Hobby Lobby's case will proceed to the Supreme Court, with decision will be expected in June. Hobby Lobby is run by Christian businessman, David Green, who has refused to comply with the Health and Human Services Department's order that all health insurance plans cover four types of abortifaciants, including Ella and Plan B.  Hobby Lobby sued saying that they have a constitutional right not to pay for something that goes against their religious beliefs.

"Nuclear Family: a family group that consists only of father, mother, and children." 
- Webster's Dictionary. 

This week the New York Times released an article changing the definition of the "nuclear family". They claimed that other types of "families" provide kids with the same opportunities and care, something that is disputed by statistics. 

"Social science confirms the importance of marriage for children. According to the best available sociological evidence, children fare best on virtually every examined indicator when reared by their wedded biological parents. Studies that control for other factors, including poverty and even genetics, suggest that children reared in intact homes do best on educational achievement, emotional health, familial and sexual development, and delinquency and incarceration." - Heritage Foundation.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns released an error-ridden "fact"-sheet over the Thanksgiving holiday. The NRA quickly responded with their own fact-sheet noting the fiction in MAIG's statements.


MUST-READ ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
Freedom - Obama's distain for the Constitution threatens our freedom
Family - Thank You Hobby Lobby
Faith - What Did C.S. Lewis think about Abortion?

The Green family has been fighting for their right to operate their family company, Hobby Lobby, according to their religious beliefs.  After the healthcare takeover became law, the Health and Human Services Department used their new-found power to order all companies to purchase insurance plans that would cover abortion inducing drugs.  The Green family, as Christians, objected, citing the fact that abortion ends the life of a developing child and is therefore murder.  They sued the Health and Human Services Department for their right to operate their business in accordance with their religious beliefs.  If Hobby Lobby loses this case, they will be forced to either violate their religious beliefs or pay 1.2 million dollars in fines per day. 

On November 1st the 10th Circuit Court ruled that Hobby Lobby has a right to run their business in accordance with their religious beliefs.  The Obama Administration appealed, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities was once again heard before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Secretary of State John Kerry testified, along with others.  Many in the committee favored the treaty, while some worked hard in opposition. The danger of this treaty cannot be stressed enough.  This treaty would have the power to fundamentally change American law. It could enshrine abortion into our law, and destroy the rights of parents. To learn more about CRPD visit freedomsdefenders.com/crpd and facebook.com/RejectCRPD.

The Senate has gone Nuclear! This past week the Senate changed the 200 year old rules, that forced the majority party to reach a 60 vote threashold to close debate on a bill, now debate can be closed with a simple majority- 50 votes plus the Vice President. This move does not endanger the Republican Legislative position, since they hold the House of Repersentatives and so they can still block bills. This will endanger our ability to block the radical canidates that Obama may nominate, both in important judical positions and on the newly created medical board. Cornelia Pillard, whose nomination Freedom's Defenders strongly opposes, will likely be approved under these conditions. This move takes away the rights of the minority party to temper the demands of their opponents. 

A deal has been struck with Iran to lift sanctions.  This dangerous move gives Iran more power to seek nuclear weapons.  Although Iran has promised to not attempt to become a nuclear threat, history teaches us that we should be concerned.  Various other regimes have promised similar things and yet secretly broke their promises.  Iran has been a constant threat to both the United States and Israel, and should therefore not be allowed to pursue any nuclear technology that could foster a nuclear weapons program.  This deal has been is an "abject surrender by the United States," according to former ambassador John Bolton.  It leaves Israel, America's closest ally, angry. 

As the United States pursued a deal with Iran, American Pastor languished in an Iranian prision, for his religious beliefs. Despite calls to release him and to pursue his release by Congress the Obama Administration failed to even ask during the negotiations with his captors. Pastor Saeed is an American Citizen, who was travelling to Iran to help establish an secular orphanage. While there he was arrested and thrown into prision. He has a wife and two children in the United States. To learn more about Pastor Saeed. visit ACLJ.org.

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) was taken up in the Senate Foriegn Relations Committee. Out of eight witnesses two opposed, five supported, and one was neutral. 

Threatens America's Sovergnity, and Parental Rights, and could enshrine abortion into American law. Micheal Farris Ph.D, J.D., L.A.A. spoke in opposition to the treaty on these grounds. During the question and answer part of the hearing proponants of the treaty attacked him personally and misrepersented his arguments, but he perservered, offering sound legal reasoning, and showing the end result of the logic of his opponants. See his full testamony here. Watch the hearing here, and read the treaty here.

Dr. Farris is a Constitutional Lawyer who has argued Cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He has both a degree in American Law and a degree in international law. He is the chancellor of Patrick Henry College where he teaches Government, and Law. He has also coached 7 national championship moot court teams.

Alliance Defending Freedom petitons the Supreme Court to hear Elane Photography v. Willock.
Elane Photography is a business in New Mexico that refused be the photographer at a same-sex ceremony. The same-sex couple took the case before the New Mexico Human Rights Commission that which ordered the photography shop to pay a fine for opperating according to the belief that marriage is between one man and one women. The owners promptly sued. Several months latter the Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, "There is a price to pay" in order to believe Christianity. Read More Here.

Oral Arguments regarding Prayer were heard this week at the Supreme Court. In Greece vs. Galloway a city in upstate New York was sued for opening their coucil meetings with prayer. Read the arguments here. Read More about the Case here.

Freedom


The Supreme Court heard a case this week involving the question, 'How far does a United Nations treaty go?' Read more about that here.

VA: Conservative Cuccinelli lost, although with much slimmer margins than excpected as the ObamaCare website continues to be a disaster. McAffliee took 46%, Cuccinelli took 43.5% and the Libertaritan canidate took 6.6%

MUST READ ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
Faith
Will the Court Strike a Blow for Religious Liberty?
Family
Successful Pro-Life Conversations
Freedom
Supreme Court can Stop Federal Overreach

In 2006, Michigan voters approved a ban on affirmative action (preferential treatment to individuals because of race, ethnicity, etc.) in the public sector.  The ban encompassed admission to public universities as well as the hiring of government employees.  The ban reads as follows:

Soon after the proposal was accepted by the people of the state of Michigan it was challenged in court.  In 2012 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the law unconstitutional, and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette appealed the decision on behalf of the state.  The appeal was granted and tomorrow oral arguments will be heard in Court.

Amid the fight to defund Obamacare lies another element: the fight to take away the Health and Human Service's Department's ability to use Obamacare to tell religious business owners what "health care" services they must provide for their employees, regardless of their religious convictions. 

The Hobby Lobby craft store chain is owned by the Greens, a Christian family who believes in protecting the right to life.  They sued the Obama administration over the requirement to pay for abortion services. The case has wound its way through the courts, with each side refusing to give up. Today the Obama administration appealed a decision, which excepted Hobby Lobby from the requirement, to the United States Supreme Court.

If Hobby Lobby loses, the protection of the First Amendment will all but disappear.  Christian business owners would no longer have the ability to use their conscience in business decisions and would instead be forced to comply with the whims of the government. 

And [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” ~Matthew 19:4-6 NKJV

God ordained and established the institution of Marriage, the very institution that is under attack today. Since the fall every institution established by God has come under attack by the Devil, Marriage is no different. In the past, in other nations, it has been corrupted, but this battle is really the first direct attack in America on this sacred institution. In the last couple of days this debate in America has come to a climax. Either we will continue down the path away from God and toward destruction by moral and economic means, or we will turn back.

When the Court struck down DOMA it struck down the federal definition of marriage. No longer is the Federal Government allowed to protect the foundation of society the family, instead the Government is left helpless to defend America. According to the Court, Americans can invent new rights that never existed before. No longer are humans endowed with certain rights by their creator, it is by the will of the people. This is a dangerous road to walk. If rights are not granted by God, someone above government, they can be taken by Government. Windsor vs. United States strikes not only at the moral fabric of our nation but also at the intrinsic rights listed in the Declaration of Independence as given by God.

Marriage will continue, for God is no respecter of nations.  The question is: will America continue?

"And they [Sodom] were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit." ~Ezekiel 16:50*

It has been 13 years since the first attempt to protect traditional marriage in the state of California. On March 7, 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 by a margin of 61% to 39% to define marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman in the state Family Code. However, eight years later, the voice of the people was trumped by the California Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision that held that Proposition 22 did not reconcile with the California Constitution. Instead of accepting what appeared to be crushing defeat, California voters rose again in defense of marriage and passed Proposition 8 in November 2008. Unlike Proposition 22, Proposition 8 defined marriage not in the California Family Code, but in the California Constitution.

Living an hour away from San Francisco, I lived the turmoil surrounding the original vote on Proposition 8. As a vocally conservative public school student, I experienced the backlash of many “pro-tolerance” zealots who simply couldn’t understand that supporting traditional family values does not make an individual bigoted. After many bitter debates and enduring slurs of all kinds, pro-family advocates, such as me, sat in our living rooms waiting for poll results to flood our TVs. By the gracious hand of God, our work was not in vain. With a result of 52% to 48%, California stood once again to defend traditional marriage. In a state that’s been blue since Reagan, marriage was defended even in the face of militant adversaries.
But as in all political matters, nothing ends with a vote.
Suits were brought against Proposition 8’s constitutionality on the Federal level and after years of deliberation and decisions, it stood to be decided upon in the United States Supreme Court on this day, June 26th, 2013.
Sitting in the GenJ office, it has come to my attention that the Supreme Court has decided to not make a decision on Proposition 8. The ruling states that the proponents of the proposition had no standing in the 9th Circuit Court and therefore the appellate decision is null. This leaves the decision at the Federal district court level where it was originally overturned.
I am not a Constitutional scholar and therefore cannot tell you where to go from here, but I can tell you, we should neither sit nor sulk. Our nation is made of fallen men, much like you and me. Our first response must be to pray for our enemies, that they would see the damage they are advocating and that the Lord would have mercy on their ways. We must then get up, dust off our clothes, and continue fighting for faith and Christian ethics in America. Whatever you may do in response to this ruling, always remember: though we may face temporal defeat, our Lord has already won.
I leave you with this admonition, stay in the word and stand strong with your fellow believers. I can only say so much, but the inspired Word of God puts it best:
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:11-13)