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.
1. NEWS & OBSERVER: Will NC schools limit LGBTQ discussion? It rests on this year’s legislative elections.
“‘If the Republicans have the votes to override a veto, this will be one of their top priorities,’ Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, said in an interview. ‘I encourage parents to go out and vote for people who believe they have the right to determine the education for their children and not the activists in schools.’”
2. NC VALUES: 🚪 Over 345,000 doors knocked by SBA Pro-Life America
It is especially important this year for pro-life voters to vote for pro-life candidates. Any pro-life legislation passed by the General Assembly is dead on arrival once it reaches Governor Cooper’s desk. That’s why we need to elect a pro-life veto-proof majority in the General Assembly this year.
In November, that needed veto-proof majority may come down to just a couple of competitive State House and Senate seats (some that may even be in your own backyard).
This is why we’re so focused this year on the election. Our pro-life voter-education partnership is already making a huge impact. 🚪Incredibly, the SBA Pro-Life America canvassing team have knocked on over 345,000 doors this election!
They are still looking to recruit several new pro-life field representatives. In addition to helping protect their values, individuals will receive $15-$20/hr, $0.30/mile reimbursement, and flexible hours. If you—or someone you may know—are interested, visit hiringprolife.com.
3. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Cooper signs $27.9 billion budget into law
“Gov. Roy Cooper signed the state’s $27.9 billion General Fund budget into law Monday afternoon. He had until the end of the day to either sign it, let it become law on its own, or veto it.”
The budget also included $2,500,000 in non-recurring funding for ten pregnancy care centers. The appropriation will be made directly to the following pregnancy care centers:
- Davie Pregnancy Care Center, Inc. $260,000
- Heartbeats – A Pregnancy Care Center, Inc. $325,000
- Open Arms Pregnancy Support Services, Inc. $500,000
- Salem Pregnancy Support Center, Inc. $100,000
- H.E.L.P. Center, Inc. $150,000
- Cabarrus Women’s Center, Inc. $250,000
- Coastal Pregnancy Care Center, Inc. $250,000
- Havelock Pregnancy Resource Center $250,000
- Eastern Pregnancy Information Clinic $250,000
- International Athletes’ Abolition Mission, $250,000 to support 1st Choice Pregnancy Resources of Pamlico County
4. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Opportunity Scholarships get a boost in new N.C. budget
“The revised budget being considered this week by the North Carolina General Assembly would increase funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program and raise income thresholds needed to qualify.
The budget puts an extra $56 million into the reserve fund for the scholarships, which are designed to give low- and moderate-income families the opportunity to leave their locally zoned public school and attend a private school that is a better fit for their children.
The spending plan also raises the income limit to qualify from 175% of the federal free- and reduced- lunch program amount to 200%. The change means that a family of four could qualify for the scholarship earning up to $102,676 per year, while the previous upper limit was $89,842.”
5.SBA PRO-LIFE AMERICA: Majority of Voters Oppose Democrats’ Extreme Abortion Agenda
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America slammed Democrats’ extreme abortion agenda including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for another vote on H.R. 8296, the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation better known as the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act. New national polling conducted by this month by OnMessage Inc. and released today by SBA Pro-Life America finds the bill’s provisions are deeply unpopular:
- 70% of voters oppose abortion without restrictions, including majorities of both pro-choice and pro-life voters.
- 63% of voters disapprove of legislation that would overturn nearly all state-level prohibitions on abortion, even limits on late-terms abortion.
Reflecting on the poll, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser offered the following comment:
“Pro-abortion Democrats are dramatically out of touch with a majority of Americans who reject abortion extremism. Already in this new Dobbs era, more than a dozen states have implemented life-saving protections for unborn children and their mothers. Yet Democrats and the abortion industry are spreading fear and lies about the Dobbs decision to push their unpopular, unsafe agenda – including the deceptively named Women’s Health Protection Act. This legislation, which has already failed three times, would enshrine a virtually unlimited ‘right’ to abortion in federal law and block new and existing pro-life laws.”
WEEKLY PRAYER: LIBERTY
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
North Carolina Values Coalition
