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: Day of Action in Raleigh
On Wednesday, we held a press conference in Raleigh on stopping porn in our schools. We also got to deliver thousands of your recent petition signatures.
“Some lawmakers and conservative groups are promoting legislation that would allow North Carolina parents to seek penalties against public schools for having books that the parents consider to be obscene.
Legislation will soon be introduced to remove exemptions that public schools have from the state’s obscenity laws, according to Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition. She said Wednesday the legislation would also set statewide criteria for how materials would be selected for classrooms and school libraries.”
Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article288504431.html
For more on the story, watch this broadcast from WRAL and this one from ABC11.
Also check out photos and videos of the event on our Instagram or Facebook pages.
2. FOX NEWS: UNC Chapel Hill board votes to dismantle DEI programs, use funds on campus police after anti-Israel protests
“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees reportedly voted on Monday to dismantle its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and transfer millions in funding instead to public safety and campus police on the heels of anti-Israel demonstrations.
The unanimous decision by the trustees will reallocate $2.3 million that the university spends on DEI programs toward police and public safety measures as part of its annual budget approval process, The News & Observer reported.”
3. NEWS & OBSERVER: NC school district removed books featuring gay parents. It now faces federal complaint.
“Moore County should be free to decide what books to use without worrying about federal interference, said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, which backed the statewide Parents’ Bill of Rights law. ‘I believe that county school systems have the legal right under state law to decide what kind of topics and programs they want their children to learn,’ Fitzgerald said in an interview Tuesday. ‘That’s a concept we’ve had in our state for hundreds of years: local control.’”
“Officials from nearly two dozen GOP-led states have voiced their opposition to the Title IX regulations, United Press International reported. Multiple states have filed lawsuits, while state leaders like Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, said their states will not comply. ‘Congress never interpreted sex to include sexual orientation or gender identity,’ said Fitzgerald of the N.C. Values Coalition. ‘These new rules are counter to the purpose of Title IX as adopted by Congress.'”
Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article288492541.html
4. ELECTION 2024: Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Republican primary run-off elections
Congratulations to Hal Weatherman and Brad Knott in their Republican primary runoff victories for the offices of Lt. Governor and Congressional District 13!
Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article288478509.html
5. YOU’RE INVITED: 2024 North Carolina Right to Life Rally
We welcome all pro-lifers to attend the upcoming NC Right to Life rally in Raleigh. Come and enjoy a day with those who stand for life, and make your voice heard. The rally will be Saturday, May 18th, at 12:30pm in Halifax Mall (the grassy area behind the NC General Assembly Building).
Read more: https://www.ncrtl.org/rallyandmarch
WEEKLY PRAYER: FREEDOM
LORD, you have blessed us with a spiritual liberty that is so wonderful and beyond description, that it can only be understood through experiencing a life-giving relationship with Christ. However, we also recognize that in your grace, you have blessed our country with a political liberty that enables us to openly proclaim the experience of a life lived in the freedom of the Gospel.
LORD, as individuals and as a nation, may we never take the inalienable right of religious freedom for granted. Right now our country has faced a rapid increase in the number of attacks made against this cherished right. We have seen groups across our public arena increase in boldness and frequency their smears against religious liberty. They claim it is bigotry, when we know it is the security of the greatest of all possible loves.
Be with your people and our country as it continues to protect the constitutional right protected by our nation’s Founders. Be with legislators and the Supreme Court, as they determine through their actions the protection of this particular and fundamental freedom.
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.” (1 Peter 2:16)
Amen
Tami & Team
NC Values
