Family Council Honors Arkansas’ Longest-Married Couple
On Sunday, April 24, Family Council honored Arkansas’ Longest Married Couple, Cleovis and Arwilda Whiteside of White Hall, for their 82 years of marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Whiteside have been married since July 24, 1939.
Sunday’s ceremony took place at the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in White Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Whiteside received awards from Family Council honoring their lifetime commitment to one another. The couple also gave interviews to members of the media who were present. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson also issued a special letter recognizing the couple’s milestone.
Family Council recognized the Whitesides as Arkansas’ Longest-Married couple in 2019 and one of the state’s couples who had been married the longest in 2018. Besides the Whitesides, Family Council also recently recognized the Top Ten Longest-Married Couples in Arkansas. (familycouncil.org)
Fulton County Quorum Court Passes Pro-Life Resolution
On April 18, the Fulton County Quorum Court unanimously passed a resolution affirming the county is Pro-Life. Fulton County joins a growing list of Pro-Life Communities in Arkansas after the Arkansas Legislature enacted Act 392 of 2021 by Rep. Kendon Underwood (R/Cave Springs) and Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R/Branch) last year. Act 392 also says that Pro-Life Communities can install signs or banners announcing that they are Pro-Life.
To date, 20 counties and 12 cities and towns have passed resolutions affirming that they are Pro-Life. Benton, Washington, Crawford, Cleburne, Pope, Jackson, Saline, Faulkner, Perry, Sebastian, Lee, White, Prairie, Searcy, Carrol, Newton, Boone, Hot Spring, and Madison counties have adopted Pro-Life resolutions. Pro-Life Cities in Arkansas include Marianna, Russellville, Springdale, LaGrange, Moro, Aubrey, Haynes, Marshall, Western Grove, Leslie, Tontitown, and Jasper. (familycouncil.org)
Marijuana PAC Giving Thousands To Arkansas Candidates
Reports from the Grow PAC show that, since Jan. 1, the marijuana industry has given thousands of dollars to candidates running for office in Arkansas. Grow PAC represents the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association, a trade association for medical marijuana in Arkansas. The political action committee’s quarterly financial report filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State indicates that from Jan. 1 through March 31 of this year, Grow donated $16,000 to candidates for office in Arkansas.
The report also shows that Delta Medical Cannabis in Newport and Good Day Farm Arkansas in Pine Bluff each gave the PAC $5,000 during that time. (familycouncil.org)
Global Family Tree “Traced” To Noah’s Sons
One question puzzled Answers in Genesis researcher and biologist Nathaniel T. Jeanson for decades — what was going on in pre-Columbus America before Europeans arrived? In finding answers, he traced his ancestry to Joktan, a great-grandson of Noah’s son Shem, introduced in Gen. 10:25. Jeanson points to a global generational family tree anchored in analyses of the Y chromosome.
In Traced: Human DNA’s Big Surprise, his book released in March, Jeanson uses research papers he co-authored, along with previously published data and historical accounts in reaching his conclusions. The very nature of DNA enabled Jeanson’s work.
“The principle behind this involved two concepts: DNA naturally records a record of our ancestry and because the Y chromosome changes (mutates) every generation, DNA also records the passage of generations — the passage of time,” Jeanson explained. “Ancestry and time are the two key elements found in traditional family trees; the fact that DNA can also record these two elements of history allows it to be used as a surrogate for a family tree.”
Armed with a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University, Jeanson augmented science with evidence such as the established history of peoples and regions of the globe, archaeology and linguistics. Jeanson describes Traced as a testament to the Bible’s veracity.
The book purports a complex history that discredits the notion of race and with it, racial superiority or inferiority. Pre-Columbia America was ethnically dynamic, Jeanson said, as was all of creation since the flood.
The scientifically heady book includes summaries of key findings at the end of each chapter and is supported with 235 color plates. The Y chromosomal connection to Noah’s sons, dynamic ethnic changes and confirmation of the timeframe of creation spanning 6,000 years are among the book’s key findings.
Jeanson encourages Christians not to be embarrassed to believe that mankind was created 6,000 years ago, although Scripture does not include detailed historical accounts of all mankind. (baptistpress.com)
Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Coach Kennedy’s Right to Pray
On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case in which a high school football coach was fired for silently praying on the field after games. Most of the Justices seemed favorable to Coach Kennedy’s arguments.
Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in support of coach Joe Kennedy, an 18-year Marine veteran. On January 18, 2022, Liberty Counsel presented an oral argument in a separate case, Shurtleff v. City of Boston. In that case, like in the Coach Kennedy case, the government argued that what otherwise appears to be private speech is government speech. Following the argument in Shurtleff, it appeared clear that the Justices were not sympathetic to the argument that the government could claim private speech is actually government speech and thereby censor it. Although not as clear in today’s argument involving Coach Kennedy, it appears the Justices were skeptical of the school district’s claim that Coach Kennedy’s speech was government speech.
The High Court focused on two questions: Whether a public school employee who says a brief, quiet prayer by himself while at school and visible to students is engaged in government speech that lacks any First Amendment protection; and whether, assuming that such religious expression is private and protected by the free speech and free exercise clauses, the establishment clause nevertheless compels public schools to prohibit it.
In his argument, Kennedy frames the question before the justices as whether his “brief, quiet prayer” at the 50-yard line is protected by the First Amendment and, if it is, whether public schools can nonetheless prohibit it to avoid violating the establishment clause. The Constitution protects prayer and both public school teachers and their students “do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’”
On the other hand, Bremerton School District counters with the argument that when Kennedy prayed at the 50-yard-line after games, everyone saw him as a coach and serving as a “mentor and role model.” Since Kennedy was acting as a government employee at that moment, the district argues that his speech was government speech not protected by the First Amendment.
Although not crystal clear, a majority of Justices appeared to lean in favor of Coach Kennedy. The attorney for Bremerton High School had a difficult time responding to Justice Gorsuch’s question about whether a coach doing the sign of the cross was government speech which the district could restrict. Justice Thomas and others pressed the question of whether the district would censor a person kneeling for non-religious reasons. (lifenews.com)
