TRUMPET NOTES: March 30, 2022

Lake Hamilton School Board Stops Opening Meetings With Prayer

Earlier this month, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) reported it had successfully stopped the Lake Hamilton School District in Garland County from opening school board meetings with prayer.

In an article dated March 2, the atheist organization wrote, “A concerned parent from Lake Hamilton School District in Arkansas contacted FFRF regarding prayer at school board meetings; a subsequent review of board meeting minutes confirmed that board meetings were consistently opened with prayer.

“Board members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way, Heineman wrote to the legal counsel for the school board a few weeks ago. However, by praying at official meetings, the school board lends its power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement. And, FFRF pointed out, prayer also alienates nonreligious Americans who make up the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification — 35% of Americans are non-Christians, including more than one in four Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated.

“The board has quickly responded to FFRF’s missive. Counsel for the board replied that ‘prayer has been removed from the standard agenda.’”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has bullied a school district in Arkansas.

In March of 2017, the organization threatened to sue the Harrison School Board for opening board meetings with prayer. School board members voted unanimously to keep praying despite the FFRF’s threat.

In December of 2019, Pea Ridge Public Schools suspended public prayer at school board meetings and ballgames following a complaint from the FFRF.

More generally, in 2013 the group threatened legal action against Conway public schools who were letting local youth ministers visit members of their youth groups during lunch at school, and the foundation has complained repeatedly about the fact that Arkansas law lets public schools offer academic courses on the Bible.

The FFRF also is one of the groups suing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Capitol lawn.

The U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts have ruled time and time again that it is constitutional for public meetings to begin with prayer.

It’s worth noting that groups like the FFRF tend to threaten lawsuits. If people stand their ground, these organizations rarely follow through by filing lawsuits. (familycouncil.org)

Adidas Cheerfully Celebrating Destruction of Women’s Sports?

In its latest US-based television commercial, Adidas features Brazilian trans volleyball player and activist Tiffany Abreu as he competes on a woman’s team and dominates the game with his vastly stronger physical male body.

As part of Adidas’ “I’mPossible” campaign, which discredits fair play and helps eliminate a true women’s sports division, the ad claims, “It’s impossible to take hold of the world’s spotlight overnight” and “compete as a trans woman.” Adidas is doing its part to make it happen… and they are trying to convince you to accept it.

Ironically, Adidas has a history of proclaiming its support for women’s rights and women’s athletics. Now it is pushing a totally opposite agenda that advocates men on women’s teams. Adidas wants it both ways, but it’s logically impossible.

Under Adidas’ “woke” agenda, it will champion men like college swimmer Will Thomas, a biological male who is singlehandedly rewriting long-standing NCAA women’s swimming records set by actual women.

On Adidas’ YouTube channel, the ad has had more than 27 million views, but only 913 “likes.” On the contrary, almost every one of the 2,097 comments are critical of Adidas’ decision to support men competing in women’s sports.

Adidas has chosen to ignore logic, science and common sense when it comes to the physical differences between male and female athletes. (familycouncil.org via OneMillionMoms.com)

Bible Researchers Decipher Earliest Hebrew Inscription

Biblical researchers say they have decoded an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as a “curse tablet,” that predates by centuries any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel. The inscription was found on Mt. Ebal, the mountain of the curse, mentioned in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8.

“Cursed, cursed, cursed — cursed by the God of YHWH, you will die cursed, cursed you will surely die, cursed by YHWH cursed, cursed, cursed,” reads the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text recovered on a small, folded lead tablet, the Associates for Biblical Research announced at a press conference at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston, Texas, on Thursday.

“I believe the amulet dates to the Late Bronze II age, or as early as 1400 BC,” Scott Stripling, ABR’s director of excavations, told The Jerusalem Post.

He added, “This is earlier than many skeptics believe the Bible existed, making this the earliest appearance of the word YHWH in Israel and it was found at a covenant site. The implications are enormous and will reverberate for many years to come.”

The amulet, known as a defixio or curse tablet, came to light in December 2019 when Stripling, also the director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at the Bible Seminary went with his team to wet sift the discarded material from excavations conducted in 1982-1989 in the West Bank

Those excavations were conducted by the late Haifa University archaeology professor Adam Zertal who discovered the altar of Joshua on Mount Ebal near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.

“This amulet and its inscription do not predate the Bible,” Stripling said. “We believe it coincides with the biblical events. We talk about verisimilitude, a consistency between what we read in the text and what we find in the material culture. If the text were true, this is what you would anticipate finding, and indeed, it is what we found.”

Haifa University professor Gershon Galil told The Times of Israel, “This is a text you find only every 1,000 years.”

Some have raised concerns about the claims, with one unnamed academic telling The Times of Israel, “The fact that they are publishing it in the news before being published scientifically is a bit off.”

The Associates for Biblical Research said an academic, peer-reviewed article will be published later this year. The researchers include: Stripling, Galil, Ivana Kumpova, Jaroslav Valach, Pieter Gert van der Veen, Daniel Vavrik and Michal Vopalensky.

According to the Bible, Mount Ebal was the mountain from which the curses were called out for those who broke God’s law when the children of Israel made a covenant with God before entering the land of Israel (Deut. 11:29). (christianpost.com)

Disney Dwarfed by Goofy Transgender Push

Disney has created some iconic villains over the years, but they’ve crossed the line with their latest — Texas. In news no one can believe, the company synonymous with children has decided to pick a fight with a state protecting them. The announcement, which came on March 21, is just the latest stop on CEO Bob Chapek’s apology tour after he failed to defend transgenderism in Florida soon enough for the radical mob’s liking. Now, after two weeks of penance that’s included everything from multi-million-dollar LGBT donations to the formation of a gay and transgender task force, Disney is the closest its ever been to a final break with American parents — and reality.

The Bob Chapek who said corporate statements on politics are “counterproductive” is a changed man from early March. Now, after being brought to heel by the radical fringe that holds Disney hostage, the company’s woke agenda is overshadowing everything else. “We know the moment requires urgency, and words are not enough,” Chapek told Disney employees at a virtual townhall. But this latest step, vowing “action” against Texas Republicans who want to stop children from mutilating their bodies or taking life-altering drugs, is such a political escalation that even conservatives didn’t see coming.

“When I read the article,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said, he wondered what possible “action” Chapek could possibly mean. “What is Disney going to do in Texas?” he asked on “Washington Watch.” “We’re following our state law. Unless they want to come in and un-elect our legislature... As powerful as they may be, I don’t think they have the ability to change state law in Texas — not that I know of.” He, like most people, is stunned the company is even trying. “It’s shocking to me. We’re talking about children (pressing pause) on an irrevocable decision” that could haunt them the rest of their life.

Meanwhile, inside Disney, there’s a growing outrage over the company’s far-Left agenda. In a kingdom of 203,000 employees, the 100 who staged a walkout over transgenderism may have grabbed national headlines, but they’re a fraction of the men and women who are quietly seething over the combative activism that’s violating their values. In an open letter, members of the Disney team blast Chapek for making it “an increasingly uncomfortable place to work” for anyone whose “political and religious beliefs are not explicitly progressive.”

“Over the last few weeks, we have watched as our leadership has expressed their condemnation for laws and policies we support. We have watched as our colleagues, convinced that no one in the company could possibly disagree with them, grow increasingly aggressive in their demands. They insist that (Disney) take a strong stance on, not only this issue, but other legislation and openly advocate for the punishment of employees who disagree with them.

“Employees who want (Disney) to make Left-wing political statements are encouraged, while those of us who want the company to remain neutral can say so only in a whisper out of fear of professional retaliation. The company we love seems to think we don’t exist or don’t belong here... Furthermore, as this politicization makes its way into our content and public messaging, our more conservative customers will feel similarly unwanted. You can only preach at or vilify your audience for so long before they decide to spend their money elsewhere.”

In some corners, that movement has already begun. Ben Shapiro, furious at the company for catering to its wokest base, declared, “It’s time for the market pushback to begin.” “If you want entertainment that is going to cater to your children, we’re going to start making kids content over here at Daily Wire specifically so that you don’t have to [support] companies that hate your guts and cater to people who despise your values.”

There was also backlash from a handful of brave Disney stars. Natasha Ward, star of the Disney-owned “Station 19” posted that “Supporting trans freedom does not mean it’s okay to violate the rights of biological women.” When “other people’s truth infringes on fact and places an undue burden, which displaces my rights, we have gone too far,” she argued.

Other conservatives are infiltrating shareholder meetings and confronting Chapek personally. Justin Danhof, director of the Free Enterprise Project, bought a single share of stock at several Fortune 500 companies just for the right to attend meetings and challenge the political status quo. That came in especially handy this week, as Disney hosted investors during one of the most contentious weeks in recent memory. “To attend a shareholder meeting of a publicly-traded company, you need to own a whopping one share of that company,” Danhof explained. “So if you’re upset at Coca-Cola for an action they’ve taken, I think it’s like $58 these days buys you admission to the shareholder meeting.”

Most of Disney’s legitimate investors — the ones who are in it to make money — aren’t in lockstep with the company’s politics, Danhof said. “But the vast majority of activist investors who show up, they’re pushing their affinity issues from the LGBTQ community, and they’re doing it in very large numbers. But I’m encouraged,” he insisted. “There are more voices on the Right than there ever have been.” He compares it to the parents’ movement in education. “They’re taking over school boards. They’re recalling terrible members because they want to protect their children... But just know that you can do the same thing in the corporate arena as well — because corporate America wants to control what your children see (too). And believe me, they want to corrupt your family and your culture. So, you can fight in the schools — but you can also fight at the corporate level.”

And judging by their actions, Disney would be the perfect place to start. (Family Research Council, frc.org)