Homeschooling and Parental Rights Under Attack in California

Homeschooling and Parental Rights Under Attack in Californiaby Chris Banescu –

Declaring that “parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” the Second District Court of Appeal for the state of California recently issued a ruling that effectively bans families from homeschooling their children and threatens parents with criminal penalties for daring to do so. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) this court decision has made “almost all forms of homeschooling in California” a violation of state law. Once again our judicial system moves to restrict religious and personal liberties, severely limit parental rights, and significantly increase the power, scope, and control of the state over our lives.

There are approximately 166,000 homeschooled children in California. With the stroke of a pen the appellate court criminalized the lawful educational choices of tens of thousands of innocent families across the state, subjected them to possible fines, and labeled their children as potential truants. This activist court chose to bypass the will of the people and legislated from the bench based on anecdotal evidence and its own clearly biased and subjective opinions about the constitutionality of parental rights and the quality of a homeschooled education. [Read more…]

Of Mice and Men, Science Mimics Creation

BlueGene L supercomputerby Chris Banescu –

As scientific research and advancements, supported by increasingly more powerful computer technologies, delve into the vast complexities of biological organisms, the handiwork and genius of their Creator become more obvious and irrefutable. Recent experiments by researchers using a computer generated “cortical simulator” designed to duplicate a miniscule fraction of the functions of a mouse brain illustrate the immense structural sophistication and the enormous intricacies inherent in all living creatures.

In February 2007 scientists from IBM’s Almaden Research Lab and the University of Nevada used the BlueGene/L supercomputer, equipped with 4,096 processors each using 256MB of memory (for a total of 1 Terabyte (TB) of memory), to run a simulation that attempted to mimic one second’s worth of the processes of half a mouse brain. The “massively parallel cortical simulator” recreated the equivalent of 8,000,000 neurons with 6,300 synapses each, inside the 1 TB main memory of the system. Despite such massive computing power, the vast complexity of the simulation required that the experiment run for a full ten seconds in order to simulate just one second of real time mouse brain activity. [Read more…]

Mere Christianity, Essential Precepts of the Christian Faith

Mere Christianity, Essential Precepts of the Christian FaithBook Review by Chris Banescu

C.S. Lewis is one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century and probably the most down-to-earth theologian that Western civilization has produced. His eloquent and reasoned defense of the core beliefs and truths of the Christian faith are truly awe-inspiring and timeless.

Lewis is an expert at making complex theological issues accessible and understandable by everyone, believers and non-believers alike. The profound and life-changing effects his writings have had on many generations bear witness to the clarity of thought, grace, and wisdom this author has bestowed upon his audience.

A master at appealing to logic and presenting issues in a whole new light, Lewis is not afraid to boldly and bluntly proclaim the obvious. An agnostic in his younger years, Lewis understood the objections of non-believers and dealt with their arguments head on.

Jesus Christ is God, Not Just a Moral Teacher
Perhaps one of his most well-known observations, recorded in the pages of Mere Christianity, concerns the “foolish” ideas people hold regarding Christ: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” [Read more…]

The ACLU vs. America, Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values

Book Review by Chris Banescu

In The ACLU vs. America, authors Alan Sears and Craig Osten argue that despite its carefully cultivated image as a defender of individual “rights” and advocate for “the people,” the American Civil Liberties Union stands for intellectual elitism, hypocrisy, and a blatant disregard for democratic processes. The ACLU, write Sears and Osten, wants “one set of rules for itself” and the ability to dictate “other rules for everyone else.” These malevolent and destructive traits are not a new development in the history of the ACLU, but represent the dominant characteristics of its members. The book focuses on key cases and positions the ACLU has supported and promoted in order to drastically affect the American cultural landscape and impose the extreme views of its members on the rest of the country.

One of the great myths about the ACLU is that it “started out as a good, pro-America, pro-liberty organization that somehow got off the track.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. From its very foundation the mission of the ACLU was well defined by its founder, Roger Baldwin:

“I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class… Communism is the goal.”

[Read more…]

Church Groups Foggy Up Stem Cell Initiative

by Chris Banescu

Another campaign of stem cell disinformation and misdirection is in full swing in California. The sponsors of Proposition 71, the “California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act,” are promoting a measure that would allow researchers a constitutional right to experiment on embryonic stem cells, and equip them with almost $3 billion in public funds. The drafters of this initiative have cunningly phrased their proposition to purposely avoid using the words “embryo” or “embryonic.” Hoping to obfuscate the real biological issues at hand, supporters of Proposition 71 are deliberately trying to circumvent an honest debate on the issues and legalize research on human embryos without the public’s full understanding of the truth.

On July 8, the California Council of Churches issued a press release titled “California Church IMPACT Endorses Proposition 71.” The announcement touted the measure — slated to appear on the November 2004 ballot — as providing much needed funds and support for “the development of lifesaving therapies and cures for diseases that could save the lives of millions of California children and adults.” [Read more…]

The Parable of the Missing Samaritan

Parable of the Missing Samaritanby Chris Banescu

A certain Orthodox parish was on her journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven, but on her way she fell among thieves, who chased away the good shepherd guarding her flock, stripped her of the fullness of life that she is called to represent and support, wounded her, scattered her sheep, and departed, leaving her half dead.

The sheep inside cried out pleading for help and mercy, yet their cries were ignored by the hirelings. Even when the sheep began to scatter the hireling shepherds did little to protect them, choosing instead to admonish the remaining sheep for continuing to cry out.

Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw her, he passed by on the other side. Again, another priest, a Dean, arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. Still hearing the sheep crying he quickened his step and went back to his own country denying ever having seen the wounds or heard the sheep’s cries of anguish.

Likewise a Bishop, hearing about her plight refused to even come down the road and neither helped nor comforted the sheep. He remained shuttered in his ivory tower denying she was wounded; choosing instead to admonish and demonize the sheep for crying too loud and disturbing his peace. [Read more…]

Rat Research Hints at God’s Creation

Rats are capable of discerning the rhythms of the human languageby Chris Banescu –

Earlier this year, researchers in Spain made a remarkable scientific discovery. Rats are capable of discerning the rhythms of the human language and can tell the difference between different languages. According to the Reuters story, the “study suggests that animals, especially mammals, evolved some of the skills underlying the use and development of language long before language itself ever evolved.”

There’s only a slight catch with the researchers’ evolutionary explanation. It does not make any sense. Rather than support evolution, these findings actually reinforce the Creation model of the world. The research seems to indicate yet another weakness of the evolutionary model and adds more weight to a growing body of scientific evidence that disproves many aspects of evolution.

Neuroscientists at the University of Barcelona used Dutch and Japanese in conducting their studies on 64 male rats. They chose Dutch and Japanese because these languages are “very different from one another in use of words, rhythm and structure.” According to the story the rats “were trained to respond to either Dutch or Japanese using food as a reward.” The findings were indeed remarkable. [Read more…]