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Kansas House narrowly defeats state Religious Freedom Restoration Act
In something of a surprise move, the Kansas House rejected a Religious Freedom Restoration Act that would ordered local governments to "not substantially burden a person's or group's exercise of religion." "The bill had been given preliminary approval Wednesday on a 65-58 vote," The Kansas City Star reports (the bill needed 63 to pass). "Within 24 hours, [the bill] had lost four votes. The final vote was 61-59."

"The arguments were the same this year as last year" when the bill passed, said Rep. Dan Williams, who sponsored the measure. The defeat, he told the Associated Press, "makes no sense."

The bill would have faced a tougher time in the Senate, where last year's bill languished and died. Twelve states have adopted similar measures since 1997, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal version of the bill.

Meanwhile, the Kansas House is considering another bill that would require the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to regulate abortion clinics' facilities, equipment, personnel, patient screening, abortion procedures and incident reporting.

Focus on the Family calls for boycott of Big Brothers-Big Sisters
Focus on the Family devoted its radio program yesterday to discussing mentoring (audio), and one of its main points was calling for a boycott of mentor program Big Brothers-Big Sisters for its mandating local chapters to allow homosexuals to work with children in the program.

"The national leadership of Big Brothers has received a landslide of criticism from parents, pro-family groups, members of Congress and even its own local directors," Focus Vice President Bill Maier said. "But they stubbornly refuse to reconsider this ill-advised policy, choosing instead to appease homosexual pressure groups at the expense of the well being of the children they serve."

"This sort of thing is going to hurt kids because without funding we have to let staff go and limit our number of mentors," Robin Rogers, executive director of Colorado Springs Big Brothers-Big Sisters, told the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Noreen Shanfelter, a spokeswoman for the national office, said that Focus isn't right. "These are the same allegations—false allegations" that have been around for a while, she said. "We don't have any policy that requires agencies to match homosexuals with children. We have a nondiscrimination policy."

In fact, says Rogers, the organization gets parents' approval before assigning a gay mentor to their child.

But Focus on the Family President James Dobson says it's the nondiscrimination policy that's troubling. "I have supported Big Brothers Big Sisters for years, but the well being of children is too important to ignore," he says. "It is unfortunate that such a reputable organization has resorted to playing political games with America's children caught in the crosshairs. I hope that even now Big Brothers-Big Sisters will reassess their dangerous policy."

The call has sparked reaction from Big Brothers-Big Sisters organizations around the country.

War and Iraq:

• Seeking a 'sensible midpoint' | On rare occasions, the alternatives to war are worse than war (William R. Bouknight, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)
  
  
• 'The call to be peacemakers is not optional' | We cannot make the universe or our planet safer through violence (Barbara A. Holmes, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)
  
  
• 'War is such an intoxicating elixir' | War shifts food from the mouths of our children, education from their brains, and medicine from the veins of our elderly citizens (Frank A. Thomas, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47