[Inside Higher Ed]

At many colleges, human resources officials are leaders in promoting equity and diversity among those who study and work together. And while colleges periodically debate views of various officials that are seen as biased against various groups, it is highly unusual for the head HR official at a university to be the source of such a controversy. But at the University of Toledo, a column in a local paper by Crystal Dixon, the associate vice president of human resources, has set off such a debate and resulted in her being placed on a paid leave, pending possible further action.

In the column in The Toledo Free Press, Dixon asserted that gay people can change their sexual orientation and questioned how gay people could ever be considered “civil rights victims.”

Wrote Dixon: “As a Black woman who happens to be an alumnus of the University of Toledo’s Graduate School, an employee and business owner, I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are ‘civil rights victims.’ Here’s why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman. I am genetically and biologically a Black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended. Daily, thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle….”

Read more here.

[From me]

Why has she been suspended?  For stating a fact?  Give me a break.  She states the obvious and gets suspended.  What happened to free speech?  Oh, that’s only if your abide by the political correctness policies in our nation. Sad.

What do you think? 

[Front Page]

The pastor of the Methodist church that Bill and Hillary Clinton attended during his presidency is now defending Obama’s retiring pastor Jeremiah Wright.  This intervention will perhaps serve to remind that the Clinton’s own church was once a source of national controversy.

“The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times,” proclaimed the Rev. Dean Snyder in a statement he posted on the website of his Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.  “He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream.”

The Clintons attended Foundry faithfully during all 8 years of their time in Washington.  The gothic sanctuary sits less than a mile north of the White House and is one of the capital city’s most famously liberal congregations.  Snyder is the successor to Dr. J. Philip Wogaman, who pastured during the Clinton years and who vigorously defended Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, while also serving as one of Clinton’s three spiritual counselors post-Monica.

Neither of the Clintons ever formally joined Foundry Church, retaining memberships in their respective Methodist and Baptist churches in Little Rock, Arkansas.   It is not clear whether Hillary has attended Foundry at all since her 2004 election to the U.S. Senate.  But the Rev. Snyder’s public defense of the Rev. Wright was deemed sufficiently significant to get him on NBC News and MSNBC.

“To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence,” Snyder insisted about Obama’s outgoing pastor.  Snyder hailed Wright as “an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear.” 

According to Snyder, “Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize. This is a critical time in America’s history as we seek to repent of our racism. No matter which candidates prevail, let us use this time to listen again to one another and not to distort one another’s truth.”

Both Snyder and his predecessor at Foundry Church, Dr. Wogaman are both strongly on the left theologically and politically.  But neither has been as flamboyant or openly incendiary as Wright.  Perhaps they share many of Wright perspectives, but the more subdued atmosphere of white, liberal Mainline churches is not as conducive to Wright’s style of volcanic rhetoric.

Yet Wogaman, during his tenure as the Clintons’ pastor, was copiously on record with his own provocative views.  A long-time seminary professor and former Democratic Party activist in California during the 1960’s, Wogaman was vice president of and frequent spokesman for the Interfaith Alliance, the self-anointed Religious Left counterweight to the Christian Coalition.  But he liked to boast that at Foundry, at least early in the Clintons’ first term, that he equitably pastored both the Clintons and Republican leaders Bob and Elizabeth Dole, who had been attending Foundry for years under the ministry of Wogaman’s predecessor, the Rev. Ed Bauman. But Wogaman’s brand of liberal politics and theology became too much for the Doles, who were preparing for Bob Doles 1996 presidential run.

Elizabeth Dole was present at Foundry in early 1995 when Wogaman from the pulpit asked his congregation to pick up church materials opposing the Republican Party’s “Contract with America” in the social hall after the service. The church bulletin urged the congregation “to take a close look at the Contract … some [of whose] provisions have potentially devastating effects on the weakest elements of our society.” Neither of the Doles ever returned to Foundry.

Several months later Cal Thomas, in his syndicated column, described Wogaman’s left-leaning politics as giving “moral nurture” to President Clinton’s policies. Citing some research I had done as his source, Thomas outlined the Methodist minister’s long infatuation with left-leaning economic and social causes, and asked why Bob and Elizabeth Dole still affiliated with Foundry Church. The following Sunday, with Hillary Clinton in the congregation, Wogaman charged that Cal Thomas and myself were not simply targeting him, but also the President. “I think much of this was a political attack aimed at getting at President Clinton through the practice of his religion,” he said, and then went on to blame the negative coverage on “the climate of the times in which we live.” In a subsequent newspaper op-ed, Wogaman linked negative articles about his ministry to the Oklahoma City bombing. “People in the media don’t plant bombs,” he wrote. “But if they plant hatred and division, doesn’t that affect the behavior of unstable hearers or readers?”

Read more here.

[From me]

I’m sure Hillary is loving this.  I have one question.  Why is it OK for liberal churches to talk politics like the Foundry did but not conservative evangelical churches?  Personally, I don’t like politics in any church but doesn’t this seem rather hypocritical?  I don’t remember Jesus getting involved in politics.  

What do you think?

[Snoqualmie Valley Record]

Despite some parents’ and students’ objections to the Day of Silence, Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor told the Snoqualmie Valley School District board last week that the high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) had begun planning this year’s event, scheduled for April 25.
Taylor said organizers were working to set expectations of respect for all students - participants and non-participants - on the Day of Silence, which is part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered and questioning (LGBTQ) students and allies who do not feel safe enough to speak their true voice.

Read about it here.

[AFA]

Why should parents be concerned about the so-called Day of Silence?

A. This event was started a decade ago by an adult homosexual advocacy group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), with the goal of promoting homosexuality to all students in a given school. It has grown enormously, unfortunately, as the support for the ‘gay’ agenda has been embraced by thousands of schools and impressionable students nationwide.

The Day of Silence postures every person who identifies as a homosexual, bisexual or cross-dresser as a victim of ongoing, unrelenting harassment and discrimination (being ’silenced’). While some incidents like this do occur, this event is an overwhelming exaggeration in an effort to manipulate our kids’ natural sympathies. The result ironically is that youth develop favorable views about a controversial, high risk behavior. At the same time, any disagreement, even when responsibly expressed, is viewed as “hateful”.

This year, GLSEN adds a special twist to “Day of Silence”: shameless exploitation of the recent tragic school shooting death of California 8th grade student Lawrence King. Los Angeles media report that although the boy had been entrusted to the care of Casa Pacifica, a residential center for “abused, neglected, and severely emotionally disturbed children,” he had been permitted for the last two weeks to attend school in feminine makeup, nail polish, and high-heeled boots. The adult guardians, school administrators, and teachers responsible for guiding and protecting this precious troubled child failed him miserably; GLSEN fails him again now by employing his violent death to manipulate and deceive millions of children.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I said I wouldn’t talk about homosexuality and I’m not. This isn’t a post about whether it is right or wrong. I just don’t think school is the place for a political statement. I thought school was for education in the 3 R’s etc… Why have a day that disrupts education? I’m sorry for the young man who was killed. It was wrong as is anyone who is killed. Are we going to start having days of silence for college Student Body Presidents at UNC or for young co-eds at Auburn? What about days of silence for the millions of babies that are aborted?

This is stupid. If an adult wants to live a certain lifestyle then fine. That is their choice. But don’t shove all this mess down impressionable children and teens. Let them make up their own minds without a school sanctioned event.

What do you think?

[From AZ Central.com]

In big bold print, above a picture of the Lowe’s Christmas tree collection, are the unfamiliar words ‘family trees.’ Lowe’s is causing a stir, by taking the “Christmas” out of “Christmas trees,” and calling them “family trees” in their catalog.

Read about it here, here and here.

[From me]

Mistake?  Give me a break.  Corporations have too much money at stake to make that kind of “mistake.”  It is a Christmas tree. Retailers start Christmas after Labor Day and rake in billions of dollars. First they change it to “Happy Holidays” and Holiday Season. Now it is a Family Tree. What’s next are Christians going to be called “Familians?” This is more political correctness that is incorrect.

What do you think?

[Fox News]

A Christian student group’s latest attempt to show middle school students how fun the group could be was too much for school administrators to swallow.

Last week the Campus Life group allowed students to bob for live goldfish. Two students and one Campus Life volunteer swallowed fish. No student was harmed or forced to participate, but some parents complained, and district officials weren’t pleased.

“We just felt like that type of action was distracting to the students and interfered with the learning process,” Virgil Horne, assistant to the superintendent, told the Lincoln Journal Star.

So Campus Life will be allowed to meet only at Lincoln’s Scott Middle School one more time this school year. The group’s executive director, Bryan Carlson, said he would tell students the news at Wednesday’s meeting.

Read about it here.

[From me]

PLEASE! I grew up in Campus Life–literally. Campus Life is the student ministry of Youth for Christ. My father was a Campus Life Director for over 30 years in Kansas City, Iowa, Indiana, Alabama and South Carolina. Bobbing for a goldfish is tame compared to some of the things we did when I was in Campus Life.

What does the school district want? Kids selling pot, having illicit sex, having babies out of wedlock, crime, etc…? Campus Life, Young Life, Youth Dynamics and other groups like it are making a difference in kids who don’t go to church. I have seen thousands of students lives changed by the ministry of YFC/Campus Life. This school board needs to get a clue.

What do you think?