Roundup: Young Evangelicals Support Cizik; Texas Governor Supports Anti-Choice License Plates

Texas Governor supports anti-choice license plates; young evangelicals support Richard Cizik; Illinois Supreme Court will hear pharmacists wanting to refuse to provide emergency contraception; opposition to Warren evidence of a "homosexual desire to silence the church," says Tony Perkins.

Texas Governor Supports "Choose Life" License
Plates

Anti-choice license plate messages may be spreading to
another state, the Houston
Chronicle reports
today.  Texas Gov.
Rick Perry announced his support for "Choose Life" plates, which would
raise money for pregnant women who relinquish children for adoption rather than
terminate their pregnancies.  Reports the
Chronicle, "Opponents say the state has no business putting a political message
on license plates and that the proposal would unfairly send money to
anti-abortion organizations."  As his bid
for re-election nears, Perry has been more vocal about his anti-choice views.  Eleanor Bader reported
for Rewire
on anti-choice plates in Florida, where, because of the funds collected can only support women who will give up their children for adoption, more money is gathered than spent.

Young Evangelicals Support Richard Cizik

Shortly after telling NPR’s Terry Gross that he supported civil unions for
same-sex couples, Richard Cizik resigned as vice-president of the National
Association of Evangelicals.  Mainstream
religious right organized were gratified, but some younger evangelicals were proud of Cizik’s independent stance, reports ABC News. ABC News writes of young evangelical Chris LaTondresse:

He applauded a recent National Public Radio
interview with the man who has been considered a "hero" among young
evangelicals — Richard Cizik, the chief lobbyist for the National Association
of Evangelicals — who said that religious attitudes toward abortion and gay
marriage are shifting.

"I was cheering, ‘Go for it, Rich,’" said LaTondresse, who twice
voted for Bush, but supported Obama. "He’s one of the guys who speak for
the current generation of evangelicals, most of them my friends."

On a recent poll examining concerns of young evangelicals, ABC reports:

But a pre- and post-election poll conducted by the nonprofit Faith in Public
Life showed religious voters placed a greater priority on the economy,
healthcare and Iraq
over same-sex marriage and abortion.

In this survey of 1,277 voters, 86 percent of white evangelicals said their
elected leaders should find ways to reduce abortion, expanding adoption and
increasing economic support for women who want to carry their pregnancies to
term.

Only one in five evangelicals said an agenda focused primarily on abortion
and same-sex marriage best reflects their values.

Illinois Supreme Court Will Hear Pharmacists
Wanting to Refuse to Provide Emergency Contraception

Illinois
pharmacists who want to refuse to dispense emergency contraception based on
religious or moral grounds will have an opportunity to defend their views in
court, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday, reports
the Associated Press
.  Lower courts
had refused to hear the case.  A 2005 rule
issued by Gov. Rod Blagojevich requires pharmacists to dispense emergency
contraception.

Opposition to Warren Evidence of a "Homosexual
Desire to Silence the Church," Says Tony Perkins

Rick Warren isn’t Tony Perkins’s favorite person, but Perkins
will still call the opposition to him among women’s health, gay rights and
progressive groups evidence of a "desire to silence the church" (on Religious
Right Watch
).  Apparently Perkins
hasn’t noticed the many pro-choice, pro-LGBT clergy around who would be happy
to provide invocations.