The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Does Tennessee Value Its Children’s Education More Than Alabama? On Tuesday, April 21 in a bipartisan vote, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted unanimously (97:0) to repeal Common Core. Today, the Tennessee State Senate followed with a (27:1) vote in favor of repeal. The Truth in Medium Team, an online news site (benswan.com) was the first of many media outlets to report this breaking news. “This legislation is a template for all states to begin a much needed journey of separation fro...
"The more thoroughly a nation deals with its history, the more decidedly it will recognize and own an over-ruling Providence therein, and the more religious a nation it will become; while the more superficially it deals with its history, seeing only secondary causes and human agencies, the more irreligious it will be." Rev. A.W. Foljambe, January 5, 1876. Whether you are introduced to the writing and impact of John Locke, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Adams or Thomas...
The devaluation of America’s cultural decency, the increase in fatherless homes and the steady decline in academic performance is now spiraling out of control. My generation has witnessed general apathy among parents, schools and politicians for several decades. Loss of values in our country is a very real phenomenon and the not-so-subtle enemy of many of our societal problems. Our schools are not immune. These “values” are not to be narrowly interpreted as solely religious values or stric...
When America's Constitutional Republic was founded as a Christian Nation, the entire culture reflected Moral Absolutes. While it is true that not every citizen was what we call a “born again Christian believer,” everyone enjoyed the blessings of liberty brought to our shores, the fruit of moral absolutes. Our Republic was birthed by the Protestant Reformation and the Biblical mandate that formed courageous character. Education was important from its inception. From the home school around the...
Among the many legislative bills which will be introduced during Alabama’s legislative 2015 session is one with strong support of progressive lawmakers. They plan to introduce the bill in the upcoming spring session of the Alabama’s State Legislature to provide a plan and process for the initial creation of a few charter schools. The bill will limit the number of charter schools to be established to fewer than a dozen during first fiscal year. Charter schools which exist throughout the cou...
The restructure of the public educational system is far more reaching than the schools. It is the restructure of the Nation through Education. A careful investigation reveals that it is international in scope and entirely socialistic in philosophy. It is promoted by the United Nations, and already, similar methods have been implemented in numerous European countries. "Choice in Education" sounds wonderful. However, the "Choice" that we are hearing about is not the choice of grass roots parents...
For decades local public school officials, politicians and legislators have debated the method in which local/district superintendents are selected. Nationally, 97.8 percent of all local district school superintendents are appointed. The only exceptions are six southern states which have both appointed and elected superintendents: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. According to the Alabama Association of School Boards, there are currently 138 local school...
On New Year's Day, 1801, Thomas Jefferson used a metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut, which has profoundly affected policy in recent generations. Jefferson's intention, clearly stated, reflected the Constitutionally mandated purpose and safeguard of the First Amendment's protection of Religious Liberty. Go back in History to Colonial times, and recall that numerous colonies had an established Church, as in Connecticut, Congregationalism was the established...
I recently saw a poster titled, "And He Shall Be Called." It had over 50 names for the persons of the Godhead, the Trinity. I bought the poster and have been thrilled at where the study leads.This column will share just a small bit of information about the names, as space permits. God revealed Himself as Father to the nation of Israel, (Deut. 32:6). He created Israel to be His special people in order to manifest His Providence. The Bible has many instances where God revealed Himself as Father,...
The private-federal partnership which created “Common Core State Standards” (CCSS) or Common Core is now beginning to unravel in many states across the U.S. In an opinion article published in the September 2014 edition of The Alabama Gazette I presented the origin, key players, ideology and nationally developed standards related to Common Core. As David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to President Obama, stated, “CCSS was initiative of the Obama Administration”. It includes fundamental changes and omi...
It was Christmas Eve morning, 1980, in a small quaint college town – Montevallo. Within a few hours most everyone had heard the gruesome news. A long-time 86 year-old distinguished widow of the former Dean of the Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo) Mrs. Orr, had been found brutally raped and murdered in her home. I grew up in this quiet, relatively safe town where I began the first grade, graduated from Montevallo High School and, literally across the Oak Street, I earned several...
“The Bible itself, particularly the Geneva edition of 1560 and the Authorized Version of 1611, is the single most important primary source for the intellectual history of colonial America.” (Lawrence Cremin) “It has been estimated that over 40 per cent of the books printed in England between 1480 and 1640 were religious in theme, as were some 50 per cent of those printed by the American press between 1639 and 1689. Bibles, service books, and systematic theological treatises accounted for a goo...
Each summer most parents of college-bound students attend one or more college/university orientations where higher education institution officials showcase their broad selection of academic programs, highlight the prestigious scholarly awards earned by former students, take parents on tours of some of the prestigious athletic facilities, walk-throughs of attractive residence halls and/or apartments, boast of the recreational amenities and usually assure parents of the security measures provided...
Patrick Henry, speaking in the Continental Congress, 1774, declared; "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." In a letter to Rufus King, Alexander Hamilton expressed these same convictions. "We are laboring hard to establish in this country principles more and more national and free from all foreign ingredients, so that we may be neither 'Greeks nor Trojans' but truly Americans." In his Farewell...
I hear these words often: “I think I have a virus!” But how can you know for sure? In this month’s article, I’m going to give you some tips to help you figure out if you do have a virus (or some other type of malware) and what to do if your computer is infected. But first, let me clarify some of the computer lingo and jargon that the average person may not understand when it comes to “computer viruses.” People often use the term “computer virus” to indicate that they believe their computer...
Our Forefathers not only crossed the Atlantic Ocean to found America, but they overcame the ecclesiastical, political and social ideas of the past. They had come against the ideas of the infallibility of the church and its hierarchy in the great Puritan movement. They had rejected the Sovereignty of both pope and king. They rejected tyranny whether in church or state, and they accepted the infallibility of the Scriptures. II Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is...
There is a growing outcry from parents across Alabama regarding the federally created k – 12 curricula standards, "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) recently adopted by an Alabama's State Board of Education in a split vote. This "reform" covertly transfers control of education explicitly given to states by the U.S. Constitution to federal bureaucracy. Led by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) it is endorsed by entities as The National Governors Association (80% of operating funds from f...
Primary Sources of American History document beyond contradiction, that these United States were established as a Christian Republic by Colonial State Constitutions and by our United States Constitution. By removing these primary sources of our true history from America's classrooms, recent generations have been taught, yes, EDUCATED to question our historic, orthodox, evangelical Christian roots. This brought about the frenzy of separation of church and state. The roles of the church and state...
The concept of man in the Common Law of England is one of the most civilizing forces in all of History. For centuries the Common Law was recorded and declared as "the highest inheritance of the King, by which he and all his subjects shall be ruled. And if there were no law, there would be no king, and no inheritance." In the last decade of Elizabeth's reign, an entry in her Court Cases was this affirmation, "The Common Law is the best and surest inheritance that any subject hath, and to lose it...
This story of Patriotism begins in the life of a nine year old boy, standing on the deck that would bring his parents, his sister, and Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, up the Delaware River, to dock at the port of Philadelphia. Suddenly, the outline of the city, the largest city in the New World was visible, the church steeples, the tall buildings. Soon his feet would touch the ground of the United States of America, where he was coming to live. Emanuel Leutze was born March 24, 1816, in Gmund,...
In 1962, at The Southern Humanities Conference, at the University of Alabama, N. Floyd McGowin, President of the W.T. Smith Lumber Company, was the keynote speaker. His Topic, "Can the Humanities Be Dispensed With In An Age of Crisis?" He opened his address, "I assume that we are using the word humanities today in its original and true sense, and that we shall have nothing to do with the sly distortions of meaning that were insinuated into our language when John Dewey and other peddlers of...
Several years ago The Harvard Education Letter’s lead article was titled “The Power of Family Conversation.” (Vol. 24, No. 3, 2008) It began, “School matters, but literacy starts at home. Teachers armed with reading contracts and carefully worded missives have long urged parents to read aloud to their children. But now there is a second and perhaps more powerful message. Talk with your kids too.” Mounting research proves that language rich families with great communication is linked to school...
It is a battlefield, not of guns and swords, but spiritual warfare, for the minds and hearts of children. It centers on the definition and purposes of Education in America today. Sincere people, passionate about their own views of Traditional Education and of life, are at war defining and empowering Education. Each group, and the several sub-groups, have a mission and are dedicated to fulfilling it. The Traditionalists, who embrace the Judeo- Christian worldview, inherited through Western...
At the turn of the 20th Century, Americans believed in eternal life, in Eternity. They believed that life continued beyond the grave. Perhaps not everyone believed in the depravity of man, of the necessity of Redemption, but the culture reflected the Moral law and Biblical Principles for living one's life on earth. There was a universal hope of Heaven. This was true from the earliest beginning through the Founding of America and beyond. This was the world that I was born into in 1930. American...
Many years ago, I visited Dr. Jim Fleming's Study Center in Jerusalem. He was, and is, an outstanding archaeologist, teaching at the Hebrew University. Besides his teaching, he operated a non profit ministry with the mission of helping people of all faiths experience the ancient Biblical world, in history and culture. Having been a teacher in a Christian school, and in various church Sunday Schools and Bible Schools, I was keenly aware of the need for children to be engaged in the everyday life...