“All Americans should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced to violate their own consciences. That’s no different for Geneva College, a Christian college that simply wants to abide by the very faith it espouses and teaches. The court has done the right thing in allowing Geneva College to offer a student health plan that does not cover abortion pills. The government should not punish people of faith for making decisions consistent with that faith.”

http://www.adfmedia.org/files/GenevaPI.pdf

Early Registration Discount: Save $25 if you apply by May 28.

Open to all High School students (age 15-18).

To apply, register online at www.pafamily.org/application.php.

Click here to watch a video recap of City on the Hill.

For more about City on the Hill, please visit http://www.pafamily.org/coth.php.

Read an interview with past City on the Hill students - click here.

City on the Hill is our annual youth leadership and worldview conference, coming up this summer July 21-27.

On the Lancaster Bible College campus, we spend a week encouraging and equipping high school students to stand for truth and to be salt and light to the world around them.

Two City on the Hill alumni, Elliott Neff (’08, ’09) of Lancaster and Elijah Coryell of Henryville (’09, ’10, ’11), met at our conference. Both held the highest leadership position in City on the Hill – President Pro Tempore – in their final year with us. Their experience began a friendship that has led to currently being roommates while attending Grove City College.

We asked them a few questions about their experience of City on the Hill. Here’s what they had to say:

To apply online: click here.

Watch our promo video too: click here to watch.

With the House Education Committee set to consider new legislation on reducing cyber school funding, the discussion has turned again to how much cyber schools “actually” cost and whether they receive too much money.

Cyber schools are public charter schools in Pennsylvania, and their enrollment has grown rapidly over the last decade. There are 16 schools altogether, with four approved last year alone, and they now boast over 32,000 students. Still, in our $25 billion public education system, they account for only $319 million, or 1 percent of total spending. They also receive less per student than traditional public schools, about 81 percent on average.

Click here to read more…

Pennsylvania students need more educational options, not less. Why should one type of schooling have a monopoly of the state education money?

The conservative college news website The College Fix, in an article by Allegheny College student Katie McHugh, brings word of a sexually graphic event hosted in that school’s Ford Memorial Chapel in Meadville, PA.  (See link and disclaimer below.*)

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version: Marshall Miller and Kate Weinberg are “sex educators,” who specialize in maximizing female pleasure in sex acts (especially in the absence of a partner).  Miller and Weinberg presented their explicit material (including photographs and graphic descriptions of sex acts) at in event sponsored in part by Allegheny College student government and “funded by student activity fees.”  Additionally, in what McHugh describes as a “sexual marketplace,” apparel and other paraphernalia with the event’s explicit title were displayed for sale.

In some ways, of course, this is not very new.  Penn State University’s “Sex Faire” has been a topic of conversation for years, with renewed attention brought on by, to borrow a Deep South Civil War euphemism, the recent unpleasantness.  Sexually explicit events abound on college campuses; if one were to become outraged at each instance, one would be in a constant state of disquiet.

What is new here, though, is the venue.  Although one generous Christian student opined that the event organizers “were not trying to intentionally offend Christian students by hosting the event in the chapel,” one cannot ignore the particularly transgressive, almost imperial, symbolism.  In using the chapel, sexual liberationists say: “We have the secular public square, but even that is not enough; we must colonize religious space as well.”  Nowhere is safe.

The head of Allegheny College campus ministry, of course, kept party discipline and defended the event:

I don’t have a problem with it being held in the chapel. The program advocates responsible, respectful decision-making regarding sexual behavior, and includes the option waiting for marriage, a message that resonates with many students of faith. While the name may have some shock value, the event itself is consistent with our policy of opening the building to campus groups. We would love it if students at such an event experience the chapel as a welcoming space, and then feel encouraged to attend a religious service or program.

Putting to one side the feel-good claptrap, let’s focus on the assertion that the event “includes the option [of] waiting for marriage.”  At best, this is Orwellian newspeak; at worst, it is aggressive dishonesty.  How could an event whose primary focus is the art of self-pleasuring even possibly be reconciled with the traditional norms to which the chaplain pays lip service?

And here I need to be clear: the complaint about this event is not some kind of prudish visceral disgust about sex generally, or female sexuality and sexual pleasure in particular.  The exploration of sexuality within the stable bond of marriage is one of the institution’s most fulfilling and attractive attributes.  It is a way of physically expressing that total commitment and of becoming utterly vulnerable to one another–and in the process becoming even closer.

The event under discussion admits of nothing of this nature.  It is focused totally on the self.  Any attempt to connect the values demonstrated in this event to those necessary for marriage is a shameful and vulgar misunderstanding of what that institution is.

A final remark: I would hope that, were an event extolling the virtues of traditional sexual ethics to be proposed, Allegheny College would be just as willing to supply the chapel as a venue, and to fund the event with student activity dollars.

*WARNING: original story very sexually explicit: http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12730

Cross-posted at The Family Forum

Head Start, the federal program for pre-kindergarten children from low-income families, costs taxpayers $8 billion each year. Congress asked the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study of the program’s effectiveness, the results of which were available last October (but not released until after the election).

The study tracked the progress of 5,000 children, half of whom had been through the Head Start program from as early as age 3 and half of whom had not. The results are bad news.

Despite the vast sums of money spent to ready these children for school, the study found that Head Start had little to no positive impact on the cognitive abilities or emotional well-being of its participants, and it even showed a negative impact in certain areas.

After nearly 50 years running, the flagship federal preschool program Head Start does not give children any measurable head start at all.

Children need stronger families, a mom and a dad, not more government. This is just another example of the government trying to take over the role of the family. We need policies that encourage marriage of a husband and wife, and help them to create a strong home base for their children, rather than sending them away to be educated elsewhere.

Religious freedom is clearly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.  But Christian students on campuses across the country are being harassed, bullied, and silenced.  Christian student groups and campus ministries are being discriminated against, and even told that they cannot determine who can be a member or a leader.

Click here to read the 5 Things You Should Know About Religious Freedom on Campus. And share it with a college student!

Read the Dennis Prager Article Here.

Announcement – ready for YOUR church bulletins, E-mails and Facebook! Start this Sunday. . . only 30 days left til Election Day.

Please consider running this announcement in your Church Bulletin – beginning this week – to announce a new resource that could help folks in your congregation in at least three ways:
1. Remind people of the importance of voting.
2. Serve people by providing information they need on candidates, including local races that are important but don’t get much publicity.
3. Give Christians the confidence to get out to vote on November 6th.

Thank you!

SAMPLE TEXT FOR BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT:
Get Informed and Vote on Nov. 6th. Log onto PAFamilyVoter.com, a free, easy-to-use Voter’s Guide from the Pennsylvania Family Council to help you cut through the political spin and get the facts about the candidates on critical issues affecting our families, our faith and our freedoms. Visit PAFamilyVoter.com today and be sure to share on E-mail or Facebook. Let’s practice good stewardship by taking part in this special right and civic responsibility by getting out to vote on November 6th.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development issued new guidelines regarding the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) program.Businesses can begin applying for tax credits on August 8.

Information for parents and students is now available as well, though there are not yet any Opportunity Scholarship Organizations established and funded to provide scholarships.

Pennsylvania Family Institute will be one of these Opportunity Scholarship Organizations. Learn more at www.myfamilychoice.org.