You Can't Win With Just 7%

Ninety-three percent of Americans believe in God or some sort of "universal spirit", according to a survey reported this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

In North Carolina, the number is even higher -- 96% -- and it maxes out at 97% in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

So much for "bitter" people, Senator Obama. Some of them must be part of your base.

From the Smithfield Herald

This was in the Wednesday edition of our local paper; apparently the "Class Notes" doesn't make it to the online version, so I'm posting the item in full below.

YOUNG RECEIVES COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP

John Calvin Young of Smithfield will enter college this fall with a scholarship awarded by the North Carolinians for Home Education, a member-supported organization in Raleigh.

Young won the Don and Linda Lassiter Scholarship, sponsored by the Lassiters of Johnston County.

Young is the son of Hal and Melanie Young.

The seven scholarship recipients were announced May 24 at NCHE's 24th annual conference. Candidates were chosen based on a comprehensive review of academic achievements, community service, extracurricular activities and leadership potential.

-- Smithfield Herald, 6/25/08, p. 12A

The full story is in this week's edition of N.C. Homeschool News.

Once to every man and nation

Once to every man and nation,
comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision,
offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever,
’twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble,
when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue
of the faith they had denied.

Though the cause of evil prosper,
yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above His own.

Quoted from Cyberhymnal

Dobson not leaving the light on for Obama

Barack Obama's campaign is seeking a meeting with Dr. James Dobson before the Democratic national convention, saying that "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together."

Dobson is less than wowed, saying the Democratic candidate's statements on faith and politics are "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology, ... [and] dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

[Focus on the Family VP Tom] Minnery said he doesn't expect Obama to make inroads into the reliably Republican voting bloc.

"Evangelicals are people who take Bible interpretation very seriously, and the sort of speech he gave shows that he is worlds away in the views of evangelicals," he said.

Minnery also said Dobson will probably continue his criticism of Obama.

"Given our fact that religion seems to be such a relevant topic in this election again, we will defend the evangelical view vigorously," he said.

Thankful again

WRAL is reporting a drive-by shooting in Raleigh last night. The victims, one of whom died, were standing at a street corner along the route of my former commute when I worked uptown. I drove through that intersection at that time of day more than once, being about five blocks from where I used to park.

Once again, reflecting with thanks on the blessing of a home office.

McCain on Educational Choice

Early in the campaign, Sen. John McCain's website had little to say about education, one way or another. I commented on this back in December, way back when there were still a bunch of candidates to talk about.

As I'm working on a piece for the July issue of Carolina Journal, though, I note that McCain's website now has a comprehensive section on educational policy. Under the heading, "Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education", the current statement hits a lot of the right notes:

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. ...

The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes. ...

John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. ...

If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents. ...

John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.