Arkansas ESG Oversight Committee Blocks Financial Service

Religious Freedom,

Arkansas’ ESG Oversight Committee made headlines this week by opting to keep TD Bank Group and TD Securities on its list of financial service providers that allegedly discriminate against fossil fuel and energy companies. Other companies on the list include Goldman Sachs & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Group AG, UBS Securities, Nomura Asset Management, Nomura Securities, Credit Suisse Group AG, and Credit Suisse Securities LLC.

As corporations increasingly make decisions based on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors, Arkansas’ lawmakers have enacted legislation addressing financial discrimination against fossil fuels and related energy companies.

While many are concerned about businesses being driven by radical environmental agendas, it’s worth pointing out the “Social” element of ESG allegedly has caused some conservative organization to have their bank accounts closed.

Family Council has written repeatedly about how politicized de-banking hurts charities, conservative causes, and people of faith.

In 2022, Chase abruptly closed the account of Ambassador Sam Brownback’s National Committee for Religious Freedom with little warning or explanation, and PayPal similarly disabled the account of a group called the Free Speech Union.

In 2021, our credit card processor — a company owned by Chase Bank — canceled our account with virtually no notice and no explanation. The only conclusion we could draw was that our conservative principles prompted the cancelation.

Recently the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a report indicating the federal government actually weaponized banks against conservatives following the events of January 6, 2021.

The report shows that federal law enforcement officials from the Treasury Department and the FBI quietly contacted financial institutions to discuss ways financial institutions could share customer information with federal law enforcement outside of normal legal processes.

The report further revealed the Treasury Department provided banks and financial institutions with information listing legitimate, conservative groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, Family Research Council, and many others as “Hate Groups” alongside the KKK and the American Nazi Party.

In April, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin signed a letter with 14 other state attorneys general asking Bank of America to come clean about its de-banking practices.

We appreciate Arkansas’ policymakers being willing to stand up for transparency and accountability at financial institutions. Nobody should have their bank account canceled because of what they believe.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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KC Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker Encourages Graduates to Live Out Their Faith in Commencement Address

Current Events, , , , , ,

Last weekend Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker received a standing ovation for his commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas — even though some pundits have oddly criticized his remarks as “controversial.”

Butker, 28, arguably is responsible for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVIII victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February. He is a devout Catholic, and he and his wife have two children.

During his commencement address, Butker discussed the many challenges that the Class of 2024 had overcome — such as graduating from high school and enrolling in college during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and “missing out on so many milestones the rest of us older people have taken for granted.”

What grabbed some people’s attention, however, was Butker’s willingness to criticize abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, dangerous gender ideologies, and “a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media.”

Butker noted how President Biden often professes his Catholic faith, and yet strangely made the Sign of the Cross during a pro-abortion rally in April.

But Butker also pointedly criticized Catholic bishops who fail to take their calling seriously, and he urged ministers to lead in a Christlike manner.

Critics have seized on Butker saying women “have had the most diabolical lies” told to them, and observing, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”

But Butker also challenged the men in the graduating class to pursue God’s calling on their lives, and he spoke bluntly about the damage that absentee fathers cause.

Most of his address focused on encouraging the graduates to stand strong in living out their faith. “A life without God is not a life at all,” Butker said, “and the cost of salvation is worth more than any career.”

Throughout the speech, Butker was interrupted multiple times by applause from the graduates and their families, and he received a standing ovation at the end.

But pundits have criticized his statements. The radical, pro-LGBT group GLAAD, for example, issued a lengthy press release calling Butker’s remarks “inaccurate, ill-informed, and woefully out of step with Americans.” The Today Show encouraged viewers to watch a rebuttal to Butker’s comments, and the anchors on Good Morning America seemed genuinely puzzled that Butker would receive a standing ovation from the crowd.

The fact is Butker’s speech didn’t appear remotely controversial with his audience. It was very well received, and there are literally millions of Americans who would strongly agree with what he told the graduates. Plenty of people have expressed opinions about what he said, but it seems odd that so many would try to mischaracterize his remarks as “controversial.”

It shouldn’t be shocking when Christians publicly share their convictions. All of this reminds me of something John Stonestreet said in 2022: “Culture is most powerful in what it normalizes, and when lies are normalized, the truth becomes shocking. Thank God for Christian ministers willing to ‘shock’ and speak truth.”

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Local Group Forms to Fight Arkansas Abortion Amendment

Abortion, , , ,

Another local group has formed to fight the Arkansas Abortion Amendment.

Earlier this month Saline Decline to Sign filed campaign paperwork with the Arkansas Ethics Commission announcing it would oppose the abortion measure. The group includes members of the Saline County Republican Committee.

Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

If passed, the amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic restrictions on abortion.

The amendment also would pave the way for taxpayer-funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.

Arkansans have generally opposed taxpayer-funded abortion, but taxpayer-funded abortion through all nine months of pregnancy could become a reality in Arkansas if the abortion amendment passes.

To date, multiple organizations have come out against the amendment, including:

You can download a copy of the abortion amendment here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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