Preparing for Success

In sports there is a saying that, "When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win." So it is in every effort. We cannot expect to win if we are not prepared to win.

While the issues from the last session are over, we know there are more coming. Will you help us prepare?

Others hope you will. And in order to encourage you to do so, a $20,000 matching grant has been offered for the rest of the month of July. Ever gift will be doubled, up to $20,000 for the rest of the month. Will you help us maximize this opportunity?

It is crucial that we are able to prepare year round for the battles we know will come, so that when they do come, we are prepared to win.

We have already had some exciting success this year. We defeated legislation targeting pregnancy centers and stopped an effort to allow contract surrogacy, effectively allowing the sale of children in Washington.

But there were other efforts we did not win. Despite our best efforts, and despite record deficits, the legislature still increased funding for Planned Parenthood. Why did that happen? Planned Parenthood is politically influential because they work year round in order to advance its pro-abortion agenda.

We must make sure they are not the only ones preparing.

That is why we recently conducted a Pastors Seminar with Dr. Wayne Grudem, to equip pastors to lead courageously on issues related to government and public policy.

That is why we are putting Culture Impact Teams in churches throughout Washington. These citizen led organizations exist to remind the church that every Christian is a duel citizen-a citizen of heaven and a citizen of earth-and that we have obligations to both.

That is also why we are conducting Truth Project Trainings throughout Washington State. We have already done them in Spokane, Vancouver, and Renton, and are making plans for more this fall. As a result, nearly 100 individuals have been trained to lead small groups that will encourage their communities to think biblically about the culture, including: art, media, history, economics, philosophy, and more.

That is why we are building relationships with legislators. In August, we will be bringing legislators from Washington together with legislators from around the country for a Legislative Worldview Training in Louisiana. The title of the conference is "Consequences of Truth" where Chuck Colson, and other leading thinkers on issues related to worldview, will encourage legislators to think about how the reality of Truth impacts the ways they govern.

Is it Really Death With Dignity?

By Don Calbreath, PHD

On November 4, 2008, 58% of the voters in the state of Washington approved Initiative 1000 (1). This measure allows certain terminally ill patients to receive lethal medications in order to terminate their lives, thus making Washington the second U.S. state to approve a form of physician-assisted suicide. Thirty of the thirty-seven counties had a majority of votes in favor of the initiative, with a few mainly rural counties in the state not giving a "yes" majority vote (2). (. Although the state voters had rejected a similar measure in 1991 (54% voted "no"), the tide of public opinion has made a major shift in the intervening seventeen years.

Gay Bar Cries Foul when Printer Declines Business

Just what does liberty mean?

A case in King County is forcing us, once again, to consider this question. According to reports, someone trying to open a gay bar on Capitol Hill in Seattle requested print services from a printer in Kent. According to the owner of the print shop, the material he was asked to print contained content he was uncomfortable with, so he made the decision not to print it.

We don't know what kind of conversations took place in the print shop, but we do know that the following email was ultimately sent to the bar owners. According to the owner of the print shop, it was sent without his approval by a part-time employee.

State Increases Planned Parenthood Funding to Balance Budget

Only weeks ago, Indiana becoming the first state to decide that Planned Parenthood would no longer receive money from tax payers. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

But here in Washington, the state took a very different approach.

With the passage of SB 5912, the state legislature decided to increase funding for Take Charge, a contraceptive program which Planned Parenthood claims pays for the services of 70% of their clients. Since Take Charge was implemented in 2001, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington has seen their revenues increase from $5.5 million to over $27 million a year.

Take Charge was created with the goal of reducing the state's costs for live births. But during that same period, the state's costs for live births have risen 70%, from $198 million to over $340 million a year.

Truth Project Training Coming To Renton and Spokane!

is coming to Renton June 25th and Spokane June 26th!



In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview (See sources below).

Host a Legislative Review with FPIW

Now that the legislative session has ended, lots of people will be asking themselves, "what happened, anyway?" We know there was a $5 billion deficit. But what about the issues that affect your family and your values?

Did you know that during this session the legislature was working with the abortion industry to shut down pregnancy resource centers? Did you know that during this legislative session the legislature was very close to allowing children to be bought and sold through surrogacy contracts? Did you know that the legislature removed the words "mother" and "father" from state law and replaced them with the word "parents" in an effort not to offend those who don't believe children benefit from both a mother and a father.

And these efforts are just representative of the culture wide effort to restructure the family.

The state is also on the verge of increasing funding for Planned Parenthood at a time when teachers are losing their jobs and the mentally and physically disabled are losing their assistance.

These are the stories that are often buried under the budget deficit headlines that we want to make sure you know about.

Over the next several weeks, FPIW will be all over Washington State meeting in homes, community centers, and churches to discuss what happened this session on issues related to life, marriage, religious freedom, and parental rights.

If you have a group of 30 or more that would like to hear more about these issues, and also discover what they can do to be part of the solution, we would love to meet with you.

To inquire about hosting a review of the legislative session with a representative of FPIW for your friends or community group, please contact us at info@fpiw.org or call our office at 425-608-0242.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Candy Cane Case Will Impact 41 Million Kids

On Monday, May 23, the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals will hear a casethat will impact every elementary school child in the nation. In the case Morgan et al. v. Plano (Texas) Independent School District, known as the infamous "candy cane" case, judges will determine whether elementary students are too young to have First Amendment freedoms.

This is the biggest religious freedom case in the nation.