FIC Blog

Contact our two Senators and tell them to VOTE NO on Obamacare:

Joe Lieberman:

860.549.8463 (Voice)

800.225.5605 (In CT)

Chris Dodd:

Tel: (202) 224-2823 | Fax: (202) 224-1083

Tel: (860) 258-6940/(800) 334-5341 —CT only
Fax: (860) 258-6958

And be sure to contact your own Congressman and tell him to VOTE NO too:

John Larson:

Washington, D.C. Office
106 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
PH: 202.225.2265

Hartford, CT Office
221 Main Street, 2nd Floor
Hartford, CT 06106
PH: 860.278.8888

Joe Courtney:

Washington, DC Office:
215 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2076
(202) 225-4977 fax

Norwich District Headquarters:
101 Water Street, Suite 301
Norwich, CT 06360
(860) 886-0139
(860) 886-2974 fax

Rosa DeLauro:

Washington, DC
2413 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-3661
Fax: 202-225-4890

Main District Office
59 Elm Street
New Haven, CT 06510
Phone: 203-562-3718
Fax: 203-772-2260
Stratford Exchange
Phone: 203-378-9005

Jim Himes:

Washington DC Office
214 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5541
Fax: (202) 225-9629

Bridgeport CT Office
211 State Street, 2nd Floor
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Phone: (866) 453-0028
Fax: (203) 333-6655

Chris Murphy:

Washington D.C. Office
412 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4476 

*New Britain Office
114 West Main St.
Suite 206
New Britain, CT 06051
Phone: (860) 223-8412
Fax: (860) 827-9009

I will be on the Dan Lovallo Show (talkofconnecticut.com) at 5:05 pm today to discuss our next moves in this crucial fight.

The fight to see every unborn child protected in law and welcomed in life heats up in a major way this week with the expected vote on Obamacare, which will mandate public financing of abortion. How fortunate for us, then, to have a new Connecticut ally in the pro-life cause.

Concerned Catholics for Connecticut and Friends states its goal succinctly:

My purpose is to try and get someone in Connecticut (or more than one) elected to high office in Washington who would be pro-life for a change: And secondly, to get a movement started to ban Late-Term D&E Abortion of babies post 21-weeks gestation, on the precedent of the Federal Ban Act on Partial Birth Abortion (D&X).

The CCCF blog is chock full of information for acheiving that end–some of which proved helpful to me just yesterday in an interview on the Dan Lovallo Show regarding the state of abortion issue. We have added CCCF to our links so that this research is always available to us–and to you–at the click of a button. It will be key to winning the battles that lie ahead.

“Evangelical churches target New England” is the scary-sounding headline of an AP story that appeared in yesterday’s papers. Readers of FIC Blog are by now familiar with the decline in religious faith nationally as well as in New England. How did our region go from the cradle of Christianity in the U.S. to the least churched region of the country? Here’s one possible reason:

Several groups trying to re-ignite New England’s faith are theologically conservative, such as the Southern Baptists, Presbyterian Church in America and the Conservative Baptists’ Mission Northeast. They say a reason for the region’s hollowed-out faith is a pervasive theology that departs from traditional Biblical interpretation on issues such as the divinity of Jesus, the exclusivity of Christianity as a path to salvation and homosexuality.

The Rev. Wes Pastor, head of the NETS Institute for Church Planting in Williston, Vt., said New England’s liberal mainline denominations, such as the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church, have been practicing a “different religion.”

“I’m not saying it to be snooty, but they have a different belief system and that belief system … is a profound departure from historic Christianity,” said Pastor, whose group trained Bass and supports his Baptist church.

Will this theory get any serious attention in the next Trinity study on religion? Don’t hold your breath.

Yesterday’s Waterbury Republican-American had a front page story (subscriber only) quoting the “Connecticut six” on why state Anglicans will likely remain Anglican and not become Catholic, despite Rome’s recent outreach to them. Given the coalition of like-minded Christians of various denominations that FIC has assembled over the years, it was this quote that warmed my heart:

[The Rev. Bryan Bywater, of the New Hope Anglican Church in Watertown] called the offer a beautiful gesture. “For a long time the churches have been fighting each other over the small things and not focusing on the greater things; now we’re seeing the churches being unified over the larger things. That’s great to see.”

Those “larger things” include, of course, the nature of marriage as the union of a man and a woman and the authority of scripture–the issues that are causing conservative Anglicans to leave the liberal Episcopal Church. As our friend Christopher Leighton–pastor of St. Paul’s in Darien–says in the same article, Rome’s outreach further “isolates the national Episcopal Church as a minority view as far as world Christianity.”

And not only the Episcopal Church. Today’s Courant has a nice write-up on Deryk Richenburg, the new pastor at First Church of Christ in Wethersfield–an historic church that had a very public break with the UCC over same-sex “marriage” and related issues. “The First Church of Christ is well-known throughout New England because of its size and its 2004 separation from the United Church of Christ,” writes The Courant–without, of course, bothering to explain the cause of the separation.

Give The Courant some credit. When it comes to reporting on religion, their rolodex has finally expanded beyond the usual left-of-center voices:

Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut and a Catholic, said that perhaps the question isn’t why women are more religious, but rather why men are less likely to identify with religion, especially mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. The Trinity report found that 24 percent of the Nones are former Catholics.

Wolfgang has a theory. “Men like a challenge,” he said. “They like to be told they have to meet a certain standard.” He cited what he views as watered-down, feel-good Sunday sermons that would be right at home on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as an example of what turns men away.

That quote comes from a front page story today about a Trinity study’s findings of an increase in religious non-affiliation. You can read the whole article here. I would be curious to hear from FIC members on what they think may be causing the decline in religious affiliation.

FIC is involved in the fight to keep a sexually oriented business (SOB) out of Southington:

SOUTHINGTON — Now that the appeal against the town’s decision to grant a permit to Very Intimate Pleasures has been withdrawn, residents who oppose the adult-oriented store and their allies are considering their next move.

“The battle is not over,” said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut. “The Planning and Zoning Commission has the power to overturn the zoning enforcement officer’s decision to grant the permit.”

He suggested that residents call and e-mail commissioners and let them know how they feel.

“They are their elected neighbors,” he said. “The citizens need to tell them to do the right thing and overturn the permit.”

We’ll have more on this story–and what you can do to help–in the days ahead.

Elect a politician who is a fiscal-conservative-but-not-a-social-conservative and you will soon find that she is not even a fiscal conservative.

This week several Connecticut Congressmen will be holding public meetings in the state concerning the health care bills in Congress. The independent organization FactCheck.org confirms that Obamacare would indeed use public monies to pay for abortions.

FIC, CT Right to Life and every other pro-life group in our state needs your help to tell our congressmen that abortion is not health care! It must not be mandated or funded by taxpayer dollars or insurance premiums paid into the government health care plans! Please attend these forums this week and ask every pro-lifer you know to join you!

Below is a list of town hall forums. Please plan to arrive early, as health care plan supporters are being told to show up at least one hour early and seating at several of the forums will be limited. Please be respectful to our congressmen at all times.

Politely ask your congressman to vote for language that explicitly bans abortion in any health care plan and forbids the use of government funds, whether from taxes or from health insurance premiums paid to the government or to private insurance companies, from being used to pay for abortion.

House committees have already repeatedly refused to approve amendments that would ban abortion in health care. Do not be fooled if your congressman brings up the Capps amendment! As FactCheck.org makes clear, the amendment would use public monies to fund abortion while claiming to prohibit it.

The schedule is as follows:

GREENWICH - Monday, August, 31 - WGCH News Director Tony Savino will moderate this health care town hall meeting with Congressman Jim Himes to be broadcast live by WGCH - 6:30-8:00 PM - Greenwich Town Hall Meeting Room, 101 Field Point Rd., Greenwich - seating may be limited

WEST HARTFORD - Congressman John Larson - Wednesday, September 2 – 6:00 PM at West Hartford Town Hall  (50 South Main Street) - seating will be limited.

WASHINGTON,CT – Congressman Chris Murphy - Wedenesday, September 2 - Shepaug Valley High School, Washington, CT (159 South Street).  6:30 p.m. -seating will be limited.

NORWALK - Congressman Jim Himes - Wednesday, September 2 - NOTE LOCATION CHANGE - originally scheduled for Norwalk City Hall, because of a large turnout expected, the hearing has been moved to Norwalk City High School Auditorium, 23 Calvin Murphy Drive, Norwalk.  The forum will be from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

MONTVILLE - Congressman Joe Courtney - Wednesday, September 2, Montville High School at 800 Old Colchester Road (Oakville section of Montville). 6:30 PM - seating will be limited.

BRIDGEPORT - Congressman Jim Himes - Wednesday, September 3, Bridgeport City Hall Council Chambers at 45 Lyon Terrace, Bridgeport.  6:30 PM - 8 PM - seating will be limited.

FIC has also learned of an invitation from Congressman Chris Murphy to his constituents to “join me for breakfast Tuesday September 1 through Friday, September 4, from 8 to 9am, to talk about health care reform. I’ll bring the coffee, you bring the conversation.” Here are the locations:

WATERBURY - Tuesday, September 1, 8 AM - 9 AM, Library Park, 267 Grand Street at Meadow Street.

DANBURY - Wednesday, September 2, 8 AM - 9 AM CityCenter, Danbury Green.

DANBURY - Thursday, September 3, 8 AM - 9 AM, CityCenter, Danbury Green.

WATERBURY - Friday, September 4, 8 AM - 9 AM Library Park 267 Grand Street at Meadow Street.

This is the last week of Congress’ summer recess before they return to Washington, D.C. to resume consideration of the health care bills. Now is the time to speak out in defense of human life! Please plan to attend one of these health care forums and to make your voice heard! Please forward this ACTION ALERT to all pro-lifers you know in Connecticut!!!

Twenty-five years ago in The Naked Public Square Richard John Neuhaus argued that an aggressive secularism was pushing religiously-grounded reasoning out of public discussion. In New Haven, it seems, police have been cracking down on the very expression of religion on public property.

But the city of New Haven has just agreed to a court order, issued Monday, that will allow one Jesse Morrell to resume expressing his Christian faith on public sidewalks.  In 2005, Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit against the New Haven Police Department after officers threatened to arrest the man for “annoying” passersby for preaching on public ways. You can read the ADF’s press release on their victory here. We could find nothing about ADF’s victory on the websites of The Hartford Courant or The New Haven Register.

The Courant did run a correction last Saturday on its botched story  falsely reporting that FIC had asked DCF to remove website links to “churches that welcome gays.” And then they botched the correction, saying that the article incorrectly stated that FIC sought the removal of gay-friendly “religious organizations,” rather than “churches.”

On Sunday, the paper ran a letter by our attorney, Vince McCarthy, underlining the point the correction made. But the Sunday Courant also published a letter by someone criticizing FIC based on the faulty story that the Courant and Vince had both already corrected. Nice.

That did, however, leave me the opening to finally tell the Courant’s readers what the paper had been hiding from them: the real content of our complaint against DCF. That information appears in my letter to the editor today.

Some questions linger. Who lied to the Courant about the content of our complaint? (DCF? True Colors?) Why did the paper not ask us about this other version of the story? And, given the dishonesty of those who spun the Courant, how confident can we be that DCF will honor its written assurances to us and not try to violate the First Amendment again?