyone in our broad and very diverse community feels welcome at any event on Fort Riley, we will pursue the invitation of a different speaker for the prayer breakfast once it is rescheduled.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time General Boykin has been booted from a military event. In 2012, West Point officials withdrew an invitation for a similar prayer breakfast, citing his “controversial views on radical Islam.” (The same radical Islam that our troops are currently fighting — and have been fighting since the General was commanding Special Forces.) Unfortunately, this is part of the long shadow cast on religious freedom by the Obama administration. No longer are commanders in positions because they have proven leadership skills or combat records but because they have capitulated and now push the Obama agenda. In seven years, the White House has created an environment where hostility toward orthodox Christianity — particularly in the military — is not only tolerated, but encouraged.
Franklin Graham was a target. So was I. We were all disinvited from military events for the same reason: because we live and embrace our faith. Now, more than ever, the military is under incredible pressure (chaplains especially) to keep your head down when it comes to Christianity. And frankly, that’s not what moms and dads expect when their children swear an oath to a Constitution that protects their faith. As General Boykin told Fox News’s Todd Starnes:
“This is just another reminder of the incredible discrimination against Christians in our armed forces. I sincerely doubt that America can expect to win wars if the people who are tasked to do so are frightened by an old retired general with biblical views and a testimony about faith. Really? This should tell you how difficult it is for Christians, and especially chaplains, to live their faith in our military. I am not surprised. I recognize that the commander who made the decision is caught between radical secularists and a Commander-in-Chief who seeks to impose a politically correct culture on the military. The Fort Riley commander is in a tough spot. However, he must remember, we all took an oath to support and defend the Constitution - all of it, including the First Amendment.”
If Christians can’t speak at a prayer breakfast, what’s next? Chaplains can’t speak at church? Eighty percent of the soldiers on this base self-identify as Christians — and not a single soldier was required to attend the breakfast (yet they were lining up to hear General Boykin). So in canceling it, General Grigsby was actually denying the majority the same freedom of assembly they’re defending. Is that what our country wants — a nation of one-dimensional warriors with no moral compass? Of course not. That’s why this march to obliterate faith is as dangerous as it is offensive. General Boykin survived being shot by a .50-caliber gun, as well as a mortar round, and he will survive this.
What concerns him, and what should concern all of us, is not whether Christianity will endure — but whether our freedom to practice it will. Without it, what would our troops be fighting for? Contact General Grigsby and help us be the voice of soldiers who have none. Ask him to protect the religious liberty of the brave men and women he commands. Call the Fort Riley community relations office at (785) 239-8851 or (785) 239-2022, or send Fort Riley officials a message on their Facebook page. […]
Originally published here.
At Planned Parenthood, Patients Aren’t a Virtue
No wonder House Democrats are trying to shut down the investigation of Planned Parenthood. The longer it’s open, the more dirt it’s uncovering. The accusations have been piling up for months, and this week, they showed no signs of stopping. Like most others, House Select Investigative Panel Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) was convinced that the group’s trafficking in baby body parts was just the tip of the criminal iceberg. Now, adding to the concerns that Planned Parenthood was manipulating procedures — and performing illegal ones — to harvest better organs is a new worry: that the recipients of more than a half-billion taxpayer dollars is also leaking confidential patient information to procurement firms.
The violation of privacy laws would be a serious charge to add to the heap of so many others — especially since it shows, yet again, how little the organization actually cares about women. In a letter to Health and Human Services this week, Rep. Blackburn implicated Cecile Richards’s group in violations spanning three California facilities: Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (the largest affiliate in America), Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific and the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group. “The key to understanding the HIPPA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] and consent violations that we’ve referred to HHS is that there’s a business contract between StemExpress and the abortion clinics under which both sides make a profit from the baby body parts inside the young woman’s womb.”
Essentially, Planned Parenthood was passing along sensitive information to tissue companies like StemExpress about women before their abortions to seal the deal on certain organ requests. As the Washington Times tells it, “The day before abortions were scheduled to take place… StemExpress was notified by fax by the clinics and granted medical files on individual patients.” It was such a routine practice that the companies included this access as part of their contract. As far as Rep. Blackburn is concerned, that changes the way both sides view the young woman. “Her baby is now a profit-center,” she argued. “This betrayal of a young woman’s trust should disgust us all. It takes financial advantage, obtains consent through coercion, and deceives the woman, all in violation of federal privacy laws.” If President Obama wants to continue to stand alongside an organization that preys on the women it claims to support, let him do it alone. Forcing taxpayers to fund the criminal acts of a group that preys on women is plain immoral and Congress must put an end to it.
Originally published here.
People for the UnAmerican Way
If you’re wondering how effective FRC is in the religious liberty debate, don’t take our word for it! Take the radical Left’s! In a new report, the liberal People for the American Way profiles seven organizations they blame for restoring our First Freedom in state and federal laws across the country — and FRC tops the list.
Their network of seven groups, PFAW points out, “is engaged in a high-stakes effort to convince Americans that preserving religious liberty requires giving individuals and corporations the power to disobey laws that promote the common good and protect other constitutional principles like equal treatment under the law.” Together with some of FRC’s allies, they write, “these organizations constitute a powerful cultural and political force that will not disappear after a few losses in the courtroom or at the ballot box. Indeed, in the wake of their marriage equality defeat at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, they have redoubled their efforts.”
Singling out FRC and FRC Action, the report warns, “The Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council and its political affiliate, FRC Action, are among the most visible anti-gay Religious Right groups promoting the ideology that LGBT equality and religious liberty are incompatible.” While the “report” is not perfect, it does make clear our resolve to defend America’s First Freedom. The report is wrong; we are not “anti-gay.” What we are is a Christian organization that refuses to accept as moral any behavior God declares is immoral and damaging to individuals and society. What the anti-Christian group doesn’t say is why we promote religious liberty — not the least of which is that it’s good for society, good for the economy, and as a new Harvard University study shows, good for longevity!
Going to church doesn’t just lead to a more spiritually-enriched life — it leads to longer life! Believe it or not, researchers found that worshipping regularly actually increases a woman’s lifespan. After studying 75,000 nurses in the United States for 20 years, the authors were blown away to find that the women who went to church more than once a week had a 33 percent lower risk of dying compared to those who never attend. That squares with plenty of medical data showing that people of faith have significantly lower blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer complications. It’s also one of the greatest ways to treat the modern culture’s disease — of incivility, hostility, and general pessimism. Our Founders may not have had the scientific evidence to show the personal health benefits of religion, but there is no question they understood the connection between free religious exercise and the health of a nation.
Originally published here.