Answering the Call Citizen Oct2011

8/3/2019 Answering the Call Citizen Oct2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/answering-the-call-citizen-oct2011 1/5

COUNTING THE COST: Christians Stand Strong Under Increased Persecution. 7

www.citizenmagazine.com

$ 3 .

5 0

PLUS THE CHURCH AND THE STATE: A Taxing Issue. Page 22

Finding Harmonyin NashvilleIf citizens will become informedand engaged, and pastors will

ead, there are so many positivethings that can be accomplished.’

— David Fowler, president of the

Family Action Council of Tennessee

by Ashley Horne, Page 12

OCTOBER 2011



Ocobe 2011 • Vol. 25, No. 8

ISSN 1084-6832

Editor Tom Minnery

Managing Editor Catherine Snow

Poliical Edio John Paulton

Contriuting Editor Karla Dial

Contriuting Editor Matt Kauman

Copy Editor Scott DeNicola

Publishin Edio Kevin ShirinProduction Dan Collins

Ciculaion Helen Mills

Desin Pixel Dance, Inc.

Jim Daly

President

Focus on the Family Citizen is published 10 times a year(combined issues in June/July and August/September) byFocus on the Family , a nonproft organization recognizedor tax-deductible giving by the ederal government, and

CitizenLink, a 501(c)(4) organization. Focus on the Family Citizen is a registered trademark o Focus on the Family.

Copyright © 2011 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

INTERNET: Reerral to websites not produced byFocus on the Family is or inormational purposes

only and does not necessarily constitute anendorsement o the sites’ content.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: By submitting letters, commentsor stories, you agree: 1. you are at least 18 years o age;2. the submission becomes the property o Focus on the

Family Citizen magazine and Focus on the Familyand will not be returned; and 3. Focus on the Family,

its assigns and licensees, are granted the nonexclusiveright to use, adapt and/or reproduce the submission

in any manner or any purpose. Our agreement is made inColorado and controlled by Colorado law.

CITIzEN SUbSCRIPTIONS: A one-year subscriptionto Focus on the Family Citizen magazine is available

or $24. Write Focus on the Family, 8605 Explorer Drive,Colorado Springs, CO 80995-7450. To use your creditcard, call 800-A-FAMILY. Current subscribers also can

call that number to renew.

Discounted rates available or group subscriptionso fve or more delivered to one location. For

group inormation only, call 800-232-6459, or [email protected]

ADVErtISINg: [email protected] on the Family’s acceptance o advertisements

or publication in this magazine does notnecessarily imply a complete endorsement

o the goods or services advertised.

PERMISSIONS: [email protected] or719-531-3400

CONTACT: 800-A-FAMILY or8605 Explorer Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80995

Email [email protected] us online at www.CiizenMaazine.com.

Contents

FEATURES

12 Findin Harmony in NashilleLearn how the Volunteer state overturnedNashville’s harmful anti-discrimination law.

17 Countin the CostChristians are standing strong againstpersecution — and paying the price.

22 The Church and the State: A Taxin IssueThe tax-exempt status of churches is underattack like no other time in modern history.

BOOK REvIEW

15 The Ring Makes All the Difference The Hidden Consequences of Cohabitation

and the Strong Benefits of Marriage.

BRIEFINgS

4 Answerin the CallTwo Texas teens step forward to sharethe truth about the Girl Scouts’ agenda.

7 Planned Parenthood’s

Scandalous PoliciesAn in-depth report chronicles “the breadthand persistence of the organization’sabuses...”

26 ‘If We Don’t Speak The Truth,Who Will?’Preachers are being called to speak upon the moral issues of the day.

29 True Meanin of Marriae

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan onthe push to redefine marriage.

IN EvERY ISSUE

10 Whee! The People

20 Letters to the Editor

28 Adisories

EDITOR’S DESK

30 Tom Minnery

3October 2011



by Bob DeMoss

When Juliette GordonLow placed a phonecall to her cousin in1912, little did she

know it would turn out to behistoric.

“Come right over!” she said. “I’ve

got something for the girls of Sa-vannah, and all America and all theworld, and we’re going to start ittonight!” Her vision? To give girls— regardless of skill, backgroundor disability — the chance to growphysically, mentally, socially andspiritually.

With that, Low launched thefirst American Girl Guides troopwith 18 girls. In 1913, the grouprenamed itself the Girl Scouts and

released its first handbook, entitled“How Girls Can Help Their Coun-

try.” As the foreword explained,“Honor, duty, loyalty, kindness,comradeship, purity, cheerfulnessand thrift are the qualities (the GirlScouts) seeks to develop.” Today,more than 3.7 million girls belongto the organization — making it“the largest educational organiza-tion for girls in the world,” accord-

ing to its website.But 99 years after its inception,what are Girl Scouts being taught? Are the lessons and values it teach-es consistent with the vision of itsfounder?

Far from it. The philosophicalchanges from the top down are soalarming, columnist and formerGirl Scout Jane Chastain asserts,that “the Girl Scouts have becomea training ground for the left-wing

feminist agenda.” Kathryn JeanLopez, editor of National Review

Online put it this way: “The GirlScouts’ leaders hope to make theiryouthful charges the shock troopsof an ongoing feminist revolution.”

Extreme Makeover:

Friedan-SyleShock troops? Feminist revolution? When and how did that seismic

shift occur?In 1974, a second historic phone

call was placed by Cecily C. Selby,the national executive director of theGirl Scouts of America (GSUSA), toBetty Friedan, the co-founder andfirst president of the pro-abortionNational Organization for Women(NOW). Shelby asked Friedan to

serve on the GSUSA board of di-rectors — a six-year term. Initiallysurprised, Friedan jumped at thechance to influence millions of young women. In a Nov. 15, 1974,interview with Pennsylvania’s TheDaily News, she said:

“I was amazed because it is anestablishment organization, orthought of that way.

“But the more I thought of it, themore interesting it became. Themodern women’s movement be-lieves in restructuring institutions.So I see a lot of vitality in the GirlScouts as an institution.”

The paper went on to say:“Ms. Friedan said she is not

interested so much in radi-cal chic, as she is in the main-stream of American society. TheGirl Scouts of the USA with 2.9million members — one out of

every seven girls, 6 to 17 — isawfully mainstream, accordingto Ms. Friedan. … Friedan seesher own involvement as a steptoward restructuring Ameri-ca’s institutions so that there isequality and mutual acceptanceamong the sexes.”

And restructure it she did. Just one year later, The Daily Her-

ald of Illinois ran an interview withFriedan, in which she said, “The

woman’s movement is like no oth-er revolution in this country’s past.

COvER: COURTESY OF FAMILY ACTION COUNCIL OF TENNESSEE ABOvE: COURTESY OF CHRISTY vOLANSKI

Answerin the CallTwo historic calls: One launched the girlScouts; the other stealthily radicalizedit. Now, two Texas teens hae braelystepped forward to share the truth about

its aenda.

(l-r) Tess and Sydney volanski answered the call — to stand up to peer pressure and to stand up forbiblical alues.

4 Citizen



It is irreversible and it has becomepart of the mainstream in our soci-ety. … We must begin in institu-tions like the Girl Scouts. Both menand women must be liberated to beall they can be. This will be a dif-

ferent kind of society when we’vefinished with this job.” When Friedan and friends

pushed for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1972, con-servative women responded, ulti-mately defeating the legislation. Ina March 2, 1977, letter to the editorin the San Antonio Light, Sara Par-tridge released a mother’s ire aboutsome of the “restructuring” Friedanhad accomplished:

“Some of my happiest memoriesas I grew up were of my activitiesin the Girl Scouts. I was shockedthat this wonderful organizationwould come out in favor of ERA,”she wrote.

“It took Betty Friedan and thoseof her humanist beliefs a little overtwo years to turn this organizationinto a political arm of that move-ment and prevent the original pur-poses of the Girl Scouts.

“I think you are going to see par-ents, such as myself, not willing tohave their daughters used as politi-cal pawns.”

Friedan’s 12-year tenure on theboard clearly sent the once-conser-vative institution down the wrongmoral pathway — at least on a na-tional level. Over the last 30 years,vestiges of hope have remained,as local troop and council leaders

maintained their autonomy overwhich activities and programs aretaught.

A Call of their OwnEvidently, the current leadership of GSUSA has lost sight of Low’s origi-nal Girl Scout Law #7, namely, “AGirl Scout Keeps Herself Pure (inthought and word and deed.)”

For these reasons and other dis-turbing trends within GSUSA, Tex-

as teens Tess and Sydney Volanskimade a historic call — a judgment

call, that is — of their own: towithdraw from the Girl Scouts aftereight years of participation. Both of these dedicated young women hadsold hundreds of boxes of cookies,achieved their Bronze Awards andwere working toward their Silver Awards. Their mother, Christy,was a leader in their Troop for threeyears. They wore their uniformswith honor — proud to be a part of

an organization dedicated to devel-oping their moral character.

Or so they thought.In March 2010, the staunchly

pro-life sisters were disheartenedto learn about the connections be-tween GSUSA and Planned Parent-hood, the nation’s largest abortionprovider.

“I felt deceived,” Sydney toldCitizen. “The GSUSA leadership ispretending to be something they’renot. While we were a part of a great

troop, we could no longer be apart of GSUSA, which holds moral

American Heritae girls: A Christ-Centered Alternatie

Christy Volanski is quick to

applaud the work of the American Heritage Girls,founded in 1995 by Patti Garibay,a former Girl Scout leader.

Like the Volanskis, Garibaybecame disillusioned with thesecular direction of GSUSA andbelieved it was time to create analternative built upon a Judeo-Christian foundation.

According to its website: American Heritage Girls is a

Christ-centered, non-profit or-ganization, dedicated to build-ing women of integrity whileoffering a wholesome characterand leadership developmentministry for girls ages 5 to 18. AHG was founded with the loveof God … through the love of families … for the love of chil-dren.

AHG was founded by a groupof parents wanting an all-girlprogram for their daughters.

Since its inception in 1995 in West Chester, Ohio, AmericanHeritage Girls has grown from10 Troops and 100 members toover 300 Troops with more than13,000 members in 41 states. AHG also serves girls throughits Trailblazer program in fouradditional states, and interna-tionally in Germany, Italy, Japan

and The Republic of Georgia.

Key AHg Facs:• AHG is a non-profit,

Christ-centered, service-richorganization choosing not toreceive government or United Way funding.

• AHG membership has expe-rienced phenomenal growth at arate of 20-45 percent per year,impacting tens of thousands of

girls in 15 years.

• Since its inception, AHG hasenacted a laser focus on service,promoting it as one of the keybuilding blocks of young women:“Building women of integritythrough service to God, family,community and country.”

• AHG members logged morethan 108,000 service hours forthe 2009-10 program year.

• AHG recently entered into apartnership with the Boy Scoutsof America, the first such part-nership with an all girls’ organi-zation in its 100-year history. l

FOR MORE INFORMATIONLearn more about AmericanHeritage Girls at AHGOnline.org.

5October 2011



COURTESY OF CHRISTY vOLANSKI

viewpoints in direct opposition toour own.”

Sydney pointed out that “the Women’s Media Center websitewas listed as a resource in GirlScout materials and had 27 active

links to pro-abortion websites —including Planned Parenthood,NOW, NARAL and the abortion Access Project.”

Earlier this year, the teens decid-ed to launch SpeakNowGirlScouts.com as a one-stop portal docu-menting their concerns over GSU-SA. The site — which launchedthem into the conservative lime-light — includes a list of womenpresented in the GSUSA Journey’s

curriculum as “Voices For Good”and “Advocacy Role Models” forgirls to emulate, women such asElizabeth Gurley Flynn, foundingmember of the American Civil Lib-erties Union and chairwoman of the American Communist Party. As a result of their efforts to raiseawareness about this issue, Tesssays, “We have been hearing manystories through our website of oth-er girls who have stood up for theirmoral convictions and have leftGirl Scouts.”

In a statement on their website,the sisters wrote:

“While we recognized the manygood things about Girl Scouts, wehad to ask ourselves: Will we standfor our beliefs, for the dignity of life, the sanctity of marriage, mod-esty, purity? Or will we remain trueto Girl Scouts? We cannot see any

way to truly do both.“This should not be a lesson(learned by) Girl Scouts: that youhave unknowingly been promotingand supporting a group that standsfor the opposite of the beliefs youhold deeply in your heart. We wantto do everything we can to preventthis heartbreak for other girls andtheir families.”

In addition to their website,the girls will share their mission,

as part of the “40 Days for Life”speaker series, at their local parish

this fall.“We have been blessed to par-

ticipate in many media interviews,”they told Citizen, “and are verygrateful for the help of the conser-vative media to share our story withother families.”

Sydney is scheduled to film asegment about their experienceslater this year on the Eternal WordTelevision Network.

“I’m not asking (GSUSA) to be-come a right-wing organization be-cause that’s not what they need tobe,” Sydney said. “However, theydo need to be neutral on mattersof sexuality, abortion and politi-

cal empowerment so they can be apositive, character-building influ-ence for all girls.”

Growing in Grace While both girls are very much

“politically aware,” their hearts re-main Christ-focused.“At 14-years old, I’m not sure of

the specifics of what I’d like to dofor a living,” Tess said. “I’ve consid-ered a few options, such as journal-ism or law, but am still unsure of what exactly I want my career tobe. I do intend to live out my lifedoing all that I can to spread Christto others.”

“I will do whatever God calls

me to do,” Sydney added. “At thispoint, I am interested in studyingmedicine, but I am open to what-ever God’s plans are for me.”

“Overall, this experience has in-fluenced me a lot,” Tess said. “I feelnow I have a better grasp on whatthe ‘real world’ is like. At times, it’sscary, knowing how many peopledisregard your beliefs as silly oroutdated. But it’s also wonderfulto know there are people out therewho believe the same as you.” l

Bob DeMoss is a freelance reporterresiding in Grand Rapids, Mich.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONLearn more about Tess and Sydney Volanski’s outreach to their peers:SpeakNowGirlScouts.com.

6 Citizen

(l-r) Sydney and Tess discuss edits and additions to their popular website.

“While we recognizedthe many good thingsabout Girl Scouts, wehad to ask ourselves:

Will we stand for ourbeliefs, for the dignityof life, the sanctity of marriage, modesty,purity? Or will weremain true to Girl

Scouts? We cannot seeany way to truly

do both.”

Tess and Sydney Volanski

Answering the Call Citizen Oct2011

Documents

Transcript of Answering the Call Citizen Oct2011