By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.
November 27, 2007

FAYETTEVILLE — School officials in Cumberland and Harnett counties who have banned organizations from offering Bibles to elementary students may want to beef up their studies of Constitutional case law and reconsider their decisions.

"In their efforts to appease the American Civil Liberties Union, these eastern North Carolina school systems are violating citizens' First Amendment rights to free speech and failing to acknowledge a 2001 Supreme Court ruling," said Christian Action League Executive Director Rev. Mark Creech.

The Cumberland County Public Schools notified elementary principals Nov. 19 to prohibit Bibles or other "proselytizing texts" from being handed out, citing a 1998 federal case (Peck v. the Upshur County Board of Education). The board's decision followed a nearly identical ruling by the adjacent Harnett County Schools earlier in November. Both were in response to legal threats from the ACLU, which reported complaints about Bibles being made available for students by The Gideons International, an evangelistic group known for its Scripture sharing efforts. Read More



By Rev. Mark H. Creech
Executive Director
Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.
November 29, 2007

No more Bibles for the children. In an effort to appease the American Civil Liberties Union, that's what school officials in two counties in North Carolina (Cumberland and Harnett) essentially said to Gideons International recently. Before someone complained and the ACLU threatened legal action, the Gideons would simply place the Bibles on a table for students who may choose to pick one up. But not anymore!

Of course, the ACLU is claiming elementary students might interpret the availability of the Bibles by an outside group as an endorsement of religion, which in their estimation would be a violation of the separation of church and state.

America's Founders certainly wouldn't have agreed with that assessment. Read More



By Chris Fitzsimons
N.C. Policy Watch
November 29, 2007

The news is always full of heartwarming stories this time of year, somebody helping a stranger, going the extra mile to help people less fortunate.

Then there's the North Carolina "Education" Lottery, which teaches us all a much different lesson, even in this holiday season. Lottery revenues continue to fall short of initial projections and nobody still believes the claims by lottery proponents that revenue from state-induced gambling will dramatically improve the funding for public schools.

Lottery executives continue to scramble to come up with new ways to get more people to play the lottery. That's their job after all, their compensation is based on it.

It's their mindset too. They were hired to run the lottery like a business, to maximize revenues, and everybody applauds them for it, even when increasing sales and revenues really means convincing more people in the state to spend their money this holiday season on the tiny chance they will strike it rich. Read More



Baptist Press
November 29, 2007

It's a fantasy universe where witches are good, the church is bad, and at the end of it all, God dies.

It's the world of author Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, and on Dec. 7 a movie based on the first book in that series, "The Golden Compass," hits theaters. For weeks now, the movie has been the focus of e-mails from concerned Christians, curious if what they heard about it is true. In this instance — as even the truth-or-fiction website Snopes.com affirms — the rumors mostly are fact.

Pullman himself is not sure whether he's an atheist or an agnostic, but his own words leave little doubt that he has a strong distaste for Christianity — at least Christianity as he sees it. Read More

Read Breakpoint's Take on this controversial film: Click here

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