Tyndale House Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Obamacare

Thank you, Lord! I knew that Tyndale House had filed suit against Obamacare, but I hadn’t heard anything recently.

The Washington Times: Bible publisher wins stay of Obama contraceptive mandate

A federal court on Friday said a Bible publisher doesn’t have to offer health insurance coverage for contraceptives if it has moral objections, blocking the Obama administration from imposing its contra- ceptive care mandate on the business for now.

Judge Reggie B. Walton said the Obama adminis- tration’s contraceptive coverage mandate puts companies that companies such as Illinois-based Tyndale House Publishers in an “untenable position” — either violate their beliefs, or face major penalties for failing to comply.

WORLD explains in Tyndale House wins mandate court battle:

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton granted a preliminary injunction sought by Tyndale House, which will temporarily prevent the Obama administration from enforcing its contraceptive mandate under the new healthcare law on the Carol Stream, Ill., publishing company.

“The contraceptive coverage mandate affirmatively compels the plaintiffs to violate their religious beliefs in order to comply with the law and avoid the sanctions that would be imposed for their noncompliance,” wrote Walton….

The mandate would force Tyndale House to offer contraceptive coverage to its 260 employees that would include abortifacients such as Plan B and Ella and intrauterine devices.

Unlike other lawsuits filed by religious groups over the mandate, Tyndale House’s case was unique and had immediate implications, as the publishing company was already subject to the law. Tyndale House does not fall under the federal government’s “religious employer” exemption to the mandate, which applies only to churches, and as a for-profit company, it was not eligible for a compliance delay until August 2013 offered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for religious non-profit groups. (Although Tyndale is a for-profit company, the Tyndale House Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives its profits away, owns it.)

Thank God for hearing the prayers of His people!

‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The Lord of hosts is His name; great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds; who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day.’

Jeremiah 32:17–20

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Please remember to pray for the Supreme Court’s vote on Tuesday regarding Liberty University v. Geithner.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”

Jeremiah 32:27

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First page of the Gospel of Saint John, from the 1526 Peter Schoeffer printing of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible. Tyndale House Publishers is named after William Tyndale.

Propaganda’s Assault

Last night I went to the public library and discovered that there is not one, not one, book on propaganda in the entire county. There is not even a category on propaganda in the system! I couldn’t believe it, and so I asked a research librarian who confirmed this for me. She told me that the library was becoming what she termed a “popular library.” Talk about dumbing down the general population! My alternatives are to sort through books about giving speeches and making sales or go through the inter-library loan system and hope that somewhere I can find the books I would like to read!

Online I have found some articles on propaganda. Most of the authors are liberals or libertarians. They are fine as far as they go in listing and defining propaganda techniques, but when they start giving illustrations, then their own biases creep in and become evident.

Nazi Euthanasia Propaganda Poster

In 1937 the Institute for Propaganda Analysis was established “to educate the American public about the nature of propaganda and how to recognize propaganda techniques….[It] identified “the seven most common “tricks of the trade” used by successful propagandists.” Growing up during the Cold War I learned those seven techniques in my high school civics class. The extent to which the American people today are swayed by their emotions to believe lies and to make irrational choices that are detrimental to their own well-being reveals the demise of critical thinking and understanding of propaganda.

If you’ve spent any time commenting on conservative and center right political websites, you’ve probably noticed that a corollary of Godwin’s Law was once used frequently—whoever first mentioned the Nazis or Hitler automatically lost the debate—because it was seen as emotional hyperbole resorted to when there was no longer any knowledge or reason to undergird an argument. Over the last year I’ve noticed that that accusation is made less and less due to the recognition of growing attitudes and beliefs increasingly reminiscent of the thinking of that era. I mention this because if you think the above poster is an outmoded or exaggerated example of propaganda or that we are not susceptible to the same, compare it with the fact that approximately 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted). We are vulnerable to the manipulation of propaganda, and it is ironic that so many seem to have forgotten lessons eighty years ago in the 1930’s about its means and ends.

Propaganda uses communication designed to short-circuit our faith, morality, and reason in its assault on our senses and emotions in order to shape our thoughts and perceptions of reality to the devised end of its creators. I’m building a list of resources titled, Propaganda & Reason, to build up the bulwark of our critical thinking and understanding. I’ll be posting on other topics this week, but after Thanksgiving I plan to write more on those tricks of the propaganda trade.
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1938 Nazi Euthanasia Propaganda Poster English translation:
60000 RM
this is what this person suffering from hereditary defects costs the Community of Germans during his lifetime
Fellow Citizen, that is your money, too
Read ‘[A] New People’
The monthly magazines of the Office for Race Politics of the NSDAP

Words At Their Flood Stage

Here comes the Orator!
with his Flood of Words,
and his Drop of Reason.

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Words can be turned into a charismatic river of deceit that quickly reaches flood stage with its manipulation. Here are a few bricks of critical thinking and discernment to help build a flood wall to contain that tide.

The integrity of the speaker is the most important thing to evaluate and gauge. Thomas Sowell pulls no punches when he leads off Listening to a Liar by saying:

The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them….

Words can be used for good and for evil—to benefit the listeners or to empower the speaker. The character of the speaker is our best clue to his intent.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Luke 6:45

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Character is the proof of words. Who is he? What does his life and his acts tell us ? What does he think of himself? What does he think of his audience?

Critique the substance of his words. Sort between how he speaks and what he speaks. What does he presume to be true? Are those things true? Does he build his case on its merits? Are those merits accurate? What are his conclusions? Do they make sense? What would be their effect? What is the purpose of his words? Does he speak to build up or speak to tear down?

The first to plead his case seems right,

Until another comes and examines him.

Proverbs 18:7

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Look at a speaker’s style. Is he straightforward and clear? In Politics and the English Language, George Orwell wrote:

The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

Look at his style in the light of Dov Seidman’s words that I quoted in Leadership.  Is he working to inspire others to be propelled by values and principles to do the right things no matter how difficult the situation? Does he incite or reason?

A worthless man digs up evil,

While his words are like scorching fire.

A perverse man spreads strife,

And a slanderer separates intimate friends.

A man of violence entices his neighbor

And leads him in a way that is not good.

Proverbs 16:27–29

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Finally, consider his setting. Why was it chosen? What kind of message about the speaker do the location, background and decorations send to the audience?

“Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write,” to understand what is upstream from our culture and our politics. Being able to clearly evaluate what we hear and read is a vital part of the process. In the side bar you’ll find a resource list titled, Propaganda & Reason. I’ll be building it and going into further detail on propaganda techniques in future posts.

He who speaks truth tells what is right,

But a false witness, deceit.

There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword,

But the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Truthful lips will be established forever,

But a lying tongue is only for a moment.

Proverbs 12:17–19

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Benjamin Franklin quote from Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1735.