Bill Brooks | April 14, 2010 | SHARE: 
This is one of the fullest issues of Family North Carolina we have ever produced. There was barely room for the table of contents! But that is because there is so much going on in our country and our state, much of which you are surely aware. Because this issue will be in your mailboxes a month before General Assembly reconvenes for its “Short Session,” it is really set up to be a guide for legislators and citizens alike on the pressing issues that need to be addressed in North Carolina.
We are honored to have Christopher Derrick, a corporate attorney in western North Carolina, whose practice focuses on sweepstakes and promotions law, and who served as staff for the National Gambling Task Force, take on the task of exposes the not-so-hidden world of video gambling in North Carolina. Christopher uses his expertise to explore the legalities of what common sense tells most of us is a clear violation of the state’s ban on video gambling. The chameleon gambling industry keeps changing its appearance, but can only morph so many times before the law catches up with it. Christopher’s article gives a lay of the land, and suggested actions for both the legislature and the courts to kill this weed of an issue once and for all.
In anticipation of the General Assembly’s “Short Session,” which is slated to begin on May 12, Brittany Farrell takes a look at which issues are most likely to keep legislators occupied and which other issues should be included on that priority list. It promises to be a difficult session in light of ever-lower revenue reports, mounting ethics violations in government circles, and some contentious primaries leading into a monumental mid-term election.
If you have taken advantage of our Truth Project leadership training seminars sometime in the last several months, you have the pleasure of having met William Roach. He has combined his experience pursuing a doctoral degree at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, and serving as our director of special projects for The Truth Project, to provide a compelling defense for the rejection of secular atheism as a worldview. His piece specifically focuses on why citizens and legislators should reject an atheistic worldview’s influence on public policy because of its harmful affects on society. His clear comparative, historical, and logical reasoning really bring the point home.
Last summer, we introduced you to the Mapping America Project, which is conducted by Dr. Patrick Fagan of the Family Research Council. This Project measures the effects of family structure and religious attendance on the behaviors, decision-making, and opinions of children and adults. In the future, Family North Carolina will include updates highlighting some of the Projects most recent and compelling findings. For this issue, Alysse ElHage provides a summary of the project, and focuses on the impact family structure and religious attendance have on the adults in families.
As the nation prepares for what may be the mid-term election of a lifetime, we provide a timeline of the important steps and deadlines associated with North Carolina’s Primary Election in May and General Election in November. Additionally, you can find a copy of North Carolina’s voter registration form on page 17. If you are not registered to vote, please do so. Otherwise, tear the form out and give it to your child, friend, neighbor, or pastor, so they can register.
This year will be the seventh that legislators have filed a Marriage Protection Amendment bill, which would give North Carolina voters the opportunity to decide whether to include the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the state’s constitution. With every passing day, North Carolina sticks out brighter as a sore thumb in not only the region, but the country. Alysse ElHage’s article will bring you up to date on the state of marriage nationwide and the encroaching threat to North Carolina’s marriage laws. The map on page 30 is the most comprehensive summary you will find—trust me, we looked!
Be sure to flip to the Briefs section beginning on page 33 for summaries on legal issues that either will or need to receive legislative attention this year.
Finally, those of you who were unable to join us for our Raleigh dinner can get a little taste of it by reading Bill Brooks’ interview with Dr. Stephen Meyer about his new book, which explains the molecular-level defense of Intelligent Design contained in the very core of every cell
Now, it’s time to turn the page and get onto the business of learning. And don’t forget, once you are done reading Family North Carolina, leave it on your coffee table, mail it to your relatives, take it to your dentist’s office, and then get to the polls in May and exercise that most precious civic duty—vote!
