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.
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1. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Mary Summa Op-Ed: NC Prolifers Demand a Voice in RNC Platform
Republican National Convention’s Platform Committee, and those pro-life groups running interference for it, should reconsider their position on stripping language on abortion from the final platform. North Carolina’s pro-life community, and pro-lifers across the nation, will not be ignored.
Read more: https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/nc-prolifers-demand-a-voice-in-rnc-platform/
2. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Pronoun police? Wake County schools adopt Biden’s new Title IX gender language policies
“The Wake County Public School System passed policy changes Tuesday night that will more broadly define “sex-based harassment” that critics worry could potentially open the door to pronoun policing. The policy will rephrase sexual harassment to sex-based harassment, potentially punishing people who don’t comply with proper pronoun usage. Wake County School District policies prohibit discrimination, harassment, and bullying already, but the new revisions are in response to the Biden administration’s changes to the definition of sex in Title IX.”
Click here to watch some of the statements we made at the meeting.
3. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Slides labeling Pro-Life groups terrorists used for 7 years at Fort Liberty
“Training slides labeling Pro-Life Americans as terrorists have been used for at least seven years for terrorism training at Fort Liberty (formerly known as Fort Bragg), according to a letter that North Carolina Republican US Senator Ted Budd received from the US Army.
Budd and Congressman Richard Hudson, R, NC-09, led a group of 88 members of the Senate and House of Representatives, including Republican North Carolina US Sen. Thom Tillis and Republican Congressmen Greg Murphy, NC-03, Patrick McHenry, NC-10, David Rouzer, NC-07, and Chuck Edwards, NC-11, in signing and sending a letter last Friday to Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth, demanding answers as to why anti-terrorism training conducted at Ft. Liberty, depicts Pro-Life Americans as terrorists.”
4. YOU’RE INVITED: Calling all parents with students waitlisted for the Opportunity Scholarship
As you know, the legislature has failed to reach an agreement on fully funding the 58,000+ students left unfunded by the Opportunity Scholarship, despite legislators’ statements that they would ensure we had universal school choice in North Carolina.
A group of concerned parents, unaffiliated with NC Values or any other organization, have come together to hold a rally and press conference on July 31 at 10 a.m. on the Halifax Mall. The House and Senate will be in session that day, and the goal is to encourage the two chambers to pass legislation that will fully fund all the students left out of the Universal Opportunity Scholarship, because there is not enough money appropriated to fund the waitlist. If you are one of the many parents whose children are on the waitlist for Opportunity Scholarship funding, would you consider joining them on July 31st for the rally?
WHAT: Parents with Students Waitlisted for the Opportunity Scholarship Rally/Press Conference
WHEN: July 31, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Halifax Mall, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC
WHY: To urge the legislature to fully fund the Opportunity Scholarship before the clock runs out
HOW: RSVP by texting: 252-299-2326. For more information, visit https://keepyourpromise.substack.com/.
If you are not a parent, or cannot attend in person, but would still like to help these families out, would you consider taking a couple minutes to use this click-to-call tool to easily call your legislators and ask them to support funding the Opportunity Scholarship?
5. LIFE SITE NEWS: John Deere abandons most of its woke corporate policies after backlash from conservatives
“John Deere says it will cease participation in ‘external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events’; refocus its Business Resource Groups back toward employment matters; and audit all its training materials to remove ‘socially motivated messages.'”
WEEKLY PRAYER: RNC PRAYER BY NEAL JACKSON
Heavenly Father,
We thank you for your many blessings upon the United States of America. Your provisions for this land, your protection of this land, and your promotion of this land is undeniable.
You said in your word, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” We claim this promise for America, believing that You desire to bless and prosper our country as we acknowledge You and Your ways.
Father forgive us, for when we have strayed from Your commandments and grant us mercy.
Tonight, we ask that you would protect our country from those who would seek to harm it and our citizens. Thank you for our protection of President Trump against the many attacks leveled against him but especially against the attack this past Saturday.
We pray for our military, our police officers, and our fire fighters, and all of our first responders as they risk their lives so we can continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
As Joshua was commanded to be strong and courageous, may You raise up a generation of leaders across this land who will honor You and govern with integrity.
We ask these things in the name that is above every name, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
Tami & Team
NC Values
