Carol Kelly Dorn -- Portrait Artist

By Rick Pearcey

Artist Carol Kelly Dorn has launched a new, beautiful website.

Carol and husband Mike and family are long-time friends of the Pearceys.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Rick Pearcey on National Talk Radio Today

By Rick Pearcey

The national talk radio show Point of View, hosted by author Kerby Anderson, has asked to interview me today from 3-4 p.m. Eastern time.

Possible topics for discussion include:

* Habitat for Inhumanity
* Abortofascism and Free-Market Homicide
* Operation Marriage Crisis: Woman "Married" to Berlin Wall 29 Years

Listen online here.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Operation Marriage Chaos: Woman "Married" to Berlin Wall 29 Years

By Rick Pearcey

A friend alerts us to a woman clearly ahead of her time.

According to the Telegraph, a Mrs. Berliner-Mauer, of Sweden, recently revealed that she "tied the knot" with the famous wall while visiting Berlin in 1979. The blissful creature-to-creature ceremony was conducted "before a handful of guests."

Clearly biased in its reporting, however, the Telegraph castigates the woman as having a "bizarre fetish for inanimate objects." Objectum-Sexuality, to be regressively clinical.

But please: Bizarre?

What's truly bizarre is the newspaper's own embrace of Objectosexophobia. Shame! Shame on all objectosexophobists!

No doubt "wall friendly" New York and California stand ready to grant Frau Berlin Wall renewed status as "member in good standing" of the human race (with the entire U.S. to follow in good order, out of compassionate legal necessity).

And for all you haters out there, just remember this: Love without limits, Matthew 7, diversity is our strength.

Who but the worst of brutes would deny any creature, human, animal, plant, or wall the right to marry, to commune, to couple, to partner, to triangulate?

Operation Marriage Chaos begins.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Pearcey Rocks Darwin's Boat

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy affirms free inquiry, critical thinking, and challenges to dogmatic instruction in Darwin, as noted in this mag's coverage of "Beyond Expelled."

See Also
Christianity Is a Science-Starter, Not a Science-Stopper
"Beyond Expelled" Upset in Florida
"Beyond Expelled" -- An Evening With Author-Speaker Nancy Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Rolled Model: Tennis Pro Harkleroad "Proud of My Body"

By Rick Pearcey

It's skin-baiting 101 all over again.

This time a 23-year-old female, Ashley Harkleroad, ranked 61 in the world in women's professional tennis but not exactly a house-hold name, will bare all in an upcoming sleaze mag.

Here's the shop-worn, braindead rationale: "I'm proud of my body."

Utter nonsense.

Does "proud" entail public display?

No.

For example, the human heart is a beautiful thing, but if a pretty girl pulls her heart out and shows it to a nice photographer, she's dead.

Even if her mom approves. Or Leno. Or Oprah.

Did you know that many beautiful things, many wonderful things of which one holds in high esteem, can be kept private -- and rightfully, fulfillingly so?

A confidence among best-friends. A loving glance between husband and wife. A good work done in secret so that PR machines and legacy-building do not take over to twist, finesse, and deceive.

Human creativity, too. As Camus said, "There is no true creation without secrecy."

Many, many private things of which we may all be proud and are quite beautiful are nevertheless destroyed when removed from their proper context.

Not just human hearts are destroyed. But we also lose that hidden place, shaped by the Creator, that all humans need if we are to unfold who we are as persons.

But the huckster comes and says, "Be proud. Show me everything!" Cha-ching!

Next!

An individual with no sense of privacy is functionally a nonperson. And that hurts because we are persons -- more than meat plus instincts -- and to destroy all boundaries, all limits, is to attack the center of who we are.

You can be No. 1 in the world and utterly dead inside. You died on the way to the top.

The best things in life aren't just free, they're hidden in secret places where respect is earned, not sold, revealed to the few, not to the many.

* See Also
Dungeon Incest Story Shocks
Rupert Murdoch: Satan or Savior?
Warren, Murdoch, Porn, and WND
Liberal Pundit: Child Porn Should Be Permitted

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Habitat for Inhumanity

By Rick Pearcey

This story says so much: Christian Ministry "Habitat for Humanity" Agrees to Work With Abortion Giant Planned Parenthood." The report begins:

Habitat for Humanity has verbally agreed to an arrangement that would help Planned Parenthood open an abortion facility in Sarasota, Florida. The agreement, which reportedly has not been finalized, would fulfill a city requirement that would allow Planned Parenthood to acquire the occupancy permit it needs to open.

“According to zoning regulations, Planned Parenthood cannot build their abortion facility in the planned location without the presence of a multifamily liner building,” said Jim Sedlak, vice-president of American Life League. “Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood found a creative solution to its problem and is using Habitat for Humanity to achieve its objective. Planned Parenthood plans to sell land to Habitat for $10 so it can meet city requirements.”

The Sarasota City Commission approved a plan on May 5, based on the agreement with Habitat that would allow Planned Parenthood to open their facility. A letter that Planned Parenthood filed with the city before the meeting said, "We are excited to have Habitat be a part of the Planned Parenthood team."

“Habitat for Humanity, which claims to be a Christian ministry, says that this was only a real estate transaction,” said Sedlak. “However, Planned Parenthood could not open its abortion facility without Habitat’s help." . . .

An erstwhile supporter of Habitat explains his disillusionment in "Why I Can No Longer Support Habitat for Humanity."

Another observer is subtle: "Talk about dealing with the devil."

A 4:09 p.m. search of the Habitat website yields no results for "Planned Parenthood." One wonders -- Where is the press release announcing this intriguing development, this brave partnership, this wondrous event?

While Habitat falls silent, Planned Parenthood unashamedly leads the way forward: The abortion industry giant reportedly is "excited to have Habitat be a part of the Planned Parenthood team."

But enabling abortion -- what journalist and author Peter Hitchens (atheist Christopher's brother) just two days ago calls a "massacre to suit the selfish" -- hardly seems consistent with the humane thought and practice that accompanies the proper application of Christian thoughtforms across the whole of life.

One might also ask, paraphrasing, What does it profit an organization, a volunteer, a "Christian," a "ministry" to build houses for the whole world, but lose its own soul?

Then again, if church-state separationists are correct, transactions such as real estate deals and other acts in the public sphere have nothing to do with the Gospel in the first place. For the secularist and bifurcated "believer," holiness and its attendant humanity stop at the church door.

For an alternative to the problem of an inhumane secularism and its echo in a fragmented spirituality alienated from the concreteness and wholeness of life, consider this.

* Update
Here are the Sarasota City Commission minutes, May 5, 2008. See page 10, item 12. ht: Kevin Bussey

* See Also
Abortofascism and Free-Market Homicide
Fascism Is Back
Square Circle Watch: Pro-Life Christians for Obama?

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Hannitizing the GOP: Sean's Top 10 Steps to Victory

By Rick Pearcey

Sean Hannity offers the GOP something it lacks: A unified platform for victory in 2008.

Back-sliding Republicans co-opted by the ways of Washington would do well to consider adopting something like this 10-point plan.

But for a strategic solution to what ails the GOP, a 12-step program may be in order.

Thus, to Sean's Top 10, consider adding these 2:

1. Attention to the issues of life, family, and marriage, so that human beings from biological conception onward and their foundational, God-given social institutions are afforded a dignity and respect consonant with science and with inalienable rights endowed upon each individual by the Creator.

2. Renewed commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the Founding worldview, centered on that very Creator affirmed in the Declaration of Independence and set forth in the verifiable data of the Biblical information.

Note: The dream of freedom, shining cities on a hill, and last best hopes for mankind is not just for Republicans or Americans. It is for all people and all times.

America didn't make it; it made America. And it can make any nation, any people, exceptional. American exceptionalism is not exceptionally American.

And America at her best is great insofar as she realizes, and insofar as individual Americans act upon, that dream as an information-rich vision of a liberated humane existence, a vision that springs forth from the Creator, from the mind of God.

To the degree that Ronald Reagan understood and articulated this, to that degree he inspired.

Question: Do Republicans "get it"? Not yet, if you go by GOP House Leader John Boehner's interview with Hannity on radio yesterday.

Here's the interview, from YouTube. Boehner's webpage excerpts are here.

Boehner appears a likeable fellow, but his performance reminds one of an actor sleep-walking through a role. His message is uninspiring, to say the least.

Prediction: If present trends continue, the GOP will be thumped mightily in the House and Senate. Any "Conservatism" worth advancing will remain in exile and fighting a losing battle until it finds its way home via points one and two above. "Conservatism" may be too tame a word for what's needed.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

McDonald's "Clarifies" Homosexualist Support

By Rick Pearcey

McDonald's, the fast-food eatery formerly known as a family restaurant, is still trying to "distort their support for the homosexual agenda," according to this Action Alert from the American Family Association.

Here's a McDonald's commercial in proud support of the homosexualist agenda.

See also:
* No McDonald's Today
* Reader Responds to "No McDonald's Today"
* National Radio: Rick Pearcey Discusses McDonald's Homosexual Alliance
* Court Watch: Does McDonald's Support This Lesbian Attack on Family?

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Square Circle Watch: Pro-Life Christians for Obama?

By Rick Pearcey

Talk show host Janet Folger of Faith2Action challenges Christians to line up their political priorities with information from the Creator.

On the question of human dignity and the sanctity of life, for example, Folger argues over at WorldNetDaily against the notion that one can be an evangelical and yet also vote, with consistency, for Barack Obama. CNSNews Editor in Chief Terry Jeffrey argues Obama is the "most pro-abortion candidate ever."

To quote Folger:

We need to prioritize when it comes to our policies and our politics. Take a bunch of "evangelical Christians" who, according to Sunday's Seattle Times, claim to be pro-life Christians and for Obama. No matter how slick the slogans or how "cool" the candidate, you can't be both.

Look, to be a Christian means you have to follow Christ. What did Christ say? "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." And what were some of those commandments? God prioritized them for us, and "Thou shalt not kill" made the top 10. It wasn't "change" or "diversity" or "tolerance" or "government programs" that made the list; it was the protection of human life.

Folger concludes:

We need to prioritize our policies and our politics before the house burns down or we face our deathbeds. The house may not be burning down just yet, but in September 2001, there were some buildings that did. We may not be on our deathbed, but there are 4,000 American children today who are – because of the policies and the deadly philosophy of Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. We can't be a pro-life Christian and support either one.

To those who are confused about the candidates and the culture, I have one word for you: prioritize.

Is there a consistent case rooted in Biblical information and principle that would allow pro-life Christians to vote this year for a pro-abortion candidate such as Obama or Clinton?

Are you a pro-life Christian planning on voting for Obama or Hillary? Why? How would you answer Folger?

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Abortofascism and Free-Market Homicide

By Rick Pearcey

In a column titled "Atheism and Child Murder," Dinesh D'Souza comments on his recent debate with Princeton ethicist and atheist Peter Singer:

Some of Singer's critics call him a Nazi and compare his proposals to Hitler's schemes for eliminating the unwanted, the unfit and the disabled. But as I note in the debate, Singer is no Hitler. He doesn't want state-sponsored killings. Rather, he wants the decision to kill to be made by you and me. Instead of government-conducted genocide, Singer favors free-market homicide.

Singer as an individual may or may not approve "state-sponsored killings," but his worldview nevertheless demands obedience. This is what worldviews qua worldviews do as presumed guides to living in the real world.

What counts here, in Singer's case, are not the desires of a particular professor, but rather the imperative mobilized by atheistic presuppositions that give rise to a materialistic and inhumane philosophy of life.

People desire many things, but the actual direction of their lives and of their cultures is set in many ways by directives consistent with their philosophy of life, their worldview.

A denial of the dignity of Man and the sacredness of the individual pushes people downstream into currents of inhumanity that allow no adequate ethical opposition to radical dehumanization, up to and including concentration camps and abortion chambers.

Even "nice" people, regular folk, can be caught up in this dynamic if they allow others to do their thinking and evaluating for them.

You can be a materialist even if you're a hippie and have only one quarter in your pocket (as Francis Schaeffer observed on occasion). In similar fashion, you can be a fascist and have only one baby, one person, one slave, one Jew in your power, your pocket, at your mercy, in your womb, subject to your autonomous choice.

State machinery may or may not be involved in Singer's current thinking or at a particular moment in history. But this doesn't get us out of the woods.

For if the naked secular state is the de facto ultimate political power (because God does not exist, and the impersonal cosmos is indifferent), then even the putatively "empowered" individual really functions more as something akin to an NGE (nongovernmental entity), enacting that which the state allows and the Darwinian struggle for existence compels, excuses, and forgives.

This is a delegated fascism -- from the secular state to the secularized individual and his or her own personal will-to-power. "Freedom" and "empowerment" become PR symbols to help grown-ups feel better about imposing their values on pre- and post-natal children. This scheme works best if the grown-ups remain unaware of their subservience to the state establishment.

It is important to not be confused or distracted by the struggle between the fascism of the one (naked, personal choice and the individual will-to-power) and the fascism of the many (naked, political choice and the raw communal will-to-power).

One need not reduce Singer to Hitler to recognize Naziesque applications that emerge naturally and logically from an inhumane, Singeresque worldview. We are condemned to repeat the past if we ignore its dangerous presuppositions.

Related
* Dawkins: Nazi Eugenics "May Not Be Bad"?, by Rick Pearcey
* Fascism Is Back, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

"Beyond Expelled" Upset in Florida

By Rick Pearcey

Amid pounding and shouting over at a blog titled "Florida Citizens for Science," one might think that Fort Walton Beach and perhaps Western Civilization may never be quite the same again after Nancy Pearcey shows up and gives a talk on the topic of "Beyond Expelled" this week.

This group, this blog, announces itself dedicated to the defense and promotion of "sound science in Florida." Yet the tone of that site seems inconsistent with such a laudable goal.

In its aggressiveness and bluster, one detects a certain lack of confidence, defensiveness, and lack of encouragement to let people think things through for themselves. A bit of "sales resistance," and perhaps ear plugs, seems in order. (For more on "sales resistance," etc., see the conclusion of "Christmas Spirit in the Dirt.")

Truly free thinkers, let us also say, welcome the kind of reasonable dialogue that Nancy's lectures invariably exhibit and invite. In many ways, this humane approach goes back to her own agnosticism and willingness to consider basic questions from all angles.

Throw in a little respect for the individual, as well as critical distance vis-a-vis contemporary fantacisms and accepted orthodoxies, and you've got the makings of a terrific evening.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

"Beyond Expelled" -- An Evening With Author-Speaker Nancy Pearcey

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy Pearcey will be in the Fort Walton Beach, Fla., area May 8, 2008, to speak on the topic "Beyond Expelled."

Expelled is the excellent, controversial film starring Ben Stein.

John Derbyshire scorched the film over at National Review.

David Berlinski suggests Mr. Derbyshire might have been well-served to see the film first, and ask questions later (in fairness, a lesson, sadly, some "worldview" Christian bigshots might consider regarding books and film in general).

Nancy will be speaking at the Mattie Kelly Fine & Performance Arts Center of Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville.

Daily News of northwest Florida published yesterday a story about Nancy's upcoming lecture.

Here's a WFTW radio interview.

Nancy will speak at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information see the Beyond Expelled webpage of Westminster Presbyterian Church, located in Fort Walton Beach.

Related
* Christianity Is a Science-Starter, Not a Science-Stopper, by Nancy Pearcey

* Why Intelligent Design Will Win: 5 Reasons to Keep an Open, Educated Mind, by Nancy Pearcey

* Darwin Meltdown Reaches England, by Rick Pearcey

* Secularism Takes Hit at British Airways, by Rick Pearcey

* I'll Take Sartre, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Victory Over Victim Demagogues

By Rick Pearcey

As columnist Ralph Peters sees it, Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright "is only one of many demagogues in all races and creeds who foster cults of victimization around the globe."

The demagogue succeeds by shifting blame: "Your failures aren't your fault -- it's all their fault. Whitey's to blame, or people of color, or the Jews (those Elders of Zion sure do stay busy) or black helicopters from the UN. It's a formula for the perpetuation of failure."

The solution? "Fortunately for us," says Peters, "this paralyzing cult of victimhood is the antithesis of the ethic that allowed the United States to achieve the quality of life the vast majority of us enjoy today. What built our country was the get-up-off-your-butt belief that God, by any name, helps those who help themselves" (italics added).

It is true that God helps those who help themselves.

This is clear in the data we have from the Creator, who informs us from Genesis onward that human beings made in His image indeed are significant creatures able to make choices, shape history, form cultures, build civilizations, and otherwise develop creation in ways that honor the Creator and demonstrate respect for nature and our fellow human beings.

Of course, we're sinners; that's something we did, in our infinite wisdom. But the "scientists" and atheistic materialists need to go back to the drawing board. We're not space junk or cosmic victims. That's why no one, including a Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, wants to be thrown into a trash can or live in a garbage dump.

But not any name will do, just as not any "God" will do. Try calling your wife Mary when her name is Susan and you'll see what I mean.

Names matter. Not as arbitrary signs plastered onto meaningless globs of human flesh (Sartre was wrong) or as merely religious symbols stuck onto some kind of unknowable spiritual being (Kant was wrong, too).

As far as I am aware, only the Creator Deity set forth in the Biblical data and self-identified as Yahweh, verified in history and available to rational investigation, qualifies as a being who thinks, acts, and cares about what happens in this world, including how we treat the planet and how we treat our brothers and sisters "red and yellow black and white."

This Creator is not a mythological Zeus, distant Allah, impersonal "All" of pantheism, or an eternally existing Darwinian cosmos that couldn't care less whether Whitey lynches blacks or an Austrian nut case kills off 7 million Jews.

This Creator acts in history. This Father stands up, sends prophets, and allows his Son to subvert evil, judge hypocrisy, slap religious leaders upside the head, die on a cross, rise from the dead, and smash the gates of Hell.

Why? So people can have an ethical and juridical basis for renewed community with their Creator, each other, and the world in which we are to work, live, and play.

That's a full plate. Not a lot of time left over to play the victim.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Dungeon Incest Story Shocks

By Rick Pearcey

"Woman Held in Dungeon for Two Decades," screams the headline at Der Spiegel. "Incest case shocks Austria." Lead paragraph:

An Austrian woman was kept in her father's basement for 24 years behind a concrete door locked with an electronic code. She bore seven of his children, but relatives, neighbors and officials all deny any knowledge of the case. Many are wondering how that was possible. . . .

Shocking, yes. But for how long?

Imagine a different scenario. Imagine there were no religion, no heaven above, no oppressive structure below.

Imagine just you and me and “love,” as defined by the latest scientific study, poll, or 60s-style focus group, massaged by San Fran marketers and pushed by big money, big celebrity, big ads, and energetic websites.

What if, in this kind of secularist spirituality, the daughter “loved” the incestuous father, the children were well-cared for, and choice was at the center of the relationship?

Would this be love, tolerance, diversity, strength, progress, liberation, family? “Love without boundaries," as it were?

Or might “love without boundaries” really mean passion, yes, but also an autonomous will-to-power in an ethically indifferent universe? A kind of trendy t-shirt fascism from the ground up, imposed from below -- one person, two partners, and several social groupings (aka “families”) at a time.

So why not two incestuous fathers and two incestuous mommies, and 14 sons and 17 preteen daughters? Not in an ugly, uncool Austrian basement, but openly, honestly, proudly, and with "dignity" in a really rich Hollywood suburb.

Or maybe a ranch in Texas.

Maybe “incest” is just another word for nothing left to lose. Just one more hangover from the Dark Ages when words had meaning, love had content, family had form, and kids had childhoods.

Granted, there may be an evolutionary adjustment period during which young sons and daughters appear to struggle with advanced and advancing understandings of tolerance and progress.

But the schools can fix them. Either that, or Mr. Orwell’s Ministry of Love.

Related
* Court Watch: Does McDonald's Support This Lesbian Attack on Family?, by Rick Pearcey
* "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America, by Rick Pearcey
* O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Beyond "Expelled" -- Nancy Pearcey on NewsTalk Radio This Morning

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy is appearing on NewsTalk 1260 WFTW radio this morning. The station is located in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and you can listen live locally or online here.

Time: 9:30 am EDT, 8:30 am CDT.

The station talk lineup includes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage.

Nancy will be speaking in the area May 8. She'll discuss "Beyond Expelled," at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center of Okaloosa-Walton College.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Ronaldinho Too Expensive for AC Milan?

By Rick Pearcey

Barcelona soccer genius Ronaldinho may be too expensive for Italy's AC Milan. Let's hope not.

Here's the latest from GOLTV:

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said Monday the club's bid to lure Ronaldinho to Italy was far from being a done deal.

Following Milan's 5-1 thrashing of Reggina on Sunday, Galliani claimed that Milan had failed to agree a fee for Ronaldinho with his Spanish club Barcelona.

The news comes just over a week after Galliani said that were Ronaldinho to move from the Catalan giants, it would be to Milan.

More . . .

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Reader Responds to "No McDonald's Today"

By Rick Pearcey

A reader named Julie responds to "No McDonald's Today":

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is it that you mean by "homosexual agenda"? Do you believe that homosexuals are trying to turn your children into homosexuals? If that's the case, then do you reject any evidence that homosexuality is biologically based, and believe anyone can choose to become a homosexual? Or do you think it is biologically based, but that those who have those tendencies should suppress them because to follow through would be sinning?

I don't mean to be rude; I'd just like to better understand your opinion as it's not one I'm familiar with (I'm a homeschooled high school student with scientist parents; they always told me homosexuality was linked to certain hormone levels during pregnancy). I don't agree with some things the organization in the article supports (like hate crime laws, which seems too close to legislating thought), but I was confused by the fear for your children you and other commentors expressed. Sorry to be so long winded; any clarification you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

My response:

Thank you for writing. As to the homosexual agenda, I recommend that you do your own research, fact-checking, etc., and think through for yourself the basic questions this issue raises.

My own approach is that of a free-thinker, following the evidence, the data, etc., wherever that might lead. With that qualification in mind, you may find "Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat" an article of interest insofar as her approach reflects such an agenda. Here's the link.

As to your misstatement regarding "fear for your children," etc., I should report that you're talking to the wrong person and the wrong family. We're about enjoying a full and challenging life as individuals and as family -- violin, blues guitar, frogs, snakes, dog, piano, art, museums, film, soccer, discussion, questions, ideas, people, different cultures, languages, etc.

Yes, there's a healthy concern to leave the world a better place than you found it -- and this suggests the need to question authority, rebel against evil, challenge the status quo, religion, mysticism, scientism, the peer group, PR machines, whatever happens to be "in," etc.

This too is part of being human, exercising a critical distance vis-a-vis the challenges of life, and cultivating a positive, humane existence. Where there is much joy and love, there's not a lot of room left over for their opposites.

Related
* Court Watch: Does McDonald's Support This Lesbian Attack on Family?, by Rick Pearcey
* "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America, by Rick Pearcey
* O'Reilly, Letterman, and the Culture War, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Court Watch: Does McDonald's Support This Lesbian Attack on Family?

By Rick Pearcey

Will homosexualist ally McDonald's support a lesbian's attempt to separate mother and daughter? Does "Big Mac 'Social Responsibility'" mean inflicting this kind of family damage is OK?

Below is a CWA press release announcing a "Prayer Rally for Virginia Supreme Court" in support of "Parental Rights and Traditional Marriage."

The rally is tomorrow (Thursday, April 17) at 8 a.m., at the Old Bell Tower, SW corner of Capitol Square at 9th and Franklin in Richmond, Va. CWA says the event will be followed by a press conference.

Here's the press release:

Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, April 17, the Virginia Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Lisa Miller custody case. Concerned Women for America (CWA) and our supporters will be present to rally for prayer outside the capitol courthouse.

Lisa Miller is a born again Christian who is faithfully working to raise her child according to Biblical principles. Janet Jenkins, Lisa’s former partner from a previous homosexual relationship, has diligently worked to destroy this bond and undermine Lisa’s faith. Jenkins, who is neither an adoptive nor biological parent, filed papers to gain full custody of Isabella Miller, Lisa’s daughter. Since then, both Virginia and Vermont courts have ruled in the case.

The Virginia Supreme Court must decide whether it will respect the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Virginia’s own constitution or allow Vermont to redefine marriage and family in the Commonwealth. In 2006, Virginia decisively passed (with 57 percent of the vote) a constitutional amendment which was designed to protect families against just such an attack. The amendment specifies that Virginia “shall not create or recognize” “civil unions” or “same-sex marriages” from other states, nor can it recognize rulings which stem from such “unions” (like Vermont’s custody ruling).

Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues, said, “This case is of paramount national importance. Not only is a little girl’s spiritual, emotional and physical well-being at stake, the Virginia Supreme Court will essentially be signaling whether states like Vermont and Massachusetts get to radically redefine marriage and family for the rest of the country.”

CWA of Virginia State Director Janet Robey said, “We’re asking for people to join us in praying that the Virginia Supreme Court will protect little Isabella, her mother Lisa and the bedrock institutions of legitimate marriage and family. We’re also asking for people to join in praying, as little Isabella has requested, ‘that Janet Jenkins would ask Jesus into her heart,’ and then with God’s help, deliverance from homosexuality is possible.”

* For more information, contact Natalie Bell at 202-488-7000, ext 126.

Related
* No McDonald's Today, by Rick Pearcey
*"Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America, by Rick Pearcey
* Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

National Radio: Rick Pearcey Discusses McDonald's Homosexual Alliance

By Rick Pearcey

On Friday, April 11, 2008, I was interviewed on Point of View, a national radio talk show hosted by Kerby Anderson and Kelly Shackford.

We discussed my "No McDonald's Today," which roiled homosexualist circles and attracted comment from leaders such as Andrew Sullivan. "No McDonald's Today" was published at Pro-Existence the previous Friday (April 4).

The well-nigh universal diatribic response from the monosexists was in keeping with the PR strategy outlined in The Marketing of Evil, by David Kupelian.

Here's the first chapter, "How 'Gay Rights' Is Being Sold to America."

You can listen to the POV program at the radio archive, here.

Also on that day's radio program:

* Jordan Lorence, senior counsel, Alliance Defense Fund
* Gary Bauer, president, American Values
* Brent Bozell, president, Media Research Center

Related
* Chicago radio host Sandy Rios and I discussed "No McDonald's Today" at 4:35 p.m. Monday afternoon, April 7, 2008. More here.
* See also, "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America, by Rick Pearcey
* See also, Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat, by Rick Pearcey

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Ventura Art: 3 From Elyane

By Rick Pearcey

The joy of art is one of life's brilliant necessities. Here are three pieces by Elyane, who lives in Ventura, Calif.


Elyane is French.

She specializes in landscapes.


Thank you, Elyane, for sharing your life and your creative gift.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Antony Flew Over America

By Rick Pearcey

I enjoyed reading There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, by Antony Flew (with Roy Abraham Varghese), on a recent trip to Santa Barbara.

My brother works at UC Santa Barbara as a computer analyst. A lovely campus. The photo above was taken during the return flight back to the East Coast.

By the way, one of the reasons jets fly is because they are intelligently designed. And they're maintained by flight mechanics, not by rolls of the dice nor by impersonal laws that unaccountably popped into existence out of sheer, absolute nothingness.

These kinds of facts give free-thinkers such as myself lots to think about. It's a willingness to think freely about the basic philosophic questions that led me to consider secular, pagan, and biblical data with an open mind.

The atheistic, naturalistic case is just too weak intellectually -- the theory of the world required by the mobilization of its presuppositions does not accurately describe the actual external world in which all people must live, atheist or not. There are no atheists in jets formed out of nothing by chance or impersonal law.

The Flew book itself will help you see why. So will this review essay by Gary Habermas of the philosophy and theology department at Liberty University.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Rick on Chicago Radio at 4:35 p.m. CT to Discuss "No McDonald's Today"

By Rick Pearcey

Chicago Radio host Sandy Rios and I are scheduled to discuss my article "No McDonald's Today" at 4:35 p.m. Central Time today.

Listen live here.

Here's the WYLL-AM call-in number: 847-956-5042.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

How to Have a Race War

By Rick Pearcey

From Frontpage:

If whiteness stands for all that is evil, blackness symbolizes all that is good. “Black theology,” says [black liberation theologian James] Cone, “refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.” Small wonder that some critics have condemned black liberation theology as "racist idolatry” and “Afro-Nazism."

Before you can have a race war in America, you must first set forth an ideology that legitimizes race hatred and keeps that kind of hatred at a boiling point. The theology of Cone seems to be on this path, absolutizing "blackness," which in turn gives the KKK, Aryans, and kindred spirits an excuse to absolutize "whiteness."

The result? Two gods vying for supremacy, locked in mortal combat, with no possible resolution, even if by fire, as some groups seem to want.

For neither god can afford rational discourse by free-thinking individuals who question authority. Such gods rooted in creation place skin color, race, or group hatreds above rationality, evidence, consideration, and discussion. Lost is the Biblical responsibility to ask questions, wonder, examine evidence, subject theology and putative prophets to information from the Creator. Instead, we see a media dash to charges of bigotry and other attempts at verbal terror and intimidation, all of them beneath the dignity of Man.

The only possible outcome of this recipe, if consistently pursued to its logical conclusion, is race warfare.

If you use racism to drive out racism, what you have is not a solution, but a new racism taking over from the old. This is called regress not progress. And it has nothing to do with information given by the Creator about all people having been created in his image and that the dilemma we all face is ethical not pigmentary.

Black liberation theology? White liberation theology? It's hard to imagine a better recruitment tool for fascists of every hue or stripe. Red, yellow, brown, pink -- the entire rainbow.

Related:
* Black Jesus Does Not Exist
* Church of Oprah Exposed

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Nancy's No. 1

By Rick Pearcey

DL, a blogger, writes:

Mrs. Clinton is next on my list of Women Changing the World for Better or Worse!

But the good news is . . . your wife is the first on my list for women changing the world for better. The article is, at the time of this writing, the most popular one on my site and has the potential to be viewed by thousands of bloggers.

Two comments seem in order:

First, DL is clearly a blogger of great insight!

Second, Nancy is No. 1 on my list as well. She officially started changing my world for the better in August 1976.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

No McDonald's Today

By Rick Pearcey

My son and I often stop by McDonald's for a bite to eat after homeschool bowling on Fridays.

But not today.

I first heard about McDonald's in 1963. I was a kid. Kennedy had been shot. I heard the news on the radio in a new white Ford station wagon while crossing a D.C. bridge.

We were returning from having been stationed in Germany. The Cuban missile crisis had come and gone. I saw the howitzers in Gelnhausen, lined up and ready to roll.

Sometime later, stateside, we were in Columbus, Ohio. Twenty-five cents, I think, for a McDonald's hamburger. What fun! A great welcome home!

But not now.

Not today, in light of reports that McDonald's has decided, apparently, to declare war on my family. And to declare war on the civilization of liberty, independence, creativity, and humanity under God that my Dad fought for in World War II.

Reports such as this -- "Pink Arches? McDonald's Buys Into Homosexual Agenda."

And reports such as this: "McDonald's Gives Support to Homosexual Agenda."

And this: "McDonald's Signs Onto 'Gay' Agenda."

For Christians, this is a matter of stewardship and "loving thy neighbor" -- Why spend good money on a morally and socially corruptive business?

For families, this is a matter of child protection -- Why support a business that helps fund organizations that disrespect the heart of family life?

For human beings, this is a matter of liberty under God -- Why help finance groups that turn their backs on the Declaration of Independence, the Founding vision, and the living Creator who holds it all together?

If you say you can do without all of that, then I say we can do without McDonald's.

Why, apparently, those McDonald's people can't tell the difference between right and wrong.

Between the wrongness of discriminating against someone on the basis of his or her beautiful and God-given skin color and the correctness of rejecting trumped-up victimhood and pretend discrimination based on membership in an ethically challenged but politically powerful interest group.

Information from the Creator, not to mention simple lessons in biology, says there's a difference between diversity and perversity, between being pulled over for driving while black and being guilty of sinning while human.

A hamburger's worth giving up and giving in to all that?

Hardly.

McDonald's is now on trial.

The fries are good. Even great. But the worldview they support isn't fit for human consumption.

Maybe we'll stop by Chick-Fil-A instead. It's a little out of the way, but I hear they like families.

Real families -- not ones made up by the ACLU last Tuesday.

And what's an extra mile or two to vote with your pocketbook? One way or another, you always pay for your convictions.

* Update: Chicago radio host Sandy Rios and I are scheduled to discuss "No McDonald's Today" at 4:35 p.m. Monday afternoon, April 7, 2008. More here. Central Time.

** Update: See also, "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America

*** Update: See also, Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Modern Secularists Not So Brilliant

By Rick Pearcey

The Founding Fathers understood that human rights are rooted not in the state but in the Creator, in whose image all people are made.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

The Founders were brilliant in that they understood that a humane balance of form and freedom in society and governance could be achieved if "we the people" as individuals self-consciously built our polity upon information given by the Creator.

Not so brilliant are modern secularists, who reject the truly progressive Judeo-Christian concept of a Creator whose liberating norms speak to all of life, public and private.

Now comes this today from AP, "Clinton promises to expand homosexual rights":

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would defend and expand homosexual rights as president.

Clinton said states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts are extending rights to homosexual couples "and the federal government should recognize that and should extend the same access to federal benefits across the board. I will very much work to achieve that." Clinton's comments came in an interview with the Philadelphia Gay
News that was posted on its website Thursday.

The problem, in a word, rogue government. Rogue, as in "vicious and solitary."

Vicious? Yes, for few things are as savage and destructive and hateful as the "gay" attack on family, freedom, and human nature defined not by the subjective imaginations and pretended "rights" of finite interest groups pushing private agendas, but by verifiable, empirically vouchsafed data from the Creator himself.

Solitary? Yes, for what the Hillarys of the world are pushing is a social order alienated from the Declaration, alienated from community with our true Creator, and alienated from our true selves as amazing creatures male and female created in the image of God. How dark and confining and inhumane is the "light" of secularism.

It demands that human beings reduce themselves to the embrace of genes, groups, genitalia, and skin color under the power construct of an autonomous federal government cut loose from the spiritual-intellectual framework that lifted the U.S. up from the Greeks, Romans, and barbarians not so long ago. Against this human nature properly and necessarily rebels.

Far better to rebel for God, man, and neighbor. Far better to say yes to love, but no to an expanding vicious "rights regime" imposed by a temporary power establishment. Yes to community, yes to humanity, but no to the loneliness of the empty, secular soul.

It's how you keep a republic.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Church of Oprah Exposed

By Rick Pearcey

A friend writes via email:

I think most of you know how I feel about "forwarded messages." This one was so striking, however, that I felt I needed to pass it on. I recommend that, if at all possible, you spend 6 minutes looking at this You Tube video. It is startling.

The video is titled "The Church of Oprah Exposed," and it runs approximately 7 minutes.

In it is an Oprah quote regarding Jesus: "There couldn't possibly be just one way." (She says it, that settles it.)

Oprah discusses "God" with an author of one of her book-club selections: "God isn't something to believe; God is . . . and God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience . . . . If God for you is still about a belief, then it's not truly God . . . " (But what if God is a fact of life -- say, of the sort that could be born in a place called Bethlehem?)

Also noted is Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

The YouTube video concludes by pointing viewers to a website that promotes a new book, Don't Drink the Kool-Aid.

Biblically, of course, the data demonstrate that God is a rational, personal, objective being who thinks, acts, feels, and has spoken in history, space, and time so that human beings as thinking people do not have to escape from the facts of reality to affirm meaning in life, the dignity of man, or solid answers to moral dilemmas in an ethical universe.

This is not about big or small churches, big or small TV ratings, mesmerizing gurus, pantheistic celebrities, private belief systems, or private faiths where "God" is no longer in a "box" but can be whatever floats your boat, diet, gender, weekend, or TV show -- whatever you want he, she, it, or all of the above to be, since rational categories no longer apply.

But if rational categories no longer apply, how do we rationally conclude that Jim Jones and his suicidal Kool-Aid theology were wrong? His "god" was out of the "box" and people died. If rationality is irrelevant to spirituality, then we cannot say Jones was "wrong," for the word "wrong" is a meaningful linguistic symbol bound to the box of rationality beyond which certain gods, apparently, live.

Yes, there were warning signs, but the cult leader preached community and "welcomed people of every race and ethnicity," notes a PBS story. Apparently the Kool-Aid reverend did nice things for lots of people before the real world came crashing down upon his private theology and those who drank deeply of it.

The humanness of the Biblical data provides a way out. Here, human beings get to ask tough questions and resist sales pitches. Here we observe a concern for objective truth, fact, evidence, and that which accurately describes the world in which all people must live irrespective of their subjective imaginations, bank accounts, or political affiliation.

"Test everything," says 1 Thess. 5:21. That includes celebrity, religion, prophetic wannabees, presidential hopefuls, "God," etc., etc. It's the Biblical, humane, and wise thing to do.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

We Challenge Chuck Norris

By Rick Pearcey

UC Santa Barbara -- Working on The Pearcey Report today, I'm in my brother Terry's office here at UCSB, where he's a computer analyst.

I read him the conclusion of the Norris commentary titled "Bruce Lee vs. Me."

Says Norris, "So, would I have beaten Bruce Lee in a real competition or not? You'll forgive me for answering with another Bruce-ism: 'Showing off is the fool's idea of glory'."

That answer may be just a bit too humble. In any case, Terry suggests a way to settle the question: "Computer simulation."

That seems doable. And imminently watchable. Video, cable, gaming?

I believe the kick is in your corner, Mr. Norris.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Baylor and PBU -- Tale of Two Universities

By Rick Pearcey

The Baptist Press is reporting that 40% of Baylor University faculty up for tenure this semester have been denied:

An unusually high number of faculty members at Baylor University have been denied tenure this semester, and one former Baylor professor believes the denials reflect the school's decision to turn away from its Baylor 2012 campaign to establish Baylor as both a Christian university and a top-tier research institution.

The former Baylor prof who thinks the university may be rejecting its Biblical heritage for a bowl of secular soup is William Dembski. Dembski is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

As Dembski sees it, "All the junior faculty denied tenure appear to have strongly supported enhancing Baylor's Christian identity, an aspect of Baylor 2012 that many of the established professors at Baylor reject, preferring instead that Baylor become secular."

"This scandal is terrible news for Baylor and the wider Baptist world," Dembski says. "It indicates that Baylor's vision for restoring its Christian identity is on the way out and sends a message to top young scholars not to come to Baylor, because whether you get tenure is based not on merit or Christian commitment but on the whim of a capricious president."

But even as March doubts about Baylor's intellectual and Biblical commitment surface, a February press release from Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU) demonstrates an alternative for thinking Christians.

Newly inaugurated PBU president Dr. Todd Williams "Seeks to Establish Model for a Biblical University" even if that means causing a "positive disruption" to the status quo.

"We must have the fortitude and diligence to cut a new path through the landscape of contemporary higher education . . . to define and establish this model of a biblical university and thereby create a positive disruption in the academy," said the new PBU president in his Inaugural Address.

"We must engage more effectively the broader evangelical and academic communities. . . . Like the apostle Paul on Mars Hill, we must enter the marketplace, and the marketplace of ideas, and speak. If our goal is to elevate the profile of the University -- and it is -- then we must elevate our level of participation."

One indicator of the school's positive direction is that it brought aboard author and thinker (and wife) Nancy Pearcey as professor of worldview studies (she's also a fellow at Discovery). Here's the PBU press statement announcing Nancy's appointment.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Who's Worse? Son of Schaeffer or Obama Pastor?

By Rick Pearcey

In case this is your question: Who's worse, Frank Schaeffer or Obama's pastor Rev. Wright?

Or is this question unfair and totally misplaced?

The younger Schaeffer's columns at the Huffington Post are here. More on Rev. Wright here.

See also: "Francis Schaeffer 'Worse' Than Obama Pastor?"

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Francis Schaeffer "Worse" Than Obama Pastor?

By Rick Pearcey

Is evangelical thinker Francis Schaeffer "worse" than Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Schaeffer son Frank says, yes, according to this report in WorldNetDaily.

"When Sen. Obama’s preacher thundered about racism and injustice, Obama suffered smear-by-association," writes the younger Schaeffer. "But when my late father -- religious right leader Francis Schaeffer denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr."

For background, see:

* Rick Pearcey on "Black Jesus Does Not Exist"
* Os Guinness on "Fathers and Sons"
* Os Guinness on Obama "Better Than His Pastor"
* Douglas Groothuis on "Franky Plays the Schaeffer Card Again"
* Ranald Macaulay on "What Can We Learn From Francis Schaeffer?"
* Rick Pearcey on "Francis Schaeffer: A Student's Appreciation of a Distinct Approach"
* Rick Pearcey on "Francis Schaeffer, Mother, and Monkey Blood"

Finally, light a candle: Buy the Complete Works or other great books or videos by Francis Schaeffer.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Black Jesus Does Not Exist

By Rick Pearcey

Barack Obama says he is "proud of my Christianity," and that he appreciates his spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. For one thing, says Obama, the reverend introduced him to Jesus Christ.

One does not doubt the sincerity of Obama's feelings. But which Jesus is he talking about?

Rev. Wright preaches that Jesus was a "poor black" man. And yet if we go by the data of the Biblical record, the historical Christ is nothing of the sort.

Poor? As the Son of the Living God, Jesus of Nazareth had and has untold wealth at his fingertips. That he chose not to avail himself of these vast riches says more about his sacrificial mission than about the political implications of his earthly bank account.

In fact, Jesus of Nazareth was and is rich beyond measure. And yet this same Jesus was no sellout to economic greed. Nor to economic guilt. He was not captured by class warfare or by any impulse that smacks of Karl Marx.

But what about a "Black" Jesus? Well, being Jewish, it seems a little more likely that his skin color was olive. Genetics and all that.

But maybe Jesus was "black" culturally, standing in for the weak, the pure and poverty-stricken, the oppressed, the "scum of the earth" who in fact are the apple of God's eye.

I'm not so sure. His message is that moral failure is an equal opportunity society. Or, as Paul put it in an "obscure" verse in the book of Romans, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Demagogues and race hustlers black or white may be offended by what follows, but this "all" includes rich man, poor man, oppressor and oppressed, Jew, Greek, Gentile, American, and African. Just look in the mirror.

The historical Jesus transcends religion, elections, and personal theologies. He stands as an objective phenomenon before all humanity and all subjective "faiths," unshackled by the dictates of group identity, race politics, liberation theologies, church cultures, and class warfare.

It is true: Power elites will "employ malleable symbols of religion and politics to manipulate money and masses towards results that overturn the original content of words and action rooted in history" (more).

But we don't have to play along. We can resist the myth. We can shock the world and say out loud: Jesus of Nazareth is the biological son of Mary, the adopted son of Joseph, the begotten Son of God, born of a virgin, verified in history, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.

This Jesus is no victim, he needs no liberation, and it is the height of idolatry to try to reduce him and those who trust him to pigmentation, class, race, or any other kind of category that excuses the worship of the creature instead of the Creator.

I wouldn't blame Mr. Obama if he wanted a reintroduction.

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Juan Williams React: Did Obama Pass the Test?

By Rick Pearcey

Juan Williams reviews what Obama did and didn't do in today's speech (video): "I think he had to take responsibility . . . that's what he didn't do."

It's a question that goes to Obama's "judgment and character."

Fox: "Is the damage done and that's it?"

Williams: "It goes on."

_______________
Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).