If you have harbored any doubts as to where President Obama is in regards to the homosexual agenda, you needn’t doubt any longer.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
May 28, 2010
Presidential Proclamation–Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month
As Americans, it is our birthright that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights, privileges, and opportunities. Since our earliest days of independence, our Nation has striven to fulfill that promise. An important chapter in our great, unfinished story is the movement for fairness and equality on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This month, as we recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans, we renew our commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.
LGBT Americans have enriched and strengthened the fabric of our national life. From business leaders and professors to athletes and first responders, LGBT individuals have achieved success and prominence in every discipline. They are our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, and our friends and neighbors. Across my Administration, openly LGBT employees are serving at every level. Thanks to those who came before us the brave men and women who marched, stood up to injustice, and brought change through acts of compassion or defiance we have made enormous progress and continue to strive for a more perfect union.
My Administration has advanced our journey by signing into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which strengthens Federal protections against crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. We renewed the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides life saving medical services and support to Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and finally eliminated the HIV entry ban. I also signed a Presidential Memorandum directing hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to give LGBT patients the compassion and security they deserve in their time of need, including the ability to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions.
In other areas, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a series of proposals to ensure core housing programs are open to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. HUD also announced the first ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services has created a National Resource Center for LGBT Elders.
Much work remains to fulfill our Nation’s promise of equal justice under law for LGBT Americans. That is why we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. We must protect the rights of LGBT families by securing their adoption rights, ending employment discrimination against LGBT Americans, and ensuring Federal employees receive equal benefits. We must create safer schools so all our children may learn in a supportive environment. I am also committed to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” so patriotic LGBT Americans can serve openly in our military, and I am working with the Congress and our military leadership to accomplish that goal.
As we honor the LGBT Americans who have given so much to our Nation, let us remember that if one of us is unable to realize full equality, we all fall short of our founding principles. Our Nation draws its strength from our diversity, with each of us contributing to the greater whole. By affirming these rights and values, each American benefits from the further advancement of liberty and justice for all.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2010 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
Wisconsin Family Voice 
It always amazes me the amount of power over their lives some people, particularly those on the right, are willing to give to LGBT people. For such a small segment of the population, LGBT people seem to have the ability to fulfill a threat to your marriages, your children, to threaten the most powerful military force in the world, businesses, etc. All this with barely any interaction with you. That’s power. That said, it’s very easy to put LGBT people into the the “them” category of the “us against them” mentality of protecting oneself. The thinking goes: “If we can get rid of them and their behavior, then we’ll have peace, happiness, and be good with God”. It’s a mentality with which we’re very familiar. We need only look as far as Hitler and his view of the Jews, or the Taliban and their view of Americans. They too sought to eliminate others and their way of life to advance a more perfect view of the world. They too blamed their own failures on someone outside of themselves.
Mike,
This is a war of ideas, not a war against people. I’d much rather persuade you or anyone else the truth that this lifestyle is not beneficial or healthy for our culture and see you voluntarily turn from it than hurt any individual because they don’t agree. Because I believe that to be true, I must stand against it in the free exchange of ideas. That does not make me a hateful Nazi who considers you as a person to be beneath me and worthless for nothing but slave labor and death. The very fact that you would make that comparison is a sign that you are skewed in your view of this whole situation. You who approach this subject as though you have the moral high ground are the first to comment in a divisive way that is very hurtful toward your fellow man. One could make the same comparison about the current administration and their development of “Hate” crimes legislation that has much more potential to enslave people for their beliefs than any law that prohibits the homosexual lifestyle. The Christian way of life is being increasingly threatened with fines and imprisonment because someone decided our religious rights weren’t as important as someone else’s sexual rights. At worst, the LGBT community is being asked to keep their lifestyle private and out of the mainstream. Christianity however is being militantly attacked at every turn and pushed back to the point where we are faced with constant fear of reprisal even against our perceived thoughts. If you ask me, Christians are the modern day “jews” who are being increasingly marginalized and persecuted by a wicked regime intent on their extinction. But I don’t expect you to agree with that idea. What I would hope is that you would give the average Christian a bit more benefit of the doubt as I try to give to the average homosexual. Let’s not confuse political ideals with everyday people lest either side becomes what you have described. That said, we also cannot completely ignore the power of ideas and must continue the fight. You say we give too much power to the small LGBT community, but that is a loud community who has infiltrated many very important influential positions and is poised to influence the next generation of thinking… indeed already has. No, we cannot lightly sit back and allow those ideas to continue to spread unchecked or we will find ourselves at a point of no return morally. You are right in one point, however. We cannot blame others for our failures as a Christian community. We have failed to teach our children the right way, and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ the way we should because we’ve been too caught up in our own entertainments and wealthy pleasures as a nation. The homosexual community is not “them.” It is “us.” We’ve lost our children because we’ve neglected them. Now we fight an uphill battle to regain their hearts and minds. Contrary to what you think, true Christians are not interested in destroying our opposition. We are interested in restoring them to truth and a better quality of life. We pray for and grieve over that hurting community that is so filled with pain that they react to everything with hatred. Unfortunately, too many Christians have forgotten this fact and out of desperation, have met anger and hatred with the same. We’ve lost our way in Christ Jesus which is what has gotten us to this point in the first place. We’ve forgotten that the answer is not politics, but the Gospel of Jesus and prayer for those who persecute us.
Sick. Just sick. Pray for this man.
In response to Mike:
It would be unfortunate indeed if “those on the right” became fascists or terrorists who scapegoated gays (or anyone else) and tried to kill them all. I actually don’t know anyone “on the right” who is the least interested in that (though I suppose I could find someone on the internet claiming to be on the right who said they did).
You poke fun at hysterically paranoid people see a gay threat in every shadow. Fair enough. I’m concerned about that “fear” language, too. It cheapens civil discourse. The real task, however, is for “people on the right,” and Christians (who ought to know better), to resist letting people on the left frame the issue in terms of “power.” Sometimes I think power is the only lens the left has anymore, and they project it on everyone else. Your last few sentences, Mike, make me wonder who is wearing the apocalyptic monocle. Do you really mean to imply that this website, in disagreeing with President Obama, is on the path to an ideological purge?
We should not confuse this issue by making it about “power.” It is not really even about civil rights. For Christians, I believe our first concern should be helping people who are caught up in homosexuality. Many of them are treated badly (just visit any school playground and listen for the taunt “that’s so gay!”). Many are sick (and hiv/aids is only a part of that story). Some of them don’t want to homosexual but do not have access to help (they have almost certainly heard, despite the evidence, that their condition is immutable). Once we’ve got that priority in place, then we can think about a sane public policy with respect to homosexuality that does not undermine the health and stability of marriages, families, or the normal sexual development of children. I have visited this website before, and it seems to me to be a place to find that sort of sanity. Further, I believe that some of the goals the president do undermine well-being, and are in that sense a “threat.”
Kevin, I don’t know whether to find it amusing or heartbreaking that you think Christians are being persecuted. First, it should be said that one of the tenets upon which this country was founded was the separation of church and state. Thus, you have the right to believe and worship the way you would like. As do I. The only time I ever see Christians being “persecuted”, or otherwise scorned, is when they take their religious beliefs out of their churches and force them onto other people (California’s Proposition 8 is a good example). They then expect that people should quietly accept those beliefs when many (or most, in the case of some issues) don’t. Besides, I don’t see Christians being denied the right to marry, or to serve in the military, or to adopt children. I also find it amusing when people think that LGBT people are forcing an agenda on others when all that LGBT people are attempting to do is to live like you, marry like you can, have a job like you do, and work in the military like you have the opportunity to do. They’re not asking you to perform or even watch any sexual act – LGBT people are perfectly willing to keep that private, like you want, Kevin. So I fail to see how anything is being forced upon anyone else. And that perceived “agenda” is the paranoia that another reader spoke of. And my point about Hitler and the Taliban is quite relevant. Granted, the majority of people here are not necessarily using violence to get what they want (although some are), there is still a level of propaganda and fear mongering that I see in the right-wing media against the LGBT people. And yes, that fear mongering cheapens the discourse. I agree. And it happens In this blog as well. My point is that, just like Hitler and even the Taliban, there is a use of fear to motivate others to take away rights from a group of people – the “them”. Fear based on information that is unfounded. No one has ever presented any substantiated evidence that homosexuality is bad for society. And I’d love to see the research, given that it’s peer reviewed and published in a reputable journal. But it doesn’t exist. And with all due respect to your religion, anything that is written in a book authored over 2000 years ago is the realm of religion and personal beliefs, and cannot be allowed as evidence. I respect the beliefs of Christians to live their lives the way they choose. But when those people assert that their way of life, as determined by their religion, is more important than the rights of others, that’s when I object. And like your efforts in your camp, I’ll be fighting for LGBT people until they have all the rights that you do.
Mike, Mike. You haven’t seen any evidence that homosexuality is bad for society? In peer-reviewed journals, no less. How about history, then? May I recommend reading the “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”? The decline of all great societies is marked by the rise of homosexuality, as they deteriorate into the meaningless pursuit of pleasure for the individual. Is there ANYTHING selfless about homosexuality? Can a society survive when its only purpose is to supply pleasure to its members? It’s very hard to reach into your world from mine (Christianity) which holds a completely different orientation toward life.
Thanks William. You’ve actually proven several of my points. First, since you haven’t listed any peer reviewed or published examples, I’ll take it that you have none. Second, your memory of history is a bit skewed. The fall of the Roman Empire was widely believed to be caused by the failure of political, economic, military, and other social institutions of Rome as well as barbarian invasions. I can’t find any reputed history book that lists homosexuality as a cause. But if you think that homosexuality was even a fraction of the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, then with your error you’ve proven how much power the right wing willingly gives LGBT people to shape the history of the world. This is less then 10% of society! Such thinking, I believe, is a result of misinformation and propaganda. Third, I think it’s very telling how you think that there is nothing selfless about homosexuality, and that homosexual romantic love is a means whose “only purpose is to supply pleasure to its members”. That somehow romantic love between two people of the same sex is any different than that between a heterosexual couple. I can assure you that it isn’t. Also, perhaps you don’t realize that gay individuals on average pay more in taxes than heterosexual individuals, contributing to society. Additionally, they can adopt children, have them by surrogate, among other means, which of course you would likely attempt to eliminate. They’re attempting to get married, to solidify their commitments to each other and start families. They’re attempting to be active members of churches. So, all told, gay people are attempting to be the citizens that you so desperately want them to be, and to continue to contribute to society, but on their own terms. And people like yourself continue to deny them that opportunity.
Our ability to quote any sources that you respect is irrelevant because society has already been so brow beaten into accepting this lifestyle that even those organizations have changed their official “findings” and study results. I’m old enough to remember when most respected and peer-revued psychologists and psychiatrists considered homosexual behavior a mental disorder, but political correctness forced all those studies to change. That doesn’t mean anything. Professionals can crack under pressure, as they have with the whole evolution debate. Just because a majority of scientists continually repeat a lie over and over, doesn’t make it any more true. The bottom line is that you refuse to believe that there is a God who does not change who will one day judge the world according to HIS laws whether the created little people he created like it or not and HE is clear about this lifestyle choice. And for a growing population of people to try to force everyone else to accept that lifestyle contrary to God’s decree is simply not acceptable. Scientists can say it is perfectly fine and healthy, but to a person who is not caught up in that behavior it is obviously not normal. The only reason our younger generation is beginning to accept it is because it is being pumped into their heads at younger and younger ages. Since you disregard the authenticity and reliability of scripture, I don’t expect you to understand. Therefore, the battle will continue to be waged until homosexuals becomes so influential and militant that we find our rights completely stripped away and we are forced to hire homosexuals into our churches and businesses or are fined and thrown in jail for alleged hate crimes because we even dare to speak out against it. It is already happening. Homosexuals may be denied certain privileges that are reserved for natural procreating families as it stands, but what they are doing to Christians is to invade their personal lives and businesses and places of worship in an attempt to force people who want nothing to do with it to not only tolerate them but accept them. They are trying to strip us of the basic freedoms of religion and speech in the public square. That is why I say what I say about us being persecuted. And it will continue to get worse for Christians. The hatred for God’s people grows daily and that 2000 year old book that you disbelieve tells us that this stuff is going to happen and even get worse to the point when we will have to die for our faith. Mark my words, Mike. In our life time, we will see that the Christians will be the one rounded up and imprisoned by the new regime that will not be satisfied to live along side us, even after they’ve destroyed our moral society. History proves that it never stops at the point of acceptance. Sin is never satisfied and there is a higher power driving the homosexual agenda that will never be satisfied. This agenda is just his newest tool for fanning the war against the church of Jesus Christ. You have moved me to pray for you, Mike. That is the only answer to really stemming the tide of opposition that is rising in this culture. Mere words will never convince you.
Consider these passages of scripture: 1 Cor 2:12-14
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned .
NIV
And whether you believe this to be the inspired words of God or not, Christians do, and the following passage is the plain text that acts as an unassailable wall of truth that we cannot deny no matter how much pressure or anger comes against us to change…
Rom 1:21-32
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
NIV
There’s no way you can convince a true student of God’s Word that the homosexual behavior is anything other than perversion. I’m sorry, Mike. But that’s the bottom line that cannot change, come what may. I choose to remain true to God, not sinful and flawed mankind. May the spirit of God help you to understand this and draw you to Jesus Christ, the one who died so that you could turn from sin and be saved for all eternity from hell. That isn’t hatred, it is the greatest love. May God’s people show that same kind of love even to those who hate us… even as we stand unswervingly for unpopular truth.
Kevin,
Again, you’ve confirmed my point about how much power over their lives those on the right give to LGBT people, thus ignoring their own responsibility for their own problems. You say, “society has already been so brow beaten into accepting this lifestyle that even those organizations have changed their official “findings” and study results”. That is fascinating to me, considering that there are more Christians than LGBT people in the world, and also considering the hundreds of studies and the hundreds of universities that have conducted them throughout the world. So you’re saying that LGBT organizations have that much power?
And yes you’re right, homosexuality was listed as a disorder at one time. But, through the principles of science, we learned the truth. Similarly, people long ago only lived to an average age of 45, but due to advances in science, we’re living to our mid 80’s. Yes, science can be wrong. But by definition it also offers the opportunity, in open light, to contradict and disprove incorrect theories. And no one on the right has produced any such evidence. So I think your argument to ignore science is not a wise one to make.
Again, with all due respect to your faith and beliefs, they are just that. There’s a reason why belief in God is called “faith”. It is not fact. And, I do not mean to say that belief in God is not righteous or valid, but it has not been proven by any of the means we’ve agreed upon as a society to confirm fact. And the vast majority of the world is not Christian and does not necessarily believe what you do about God. So, I do appreciate your prayers and your attempt at quoting from the Bible, but it does nothing to inform me about truth.
You also say, “In our life time, we will see that the Christians will be the one rounded up and imprisoned by the new regime that will not be satisfied to live along side us, even after they’ve destroyed our moral society”. That’s amazing to me. That speaks volumes about the paranoia that people on the right have as a result of the fear mongering and propaganda that the right wing media is spreading about the LGBT population. As if the decline of the morals of a society are the result from some outside influence, namely the LGBT organizations. I can’t agree. Especially when that organization is merely asking for the same rights as the rest of the population.
Well, there you have it. We have to agree to disagree and continue on. One of us believes that there is plenty of proofs for the existence of God and the truth of the Bible, and one of us does not. And really that is the greater issue. As long as you continue to disregard that and think that all of us on this side are victims of fear-mongering, there is nothing else that can be said to convince you. I am compelled to correct two wrong assumptions, however. One, homosexuals are only one of MANY groups who are trying to erase our basic religious freedom and hate what the Bible teaches and therefore that it is taught in the public square. So all of your claims that we are letting one small group impact us are not accurate. The enemy we as Christians face is the devil and his demonic forces, which come at us from all directions using all kinds of sinful men and women to do their bidding. Though the homosexual crowd is often the most militant and lead the charge, they are not alone. They are backed by a whole juggernaut of people who share their disdain for Christians and their beliefs. I don’t think that homosexuality is the root problem, but only a symptom and one of many that was seen in the Roman empire before it’s demise. But I wouldn’t give it all the credit.
2nd, it is not paranoia that motivates me. I don’t understand how you can think that the majority of people, which you say we are, can be so propagandized when it is obvious that most news outlets and government politicians think differently than us. So who is brainwashing us? Maybe Talk Radio has the ear of some, but not by a long shot does it have the ear of the majority, not in comparison to the media, schools, colleges, Hollywood, etc. Who are you giving so much credit to? It seems you suffer from the same delusion you say we suffer from, giving too much credit to a small group of people. Could it be that we have thinking individuals on our side as well, who can plainly see what is going on around us and make intelligent decisions?
First, I would never assert that “all” people on the right are victim to the fear mongering and propaganda. But I did say that people on the right are using it to target the lives of LGBT people. And off course there are intelligent, thinking individuals on the right. But none are producing any intelligent, thoughtful, fact-based information that effectively proves that homosexuality today is detrimental to society. So far, everything I’ve seen boils down to religious belief, which our constitution does not allow as a basis for public policy. And in this country you can’t deny rights to people because of “beliefs” or opinions. Perhaps it is the intelligent, thinking individuals on the right that realize that?
I don’t think that I fall prey to the same fear mongering (or “delusions” you mention). I would never assert that society is doomed as a result of “others”, such as LGBT organizations or even the devil. By the way, I think people give “the devil” too much power too, blaming that entity instead of working to overcome human weaknesses and simply working with human nature; but that’s beside the point. I don’t believe that society is doomed at all. I have hope for the same reason you feel pessimism. More people in the world are exercising compassion, understanding, and equality rather than following rules that don’t make sense and hurt people or treat them unfairly. Is the world any more or less moral than it ever was? I don’t think so. A little more enlightened? Possibly.
In any case, LGBT people are the most vocal, or “militant”, as you put it, likely because their rights (to do and be just like anyone else) are targeted by Christians, the very people who criticize them for NOT being like everyone else. All based on religious beliefs and no other logic.
Wow! First of all, thanks Kevin. We see the same thing working here.
Mike, let me recommend reading the entire book of 2 Corinthians, but especially read 10:2-6. For the discussion here though, let me quote:
2 Corinthians 4:1-4
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. BUT EVEN IF OUR GOSPEL IS VEILED, IT IS VEILED TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, (caps mine) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them.” NJKV
This is not about political majority/minority coercion, “social justice”, or even “power cells” within society. The devil, whose power you totally discount, has succeded in blinding you (and virtually, ALL of society “through the media, politicians, schools, Hollywood, & etc.”)–and even convincing you he doesn’t exist.
Since you will only consider “man’s wisdom” as your source of knowledge, you are excluding an entire area of human experience–Religion. That’s convenient, but hardly intellectually honest. Today, we have been fed the line that “Science has PROVEN religion to be completely unreliable as a serious source of useful information”. It hasn’t proven anything of the sort; it has asserted it and is the current reigning, publicly endorsed, paradigm–nothing more.
You want to go along with the crowd but, it’s almost a truism that the majority is usually found to be wrong–in the long run.
William,
I am not a religious person, you are correct. Religion is man made. Thus, Bible verses mean little to me. You seem to get the impression that I don’t believe in God. No, I just don’t believe in the Bible as the word of God, or the archaic rules contained therein. You forget that it was written, interpreted, and edited by man – many times over, and under the authority of many corrupted men.
So, therefore, as imperfect as it is, “Man’s wisdom” is the best that we have. It’s the same wisdom by which you make the arguments you’re making right now, and ironically the same wisdom which directs you to choose a book as your source of wisdom.
What does fascinate me though is how you feel “that the majority is usually found to be in the wrong in the long run”. In addition to your belittling God’s most precious creation, his children, that would leave the possibility open that Christians are wrong as well, since they form a majority in some sects. And thus, public policy cannot be based on religious beliefs.
Mike, yes, Christians have been known to be wrong (surprise, anyone?) but I don’t belittle God’s “precious creation” when I say so. We have trained parents (through man’s infinite wisdom) to be fearful of telling their precious little future tyrants they might be wrong and thus inhibit their fragile, naturally creative–and always “good”–impulses. (Look at the chaos we have in our public schools as evidence of this phenom.)
I’m sorry you have no respect for the Bible when that is the only message (actually love-letter) we have been given from God’s loving hand–the only book to make the claim from within its pages “It’s from Me!”. Many have attacked and claimed to have debunked it as “man’s corruption”, but no such claim has ever survived. The archaeologist’s spade and cultural anthropologist’s investigations continue to reveal only its TRUTH.
But, like all urban myths, they persist, and feed the vain hope that someday, somebody will get something to stick. It is man’s infinitely resourceful ability to remain in denial–indefinitely–that is the real source of the problem.
Now there’s something we agree upon: that people can lead their lives in denial. But that can be said for all people, including those who believe in the Bible and are Christian. But contrary to what you may believe, it is not my intent to mock Christianity and those that believe in it or the Bible. My point is that it is not scientifically proven and must be taken on faith, and thus cannot be used as evidence in attempt to discredit, oppress, or deny rights to a group of people with respect to public institutions, much like some Christians attempt to do to LGBT people and have done with other groups throughout history as well.
And believe it or not, I agree with you that many parents are creating “precious little tyrants”, as you say, as a result of being overly permissive. Can’t agree with you more. That’s basic psychology, or actually ignorance of it. But that is a whole other topic I would discuss if this were the appropriate venue.
Mike, I’m sure we could find many areas in the culture we could rant on about for hours–in complete agreement–but I only mention a “hot button” social issue (EDUCATION–a subject near and dear to my heart) to show how relevant your worldview and the many, many ancillary associations to virtually ALL of today’s social/political concerns is to where you come down on them. You may not like this, but many of our differences result from our opposing views of Christianity and the Bible. This is really the central issue facing our culture. If we could settle that, EVERYTHING else would take a proper place.