In This Issue..

An Ominous Trend?
Are sex and religion really arbitrary?
Putting the Government over the Church
How could such a thing become law?
Captivating deceptions exposed by Truth.
A little insight about Tennessee's newest Supreme Court Justice, Bill Koch

The Tennessee legislature adjourned in recent days and much of the excitement for political junkies in Tennessee has come to an end for the year. The fearful can now come out of hiding.

While our emphasis is on Tennessee, there are a couple of ominous trends in other states that point out the need for vigilance on the home front. As a legislator, I have seen legislation in other states become the "idea" for legislation in Tennessee and I can't count the number of times while in the Senate the argument was made that we needed to "catch up" to what other states were doing and move into the 21st Century.

An Ominous Trend?

This legislative Session, Oregon passed a non-discrimination law targeted at churches and supported by homosexual activists that should make even those in comas wake up and pay attention to what is going on in the culture of this country. Lest you believe that a paraphrase of the law is mere hyperbole intended to scare folks into cultural engagement, here is the actual language of the bill that was passed:

"The purpose of this chapter is to encourage the fullest utilization of the available workforce by removing arbitrary standards of ...race ... religion ...sex,...sexual orientation... as a barrier to employment of the inhabitants of this state, and to ensure the human dignity of all people within this state and protect their health, safety and morals from the consequences of intergroup hostility, tensions and practices of discrimination of any kind based on race, ...religion ... [and] sexual orientation (emphasis added)..."

Churches can only make sexual orientation and religion a ground for employing one person over another,
"as long as the employment involved is closely connected with or related to the primary purposes of the church or institution and is not connected with a commercial or business activity that has no necessary relationship to the church or institution." (emphasis added)

This non-discrimination law and the "primary purposes" exception in the preceding paragraph apply even to "religious activities" per se.

Are sex and religion really arbitrary?

Notice a couple of things. First, note what is arbitrary – "sex and sexual orientation." In the context of the definitions in the law, they are not saying that you can't help that you were born male or female, but that certain genitalia is unrelated to how you behave sexually or dress. Also note, that religion is also considered "arbitrary." For those who believe their religion to be true – and the orthodox Christian position is that the Bible tells us the Truth about the nature of God, man and the universe in which we live – this is troublesome. It is relativistic pluralism at its finest – all religions are of the same value; one is just as good as the other – it doesn't really matter what you chose to believe – it's arbitrary. Religion is no longer seen as trying to communicate any real true Truth -- all is relative.

But if that's not bad enough, consider that the state is now in the position of determining what is the "primary purpose of the church" and whether any particular employment with a church is closely enough "connected with" that "primary purpose." Does this not put the church under the state? Isn't that what many of those who founded and settled this country left Europe over – the government being over the state?

My friends, the new world order has come to Oregon. Will it come to Tennessee in the near future? "Of course not," you say. But I would imagine Ben Franklin, George Washington and others would have said the same thing had they been asked if there would ever be such a law in the United States. Surely they would have said that the First Amendment was our guarantee against such a thing.

Putting the Government over the Church
So consider the following questions that Oregon churches must now ask themselves which, if they answer incorrectly, will subject them to a civil discrimination complaint: Are bookstores that churches have inside the church a "primary purpose" of the church? And even if so, is being a cashier on Sunday morning or bookstore manager "closely connected" enough to that "purpose?" What about food service personnel, maintenance employees, bus drivers whose work could be done by outside commercial vendors?

In Oregon, the government will now answer those questions for the church if a disgruntled job applicant thinks the church answered the question incorrectly.

How could such a thing become law?

I would suggest to you that such things happen when people no longer believe in the existence of ultimate and unchanging truth --when truth is relative.

What, you may ask, does Truth have to do with why such a law could be approved. Everything! If there is no Truth, then there is certainly no Truth about the nature, purpose and legitimate functions of government. This is what those of us in the law call "positivism," meaning that law is "posited" or made up by men as they go along. There is no "natural law" – law applicable to men and social systems that is true to the nature of reality.

But also, when there is no Truth, then religion is indeed "arbitrary." If no religion is really true, then what difference does it matter which one, if any, you believe.

Captivating deceptions exposed by Truth.

That such a law could pass over the objections of Christians (and even Muslims) in Oregon proves the veracity of the Apostle Paul's warning to Christians that they can "be taken captive" by deceitful and empty philosophies that are not according to the Truth. If there is a thing called Truth, which there must be for there to be such a thing as error, then to not know that Truth is to be susceptible to being taken in by error.

Our culture today asks the same question Pilate asked of Jesus, "What is Truth?" The inability of a culture to answer that question correctly lies at the heart of so much of the present-day cultural decline as evidenced by this recent Oregon law that may be a forerunner of things to come in Tennessee.

In order to help more Tennesseans be able to engage our culture on the issue of Truth, the Family Action Council of Tennessee is spending the legislative off-season launching The Truth Project in Tennessee.

The Truth Project is a 12-week, Biblical worldview DVD curriculum developed for small group study that noted Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, "whole heartily recommends." It is the most comprehensive, intellectually stimulating and spiritually transforming material I've been through in my life. And among those I know who have gone through the material, to a person, their experience has been the same.

We are currently making preparations to train small group leaders in churches across the state so they are equipped to facilitate a small group study among their friends and neighbors. We are preparing for hundreds of churches to participate statewide and we hope your local church will want to be included. Please feel free to forward this to your pastor. To learn more about The Truth Project, you can go to our website: www.FACTn.org.

The need to discern truth from error grows in importance each day as evidenced by what has just happened in Oregon. And we hope The Truth Project will be an antidote to and defense against the spread of cultural relativism in Tennessee so that we never have a government agency determining what is a "necessary purpose" and "primary purpose" of the church.

A little insight about Tennessee's newest Supreme Court Justice, Bill Koch

By now you have probably heard of Governor Bredesen's choice to fill the last of the most recent vacancies to the state Supreme Court. He chose William Koch, Jr., a Court of Appeals appointee by Lamar Alexander in 1984. Typically the views and judicial philosophies of our judges are carefully protected and hidden from public scrutiny. However, it was about this time last year that then Court of Appeals Judge Bill Koch replied to me in response to my request that he complete The Family Action Council of Tennessee's Judicial Candidate Questionaire. The form was intended to shed light on the judicial philosophies of judges who were on last year's ballot for retention votes.

Unforturnately, Judge Koch did not complete our questionnaire, but he did send a thoughtful reply that did indeed shed some light on his perspective as a judge, and for that we are appreciative. Hopefully, in the years to come, more Judges will realize that the right to vote is meaningless without information on the candidates. And hopefully, more Tennesseans will insist on their right to cast an informed vote.

Here is an exceprt of the letter he sent to me last year , dated June 19, 2006, (click here to see the full letter [http://www.factn.org/documents/KochLetter.pdf]).

"...I agree that your constituents should know more about my judicial philosophy. Here are some of the principles that guide me. First, I am unalterably committed to the rule of law and to the principle of equal justice under the law. Second, I believe that judicial decisions are better based on established rules of law rather than on the judges' personal preferences. Third, I believe that while the doctrine of stare decisis provides a defense against judges with agendas, the courts must never hesitate to correct their past mistakes. Fourth, I believe that the separation of powers doctrine defines and limits the power of the courts and that there are occasions when the answers to pressing societal issues are best left to the Executive and Legislative Branches of government. Fifth, I am convinced that the search for the meaning and purpose of the state and federal constitutions and statutes must always begin with the text. Finally, I believe in thorough preparation, detailed research, and meticulous drafting because the purpose of appellate opinions is to decide questions, not to create new ones."

In a day and age in which judicial activism is prevalent in our courts, we do take heart in the restrained judicial approach Justice Koch has set forth here and trust he will remain true to his word. Governor Bredesen is to be commended for his willingness to cross party lines and choose the best man among his options despite a clearly flawed selection process.