As 2007 draws to a close, California's Pacific Justice Institute has identified some of the worst instances of hostility toward faith, family and freedom.
"These 10 items are not isolated outrages from one Leftist state," said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family Action. "They represent the natural outcome of big government, because big government is bad government.
"Values voters contained a lot of this nonsense by turning out strongly in 2004, but they went to sleep in 2006, and the moral-values agenda suffered. The game is on again in 2008, and our side had better show up."
The Top Ten offenses:
10. Red Cross refuses donations of Bibles to California fire victims.
9. California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, with no children of her own, introduces legislation to ban spanking. She says she got the idea from a law professor at the University of San Francisco, who pointed to European bans on spanking.
8. U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review the city of Oakland's removal of an employee flier because the term "natural family" was deemed "homophobic."
7. More than 100 students suspended in Sacramento-area schools for wearing T-shirts that quote a Bible verse.
6. Public high schools in California have Cross-Dressing Day as part of School Spirit week.
5. School attempts to censor God out of private yearbook ad. To wish their son well upon his graduation, his parents submitted an ad that included the phrase "may God bless your life."
4. Yolo County Clerk (California) issues "Certificate of Inequality" to gay and lesbian couples on Valentine's Day. The certificate says, "I issue this Certificate of Inequality to you because your choice of marriage partner displeases some people whose displeasure is, apparently, more important than principles of equality." The certificate concludes with, "May the God of your choice bless you."
3. Sacramento Public Library Authority Board refuses to ban Internet access to pornography. Viewing of this state-subsidized access to pornography is in areas where children are present.
2. Federal hate-crimes bill (HR 1592), which could criminalize speech by clergy. In a mischievous attempt to have it signed into law, the bill was later inserted into a massive, unrelated Defense appropriations bill.
1. California governor signs SB 777, which allows public school children to arbitrarily choose whether they should be treated as a boy or a girl.
"While many of the dubious 'winners' come from California, they are representative of incidents across the country," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus Action. "There seems to be no end of stories of parental rights, religious freedoms, and freedom of speech and association being sacrificed at the altar of liberal political correctness.
"Christians should especially take note of the importance of taking part in the political process. We say we want to influence the culture for Christ and raise up our children in the fear of the Lord, and our Constitution guarantees us the rights to do so. But those rights are only as secure as our willingness to resist attempts to take them away, whether they come from the halls of Congress, our state legislatures or our schools."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the Pacific Justice Institute Web site.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
