January 25, 2019 Weekly Commentary

“Misgendering,” “Deadnaming,” and True Pronouns

Georgia Insight’s Weekly Commentary, January 25, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

You’ve heard about the Decatur City School superintendent’s July 2016 mandate that preferred transgender pronouns will be used, regardless of biological sexual identity or whether or not using the opposite-sex pronoun to refer to an individual is okay with students, faculty, parents, school board or community. To be clear, he mandated that any boy who identifies as a girl shall be identified as a female; will use intimate facilities girls use, try out for girls’ sports, and room with other girls on field trips.

Six months later, parents learned of the superintendent’s policy on Facebook and, appropriately, took their complaint to the local school board that had a public hearing, then upheld the policy.

After implementation of that policy, a “gender fluid” boy assaulted a five-year-old girl in Oakhurst Elementary School restroom for girls in 2017. Although that incident had no effect on the school district’s transgender policy, the USDOE Civil Rights Office has opened an official investigation since Decatur schools receive federal funding.

A Virginia high school French teacher fired in December for not using a transgender student’s preferred pronouns said this in a television interview, “I used the new name, I avoided feminine pronouns, but male pronouns were a bridge too far. I did everything in my power to accommodate and show respect towards this student and this student’s choices.” Continue reading

January 11, 2019 Radio Commentary

Start-Date for Schools

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 11, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Last session, two bills were introduced concerning the date schools start in Georgia.  Representative Ben Stephens introduced H.B. 936 on Valentine’s Day requiring the school year to start no earlier than the third week in August.  It didn’t pass, but the subject didn’t die.

On March 16th Senator Steve Gooch introduced S.R. 1068 that passed March 27th authorizing the creation of a senate committee to study the school-year calendar for Georgia public schools.

Senator Gooch expects committee research to answer questions such as these: Is a later school start date feasible; would families have better opportunities to vacation together; and would it increase the availability of summer jobs for teenagers?

By September the eleven-member study committee had been appointed and met for the first time in October.  When Senator Gooch asked them why summer break had shrunk to two months, no one was able to answer.  However, a Georgia Department of Education spokesman explained that the state DOE has no authority over school calendars, and DOE’s policy director said attendance calendars are timed around school testing.  Continue reading

December 21, 2018 Radio Commentary

“Male and Female Created He Them”

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, December 21, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Next week we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was Creator long before He was born in human form.  After creating the heavens and earth and everything within them, He created a male human, named Adam, and a female human, named Eve, whose name means “the mother of all living.”  But even before Adam and Eve were created, God established the design for sex when He created male and female animals, fowl, marine life, and vegetation.

Although many in this culture are inventing additional sexes, organizations and individuals I’ll call the “Truth Group” actively support God’s design.  On December 4th the Truth Group  wrote a three-page letter to the Department of Justice.  That letter was signed by 36 professionals, individuals, and organizations, who affirmed the absolute truth that sex has only two divisions – male and female.

For example: The Institute of Medicine and the American Psychiatric Association explained to the Department of Justice that sex is biologically based on unchanging sex chromosomes and reproductive organs that are unique to male or female humans.

They explain that sex is established at conception, declares itself in utero, and is acknowledged at birth, for the express purpose of reproducing the human species.  Also, they explain that sex chromosomes impart inborn differences between men and women in, literally, every cell of the body, including the brain.

Therefore, anyone identifying as transgender remains either a biological male or female.  That’s an important medical fact, because diseases that affect both sexes often have different frequencies, symptoms and responses to treatment in males and females.  They cite the heart medication, Betapace, which is three times more likely to cause a lethal heart rhythm in women than in men.  Continue reading

December 14, 2018 Radio Commentary

Atheists Fight U.S. Churches

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, December 14, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

On October 11th the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) asking the court to force churches and other religious organizations to file tax returns.

FFRP is an atheistic organization with a tax-exempt status and 23,500 members.  FFRF uses tax-exempt money to fight religious freedom, although the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects that freedom.

The group is open about its goals.  They want all religious influence removed from social services, including adoption.  In health care, they want to make sure unborn babies can be aborted.  In education, they want no mention of God or scripture, and they want no Christian prayer in public schools.  In criminal justice, they want prison and rehabilitation programs to be God-free, and they want religious displays to be removed and banned from all public property.

An additional goal was identified in March 2011 when they co-founded the Clergy Project to support clergy that leave their faith.  Then, in 2012 they sued the IRS because churches and religious organizations are not required to file tax returns.  Four years later in 2015 they created another arm of their organization and called it, “Nonbelief Relief,” to provide charity to atheists, agnostics and free thinkers.  Atheists believe there is no God; agnostics believe humans cannot know whether there is a God; and free thinkers form opinions apart from tradition, authority or established belief.

After Nonbelief Relief’s tax exempt status was revoked, that arm of the FFRF filed its October 11th lawsuit against the IRS, because churches and religious organizations did not lose their tax exempt status.

So, the issue will be decided in court and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is defending against that lawsuit.  On November 21st, attorneys with ADF filed a motion on behalf of New Macedonia Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., asking the federal court to intervene on grounds that the government would be overstepping its constitutional bounds if churches were required to file IRS tax forms.

The FFRF began attacking religious freedom in 1976 and, as noted above, has expanded, systematically, since then.  If the atheists were to win their case, U.S. religious organizations, including churches, would lose their tax-exemption, and would be subjected to governmental red tape and interference.  This exemplifies the age-old un-ending battle between good and evil.  Pray that good prevails.  For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler your Capitol correspondent.