Top Stories of 2005: Controversy? TX Governor Signs Pro-Life ...
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/282005e.asp
Agape Press - Tupelo,MS,USA

Top Stories of 2005: Controversy? TX Governor Signs Pro-Life Measure in
Christian School's Gym
Year in Review: Pro-Life
By Jody Brown
December 28, 2005
(Originally published on June 8, 2005)

(AgapePress) - It's difficult to tell which aspect of Texas Governor Rick
Perry's activities on Sunday have liberals and abortion advocates most
upset: what he did -- or where he did it.

The scene was Calvary Christian Academy, an established and accredited
Christian school of about 300 students located just off Interstate 35 in
Fort Worth. The school is affiliated with and located near Calvary
Cathedral International, a large evangelical church founded by Pastor Bob
Nichols more than 40 years ago.

According to news reports, a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered in the
school's gymnasium on Sunday (June 5) to hear the governor and several
pro-family leaders speak -- and to witness Perry's ceremonial signature on
legislation that would require consent from a parent before an abortion can
be performed on a minor. The actual bill was signed earlier in Austin.

While there, the governor also signed a resolution to amend the Texas
Constitution by banning same-sex "marriages" -- strictly a ceremonial act,
since voters will decide in November whether to approve the resolution.

Regarding the parental consent measure, the governor told the crowd "for
too long, a blind eye has been turned to the rights of our most vulnerable
human beings -- that's the unborn in our society." And in reference to the
pending vote on a constitutional marriage amendment, he added that "a
nurturing home with a loving mother and loving father is the best way to
guide our children down the proper path."

The pro-life legislation, which was passed by the State Senate on a 23-7
vote and by the State House 117-19, strengthens the state's existing
parental notification requirement. It also prohibits abortions after the
26th week of pregnancy, unless abortion is deemed necessary to save the
mother's life or if the unborn child has serious brain damage. According to
Associated Press, several pastors in attendance received standing ovations
and shouts of "Amen!" from the crowd as they touted the two measures being
signed by Perry.

But outside the gymnasium, demonstrators protested -- some of them against
the abortion-related legislation, some of them against the signing of the
bill on church property. And even before the event, Barry Lynn -- executive
director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State --
denounced the locale for the bill signing, saying it had the "appearance of
a campaign rally."

"This is one of the most outrageous misuses of a house of worship for
political gain that I've ever seen," Lynn said in a press release. "It's of
highly dubious legality and could put the church's tax-exemption in
jeopardy."

But one of the pro-family leaders speaking on Sunday dismissed such
criticism. "This is not the sanctuary," said Don Wildmon of the American
Family Association, who portrayed the controversy as silly. "Of all the
things in the world to argue about."

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council also spoke to the issue. "I
didn't know you could make something in a school gymnasium so
controversial," he said, adding that Christians need to speak out after
having "abandoned the public square for so many years."

As to the rally's location and critics' comments that it violated the
Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution, Governor Perry's spokeswoman
Kathy Walt told the New York Times, "It's not a separation of church and
state issue; it's not limited to people of one faith. [Governor Perry] is
signing a piece of legislation that reflects the values and interests of
the majority of Texans."

LifeNews.com reports that according to a Scripps-Howard Texas poll
conducted in October 2004, 81 percent of Texans support requiring parental
consent before a minor can obtain an abortion.

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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education

You are invited to check out the following:

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]

HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]

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. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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