Case for Homeschooling - Exhibit 4

Time for another example of why my wife and I will be homeschooling our children. This one is about proponents of homosexuality pushing their agenda on to kindergarten children (yes, 5 year old children). This example comes from California (surprise, surprise!). I quote this article from the WorldNetDaily:

School holds surprise 'Gay' Day for kindergartners
Parents outraged at public elementary's secretive 'coming out' event
Posted: October 22, 2008 @ 9:34 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Some parents are shocked to find their children are learning to be homosexual allies and will participate in "Coming Out Day" at a public elementary school tomorrow – and they claim the school failed to notify parents.

One mother of a kindergartner who attends Faith Ringgold School of Art and Science, a K-8 charter school in Hayward, Calif., said she asked her 5-year-old daughter what she was learning at school.

The little girl replied, "We're learning to be allies."

The mother also said a Gay Straight Alliance club regularly meets in the kindergarten classroom during lunch.

According to a Pacific Justice Institute report, Faith Ringgold opted not to inform the parents of its pro-homosexual activities beforehand. The school is celebrating "Gay and Lesbian History Month" and is in the process of observing "Ally Week," a pro-"gay" occasion usually geared toward high school students.

The school is scheduled to host discussions about families and has posted fliers on school grounds portraying only homosexuals. According to the report, a "TransAction Gender-Bender Read-Aloud" will take place Nov. 20. Students will listen to traditional stories with "gay" or transgender twists, to include "Jane and the Beanstalk."

Some parents only recently noticed posters promoting the school's "Coming Out Day" tomorrow – celebrated 12 days after the national "Coming Out Day" usually observed on Oct. 11. When WND contacted the school to confirm the event, a female representative replied, "Yes, it is scheduled on our calendar."

When asked if the school made any efforts to inform parents, she refused to answer and said Hayward Unified School District would have to respond to additional questions. However, the district did not answer its phones or e-mails, and a voicemail recording would not take messages. "Coming Out Day" is not listed on the district's online school calendar.

Some of the parents contacted Pacific Justice Institute for representation when they learned the school was pushing pro-"gay" events for young children without warning.

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said opponents of California's proposed ban on same-sex marriage, or Proposition 8, often say the measure would not have an effect on public schools – but this is one of many recent developments that prove otherwise.

"Do we need any further proof that gay activists will target children as early as possible?" he asked. "Opponents of traditional marriage keep telling us that Prop. 8 has nothing to do with education. In reality, they want to push the gay lifestyle on kindergartners, and we can only imagine how much worse it will be if Prop. 8 is defeated. This is not a scenario most Californians want replayed in their elementary schools."

Concerned individuals may contact Faith Ringgold School of Art and Science by e-mailing Principal Diana Levy or calling (510) 889-7399. The Hayward Unified School District can be reached at (510)784-2600 or by filling out the district contact form.

Don't think for a moment that this sort of this couldn't happen at your school! Let me throw this question out to you, considering how many of the proponents of the homosexual agenda seek to keep parents in the dark, how do you know it's not already taking place in your local government school!?!?

The audacity of Barack Obama

I am a registered Independent voter (non-partisan). More importantly, I am a truly Catholic voter. My Catholicism defines who I am and how I conduct my life. It permeates every aspect of my life. I can't imagine what my life would be like without my Catholic faith.

This being said, it should be clear at this point that I could not vote for Barack Obama primarily for his radical anti-life, pro-abortion views. Some would say that I'm looking at only one issue and ignoring the rest. My response is that I am interested in all of the issues -- health care, the economy, environmental issues, immigration, family values, gun control, capital punishment, euthanasia, activist judges, abortion, stem-cell research, and more. However, some issues trump all others. For example, what good does health care, a good economy, strong family values, and a green environment mean to the child that has been killed even before he or she has seen the light of day? All those issues are mute if your dead!

Here's a wonderful quote from a man far smarter than I:

"The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination."

(Pope John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 1988)

So it would not be fair to say that I am a single-issue voter. I am multi-issue voter with a clear understanding that the right to life serves as the foundation for many other issues. If you get the life issue wrong (by being pro-abortion), you can't claim to have a good understanding of the other issues. You can't put the roof on a house until the foundation has been set and the walls raised.

This being said, it is clear where Barack Obama lies with his pro-abortion views. I've mentioned them elsewhere on my blog. For those "other issues" voters out there that think the life issues are not as paramount as I do, allow for me to put forward this video which speaks to Obama's patriotism (or lack thereof) and his questionable beliefs as applied to his proposed policies as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. Considering the "spread the wealth" comments recently spoken by Obama which point directly to tenets of a Socialist economic policy, I feel the following video just continues to point to the many hints of Obamas anti-American sentiment.

The words spoken from his mouth speak volumes...

The Catholic Vote

The people at GrassRootsFilms.com have put together another wonderfully skillful audio-video production for CatholicVote.com. Check out this incredible video...

Sins of Omission: Catholics, Marriage, and Politics

by Mary Jo Anderson posted on InsideCatholic.com:

The California Supreme Court supremely violated the will of the people of that state when it overturned California’s eight-year-old Defense of Marriage Act. The court declared that homosexuals have a right to marry the person of their choice.

The Catholic governor of California supported this ruling, as did several other prominent, publicly Catholic Californians. The court went on to grind salt into the wound by denying all motions to stay the ruling until October when the voters would have a chance to -- once again -- vote on the issue.

Leave aside for the moment the blow this event portends for the democratic process. Instead, examine the trickle-down effect: Children in California schools, from kindergarten through graduation, will be captive victims of homosexuality portrayed as a healthy, viable, and legal lifestyle choice. Parents and students who object to reading King and King (wherein the prince, not caring for princesses, marries another prince) will be penalized. Because it is now enshrined in law, if you object, you are the party out of step, beyond the bounds of new community standards.

Many sincere Catholics might hope to move their children out of public schools, if they can afford private school tuition. It is unclear just what the new legal requirements may be for religious schools (though test cases are sure to come). But we already know that California homeschooling families could face criminal charges after a District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles decreed that only certified teachers can teach homeschooled students.

What we see clearly is that people whose faith informs their morals are now squeezed between the walls of a social-political vise. The attack on marriage puts our civilization in crisis for believers and non-believers alike.

But the response from some Catholics so far has been tepid. Take the following statement released by the California Catholic Conference:

Although we strongly disagree with the ruling, we ask our Catholic people, as well as all the people of California, to continue to uphold the dignity of every person, to acknowledge individual rights and responsibilities, and to maintain support for the unique and irreplaceable role of traditional marriage as an institution which is fundamental to society.

“Maintain support” for traditional marriage? Catholic support requires more episcopal muscle than the release of a mild statement. Because the Church is "the universal sacrament of salvation" (Lumen Gentium), our shepherds should be mobilizing Catholics to fight back. Every Catholic priest, religious, businessman, teacher, doctor, banker, grocer, landlord, professor, and college student should be sent out with a mandate to fight for marriage.

Others did send public and sober warnings. Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando wrote,

In redefining the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex unions, the proponents of "gay marriage" are in effect imposing their views and lifestyle on the larger populace, and once legal the state's coercive power will punish those who refuse to embrace gay marriages. For example, public officials, regardless of their views on the rightness or wrongness of homosexual acts, will be obliged to officiate at same-sex "weddings." Public schools will be required to teach their acceptability to children whether parents concur or not. Even First Amendment freedoms will not be protected from assault.

We have become a flaccid people. Catholics hesitate to speak out forcefully for the basics of societal morality. We do not wish to be labeled bigots or dismissed as intolerant. We fear social and professional opprobrium. Our goal is to preserve our comfortable lives rather than take on the challenge of gospel fidelity. We have forgotten that piety is not a feeling, but the determination to serve God despite the hardships that service might encounter.

In short, we are guilty of sins of omission.

Few shepherds teach us that we have been called to this nation at this moment in history for a reason. "A new state of affairs today both in the Church and in social, economic, political and cultural life, calls with a particular urgency for the action of the lay faithful. If lack of commitment is always unacceptable, the present time renders it even more so. It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle" (Christifideles Laici).

Thousands of Catholics will rally when visible leaders send them forth. When I speak at Catholic conferences, well-meaning people assure me that because the culture is debauched, "God will surely understand why so many have gone astray." Perhaps. These Catholics are devoted enough to come to conferences, but have stopped short of venturing out of their comfort zones and into the culture as agents of God's grace.

Some protest that “we aren't responsible for what these politicians and judges do." But Deuteronomy 16 paints a different picture: In an outline of how the Children of God are to possess the land, they are told to appoint good judges and civil leaders and not to “pervert justice.” Because we live in liberty, where we can freely choose our leadership, we have an identical responsibility to select moral leadership. We are a representative democracy -- that is, our leaders are ours by choice. Thus, for Catholic Americans to choose leaders who bow to perversion is a grievous sin. Those who fail to work against evil leadership are also guilty by omission.

Thoughtful Catholics wrestle key moral issues each time an election cycle is upon us. But there are clear lines of demarcation; there are first principles. A faithful Christian cannot ignore the fact that natural marriage and the right to life are the twin pillars upon which all other societal goods are built. A presidential candidate who celebrates gay unions and refuses to defend natural marriage, but who champions the right to abort, is not our candidate.

Mary Jo Anderson is the co-author of Male and Female He Made Them: Some Questions and Answers on Marriage and Same-sex Unions, and is a frequent contributor to InsideCatholic.com.

Massachusetts Out-of-state Homosexual "Marriage" ban at risk

I received a "breaking news" email from One News Now regarding the removal of a Massachusetts ban to recognize out-of-state homosexual "marriages". Their state Senate just voted to repeal the 1913 law. The Massacusetts House is expected to vote on this issue as soon as later this week.

Though the homosexual politics of Massachusetts and California seem to be far removed from so many of us, it should be noted that decisions in those states can have a direct impact on the other states. For more details, read about the "recipe for chaos".

And if you don't think that things are getting a little out of hand, read here about how a homosexual man has sued because Sacred Scripture has caused him "emotional pain and mental instability." I wonder if the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah ever thought to take legal action.