LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - WEEK ENDING JANUARY 14, 2005
HOUSE AND SENATE IN RECESS
THE PRESIDENCY
A PRESIDENT MUST KNOW THE LORD!
On Tuesday President George W. Bush said that he doesn't "...see how anyone could be president without a relationship with the Lord." In an exclusive interview with the Washington Times he answered a question about the lawsuits to stop references to God in the inauguration by saying, "First of all, I will have my hand on the Bible." While aware of the attacks and lawsuits the president said, "This is a country that is a value-based country. Whether they voted for you or not, there's a lot of values in this country, for which I'm real proud." (To read the full transcript click here) President George W. Bush's comments about his faith and the need for a president to have a relationship with the Lord will be hit hard by the liberal media in the coming days. Bottom line, the President is right. No nation can be righteous if its leader is not a righteous man. The staff of the Religious Freedom Coalition is honored to have been invited to be present at the Inauguration on January 20th. Some of our staff has already bought Inaugural gear such as T-shirts and caps! (To see lots of Inaugural gear click here ) In addition, I will be attending several prayer meetings in Washington on the 19th. Next week I hope to give you a report on any inside activities at Inaugural events not seen at other news outlets.
THE CONGRESS
UNDER GOD IN THE PLEDGE
Our good friend Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) will re-introduce his Pledge Protection Act early this year as a result of the latest lawsuit filed by atheist Michael Newdow. (See Update of January 7, 2004.) In the 108th Congress Congressman Akin's bill passed the House by a wide margin, but was never considered in the Senate because the Supreme Court tossed out Newdow's lawsuit on a technicality. This year Newdow has added eight other anonymous parents to a new lawsuit to remove the "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Congressman Akin said, "Until Congress acts decisively, the right of children to voice their allegiance to God and country by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance will continue to be jeopardized by fringe groups and an activist judiciary." The Religious Freedom Coalition will work closely with Congressman Akin on this legislation and assist him in obtaining a Senate sponsor for the bill. A people who stand for nothing will accept anything. The nation's children must have the opportunity to learn respect for God and country in our schools. To show my support for the bill I will be wearing my "One Nation Under God" tie to the Inauguration!
INTERNATIONAL
THE PALESTINIAN "ELECTION"
Yassar Arafat's hand picked successor was "elected" to the presidency of the Palestinian Authority last Sunday. The Western media immediately welcomed the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas with words of high praise. The New York Times and other liberal newspapers extolled the virtues and peacemaking ability of Abbas. No one has asked the obvious question: if this man is so moderate why did Yassar Arafat anoint him as his successor? In reality Abbas is just as radical as was Arafat; he just wears a suit instead of a uniform. Abbas was educated in Moscow while the Soviet Union still existed. The courses at Soviet universities were anti-Semitic and anti-American and Abbas was a good student. He won his doctorate with his thesis that denied the Holocaust. He used this as the basis for a 1984 book titled, The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement. In this book Abbas concluded that the "Zionists" worked with the Nazis to expel Jews from Germany with the long term goal of forming a Jewish state. During his campaign for the PA presidency he repeatedly demanded that all Palestinians have the right to move to Israel and that Jerusalem be handed over to the Palestinian State for its capital. According to the media this is moderate?
THE RIGHT OF RETURN
European logic: Jews have no right to live in Samaria or Judea, because these are areas of the West Bank that are reserved for the Palestinian people. However, Palestinians have the right to live anywhere they want to including Israel. Not only is this European Union policy, it is the position of most of the member nations of the United Nations. When Israel became a state, several hundred thousand Palestinians moved to the West Bank from what was then Israel proper. Now the world is demanding that Israel allow many millions of hostile Muslim Palestinians to move to Israel, Palestinians who were not even born before 1948. This is the demand of the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas.
JEWS CAUSED TSUNAMI
The Palestinian news media was controlled by Mahmoud Abbas long before he was elected on Sunday as President. He was Prime Minister, number two in charge after Arafat, and the official Palestinian media reported to him. According to Palestinian television the tsunami that killed more than 150,000 people, mostly Muslims, was caused by Jews. I will not even try to go into the logic of it, but the video with translation can be viewed at this link.
PALESTINIAN CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY
For more than a year the Religious Freedom Coalition has sold handmade olive oil soap made by Christian families in Samaria. Although all Christians are having a difficult time in the West Bank, those who have converted from Islam to Christianity are reviled and persecuted. The soap is made by a group of families who are converts from Islam. The men in these families accepted Christ as their Savior and then led their wives and children to Him. For this the men have been called Israeli "collaborators" and are now under death warrants from the Palestinian Authority. The men now live in Israel and the families in the West Bank. The families make the soap and send it by taxi to the men to sell. The soap is then sent to us in Washington, DC. The proceeds of our sales of the soap go to the families. Because of the terrorism and Israeli security we can go for weeks without a shipment. Wednesday of this week we received several hundred bars that are now available at our Internet store. For information on the soap click here or on the image.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
You are invited to forward copies of this Legislative Update to your friends. Please tell them it is issued weekly free of charge and that we do not share our e-mail lists with any other organizations. In 2005 we are praying to top the 100,000 subscribers mark and you can help. If this e-mail was forwarded to you please subscribe at http://www.rfcnet.org/subscribe.asp .
A BIG THANK YOU
In the last update of 2004 I emphasized the point that the Religious Freedom Coalition was approaching the end of the year with a fairly large deficit and asked for year end contributions. Several larger contributions and many smaller ones were received. Although we did not retire the entire 2004 deficit more than $20,000 was paid down with year end gifts from the Internet and direct mail. Maintaining an office in Washington, DC is expensive and your continued support for RFC's domestic and international operations is needed. At our Internet site you can donate to specific programs such as our support of Christian schools in Islamic areas. To help please go to http://www.rfcnet.org/donate.html
William J. Murray, Chairman
Religious Freedom Coalition, P.O. Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013. Phone: (202) 543-0300
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Religious Freedom Coalition * Copyright - 2005