ACTION-ACTION-ACTION- TODAY!

By: Steve Huston

Salt and Light Global (S&LG), Professor Will Wagner’s organization, sent out an email last evening urging people to act regarding these time sensitive issues. We are passing some of this information on to our readers, knowing that many of you are kindred spirits, desiring to protect Michigan’s children, born and unborn. We urge you to READ and ACT on all three sections of this email!

FIRST: “Protect our Children and Uphold Good Governance.”

The Michigan Senate has written and passed two education bills which pose great dangers to our children’s education. This would have devastating effects on our students’ futures, our own future, and Michigan’s future. These bills would also limit the citizenry’s control over what goes on in these schools. These two bills are on their way to the House, and are slated to be taken up by committee TODAY, Wednesday, October 25.

Salt and Light Global reports:

“Senate Bill 395 and 396 eliminate student performance as metric used to evaluate teachers and redefines ‘unprofessional conduct’ to protect teacher’s jobs instead of putting student safety first. These bills go even further to remove accountability measures that are so important for good governance, limit the ability of parents and school boards to detect and correct corruption, and prioritize student learning and wellbeing last.”

They warn that under these bills: (The following bullet points also quote the S&LG email)

• Teachers Unions can totally eliminate student growth and academic performance (measures of how well students are learning) from educator evaluations while negotiating teacher contracts.
• The bi-partisan tenure reform of 2014 that created enhanced accountability for teachers is weakened, so that bad teachers are nearly impossible to fire.
• Removes the state requirement for unscheduled observation in the classroom.
• Redefines “unprofessional conduct” so that misconduct will be less likely to appear on background checks. This puts children at greater risk because schools are not able to be as thorough in past employment record evaluation.

We urge you to contact the House Education committee TODAY and tell them what you think about these bills here. With Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly 2 to 1 on this committee, we encourage you to contact both parties’ representatives. (Email addresses and a phone number are available at the prior link.)

SECOND: “Proposed ‘Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy Parentage Act’ Endangers Women and Children.” The following comes directly from the S&LG email:

House Bills 5207-5215 make up a new proposed act governing paid surrogacy contracts. The bills were introduced this afternoon and can be read starting here. They have been added to Wednesday, October 25th’s House Judiciary Committee for immediate consideration. For many years, Michigan has allowed volunteer surrogates, but has banned ‘rent-a-womb’ practices that treat children like commodities for sale and exploit poor and vulnerable women. There are multiple problems with the proposed policy:

• The US Constitution prohibited treating human beings as contractual property when slavery was abolished. This law takes human rights and human dignity backward, relegating the unborn to a mere commodity status that may be sold for profit or discarded (via abortion) if the buyer changers their mind.
• Contracts proposed under this new bill package will allow women to be treated much like indentured servants for the 9-month pregnancy period, selling the rights to their own bodies.
• This bill also opens the door to the potential expansion of human trafficking problems by increasing the profitability of trafficked persons as surrogates for hire.

 These are just a few of the concerns with this package. We look forward to learning more about the legislative intent behind these bills and are committed to remaining steadfast in upholding the sanctity of all human life as image-bearers of our Creator (Genesis 1:27). We will keep you update on this important legislation and invite you to contact your representative and share your concerns about protecting the sanctity and dignity of life and ensuring that human beings are never exploited for profit.

Want to be sure to get these updates from Professor Wagner? Click here and sign up for The Sentinel!

THIRD: We have been urging you to contact your elected officials in Michigan regarding the so-called “Reproductive Health Act.” Here’s a word of encouragement AND a call to continue putting the pressure on:

“Your phone calls and emails have been helping to move the needle as our coalition of pro-life partners fights to stop the ‘Reproductive Health Act’ and protect the lives of women and unborn children. Last week, the Senate passed SB 474-477, but failed to vote on SB 593. While this bill may come to the floor soon, we are just a couple of weeks from these bills expiring, and every delay helps us defeat these bills. Meanwhile, in the House, there is tremendous pressure for those representing the concerns of their constituents to cave. Please join us in praying and continue asking your State Representatives to stand strong in protecting women and children.” (S&LG)

We urge you to take advantage of every Constitutional step, tool, and process given to us by our founding fathers. We compel you to know what your Constitutionally protected rights are and walk freely in them, knowing they’ve come from God above. We ask you to fulfill the Biblical mandate to pray for all men everywhere, particularly for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-3). After you’ve fulfilled your God-given responsibilities, we exhort you to take advantage of your God-given privilege, as a believer, to rest in Him.

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