Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five
articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your
friends and church families.
We
would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25,
or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and
fighting for your values on the public square!
1. NC VALUES: 🎓 Are you part of
the 2 percent?
Did you know that in the average school
board election, only 2% of adult voters choose the winning
candidate?
That’s right! Just a few votes can
determine the outcome of important elections that affect our everyday
lives. That’s why it is crucial to be involved in local elections. And
now more than ever, we are reminded of the importance of electing good
candidates to local school boards across the state.
As you prepare to vote in the May
primaries, we have rounded up a list of school board candidates that
have been involved in our efforts to protect parental rights. All of
these candidates have either attended our Schoolboard Bootcamp
Training in February, our Mama Bear Workshop in April, or have been
connected with our training about harmful school indoctrination in
some way.
2. NEWS & OBSERVER: How
abortion rights groups and opponents in NC are preparing for Roe’s
possible demise
"Tami Fitzgerald, the founder and executive director of the
socially conservative N.C. Values Coalition, said if the Supreme Court
overturns Roe, her organization would try to find consensus for the
'strongest possible protections for both the unborn child and its
mother'
'The exciting opportunity in front of us is that, if the draft
opinion holds, the outcome is that the North Carolina people will be
able to decide the issue of abortion through their elected officials
in the General Assembly,' Fitzgerald said in an interview. 'Roe puts
un-elected judges in charge of abortion policy, and we believe that
abortion laws should be debated and decided by the people of North
Carolina.'”
3. POLITICO: Supreme Court has
voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows
"The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v.
Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written
by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by
POLITICO."
Per the alleged initial draft majority opinion: "Roe was
egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally
weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from
bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and
Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
4. THE DAILY SIGNAL: ‘You Can’t
Get a Tattoo If You’re 12’: DeSantis Supports Ban on Child Sex-Change
Operations
"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would support banning child
sex-change operations in Florida in a Monday podcast interview on “The
Truth With Lisa Boothe.”
DeSantis, a Republican, said it was unhealthy to let children
permanently alter their bodies through operations such as mastectomies
and castration, and that there appeared to be an organized effort to
push children into these extreme forms of medical intervention. He
said he would support a bill banning those procedures for
children."
5. THE DAILY SIGNAL: Unanimous
Supreme Court Flies Flag for Free Speech in Case Against City of
Boston
"In a rare unanimous ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court secured a
major victory for free speech.
In the opinion in Shurtleff v. Boston, authored by retiring Justice
Stephen Breyer, the court ruled that the city of Boston violated the
Constitution when it prohibited a group from flying a Christian flag
on a flagpole it had held open to other groups and their flags.
The court determined that simply by permitting private groups to
fly their flags on the City Hall flagpole, the city was not endorsing
any message behind those flags and that, therefore, the flag and what
it represents did not constitute government speech."
 WEEKLY PRAYER: LIFE
LORD, we recognize that you are
Sovereign over all creation. We recognize you made man from the dust,
and in your mercy, you crowned creation with man and woman made in
your image. What a wonder it is that you would bestow upon us this
blessing and responsibility! LORD, may we not take this blessing for
granted. We pray that this great responsibility and dignity may
motivate us to love You, our neighbors, and our families
more.
LORD, may we as a culture truly see
and believe that children are a blessing from the LORD—born or unborn;
able or disabled. All children should have an opportunity to
experience the liberty of life. LORD, make us your vehicle to change
our culture into one that cherishes and protects life. Keep at the
forefront of our minds our responsibilities to respect, cherish, and
serve the youngest and oldest in our society.
Finally, LORD, we pray even further
for our children. Across our state, country, and world, an entire
generation of youth have seen their lives and education ruptured by
the pandemic and its closing of schools. Father, as a result so many
of these children are not only wounded by the quality of their
education, but by a likely onslaught of mental illness brought about
by social isolation. LORD, bring them hope and healing as only You
can.
"At that time the disciples came to
Jesus and asked, 'Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?' He called a little child to him, and placed the child among
them. And he said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child
in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little
ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them
to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in
the depths of the sea.'" (Matthew 18:1-6)
Amen
Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help
the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can
donate by clicking here.
Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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