North Carolina Family Policy Council

As pro-homosexual activists gear up to oppose a Marriage Protection Amendment in North Carolina, an impressively broad array of religious leaders have signed an “open letter to all Americans,” affirming the definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman, and warning of the significant threat that marriage redefinition poses to both religious freedom and “the common good.” Released on January 12 by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the letter, “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together,” is signed by religious leaders from a variety of faiths, including: Leith Anderson, President of the National Association of Evangelicals; Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop David Burton, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Dr. Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission; Commissioner William Roberts, National Commander of The Salvation Army; Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Nathan Diament, Executive Director for Public Policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Conference of America, among others. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

WINSTON-SALEM — Disappointing and alarming — those are the words Christian leaders are using to describe the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Forsyth County’s appeal of a case regarding prayer prior to public meetings.

The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said the court’s decision to let stand a 2-1 ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will lead not only to the “repression of religion and its positive influences on our culture,” but also to the “ascent of atheistic dogmas that threaten to reduce us to a fraction of what we were.”

The 4th Circuit had ruled in July 2011 that even though the County Commission invited any and all faith groups to sign up to offer an invocation prior to its meetings, giving them free rein to pray as they saw fit, its policy was unconstitutional because the majority of those who responded were Christians and prayed in Jesus’ name. Read the rest of this entry »

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

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill for the celebration of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for his peaceful civil rights activism. An African-American, King knew well the prejudice and social injustice committed against African Americans in the history of this country. King peacefully organized protest marches and even encouraged African-Americans to quietly go to jail if necessary. His highly moving and beautifully written speech about his dreams for civil liberty is, perhaps, the best-known public speech on civil rights ever given.

Reformed theologian James Danne, in Dictionary of Christian Ethics, marvelously defined the problem of racism. He wrote: “Skin color or different national origins are racial differentia. These differentia are incidental and relative to what constitutes authentic humanity. When these relative differences are turned into absolutes, race turns into racism. When the relative factor of white skin color is absolutized, white racism emerges. When Hitler absolutized Nordic origin, Nazism was born. When a feature of race incidental to our humanity is absolutized, the race possessing this feature exalts itself as a superior race, develops the consciousness that it is the historic bearer of a transcendent destiny to lead the world, by whatever required means, into its future. Its manifest destiny, however, is only manifest in its peculiar racial difference.” Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, correspondent
Christian Action League

GREENSBORO — A lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s marriage license requirements has been amended to show that the plaintiffs, which include Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen, do not represent other registers of deeds across the state.

According to a letter from the plaintiffs’ attorney, Norman Smith, to Wayne Rash, president of the N.C. Association of Registers of Deeds, he amended the complaint removing the “class action allegations.” His amendment came after Rash, register of deeds in Caldwell County, and those in at least three other counties had written to clarify that they did not share Thigpen’s opinion of the state’s marriage laws and did not want to be affiliated with the case. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

LILLINGTON — Former Harnett County elections director Sherre Toler, who says she quit her job because it prevented her from speaking out against the Marriage Protection Amendment, is spreading some all too common misconceptions about the upcoming referendum, according to the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League.

“I’m sorry that Ms. Toler felt she needed to leave her job over the opportunity for North Carolinians to defend marriage as between one man and one woman,” said Dr. Creech. “But her contention that the amendment would impact ‘private contracts between individuals, powers of attorney, and domestic partnerships, including heterosexual ones,’ is simply not true.”

In fact, the second sentence of the Amendment is clear: “This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.” Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

ASHEVILLE — The latest controversy regarding Gideon International’s distribution of Bibles at a Tar Heel school has the Buncombe County Board of Education scrutinizing its policies regarding a number of religious activities and the Christian Action League urging them not to shut the door on faith oriented materials.

“There are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration when trying to determine whether the Gideon distribution of Bibles is within the school’s constitutional rights as defined by the courts over the years,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “We’re hopeful the school system will take a thorough look at the issue and not just employ a knee-jerk reaction and ban religious materials outright.”

The controversy arose when Ginger Strivelli, co-founding Priestess of The Appalachian Pagan Alliance and a mother of six, became upset when her son brought home a Bible from North Windy Ridge Intermediate School in Weaverville on Dec. 19.  Read the rest of this entry »

Luanne Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — Attorney General Roy Cooper has told the media that his office will defend a lawsuit filed in Guilford County late last year challenging state laws that require couples to apply for marriage licenses and have magistrates or religious officiates sign their forms.

Tami L. Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Vote FOR Marriage NC, had written a letter Dec. 29, 2011, asking Cooper to “vigorously defend the marriage laws of our State against the unprecedented and unwarranted attack” presented by the suit, which she said aims to either legalize same-sex marriage or to abolish the requirement for marriage licensing in the state.

“The laws of North Carolina have been settled since statehood that marriage constitutes the legal union of one man and one woman,” Fitzgerald wrote on behalf of the Vote FOR Marriage NC Referendum Committee, the organizations it represents and the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians who believe in the sanctity of marriage. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — Called back to Raleigh to entertain the governor’s veto of changes to the Racial Justice Act, the General Assembly instead overrode another veto, that of Senate Bill 727, which stops the N.C. Association of Educators from using payroll deduction to collect dues from teachers’ pay. The veto override, taken up in the House during the wee hours of Thursday morning, presumably to skirt rules limiting Wednesday’s session to S 9 (No Discriminatory Purpose in Death Penalty), angered Democrats and drew sharp criticism from Gov. Bev Perdue, who called it an “unconstitutional power grab.”

The Senate had already overridden Perdue’s veto of the NCAE bill, so it now becomes law. NCAE Spokesman Brian Lewis told the media Thursday that his group will challenge the statute in court.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted along party lines to override Perdue’s veto of S 9, which would have repealed some provisions of the Racial Justice Act that now allows convicted murderers to use statistics from other locations and time periods to try to prove the possibility of discrimination in their cases. Read the rest of this entry »

One News Now
Chris Woodward, Reporter/Anchor

The White Castle hamburger chain is considering the idea of selling alcohol at more of its restaurants, but one group doesn’t think alcohol should be given any more outlets.

At this time, White Castle is only testing beer and wine sales at a location in Lafayette, Indiana. A spokesman for the chain tells Associated Press that the company has not decided whether to expand alcohol sales, but he notes that customers have reacted positively to the fact that alcoholic beverages are being offered.

Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League and the American Council on Alcohol Problems says it is all about marketing more outlets.

“Marketing 101 is [the] more outlets [you have, the more] you sell of your product. That’s why McDonald’s has an outlet seemingly on every corner,” he explains. “And the same is true for alcohol. If you have more outlets, you’re going to sell more alcohol. More will be consumed over time.” Read the rest of this entry »

Creech says study should motivate to address alcohol use and abuse, not promote safe-sex
One News Now
Chris Woodward, Reporter/Anchor

A new study out of Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health confirms that unprotected sex is more likely to occur after drinking, so one pastor thinks that should motivate Christians to address the abuse of alcohol rather than promote the message of safe sex.

Though the topic is not popular today, Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League and the American Council on Alcohol Problems says the fact remains that where disease prevention is concerned, the failure rate for condoms is really high. He thinks people ought to realize that sex within the context of a life-long monogamous marriage — what it is intended for — is always safe.

“Protected promiscuity is not a part of God’s plan,” he notes. “But what I think we can learn from this is that we’re discovering every day the new links between seriously self-destructive behavior and the use and abuse of alcohol.” Read the rest of this entry »