A GREAT VICTORY

The Religious Freedom Coalition is a multi issue organization. We work on a variety of social conservative issues with the Congress and this includes pro-life issues. The RFC stands firmly against abortion and works to stop any Federal funding for abortion whether in the United States of in foreign nations. Nothing is more abhorrent in the pro-abortion culture than partial birth abortion. The partial birth abortion procedure is only used on late term pregnancies, on those unborn children who are developed enough to survive if born alive. Many women obtaining a partial birth abortion do so in the ninth month, literally days before they would have gone into labor. Sometimes these are revenge abortions done by a woman to hurt a cheating spouse or boyfriend. Or, the procedure is done because it is thought the baby may have defects (some insurance companies even pressure women to do it because they don't want to pay for treatment of a child with handicaps.) The procedure is never medically required to save a woman's life. In fact doctors who are members of Congress have told me that it is far safer for the woman to have induced labor or conduct a caesarian delivery than to kill the child at this stage, regardless of her medical condition.

The Majority Leader of the Senate, Bill Frist, is a medical doctor. He says that there is "no situation" in which the procedure in warranted. The partial birth abortion procedure is not taught in any medical school and is not in a single medical textbook.

On Thursday, March 13th, the Senate passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (S-3) by a vote of 64-33. This is a great day for social conservatives and the pro-life movement in America. Many Democrats who are "pro-choice" voted for this bill. Only the hard core pro-abortionists who hold little value for human life, such as Barbara Boxer (D-CA), voted against the bill. The bill now goes to the Republican controlled House where it will be passed by an overwhelming vote.

Bills to stop this gruesome, murderous procedure have passed the House and Senate during the Bill Clinton presidency and were vetoed by him. His veto was always overturned by the House, but the 67 votes to override a veto in the Senate were just not there. This time there is no need to worry about overriding a veto. President George W. Bush has called partial birth abortion murder and has promised to sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk.

Expect a lawsuit to be filed in one of the Western states controlled by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the court that found the words "under God" unconstitutional in the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. This bunch of left-wing loonies will attempt to derail the will of the people, the vote of the Congress and the signature of our President to force their anti-life agenda upon us. The lawsuits will of course be brought forth or assisted by organizations such as the ACLU.

THE HOUSE

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO OUR FLAG

In my last update I informed you that the ultra liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was continuing on its binge to eradicate God from public view. The 24-judge bench refused to stay or postpone the ruling by one of its two judicial panels that found the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because the words "under God" appear in it. Attorney General John Ashcroft has promised an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the meantime Congressman Ernest Istook has prepared a constitutional Amendment to protect not only the Pledge, but prayer in school as well.

I spoke at length with Congressman Istook this week. We are old friends, having worked together to pass a school prayer amendment to the Constitution over several Congressional sessions. In the end his Religious Freedom Amendment did receive a majority of votes in the house; unfortunately, it fell short of the two-thirds required to move it to the Senate.

The Congressman's Amendment would indeed provide protection for the Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under God" in it. It would also allow voluntary school prayer and protect the religious heritage of our nation. Under the Amendment as proposed by Congressman Istook, the ACLU and various atheist organizations would no longer be able to force crosses and other religious symbols off of public property. In the last decade the ACLU has begun a push to remove memorials to our fallen soldiers if they are deemed to be the "wrong" shape, such as in the shape of a cross or a star of David.

CONGRESSMAN MORAN THE MORON

I could not believe my eyes when I read the statements that Congressman James Moran (D-VA) made about Jews and the war with Iraq. During a constituent forum at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Reston, VA on March 3rd he stated, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction this is going, and I think they should."

Congressman Moran's statement was incredibly anti-Semitic. When his comments hit the press he tried to make light of it by saying that he had made a statement he did not believe. I am not kidding. His excuse in his words was, "I've got to be more careful in the future to not say things I don't believe."

Where are the standards? Was not Senator Trent Lott forced to step down from a leadership position for a far less offensive comment that some considered "racist"?

Moran further tried to defend himself by saying that his daughter, who is engaged to a Jew, is in the process of converting to Judaism. While claiming to be a Catholic, Moran says he is "100% in favor" of her conversion, leaving one to wonder if his professed Christian faith means anything at all to him.

Actually in our office we refer to Moran as Congressman Moron instead. He has been involved in various physical scuffles and the police have been called to his home in the past. He is a two fisted drinker who sometimes cannot remember in the afternoon what he said in the morning. The political action committee of which I am chairman, GING-PAC will target this man in the 2004 election and remind voters of the smears he has made against a large segment of our community. Keep in mind that most Jews are Democrats. Oddly the anti-Semite heart of America is in the Democrat Party and those that do not believe that need only read the comments of Democratic presidential candidates Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley-Braun.

YET ANOTHER CONGRESSIONAL MORON

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) thinks Osama bin Laden can be compared to George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. She told the Toledo Blade, "One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown." This single statement is astonishing coming from an elected representative of the United States government. The Founders of this nation wanted to cast off tyranny and replace it with democracy. Osama bin Laden wants to end democracy and install tyrannical states. It is the goal of Islam to end democracy in the United States and replace it with Islamic law as has been done in every nation they have conquered.

Those comments were inflammatory enough, but she went on to say that a war on Iraq could not be won, explaining that, "Even if we take the ground, we do not share the culture, and in the end we have to learn to coexist in a world with religious states that we may not agree with and find ways to cooperate." This is the liberal mind at work. The enemy blows up our buildings and kills our people and the congresswoman believes that our response should be to "...find ways to cooperate."

Just days before, the Saudi propaganda machine was circulating material on the Internet comparing the destruction of the World Trade Center to the Boston Tea Party. Islamic propagandists are trying to prove that the Founders of this democratic nation were just like Osama because we threw some overpriced tea in the harbor. Was it this Islamic propaganda that led Congresswoman Kaptur to compare our Founders to Islamic terrorists? I don't think so; rather, I believe this is the thought pattern of liberals. The bottom line is that they believe to avoid conflict we must abandon our basic faith and principle and agree with the worst tyranny the world as ever known.

THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ

On March 13th the Religious Freedom Coalition began an advertising campaign to enlighten Americans about the concept of "just" war. Our first quarter page advertisement appeared in the Washington Times. The conservative Washington Times placed our ad on the Op-ed page directly across from their editorial page. President George W. Bush reads both pages each day before dawn. At a meeting early on Thursday morning a special assistant to President Bush congratulated the Religious Freedom Coalition for placing the advertisement. A full text of the advertisement which gave theological support for a "just war" with Iraq can be read at www.rfcnet.org. The advertisement will run a second time in the Washington Times next week. The Religious Freedom Coalition will continue to place the "just war" advertisement as funding permits.

Please forward the Legislative Update to your friends and associates. If you received this e-mail as a forward and would like to receive it weekly, please sign up at www.rfcnet.org

William J. Murray, Chairman

Financial contributions to the RFC may be made online or by mailing a check to Religious Freedom Coalition, PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013.