California Minute

by Ron Prentice,
Chief Executive Officer

The most direct route to silencing opposing viewpoints is to outlaw them.  Remember religious liberty, the freedom that early newcomers to these lands risked life and limb to gain? The freedom of religious expression is endangered in California and the United States like never before.

Next Monday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear the infamous “Candy Cane” case, where eight years ago school officials banned an eight-year-old boy from distributing candy canes with Jesus’ name on them to classmates.   Not stopping at that, officials also confiscated a little girl’s pencils, bearing God’s name on them, that she was handing out after school, and prohibited a class of children from sending cards of encouragement with the words “Merry Christmas” to military troops.

Freedom of religious expression is under severe threat. No state has more evidence of this than California. The majority of our elected state representatives are hell-bent on silencing religious expression, evidenced by many legislative bills in California’s Legislature.  

Similar to the advancement of “hate” crime laws, schoolyard “bullying” is being expanded to include discrimination based on sexual orientation. Who defines the difference between discrimination and freedom of expression? There are seven “bullying” bills active in the Legislature. Sexual freedom imposes upon the moral perspectives of many religions; one concept must win in law, and one must lose. Conflicting legal concepts cannot co-exist for long, and courts are being pressed every day to rule in one direction or the other.

Two current legislative bills would disallow “disruptive” activities in and around public schools, including the surrounding sidewalks. Who defines disruptive? Is it disruptive for the Gideons to hand out free New Testaments? Is it disruptive to pass out evangelistic literature or pro-life resources? 

Senate Bill 48 is only one of many bills promoting the legal and educational “normalization” of homosexuality. If passed, the Legislative majority would mandate that homosexual, bisexual, and transgender individuals MUST be included in California’s social science curriculum for their societal contributions, but would ban the inclusion of any facts that may reflect adversely on those persons or their lifestyles. All public school children will be exposed to a positive portrayal of alternative sexual orientations, in direct opposition to the religious and moral viewpoints of the vast majority of the families represented in those classrooms.

Please help California Family Council as we work in coalition with numerous other organizations to combat the advancement of SB 48 and many other bills intent on dismantling freedom of expression. SB 48 has passed out of the Senate and begins hearings in Assembly committees before a potential vote on the Assembly floor. We seek to keep it from passing out of committee, and urgently seek your prayers and support. Thank you!