By Dr. Mark H. Creech, executive director
Christian Action League

A lawsuit has been filed in Guilford County by the County’s Register of Deeds, Jeff Thigpen and 10 other persons, who claim that couples who intend to marry should not have to obtain a state-issued marriage license.

The litigation, filed in Guilford County Superior Court on December 8, names state Attorney General Roy Cooper as the defendant and argues the state’s current marriage statutes violate the U.S. Constitution and the principal of the separation of church and state by mandating couples seek a marriage license, requiring religious leaders to sign them, and by prohibiting religious leaders from solemnizing the marriage of same-sex couples.

The complaint reads: Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

It’s no question that the nation’s financial struggles are taking a toll on the family. Experts blame the poor economy for falling birth rates, which have hit new lows according to a recent report. But studies are also pointing to the reverse corollary — that the breakdown of the family is contributing to the nation’s economic slide.

“At the collective level, the retreat from marriage has played a noteworthy role in fueling the growth in family income inequality and child poverty that has beset the nation since the 1970s,” the Brookings Institute reported in August.

Similarly, other organizations are calling for a frank assessment of the family’s status and how it affects the nation’s bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »

North Carolina Family Policy Council

According to new data from the State Center for Health Statistics, both birth rates and abortion rates, as well as teen pregnancies, dropped in North Carolina last year. According to the report, North Carolina Reported Pregnancies, births dropped 3.5 percent, the rate of induced abortions dropped 1.2 percent, and the teen pregnancy rate dropped 11 percent between 2009 and 2010.

In 2010, 122,302 babies were born in North Carolina. That represents almost 4,500 fewer births than in 2009. The percentage of babies born to unwed mothers (42 percent) dipped slightly from its decade-high in 2009 of 42.3 percent. However, it was still significantly higher than the decade-low of 34.3 percent in 2001.

In 2010, there were 15,957 pregnancies to 15-19 year old North Carolina girls. The pregnancy rate was highest for Hispanic women (114 per 1,000 women), followed by Black women (86.1), other minority women (84.5) and white women (65.6). The counties with the highest teen pregnancy rate per 1,000 girls ages 15-19 were: Onslow (86.6), Vance (82.4), Pamlico (82.2), Scotland (82.0), and Richmond (80.3). The counties boasting the lowest teen pregnancy rates per 1,000 girls ages 15-19 in 2010 were: Watauga (9.9), Jackson (31.0), Pitt (34.6), Alexander (34.9), and Wake (35.1). Read the rest of this entry »

Urge NC’s Congressional delegation to oppose this deal
By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

“A License to Kill Youth” — that’s what Alcohol Justice is calling the Federal Trade Commission’s agreement with Four Loko producers.

The Christian Action League is joining the industry watchdog to ask North Carolina residents to contact their U.S. Senators and Representatives and urge them to pressure the FTC to withdraw its “sweetheart deal” with Phusion Projects and seriously address the dangers this “Binge-in-a-can” presents.

“We were glad to see the FTC taking up the issue and ensuring more accurate labeling, but as Alcohol Justice points out, what truly needs to be done is to lower the alcohol by volume content and limit the container size,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “These super-sized alcopops are truly recipes for disaster.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Dr. Mark H. Creech, Executive Director
Christian Action League

A cartoon once showed a small boy talking to his toys in the playroom, explaining that his Dad phoned and asked him to pray for him. It seems he had been called in for a tax audit. One of the characters observed, “There are no atheists in the IRS waiting room.”

It’s unfortunate, but many are unaware that the reason our nation’s taxes are so high is directly related to our forgetting God. Because we have neglected and forsaken Him, the state has positioned itself to take his place as Lord and attempts to shepherd its citizens from birth to death with various social programs. Instead of understanding its rightful role as protector of the citizenry’s God-given rights, the state sees its role as society’s Savior. Read the rest of this entry »

Christian Action League

Defenders of marriage in the Tar Heel state looking ahead to next spring’s vote to amend the N.C. Constitution now face an immediate threat from Washington where the U.S. Senate is poised to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“We are asking Christians across the state to take five minutes today to phone and e-mail Sen. Kay Hagan and Sen. Richard Burr and ask them to vote AGAINST the repeal of DOMA and to publicly support North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “Much is at stake with this legislation that has deceptively been labeled the ‘Respect for Marriage Act.’”

Already approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill would undo DOMA, a protection which is essential for North Carolina since we don’t yet have constitutional protection for marriage. DOMA defines marriage for purposes of federal law as the legal union of one man and one woman and protects states from being required to recognize the marriage laws of other states. Read the rest of this entry »

North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation

The General Election of 2012 is eleven months away, the Primary Election is scheduled to take place in just about six months, and the filing period for candidates running in 2012 is set to open in roughly two months, but already resignations and retirements among members of the North Carolina General Assembly are starting to pile up. Within the past week, three members of the N.C. House have announced plans to retire or seek another office, and as of today, 13 incumbent House members do not intend to seek reelection to the chamber in 2012. In the Senate, one member passed away last month, another is resigning at the end of the year, one is seeking higher office and another has chosen to retire – all are members of the majority party (Republican). Read the rest of this entry »

News and Observer

Time and again, as the agreement to allow live dealers at the casino of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians was formulated, that four-letter word kept coming up: jobs.  And yes, a deal rendered by Gov. Beverly Perdue and the tribe – if it’s approved by the General Assembly – will create several hundred jobs as the casino’s offerings expand to draw more visitors who want Las Vegas-style gambling options.

And yes again, it will bring some millions of dollars to the state’s public education system, with gradually increasing percentages of the money from “table games” (starting at 4 percent, going to 8 percent) going directly, the governor promises, to schools.

But hold the cheers and keep the champagne on ice. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

JACKSONVILLE — When a candidate wins the office of Sheriff, does he check his civil rights at the door? Is he no longer allowed to express his opinion in an open forum? God forbid! Yet that seems to be the logic of the Freedom from Religion Foundation which is calling for disciplinary action against Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown.

The Wisconsin-based organization of atheists and agnostics which bills itself as a “state/church watchdog” took offense to an advertisement Brown purchased in his local newspaper, the Jacksonville Daily News, in which he extols the Truth of God and calls “decent and respectable citizens of a decent and respectful society” to turn back to the Ten Commandments.

“When America turns back to God’s Law and man’s standards established from God’s Law, good and decent things will turn around for All Americans,” Sheriff Brown’s letter states, further admonishing fellow believers to “stand and be counted for the Cause of God and what is decent and right.” Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

Baseball fans will still see nearly one in three Major Leaguers with the tell-tale pinch between their cheek and gum, but a new labor deal signed late last month mandates that tobacco packages and tins not show up in uniforms in front of spectators; nor can players dip or chew during televised interviews and other public appearances.

“This is a step forward in efforts to free Major League Baseball from its long and deadly association with tobacco,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League and supporter of Faith United Against Tobacco, which had joined dozens of health and medical groups, youth organizations and baseball insiders in urging the Players Association to “Knock Tobacco Out of the Park.”

“We continue to support a complete prohibition on tobacco use at games and on camera. Still this is significant progress,” announced the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “Baseball players have been using tobacco since the earliest days of the game. This agreement marks the first time that the league and players have recognized it is time to break this unhealthy addiction.” Read the rest of this entry »