To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Vermont: House says 'yes' to civil unions
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 07:46:15 -0500

Friday, March 17, 2000

House says 'yes' to civil unions
By JACK HOFFMAN

Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER - Callers overwhelmed the Statehouse telephone
system this morning with messages of protest against the
House vote to expand legal benefits to gay and lesbian
couples.

Sergeant at Arms Kermit Spaulding said the calls had
swamped the three lines coming into his office and some
people had contacted Bell Atlantic when they couldn't get
through.

Spaulding said the calls, mostly from Vermonters, were
"110 percent against" the action taken by the House
Wednesday to establish "civil unions" for same-sex couples,
which would provide the legal benefits and protections of
marriage but would not be called marriage.

The bill, in fact, includes a statement that marriage is
defined as a union between a man and a woman.

After more than eight hours of debate Wednesday, the House
voted 79-68 to give preliminary approval to the civil
unions bill. The bill will be up for a final vote later
today, but the House was considering additional amendments
presented this morning.

Opponents and supporters of the measure spent the morning
negotiating changes possible changes. The latest proposal
was to amend Vermont's existing marriage statutes to
explicitly define marriage as a union between a man and a
woman.

Another amendment could be offered that would prohibit
Vermont from recognizing same-sex marriages approved in
other states. Currently, no state allows same-sex marriage,
and about 30 states have passed laws prohibiting
recognition of same-gender marriages from other states.

Wednesday's debate evoked strong passions from both
supporters and opponents of benefits for same-sex couples.
The speeches and exchanges among 148 House members who took
part in the debate reflected the wide range of opinion that
Vermonters have expressed in public hearings, letters to
the editor and in conversations throughout the state.

"If this passes it will mark the beginning of the end of
life in Vermont as I have known it for 56 years," said Rep.
George R. Allard, D-St. Albans Town.

"I truly feel sorry for the state of Vermont," said Rep.
Nancy Sheltra, R-Derby. "We're really putting ourselves in
a dangerous position of judgment from the Almighty God."

--- More ---

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/5212.html

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Snake with legs fossil found
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 08:32:10 -0500

*** Snake with legs fossil found

WASHINGTON (AP) - A team of researchers has reached into a dusty
drawer and pulled out a snake with legs. The discovery could
upset at least some theories about the evolution of snakes. The
fossil had been sitting in the museum drawer at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem since the death in the early 1980s of
researcher Georg Haas, said Olivier Rieppel of the Field Museum
in Chicago. A team of researchers led by Rieppel rediscovered
the fossil and gave it a scientific description and official
name - Haasiophis terrasanctus - in Friday's issue of the
journal Science. The snake's legs aren't much to brag about.
They are too small in relation to the animal's body to have any
function in moving the snake, Rieppel said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2565008564-aa1

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - ReligionToday News Summary for Friday, March 17, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 08:55:56 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------

          C U R R E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y
              by the Editors of ReligionToday

March 17, 2000

Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar (see link #1 below) won't be going
to jail for refusing to testify at the divorce trial of boxer
Evander Holyfield. Dollar, president of World Changers Ministries (see
link #2 below), had counseled Holyfield and his wife, and said he
couldn't violate the pastor-parishioner privilege. Dollar's order to
testify was being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court when Holyfield's
lawyers announced that the case has been settled out of court. Janice
Holyfield's attorneys wanted to know how much money her husband
donated to the ministry shortly before filing for divorce.

Students can pray at high school graduations in Duval County,
Fla. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled March 15 that
the school board's policy allowing student-led prayer is
constitutional.
...Seniors vote on whether they want a message delivered at
graduation ceremonies, then select which student should give it.
That two-minute message is not censored by the school system. The
ruling affects ceremonies in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Families
that sued the school system are considering appealing the case to the
U.S. Supreme Court. ..."The total absence of state involvement in
deciding whether there will be a graduation message, who will speak,
or what the speaker may say, combined with the student speaker's
complete autonomy over the content of the message convinces us that
the message delivered, be it secular or sectarian or both, is not
state-sponsored," Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus said.

Utah will appoint a "pornography czar" to regulate sexually
explicit materials. The heavily Mormon state is the first to do
so, The New York Times said. A deputy attorney general will
become an ombudsman for complaints about obscenity and
pornography when Gov. Michael Leavitt signs the bill March 17.
..."If a state legislature is looking for a way to improve the
world, this is not an illogical way to do it," Leavitt, a
Republican, said. The bill, passed almost unanimously, gives the
ombudsman responsibility for advising municipal governments about
pornography laws, helping draft local ordinances, and prosecuting
violations. ...The office has a $75,000 budget, which will be doubled
in its second year. Some say the position is largely symbolic because
it does not have authority over pornography on the Internet or cable
television, the Times said. Proliferation of sexual materials on the
Internet has caused legislators across the country to take a closer
look at regulating the pornography businesses, Wayne Giampietro of the
First Amendment Lawyers Association said.

The controversial television show God, the Devil and Bob may be
canceled soon. NBC said it probably will air only a few more of
the 13 episodes it ordered, then cancel the show, reports said.
Seventeen stations are refusing to broadcast the show, which
depicts God looking like a hippy, drinking beer, and cursing,
said Variety, an entertainment industry publication. Its debut
last week was met with mediocre ratings and protests from
Christian and Muslim groups. Stations in Utah, Indiana,
Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri will not
air the second episode Tuesday.
...Some religious people oppose the show because they are afraid
to examine their faith, Harvey Myman, executive producer, said.

A preacher raised a furor at Florida's state legislature. Daryl
Orman of the First Baptist Church in Stuart offended
abortion-rights advocates and non-Christian members of the House
when he led the session's opening prayer, asking God to give
legislators the desire to "protect the unborn," and closed the
prayer by invoking the name of Jesus Christ, news reports said.
Lawmakers immediately complained to Art Argenio, the
newly-elected representative who had invited Orman.
..."I was offended as a woman who believes in reproductive rights and
a member of another faith that does not pray to Jesus Christ, and it
was inappropriate for that prayer to be in this chamber," Rep. Debbie
Wasserman Schultz said. Argenio apologized to Schultz, but said more
people complimented than criticized Orman. ...Orman ignored guidelines
that recommend avoiding political issues and "religious sectarianism."
He said he didn't read the guidelines because "when I speak to the
Lord I want to speak unfettered. I think the thought police need to
give up and recognize that this is the United States of America. When
we talk to the Lord, we should be allowed to do it as freely as our
forefathers did 200 years ago."

Bob Jones University put a statement calling Catholicism and
Mormonism "cults" (see link #3 below) back up on its web site.
The statement had been removed, but the South Carolina school's
president, Bob Jones III, told the Greenville News March 15 that
reports that implied the school was backing down were "totally
misleading." In his statement, Jones says, "The diminution of
evangelistic enterprise to cults which call themselves Christian,
including Catholicism and Mormonism, is frightening." He said the
statement will stay on the site "as long as this present controversy
exists."

-----------
RELATED LINKS:
1: http://www.religiontoday.com/Archive/NewsSummary/view.cgi?file=20000309.brf.html

2: http://www.worldchangers.org/

3: http://www.bju.edu/aboutbju/president/index.html

-----------
Current Feature Story from ReligionToday:

   Congregation uncorks "church-in-a-bar"

   A church service in a bar? It's happening in Southern
   California.

Read more at http://religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

-----------
Today in LiveIt!

   "Opposites Attract: : What husbands object to most about their
   wives"

   Part two of a two-part series on the differing
   temperaments of husbands and wives. Today Live It! is
   about husbands' objections to their wifes' behaviors.

Read more at http://liveit.crosswalk.com/family/mfam20000317.html

-----------
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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - What's New at BPR?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 11:03:07 -0500

Bible Prophecy Research
Additions and updates made since Mar 02, 2000
Issue #42
March 17, 2000
===================

Hello everyone...

Here are a couple of new files we've added to the site.

> Added: Biblical Calculations
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Misc_Studies/ms058.htm

Moza has put together a summary of the various
methodologies dealing with mathematical or numerological
findings in the Bible such as Gematria, Theomatics, The
Constellation Code, and others. She references and reviews
several books and sources of interest.

-----

> Added: Menorah
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Misc_Studies/ms059.htm

A look at the description, shape, meaning, significance,
and relevance of this truly amazing symbol of Judaism.

===================
BOOK RECOMMENDATION

The God-Code and Creation
by Jonathan Lawton Hammond

Author's website: http://www.wordofgod.com

Jonathan Lawton Hammond has written a fascinating book
that deals with 7 numbers that have special relationships.

The 4 Perfect Numbers:

3 = Divine Perfection
7 = Spiritual Perfection
10 = Ordinal Perfection
12 = Governmental Perfection

The 3 Universal Numbers:

21 = Within God
22 = Of God
37 = Word of God

He shows instances where these numbers can be found in the
Bible text itself (1 John 5:7, Genesis 1:1), in the makeup
of atoms, in quark theory, visible light, environmental and
body temperature, DNA, RNA and the immune system. There is
an overwhelming correlation between these numbers and what
is built-in to our world. The book also delves into what
life was like before the Fall (why do we have hair on our
bodies?), pyramid calculations, Lost Tribes of Israel with
a special emphasis on the US and the numbers 8 and 9. Nice
graphics, recommended. This book is a diamond in the
rough...with a heart of gold. -- Moza

Please see our Reference Guide for more info and a
synopsis at:
http://philologos.org/guide/books/hammond.jonathan.1.htm

===================
Bible Prophecy Research: http://philologos.org/bpr
Download Online Books: http://philologos.org
The BPR Reference Guide: http://philologos.org/guide

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