InterstateQ.com was the first to tell you about the Christian Action League of North Carolina and the misleading, inaccurate op-ed written by Mary Frances Forrester, wife of anti-gay state Sen. Jim Forrester (R-Gaston County).

Now, the Christian Action League is misleading the public and their members again.

From a recent Christian Action League article on the advance of the School Violence Prevention Act (HB 1366), emphasis mine:

“We can’t get any legislation facilitated on a Defense of Marriage Amendment, yet in a short session, when we are told that lawmakers are not to take up controversial issues, the House leadership is giving the homosexual forces a thumbs up on the anti-bullying bill,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. The organization issued an action alert this week calling for supporters to urge Senators to put a halt to the pro-gay bill parading under the guise of “school violence prevention.”

Christian Action League Executive Director Mark Creech’s willingness to lie, or simply slightly fudge the truth, is concerning. As a minister and a Christian he should be more truthful and accurate.

With the statement above, Creech implies that the hearing of the School Violence Prevention Act is somehow out of the ordinary, or that its hearing should not have occurred during this year’s short session. A member of the public or one of his members unfamiliar with the legislature’s rules and traditions might walk away thinking their state representatives are breaking protocol by hearing this “controversial bill.”

The facts, however, always speak for themselves, and no amount of truth-bending will change them. The short session of the N.C. General Assembly is set aside for a number of tasks, but primarily:

1. the hearing of the state budget,
2. the hearing of local bills,
3. the hearing of state constitutional amendments, and
4. the finalization of bills both houses passed in the previous long session but failed to agree upon.

The School Violence Prevention Act falls directly in the latter category. In May 2007, the House passed the original version of the act. The Senate also passed its own version, stripping out the enumerated, protected categories that include sexual orientation and gender-identity. The differing versions had to be wrapped up this year.

Mark Creech and the Christian Action League should watch the way they talk about the issues. They should be honest and refrain from misleading uninformed citizens. Honesty is their obligation not only as a public, special interest advocacy organization, but also as Christians.

What concerns me most, however, is not the misleading nature of the Christian Action League, but rather their apparent lack of care for the children of North Carolina. Students, whatever their differences, deserve a strong anti-bullying bill. Anyone with children knows that simply saying, “Don’t do that,” doesn’t work. Children need specific rules and instruction. While I don’t have any children, I am the oldest of five siblings. I know quite well that saying, “Don’t do that,” will be immediately followed with a, “Why?”

Passing a strong anti-bullying bill will help North Carolina’s children, gay and straight. Too bad the Christian Action League can’t see gay kids as fully human and deserving of protection. “The little ones” so fondly spoken of by Christ have been so easily tossed under the bus by His “followers.”