THE NATION AGAINST POLITICIANS ON GUN RIGHTS

THE NATION AGAINST POLITICIANS 

ON GUN RIGHTS 

BY C. MITCHELL SHAW

SEE: https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/34773-the-nation-against-politicians-on-gun-rights; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

From the print edition of The New American:

As the Left pushes harder and harder for civilian disarmament under the euphemistic title of “commonsense gun control,” individuals, communities, cities, counties, and entire states are pushing back. The result may be that liberal Democrats — who have enjoyed the media-inspired backlash against President Donald Trump — may soon find that they have been digging their own political graves.

In fact, Virginia — which is under Democratic control for the first time in a generation, thanks to the efforts of pro-Chinese communists — the pushback from citizens all over the state has led 91 out of 95 counties, 15 out of 38 independent cities, and 33 towns to declare themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries.” That amounts to about 95 percent of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Clearly, Governor Ralph Northam and his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly do not have the gun-control “mandate” they pretend.

As the main cover-story article shows, scores of thousands of Virginians from all over the state showed up in Richmond on Monday, January 20, to show Northam and the Democrat-led General Assembly that they expect the right to keep and bear arms to remain uninfringed. Many of them carried poster-board signs showing a map of Virginia with vast liberty-loving parts of the state highlighted in green. Residents of the Birthplace of a Nation are standing up to be counted. And while the state legislature is thus far ignoring them, their local officials are standing with them.

Almost as soon as the 2019 elections were over and it was clear that Democrats had taken control of Virginia, those Democrats began making it clear that they would follow through on campaign promises to dial back the right to keep and bear arms in the Old Dominion. As those bills started to come forward, local municipalities began responding to the threat of civilian disarmament. In one meeting after another, city councils, town councils, and county councils heard from residents about the idea of becoming a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.” 

Before the Democratic revolutionists could even take office, towns, cities, and counties across the state declared they would not recognize or enforce any unconstitutional gun laws passed by the General Assembly. Within a mere six weeks, more than 40 counties had adopted Second Amendment-protecting resolutions. That trend continued after those Democrats were sworn in, leading to the 95 percent mentioned above. A large number of Virginia’s sheriffs have made that same point.

One such sheriff, Scott Jenkins of Culpeper County, went so far as to say that, if needed, he will “properly screen and deputize thousands of our law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional right to own firearms.” As deputies, those citizens would be considered “law enforcement” and would be exempt from the anti-gun laws.

And Virginia is far from alone on this issue. Nearly half the states in the nation have pockets of Second Amendment Sanctuaries, and several states are covered in them. And in past years, whole states have declared themselves Second Amendment friendly.

Colorado, for instance, is comprised of 64 counties. In response to anti-Second Amendment laws passed in that state — including so-called red flag laws that would strip the right to keep and bear arms from people not convicted of any crime — 38 of those have recently adopted resolutions declaring themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries.” Three cities and three towns have done likewise. 

Over the past two months, 24 of Florida’s 67 counties, one city, and one town have followed suit, with more counties, cities, and townships considering coming on board. Again, a major element fueling the movement is the passage of red flag laws. As gunrightswatch.com reported:

Florida’s Second Amendment Sanctuary movement has plodded on, county by county, since November 5th when Lake County became the first to declare. With red flag repossessions happening at a furious pace, the march doesn’t seem to be slowing.

The real issue at stake in Florida is the state’s egregious Red Flag law, which so far is responsible for the unconstitutional theft of thousands of firearms from gun owners across the state. These RPO’s have been granted for such crimes as posting a photo of a recently completed AR-15 on social media and criticizing teenage gun control activists, or for having an argument with a family member. Having your guns taken away in Florida means that you can’t obtain a court-appointed lawyer (since you’re not accused of any crime) and appealing the decision takes an average of 12 months or more.

To make matters worse, the system is rigged against gun owners, such that at least 95% of all RPO’s that get submitted wind up getting granted — typically within minutes and often with no questions asked. In the RPO-frenzy county of Volusia, one police officer reported that they take an average of only 20 seconds to go through.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Florida Senate, led by an anti-gun Republican Senate President, has just voted for universal background checks and a gun registry. The more sensible Speaker of The House and Governor are said to be alarmed by their actions.

And in response to similar anti-gun legislation in Illinois, 67 of the state’s 102 counties, two cities, and three townships have made themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries.

The mention of Illinois brings up an interesting point. That state’s largest city, Chicago, holds two distinctions where guns are concerned: First, Chicago has historically had some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. And while that has changed over recent years, the process for legally obtaining a gun is still lengthy. Second, Chicago has the most shootings of any city in America. In fact, in 2018, the city congratulated itself on the decline in shootings, when that number dropped nearly 33 percent to a still-staggering 2,391.

If nearly seven people per day can get themselves shot in a city where the process for legally owning a gun requires a lengthy background check and paying fees for the right to keep and bear arms, this writer feels no risk in saying gun-control laws are not the answer. And to put in the for-what-it’s-worth column, the decline in gun violence in Chicago seems to coincide with the slight loosening of gun-control laws due to court decisions over the past few years. 

Due to pre-filed legislation similar to that in Virginia and other states, Kentucky has seen Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions passed in 47 of its 120 counties and two of its cities. The trend there was also on the fast track. In only the two and a half weeks between December 16 and January 3, 12 of those 47 counties passed their resolutions. 

The list goes on and on. Ten of Nevada’s 16 counties have joined the movement, with all 17 sheriffs (Carson City has its own sheriff, in addition to those of the 16 counties) signing a public letter saying they support the right to keep and bear arms. That letter begins:

The United States Constitution is the foundation upon which this great country of ours is built. It is what binds us together as one people. The Sheriffs of the State of Nevada are Constitutional Officers, sworn to uphold the Constitutions of this state and this country.

The letter goes on to address the issues raised by gun-control advocates before stating:

The Sheriffs of the State of Nevada do not believe that the answer to this issue includes making criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens. As the old saying goes, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” The answer lies within a myriad of approaches including education, addressing violence, keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill, criminal gang members and illegal controlled substance users, as well as prosecuting and incarcerating those who use firearms to commit crimes.

While there are certainly those who believe these rights under the Constitution are soon to be lost, we believe a systematic, logical approach to the issue is warranted and will work to preserve these rights. The Sheriffs of the State of Nevada are here to enforce the laws and uphold the Constitutions of this state and this country. We will do so with all persons, while still protecting our Second Amendment freedoms.

The Second Amendment is important to us, and we as Sheriffs will uphold all that it stands for. We will work within the law and not succumb to perceived threats, rumor, false or malicious information to weight our decision-making process. We as Nevada Sheriffs support The Right to Bear Arms, and we will do all within our power to uphold and defend its principles.

In New Mexico, a substantial 26 of the state’s 33 counties were joined by one town in passing Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions to protect the rights of residents to keep and bear arms. Thirty of the state’s 33 sheriffs signed a public letter by the New Mexico Sheriffs Association promising to not assist in enforcing unconstitutional gun control.

Other states are quickly coming on board. In fact, things are moving so quickly that by the time this magazine goes to print and ships, these numbers will likely be outdated. North Carolina has 22 of its 100 counties as sanctuaries. In Oregon, it is 14 of 36. Tiny Rhode Island has 10 of 31. Sixteen of Tennessee’s 95 counties have done likewise, as has one town. In the state of Texas, the number is 58 out of 254 counties, one city, and one town.

As The New American covered in a previous article, Washington State was an early adopter. In the wake of the passage of Initiative 1639 — approved by a low-information majority of the state’s residents in a popular vote — one sheriff after another has stood up for the people, the federal Constitution, and the state constitution. They publicly declared that I-1639 was unconstitutional and that their oaths of office require them to ignore it. Period. In all, more than half of the sheriffs in Washington State declared I-1639 nullified in their counties. 

Those sheriffs were joined by one brave police chief, Loren Culp in the aptly named town of Republic, Washington, who is now running for governor. Because of his stand, Culp was also named “Police Chief of the Decade” by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a pro-Constitution police group headed by retired Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack. 

In an interview for a previous article on this subject, Chief Culp echoed the sentiments of many others about gun-control laws disarming the law-abiding, telling The New American, “Gun-control laws infringe only on the law-abiding citizens. Criminals don’t obey laws; that’s what makes them criminals.” He also said his stand against unconstitutional anti-gun laws is based in the principle of America being “a republic, where the minority is protected by law.”

Besides the states listed above, others have had a smaller, but not insignificant turnout for the Second Amendment. One of Arizona’s 15 counties and one city have passed resolutions to declare the Second Amendment alive and well there. Two of Georgia’s 159 counties are on board. One of 92 counties in Indiana has stood up against the assault on the Second Amendment. In Maryland, two of 23 counties have done the same. 

Michigan has one of 83 counties and one township on board. Mississippi has seen three of its 82 counties pass resolutions. In West Virginia, six of 55 counties and one town have passed similar resolutions. And one county and one city in Wisconsin have done the same.

There are some surprise members of the Second Amendment Sanctuary club, as well. One county, four townships, and three boroughs in New Jersey have bucked the liberal establishment there to pass resolutions supporting the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms. 

And in liberal New York, one out of 62 counties and one town have adopted resolutions against some gun control in response to the 2013 passage of the misnamed SAFE Act. And while that legislation and the pro-Second Amendment reaction of that one county and one town predate the recent slate of Second Amendment resolutions, Wyoming County and Grand Island Town deserve their membership cards. 

Likewise Needles City, California, is the single city in that Left Coast state to stand up for the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Needles City passed its Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution back in June 2019, making it something like a charter member. 

Also predating the recent slate of pro-Second Amendment resolutions, there are several states that belong on the list as charter members of the Second Amendment Sanctuary club. Between 2009 and 2014, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, and Wyoming all passed state laws protecting the God-given, Second Amendment-protected right of the people to keep and bear arms. 

Alaska’s law — the Alaska Firearms Freedom Act (HB 186), signed by Governor Sean Parnell in July 2010 — declares certain firearms and accessories as exempt from federal regulation. It was amended in September 2013, when Governor Parnell signed HB69. That amendment expanded the law to prohibit “state and municipal agencies from using assets to implement or aid in the implementation of the requirements of certain federal statutes, regulations, rules, and orders that are applied to infringe on a person’s right to bear arms or right to due process” as well as “implementation of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005.”

Idaho’s SB 1332 — signed into law by Governor Butch Otter in March 2014 — along with 2009’s  HJM 3, also effectively nullifies federal laws that may infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. 

In Kansas, Governor Sam Brownback signed the Second Amendment Protection Act in April 2014, citing the 10th Amendment as granting Kansas the authority to nullify unconstitutional federal laws. It then goes on to apply that principle to federal laws infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. 

And in March 2010, Governor Dave Freudenthal signed the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act. That law — HB0095 — provides “that specified firearms that are manufactured, sold, purchased, possessed and used exclusively within Wyoming shall be exempt from federal regulation, including registration requirements; providing exceptions; creating offenses; providing penalties; authorizing the attorney general to defend specified actions; providing legislative findings and declarations of authority; establishing conditions for the possession and purchase of specified firearms; and providing for an effective date.” 

The sum and substance of all of these laws, resolutions, and declarations by state legislatures; county, city, and town councils; and sheriffs is that though the anti-gun Left will continue to push for disarming the people, the right to keep and bear arms will not be allowed to be infringed. States, counties, cities, and towns will push back and defend that right. 

As policymakers on the left continue to make their push, they also reveal their bent toward the “Philosopher King” mentality of Plato’s Utopian city Kallipolis from his Republic. It is evermore clear that they see themselves as the “Ruling Elite” whose job it is to keep us mere mortals in our place. Given the rising tide of Americans who resist that thinking, this issue may prove to be a bridge too far, and those Americans may turn out en masse to turn Democrats out in upcoming elections.

NEW AGE MYSTIC SPEAKS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, PRAYS TO “MOTHER MYSTERY” (LATER DENIED)

NEW AGE MYSTIC SPEAKS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, PRAYS TO 

“MOTHER MYSTERY”

BY DAVID CLOUD

SEE: https://www.wayoflife.org/friday_church_news/21-08.php; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes: 

Kaitlin Curtice spoke at Baylor University chapel on February 12 and prayed to “Mother Mystic.” Baylor, the world’s largest Baptist university, is affiliated with the Texas Baptist Convention at the state level and the Southern Baptist Convention at the national level. Curtice is a practitioner of New Age contemplative mysticism. She defines “contemplation” as “listening to the Divine/Mystery/Higher Power/God, and letting the overflow of that love stretch into other realms of life” (Curtice, “A Shared Vision of Contemplative Activism,” Sojourners, Sep. 4, 2019). She is an environmental activist and nature worshipper. In her speech at Baylor she said that she dipped a tobacco leaf into the water of Lake Michigan and “Mother Earth spoke to her” (“BU speaker’s prayer sparks campus controversy,” KWTX television, Feb. 13, 2020). Baylor University has been welcoming heretics since the early 20th century. In 1921, Baylor professor Grover Dow was teaching the evolution of man from apes with the textbook Introduction to Sociology. “As to his body we have very little exact knowledge, for the skeletons left by him are fragmentary, seldom amounting to more than one or two bones. But from these, by the use of our imagination, we have come to the conclusion that he was a squat, ugly, somewhat stooped, powerful being, half human and half animal who sought refuge from the wild beasts first in the trees and later in caves, and that he was half way between the anthropoid ape and modern man.”

__________________________________________________________________

Potawatomi Christian chapel speaker Kaitlin Curtice draws ire of Baylor student group

BY Emily McFarlan Miller

SEE: https://religionnews.com/2020/02/20/potawatomi-christian-chapel-speaker-kaitlin-curtice-draws-ire-of-baylor-student-group/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

(RNS) — A week after Potawatomi Christian author and speaker Kaitlin Curtice spoke in chapel at Baylor University, people are still talking about it.

Although perhaps not for reasons the school or speaker would hope.

Curtice’s remarks during the school's three chapel services about her journey of “decolonizing” her faith drew pushback from a student group at the private Christian university in Texas, and her message was reportedly interrupted by a shouting student.


RELATED: Kaitlin Curtice talks about ‘everyday glory’ and her Native American heritage


The incident has drawn public apologies from at least one faculty member and an alum and brought back memories of a chapel service last year in which Kathy Khang, another progressive Christian author and speaker who is Korean-American, was heckled.

“I challenged some of them on a deep enough level that it rattled the walls of patriarchal white supremacy that they hide behind, and, well, I’ve done my job,” tweeted Curtice, who has declined interviews about the incident.

In the video of one Feb. 12 service posted on Baylor’s website, Curtice was introduced by Ryan Richardson, associate chaplain and director of worship and chapel at the school.

Richardson referenced an Air Force chaplain who had spoken in chapel the week before and said some people had disagreed with the chaplain’s comments. Similarly, some people might feel triggered by Curtice’s comments, he said, and he invited those people to come to the chapel table in the lobby and discuss what made them uncomfortable.

“This is a place that we’re going to bring diverse ideas and understandings of what it means to be a Christian in the world,” he said.

The chapel table always is available to students, Baylor told Religion News Service.

In her message, Curtice described her upbringing in a Southern Baptist home, the daughter of a mother of European descent and a father who was Potawatomi.


Kaitlin Curtice, Native American author, speaker and worship leader. Photo by Amy Paulson, courtesy of Kaitlin Curtice


After her family moved from Oklahoma and New Mexico to Missouri and her father left, she said, she lost her connection to her Potawatomi identity. Her journey as a Christian and as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation has been one of “disconnect and reconnect” she said.

Part of that, she said, has been recognizing how colonization and the forced removal of Indigenous people from their homelands have left many disconnected from their identity, culture and spirituality. The Potawatomi were forced from Indiana to Kansas in 1838 on the Trail of Death.

“For me, as a mixed European and Potawatomi woman whose inner and outer voice has been silenced, especially by the church, I am reclaiming who I am, wrestling with all parts of my identity, my white privilege, my Native feminism, my spirituality,” Curtice said during the service.

“I’m questioning the systems that I participate in. I’m challenging myself to understand all the aspects of myself and the world around me.”

She encouraged students to “envision a decolonized spirituality” with her, calling out “white supremacy,” “toxic patriarchy,” “settler colonialism” and “capitalist greed.”

When the speaker said women are told they aren’t valued as much as men in society, a male student reportedly shouted, “Nobody says that!”

Curtice later tweeted she actually was interrupted twice by the same student — both times while talking about women.

The outburst was not part of the service that Baylor recorded and posted on its website.

After Curtice’s chapel message, a student group called Baylor Young Conservatives of Texas posted a statement on Twitter disavowing the service, where the group said it was met by “the liberal agenda.” It called on the university to apologize “for breaking with their mission to provide an unapologetically Christian chapel experience and for allowing a speaker with pagan sympathies to mislead students once again.”

One member of the group, Jake Neidert, told a local news outlet what was “most offensive” was that Curtice had not prayed to God, but to “Mother Mystery.”


Burleson Quadrangle, the heart of Baylor University's campus in Waco, Texas. Photo courtesy of Baylor University/Robert Rogers


On Tuesday, Baylor confirmed in an email to RNS that it had reviewed video of all three chapel services in which Curtice spoke. At no time did she refer to “Mother Mystery,” the school concluded.

“We would apologize for reporting that incorrectly, but the rest of our statement still stands,” Baylor YCT said in an email to RNS. 

Curtice noted in a tweet she’s never used “Mother Mystery” in a talk — but she’s “definitely going to now.”

In the video, the speaker begins her prayers by addressing God as “Mystery,” as she does in several prayers in her first book, “Glory Happening: Finding the Divine in Everyday Places,” published by Christian publisher Paraclete Press in 2017. That’s not without precedent in Christian tradition, according to Christian publication Relevant Magazine, which pointed to the ancient Latin text “O Magnum Mysterium,” or "O Great Mystery."

Curtice's second book, “Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God,” will be released May 5 by Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group that publishes books by Christian thinkers.

Baylor told RNS it had spoken with Curtice before she came to chapel and expected her to speak from “Glory Happening.”

The college seemed to imply in a statement sent to those who had questions about chapel that it was surprised by her message. That statement reads in part: “On occasion, a speaker may veer away from our understanding of the message they planned to convey. When this happens, we address the matter with our Chapel students and invite them to come talk to us after Chapel.”

Curtice responded on Twitter, “The Baylor chapel leaders knew exactly what I was speaking on before I came.”

“We can pretend that what happened at Baylor is about me praying to Mystery, or we can recognize that based on the onslaught of anti-native attacks and accusations of being a pagan I’ve received since speaking there, it’s about something else,” she tweeted.


RELATED: Author Kathy Khang on why Christians need to speak up — on politics and everything else


The episode follows a similar disruption during chapel almost exactly one year ago at Baylor when Khang said she ended a message on several of Jesus’ healing miracles in the Gospel of Mark with a list of things that were breaking her heart and making her “desperate for Jesus.” Among them was the arrest of an 11-year-old Florida boy who had refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.


Author Kathy Khang. Photo courtesy of Kathy Khang


That’s when she said a man yelled back, “That’s a lie. He made terrorist threats!”

The boy had no tie to terrorism. Florida police said he was arrested on charges of disrupting the classroom after an altercation with a substitute teacher over his ongoing refusal to stand for the pledge, according to reports at the time.

“This has never happened when a white male was speaking. This has never happened when a white woman was speaking,” student Meg Peck wrote in the Baylor Lariat.

“The common denominator in the equation? Both speakers were minority women," wrote Peck. "This is white supremacy occurring in the exact place it should be combated, and this record of how Baylor students treat women of color who come to speak is not only shameful, but it says, to all speakers of color, they are not welcome here.”

Khang said she felt unsafe when she was heckled during Baylor’s chapel.

“If you are inviting me to talk about and call out institutional racism, if you are asking and inviting me to talk about what justice looks like and how that is drawn out and addressed in Scripture, I will do that. And organizations need to know, institutions need to know that sometimes their audiences are not as prepared as you think they are,” she said.

“And so I think that the safety concern has always been an honest and real one, but not taken very seriously.”

It’s not just Baylor, said Khang, who authored the book “Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up.”

Just last week, panelists at Brigham Young University reportedly were bombarded with anonymous, racist messages as they discussed their experiences as people of color and immigrants at the Utah school, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

That reflects shifts in society and culture, she said. And it touches on all kinds of topics that are uncomfortable to discuss, like power dynamics and disagreement.

“I think what is happening is that well-intentioned folks on the spectrum of politics within Christianity are not actually having the conversation around free speech and accountability … and how do we do that honoring the Imago Dei in one another?” Khang said.

On Twitter, Curtice pointed to the land acknowledgement she gave at the beginning of her message, a practice gaining popularity in the United States that names and honors the people indigenous to the land where the acknowledgement is delivered.

“If they reject everything else, at least every student at Baylor who walked into chapel heard that they were on Kickapoo/Tonkawa land, and they can never un-know that,” she said.

“I've done my job. I hope they do theirs, too.”

________________________________________________________

SEE ALSO: https://religionnews.com/2017/11/22/kaitlin-curtice-talks-about-everyday-glory-and-her-native-american-heritage/

________________________________________________________

Accusations of bias follow Chapel speech

BY MATTHEW MUIR

SEE: https://baylorlariat.com/2020/02/13/accusations-of-bias-follow

-chapel-speech/; 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:



The Chapel guest speaker Wednesday sparked controversy with a speech some in the Baylor community have criticized for being political and un-Christian.

Kaitlin Curtice, Christian, author and member of the Potawatomi Nation, spoke on politically charged topics. In her speech, Curtice said fighting for “true justice” means undoing the historical effects of colonialism.

“For the world to survive, for true justice to take place among us, decolonization must be a goal,” Curtice said. “We must fight against systems of oppression, systems like toxic patriarchy and capitalist greed that give no care to the land, and we must do it for the sake of all of us.”

Curtice also began her prayers with “oh mystery” rather than addressing them toward God or Jesus Christ.

In response, Baylor Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) issued a statement lambasting Curtice and the Chapel organizers who invited her.

The statement said Curtice’s understanding of Christianity was “surface level at best” and said Baylor allowed “a speaker with pagan sympathies to mislead students.” The YCT statement also said Baylor Chapel pushes a left-wing agenda.

“It has once again come to our attention that Baylor’s university chapel has taken on the political agenda of the progressive wing of the Baylor Faculty,” the statement said. “This morning, several of our members attended university Chapel and were met again with the liberal agenda.”

Reflective of the political tone of Curtice’s speech, Baylor Democrats conversely issued a statement defending Curtice. The statement said inviting a speaker with different views of Christianity could help students grow in their own faith.

“We support Baylor’s decision to have the inclusion of someone who shares a view of Christianity that is strongly shaped by the cultures and ideals of the Potawatomi Nation of which she is a member of, and providing a new perspective for students to have a personal relationship with their own faith,” the Democrats’ statement said.

Denison sophomore Jake Neidert, vice president of Baylor YCT, said he was particularly offended by the apparent lack of Christianity in Curtice’s prayers.

“I have no idea what she was talking about but it seemed to be very pagan, not very Christian, and I really had no respect for it whatsoever,” Neidert said.

Neidert also said he likely would have “just laughed about” the political aspects of Curtice’s speech had her prayer followed a more conventionally biblical template.

Shreveport, La, freshman Veronica Penales, Baylor Democrat’s vice president, said she didn’t see anything wrong with Curtice’s prayer.

“I think she was right in praying the way she wanted to pray, it was her chapel service to lead. I don’t think she crossed the line in that sense,” Penales said. “I support her, everything she did in that Chapel service including praying to Mother Mystery.”

The phrase “Mother Mystery” was never said by Curtice, but has been incorrectly used by others referencing her Chapel speeches.

In a response to parents’ concerns, Baylor said instances such as this can be seen as “problems – or as learning opportunities.” The university said while Baylor works with its chapel guests to plan material ahead of time, speakers may go off-script on occasion.

“Every Chapel speaker works with us ahead of time on what message they will be sharing, but on occasion, a speaker may veer away from our understanding of the message they planned to convey,” the response said. “When this happens, we address the matter with our Chapel students and invite them to come talk to us after Chapel.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Curtice addressed her prayers to “Mother Mystery.” Potawatomi Nation was also misspelled.

DAVID CLOUD'S RECENT "WAY OF LIFE" ARTICLES

DAVID CLOUD'S RECENT 

"WAY OF LIFE" ARTICLES 

SEE: https://www.wayoflife.org/friday_church_news/21-08.php; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 

purposes:

PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS TO CELEBRATE MASS TOGETHER IN CALVIN’S CATHEDRAL 

(Friday Church News Notes, February 21, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 

The following is excerpted from “Protestants and Catholics,” Reformation Charlotte, Feb. 17, 2020: “Ecumenism is ripe and real and many apostate Protestant denominations and churches are headed right back to the harlot they were born from — Rome. On February 29 in Calvin’s Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, Protestants and Catholics for the first time will celebrate mass together after the mass has been banned from the Cathedral for centuries. The following was translated from protestinfo.ch. In August 1535, the mass was abolished in Geneva after iconoclasts devastated Saint-Pierre cathedral by breaking statues and slashing images that were not in accordance with the newly reformed ‘cult.’ Since then, no mass has taken place in the building, used for Protestant worship. [This] long dearth will end on Saturday, February 29, 2020, with a mass celebrated, at 6.30 p.m., by Pascal Desthieux, episcopal vicar for the canton of Geneva. ... ‘There was no opposition, which is significant. The idea appealed because it corresponds to our desire to make the cathedral a meeting place for all Geneva Christians. A space that transcends confessional boundaries,’ says Daniel Pilly, president of the Parish Council. ... ‘It is a signal that the climate in Geneva is extremely favorable and fertile with the Roman Catholic Church. We have made notable progress in terms of ecumenism, in particular with the Joint Declaration, signed in 2017, which recognizes our respective ministries,’ specifies Emmanuel Fuchs, president of the Protestant Church in Geneva.”


PASTOR WHO HOSTS FILTHY SECULAR ROCK PRODUCTIONS TO SPEAK AT SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTORS’ CONFERENCE 2020 

(Friday Church News Notes, February 21, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 

David Hughes, pastor of Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida, is scheduled to speak at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference 2020. Church by the Glades is a Southern Baptist congregation that used to be First Baptist Church of Lake Worth. They have performed a variety of filthy secular rock productions, including the “Stormtrooper Dance,” “Calling All the Monsters” by A.N.T. Farm, “Freedom” by Beyonce, scenes from the sexually-explicit television show Games of Thrones, and the wicked song “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, the lyrics of which are too vile to quote. All of this filth was performed live during Sunday services in a Southern Baptist church by the church members. David Hughes is not qualified by God’s standards to be a pastor. “For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God ... sober, just, holy, temperate” (Titus 1:7-8).


WALL STREET JOURNAL: NO SEX “SPECTRUM” BEYOND MALE AND FEMALE 

(Friday Church News Notes, February 21, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 

The following is excerpted from “WSJ: No Sex ‘Spectrum,’” Breitbart, Feb. 14, 2020: “The Wall Street Journal has issued a throwdown to the gender lobby, insisting in an op-ed Thursday that sex is binary and there is no ‘spectrum.’ ‘In humans, reproductive anatomy is unambiguously male or female at birth more than 99.98% of the time,’ note biologists Colin M. Wright and Emma N. Hilton. ... ‘No third type of sex cell exists in humans, and therefore there is no sex spectrum or additional sexes beyond male and female. Sex is binary,’ they assert. As the American College of Pediatricians concurred in 2016, the exceedingly rare disorders of sex development ‘are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.’ The WSJ writers are responding to what they call a ‘dangerous and anti-scientific trend toward the outright denial of biological sex,’ which sees male and female as ‘arbitrary groupings.’ While sexual ambiguity does occasionally occur, the authors note, ‘intersex individuals are extremely rare, and they are neither a third sex nor proof that sex is a spectrum or a social construct.’ The WSJ essay echoes concerns increasingly being voiced that modern society has rushed into a dangerous social experiment based on less than flimsy scientific foundations. ‘The concept of changing one’s biological sex is, of course, nonsense, as sex is determined by unalterable chromosomes,’ wrote researcher Jane Robbins for Public Discourse last October. ‘An individual can change his hormone levels and undergo surgery to better imitate the opposite sex, but a male on the day of his conception will remain a male on the day of his death.’ ... The American College of Pediatricians has pulled no punches in condemning this behavior, calling hormone treatment and surgical operations on children with gender dysphoria ‘child abuse.’ ‘The time for politeness on this issue has passed,’ the authors conclude. ‘Biologists and medical professionals need to stand up for the empirical reality of biological sex.’”


SILICON VALLEY BUILDING A CHINESE-STYLE 

SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEM 

(Friday Church News Notes, February 21, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - 

The following is excerpted from “Silicon Valley Is Building,” FastCompany.com, Aug. 29, 2019: “Have you heard about China’s social credit system? It’s a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to ‘allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step,’ according to the Chinese government. ... It aims to punish for transgressions that can include membership in or support for the Falun Gong or Tibetan Buddhism, failure to pay debts, excessive video gaming, criticizing the government, late payments, failing to sweep the sidewalk in front of your store or house, smoking or playing loud music on trains, jaywalking, and other actions deemed illegal or unacceptable by the Chinese government. ... Punishments can be harsh, including bans on leaving the country, using public transportation, checking into hotels, hiring for high-visibility jobs, or acceptance of children to private schools. It can also result in slower internet connections and social stigmatization in the form of registration on a public blacklist. ... A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies. ... Airbnb—a major provider of travel accommodation and tourist activities—bragged in March that it now has more than 6 million listings in its system. That’s why a ban from Airbnb can limit travel options. Airbnb can disable your account for life for any reason it chooses, and it reserves the right to not tell you the reason. The company’s canned message includes the assertion that ‘This decision is irreversible and will affect any duplicated or future accounts. Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account.’ The ban can be based on something the host privately tells Airbnb about something they believe you did while staying at their property. Airbnb’s competitors have similar policies. It’s now easy to get banned by Uber, too. Whenever you get out of the car ... the driver now also gets an invitation to rate you. Under a new policy announced in May: If your average rating is ‘significantly below average,’ Uber will ban you from the service. ... you can be banned on WhatsApp if too many other users block you. You can also get banned for sending spam, threatening messages ... Not being allowed to use WhatsApp in some countries is as punishing as not being allowed to use the telephone system in America.”

VICTORY! RAYMOND IBRAHIM TO SPEAK AT U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE NEXT WEEK~POLITICALLY ACTIVE ISLAMISTS GOT HIS SPEECH CANCELED LAST YEAR

Video: Raymond Ibrahim, Robert Spencer, and Caroline Glick on the Mideast Test-

Muslim Persecution of Christians

VICTORY! RAYMOND IBRAHIM TO SPEAK AT U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE NEXT WEEK 

Truth gets last laugh in battle with CAIR

SEE:https://cms.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/victory-raymond-ibrahim-speak-us-army-war-college-raymond-ibrahim; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, will be speaking about his book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, next week. 

This is significant: the War College first invited Mr. Ibrahim to speak last year; however, one week before his scheduled appearance in June, 2019, a number of politically active Islamists—including CAIR, Linda Sarsour, etc.—protested wildly, including by presenting Mr. Ibrahim as a “white supremacist” who if allowed to speak would incite an “already racist and nationalist” American army to start randomly killing Muslims in the street (for background, click here).  Due to the hysteria created by CAIR and allies, the event was subsequently canceled/postponed.

It is, therefore, a very welcome development to see Mr. Ibrahim re-invited to lecture about the long but suppressed history of conflict between Islam and the West before what will no doubt be an even larger military audience—thanks to the previous controversy created by CAIR.

The description and flyer of the event, as they appear on the U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center, a branch of the War College, follows.  FrontPage readers who live locally are encouraged to attend this free event:

Events

Wed, February 26, 2020

Sword and Scimitar

Download the flyer

On Wednesday, February 26 at 6:30 p.m., at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC), author Raymond Ibrahim will address the historical roots of the Christian-Islamic rivalry in, "Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West." From the birth of Islam and the long forgotten battles leading to the present day conflict, Ibrahim will provide historical and religious context to understand the current relationship between Islam and the Western world. He will draw on his research of original Greek and Arabic sources used for his 2018 book. The lecture will be followed by a moderated discussion.

Raymond Ibrahim is a book author and speaker on Middle East and Islamic topics. He is currently the Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, and Judith Friedman Rosen Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Ibrahim's presentation is part two of the Controversies second theme “Historical Underpinnings of Conflict between Islam and the West,” and the fourth in the "Controversies in Military History Lecture Series." This series provides an educational forum for our audience to examine provocative topics in the interest of academic growth and promoting communication. This series is designed to serve as an important step in evaluating differing perspectives, while encouraging open, professional dialogue on potentially opposing opinions. Lectures and topics do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the USAHEC, the U.S. Army War College, or the U.S. Army.

________________________________________________________________

FLYER HERE: 

https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/newsimages/Ibrahim.pdf

DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 2020 TIME: Building Opens at 6:00PM, Lecture Begins at 6:30PM PLACE: U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, 950 Soldiers Dr., Carlisle, PA 17013, Visitor and Education Center, Multipurpose Room. For updates and any last-minute changes on lectures, please check: www.USAHEC.org, our Facebook Page, or call the Information Desk: 717-245-3972.