Daily Archives: May 10, 2010

Catholic News Agency: “The political party Tierra y Libertad (Land and Freedom) led by suspended priest Marco Arana is demanding that the Peruvian government embrace the homosexual agenda by allowing same-sex “marriage” in the country.”

WTAQ: “Over 1,300 same-sex couples in Wisconsin applied for the state’s domestic partner benefits in the first 5 months they were offered. About one couple entered the same-sex registry for every 11 traditional marriages in the final 5 months of last year. But the numbers fell off dramatically after an initial splurge when the registry was first offered last August. And in 7 counties, no gay couples signed up for the state benefits in 2009. In Milwaukee County, just over 200 same-sex couples got on the registry last year. But now, the state’s largest county only gets about one such request per week.”

Reuters: “The Church of England has moved a step closer to the consecration of women bishops, setting up a possible showdown with traditionalists who back all-male clergy in the Anglican communion . . . ”

Richard Land quoted at the Christian Newswire: “Just how radical is she on these issues? Ms. Kagan should be asked whether she agrees with Georgetown law professor Chai Feldblum’s assertion that when the relative rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) people and other people’s religious beliefs conflict and collide legally, ‘society should come down on the side of protecting the liberty of LGBT people.’

Associated Content: “In art teacher in a middle school class in the Santa Rita School District in California asked that her class draw anything they wanted. But one student got some unwanted artistic criticism for drawing an American flag with the phrase ‘God Bless America.’ The art teacher in question told her 13-year-old student that the picture was ‘offensive.’”

FoxNews Video on Breitbart.tv

Rome News Tribune: “And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth’s Ed Young Senior Citizens Center near Savannah because of a federal guideline. ‘She would say pray anyway,’ Blackwelder said of his grandmother. ‘She’d say don’t listen.’ But Senior Citizens Inc. officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.”

Fox News: Georgia Mayor Hopes to End Flap Over Prayer Before Meals at Senior Center
“Eric Johnson, a former state senator now running for governor, visited the center Monday and said a blessing outside just before lunch to roughly 50 elderly citizens. ‘I told them they’re not fighting this alone,’ Johnson, a Republican, told FoxNews.com. ‘To heck with the federal government — we can’t stop people from free practice of their faith.’”

Breitbart.tv carries this CNN interview with Sen. Sessions. It runs just under 2 minutes.

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on Family Policy Matters, NC Family Policy Council to discuss the Church Project. | MP3 Audio 14:30 mins

ADF attorney Jim Campbell appeared on the Jody Hice Show to discuss this: ADF to appeal decision against wrongly fired Ga. counselor. | MP3 Audio 11:14 mins

Breitbart (AP): “As a White House adviser in 1997, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan urged then-President Bill Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions, a political compromise that put the administration at odds with abortion-rights groups . . . ”

WSJ Law Blog: “So where specifically are Republicans likely to dig in their heels? Let’s take a quick look at several areas . . . ”

NY Times: “Hedge fund executives are thus emerging as perhaps the first significant political counterweight to the powerful teachers unions, which strongly oppose expanding charter schools in their current form.”

Rhode Island Government Press Release: “Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch expressed his strong support today for legislation that would expand the RI Family Court’s jurisdiction to allow for the petition of a divorce proceeding regardless of whether the couple would have been eligible to marry in Rhode Island.” | HB 7990

ADF Attorney [Casey Mattox] writing at speakupmovement.org/university: “If you are — or have been in the past 30 years — part of a religious student group on a public university campus (or for that matter on a high school campus), you owe that privilege to the decision of a group of college students in Kansas City in 1977. At a time when courts were wrestling – in some cases unfavorably – with the question of whether the Establishment Clause required public universities to exclude religious student groups from campus, Cornerstone at the University of Missouri-Kansas City decided to defend their (and your) rights in court. The result was the Supreme Court’s 1981 decision in Widmar v. Vincent, holding that the First Amendment prevented public universities from discriminating against religious student groups.”

CBC: “Eight University of Calgary students engaged in non-academic misconduct when they refused to turn their graphic anti-abortion signs away from passersby on campus, the school’s vice-provost has ruled. The students, who are members of the Campus Pro-Life Club, were accused of failing to comply with campus security procedures in connection with a display they put up in April depicting aborted fetuses. The penalty is a formal, written warning.” | Related: University of Calgary may expel pro-life advocates

Florida Times-Union: “Whether Gov. Charlie Crist vetoes a controversial abortion bill or not, it might not really matter. If he signs it, the bill would almost certainly be headed for the courts. If he vetoes it – as he is hinting he might – the Legislature could pass it again next year.”

Dayton Daily News: “A woman running for a seat in the Ohio House could become the state’s first openly gay legislator. [Nickie Antonio] is a Democrat running in a solidly Democratic district in suburban Cleveland.”

Google News (AP): “Specter, then a Republican, voted against Kagan’s nomination as solicitor general in March 2009. In a statement on Monday, Sestak said he expects Specter ‘may backtrack from his earlier vote on Ms. Kagan this week in order to help himself in the upcoming primary election, but the people of Pennsylvania have no way of knowing where he will stand after May 18.’”

Deseret News: “A Utah Supreme Court ruling issued Friday could open a door to recognition of gay marriage, polygamy and underage marriage in Utah, an attorney says . . . The Utah Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that a 4th District judge who issued a divorce decree to Neldon and Ina Johnson in 2001 did have the authority to do that. The Johnsons had lived together for 37 years, had children and represented to the outside world that they were a married couple — even though they were never legally married.” | Johnson v. Johnson, No. 20080274 (Utah, May 7, 2010)

CBC: “Organizers of Toronto’s gay pride festival were surprised and angry Friday at the Conservative government’s decision to drop the lucrative and popular event from its tourism stimulus package. Pride Toronto was not on the list of over 50 festivals awarded grants on Friday as part of the federal government’s two-year, $100-million Marquee Tourism program.”

Oklahoma Senator Inhofe  press release: ”U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today announced his opposition to President Obama’s nominee, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, to fill the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens . . . ”

Associated Press: “British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a dramatic bid to keep his beleaguered Labour Party in power after it was punished in elections last week, announcing Monday he will resign by September at the latest even if the Liberal Democrats – being wooed by the Conservatives – decide to join his party in government.”

Brandon Bartels writes at the Concurring Opinion Blog: “Republicans will likely pick up seats in the senate as a result of the midterm elections. Republicans may be thinking: Let’s make Obama nominate someone in a new political context in January — one that will likely be more favorable toward Republicans. Force his hand and make him renominate Kagan (or someone else) in, say, a 55-45 senate instead of a 59-41 senate. Obama might even back down and change his nomination . . . ”

Jeremia Dys writes at the Engage Family Blog: “It has been going on for some time, so long, in fact, it’s become the running American joke.  Politicians promise one thing, do another, cry mea culpa, get re-elected, and repeat.  This dance of dodging democracy has maneuvered families and churches out of step with the original American ideal of self-governance.”

Blog of the Legal Times: “Vice President Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain said the nominee is ‘clearly a legal progressive’ whose ‘pragmatic perspective’ will be an important addition to the Court. Asked to elaborate, Klain cited aspects of her resume, not any expressed views. She clerked for appeals judge Abner Mikva and Justice Thurgood Marshall and for Presidents Clinton and Obama, Klain noted, so “I don’t think there’s any mystery” to the fact that she is a progressive . . . ”

With President Barack Obama’s nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund reiterated their position on all judicial appointments: that liberty is only safe when judges rule according to the law and the Constitution and do not legislate from the bench.

WOODTV: “The board of Hope College has declined to remove a 1995 policy that condemns homosexual behavior and advocacy.”

Christian Today: “The principal of a church-run school in Alappuzha District, Kerala was suspended for issuing a Transfer Certificate to a Muslim student who insisted on wearing a headscarf. The decision to suspend principal Mary Jessintha was taken by the management of Believers Church English Medium School, Gurupuram, after protests erupted over Nabala, a Class 10 student, expelled from the school for wearing a veil.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee carries a substantial amount of documentation from her nomination as Solicitor General.

AP:  ”There were a lot of smart girls at Hunter College High School, but only one of them posed for the yearbook in a judge’s robes, quoted a Supreme Court justice and is remembered for playing a tough attorney in an eighth-grade trial . . . In our yearbook, each girl got to choose a quote to run with her picture. . .  Elena quoted a Supreme Court justice, Felix Frankfurter, in words that seem now to prefigure her successful career: ‘Government is itself an art, one of the subtlest of the arts.’”

Silicon Republic: “Wikimedia, the parent company of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is executing the immediate deletion from all of its websites of what Jimmy Wales is calling ‘pornographic imagery’ following a story by FoxNews.com where the US news site alerted several donaters to the Wikimedia Foundation of this content.” | Original article from Fox News: Wikipedia Distributing Child Porn, Co-Founder Tells FBI

Republican American: “The bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and the state Senate last week. It was introduced by Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-Naugatuck . . . [House Bill 5533]: An Act Concerning Sexting, creates a lesser punishment for minors between 13 and 18 who may knowingly possess and transmit any nude or semi-nude images through electronic communication. The bill makes the crime a Class A misdemeanor, which could be punishable by up to one year in prison.”

LA Times: “There’s one sector of the entertainment industry that has not been roiled by the Internet, the economy or ever-changing consumer tastes. Say hello to Hollywood’s most stable business: Soft-core pornography.”

National Post: “On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Regina will consider whether marriage commissioners are within their Charter rights to refuse to conduct ceremonies that offend their religious beliefs. While some other provinces have allowed for exemptions since same-sex marriage became legal, this will be the first time that a court will evaluate if that refusal meets the standards of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, so it could have ramifications for the rest of the country.”

New York Post: “A disgraced ex-Port Authority police lieutenant busted for theft and having porn on his computer has won an appeal that entitles him to a ‘posttraumatic stress’ disability pension likely worth $150,000 a year — tax-free, sources said. ‘This is disgusting,’ said one outraged PA anti-corruption investigator of the sweet deal secured by former PAPD Lt. William Burns that allows him not only to dodge jail but also obtain a lucrative pension.”

Ed Whelan reviewswrites at the National Review Bench Memos Blog: “I have plenty of respect for Kagan’s intellect and ability, and she deserves considerable credit for her tenure as dean of Harvard law school, including for her generous treatment of conservatives, which has earned her considerable goodwill.  But …”

Today, the National Organization for Marriage distributed an email that includes this: “. . . A vote for Elana Kagan is a vote to impose gay marriage on all 50 states . . . ”

Ross Douthat writing in the New York Times: “Liberals sometimes argue that their preferred approach to family life reduces the need for abortion. In reality, it may depend on abortion to succeed. The teen pregnancy rate in blue Connecticut, for instance, is roughly identical to the teen pregnancy rate in red Montana. But in Connecticut, those pregnancies are half as likely to be carried to term. Over all, the abortion rate is twice as high in New York as in Texas and three times as high in Massachusetts as in Utah.”

Guardian: “Laws which mean gay and lesbian asylum seekers can be returned to countries where they face persecution will be challenged tomorrow in the UK’s highest court. The supreme court is to start a three-day hearing of two separate cases brought by gay men – one from Cameroon and the other from Iran – who are appealing against previous court decisions that they should not be granted asylum in the UK.”

365Gay.com: “Gay legal activists are applauding President Obama’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: Solicitor General Elena Kagan. But it could hardly be described as a standing ovation . . . Kagan clerked for one of the Supreme Court’s staunchest liberals, Thurgood Marshall, and was a research assistant for one of the greatest legal defenders of gay civil rights, Laurence Tribe . . . Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights called Kagan “well-qualified” . . .”

Maggie Gallagher writes at National Review, The Corner: “There has been an effort to obfuscate Kagan’s position on gay marriage using statements she made when nominated to be solicitor general, but these efforts are all either sad or laughable.”

NBC Chicago: “Kagan joined the staff there in 1991 and won tenure in 1995. Obama was a part-time lecturer there between 1992 and 2004, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but according to reports she tried to convice him to pursue a tenure track.”

Guardian: “American free speech organisations are fighting a decision by a New Jersey school to remove a critically acclaimed anthology of writing about teenage homosexuality from library shelves after parents described it as vulgar and obscene. Revolutionary Voices, a collection of stories, poems and artwork by young homosexuals, was banned at Rancocas Valley Regional High School last week following a campaign by the local chapter of Glenn Beck’s conservative [9.12 project].” | Philadelphia Inquirer

Michael Connelly writes at the Examiner: “Elena Kagan: Come out, come out, wherever you are! If Elena Kagan is gay, she needs to say so immediately and pridefully. If she does, she will be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court . . . The reason that she needs to go public with her sexuality is because the White House has painted her into a corner, in her closet . . . ”

At the Rightly Concerned Blog, Bryan Fischer has these posts on the Kagan nomination: Left says it’s a slur to call Kagan a lesbian and Is she or isn’t she? Let’s ask her

Andrew Sullivan writes at the Atlantic Monthly: “The days are past when this could be brushed under the rug. Let’s have an honest debate, can we? The way to counter prejudice is through truth – not avoidance. For the right to oppose Kagan merely because she is gay – if she is – would be one more step toward their self-destruction. By staying mum, the Obamites may be playing yet another rope-a-dope. I just cannot see how in 2010, ambiguity is an option.”

Sullivan follows up with this post arguing that Kagan should be asked whether she is a lesbian: “The only thing that could conceivably put this question into the zone of ‘whispers’ and ‘privacy’ is homophobia – and yes, that means the homophobia of liberal journalists . . . ”

Ed Whelan writes at National Review Bench Memos: “USA Today reports that Solicitor General, and Supreme Court contender, Elena Kagan “was a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute” from 2005 through 2008 (when she was dean of Harvard Law School).”

The AP carries the text of the President’s remarks.

White House: Transcript and Video

Raquel Welch writing at CNN: “Margaret Sanger opened the first American family-planning clinic in 1916, and nothing would be the same again. Since then the growing proliferation of birth control methods has had an awesome effect on both sexes and led to a sea change in moral values . . . I’m ashamed to admit that I myself have been married four times, and yet I still feel that it is the cornerstone of civilization, an essential institution that stabilizes society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy . . . In stark contrast, a lack of sexual inhibitions, or as some call it, ‘sexual freedom,’ has taken the caution and discernment out of choosing a sexual partner, which used to be the equivalent of choosing a life partner.”

William Murchison writing in Chronicles: “Whatever the large claims made for homosexual adoption, whatever the benefits that accrue to adopted children freed from less-than-good circumstances, the ‘gay family’ is inherently less than the traditional two-parent family. It’s a fact of life, even in an age notably careless with facts it finds disagreeable . . . Hard and faithfully as they might try, homosexual couples cannot model the virtues and opportunities inherent in a mom-and-dad-headed family. Only Mom and Dad can do that. That they do not do it nearly as often as they promised to at the altar of God, or with the dedication of their forebears, in no way impeaches the conviction that such families are the only kind that makes sense—and that society should actively encourage them, not least by discouraging imitations.”

Prayer and Action: “Yesterday, our friends at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) won a major victory at the Madison Surgery Center, where the board had voted last year to perform late-term abortions.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at speakupmovement.org/university: “LifeSiteNews.com reports that the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) is being pressured to expel members who seek to help clients with unwanted same-sex sexual attraction . . . It appears as though those pressuring the CAMFT are willing to subordinate the legitimate desires of patients to their own cultural objective of normalizing homosexual behavior. They are also apparently willing to trample the consciences of therapists whose own convictions prevent them from encouraging a client to embrace same-sex attraction and same-sex behavior.”

ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot writing at speakupmovement.org/church: “Yes, the Church is still relevant for young people, and will continue to be – so long as she stands strong for biblical truth, and fulfills her role as the moral compass of society. For instance, we should be encouraged by what some brave young college students are doing today to stand up for religious liberty and God’s word. View Julea Ward’s story here.”

The Arizona Republic: “Last Tuesday, the Town Council gave final approval to an amendment that changes the code to allow worship services in private homes. The Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the Oasis of Truth Church in challenging the code, hailed Gilbert’s response. ‘It cures the problem,’ senior legal counsel Douglas Napier said.”

Baptist Press: “The U.S. Supreme Court will protect the identities of supporters of a state initiative to defend marriage in spite of the apparent skepticism of one of its most conservative justices, predicted religious freedom lawyer [Jordan Lorence] . . . ‘I think we’re going to get a favorable decision,’ Lorence said. It might be narrower than the original lawsuit requested, ‘but I think the names will not be disclosed,’ he said.”

Newsmax: “Republican Sen. Bob Bennett was thrown out of office Saturday by delegates at the Utah GOP convention in a stunning defeat for a once-popular three-term incumbent who fell victim to a growing conservative movement nationwide . . . ”

Prospect Looms of Bennett Write-In Candidacy in Utah
“As of Monday morning, Bennett had yet to confirm whether he will launch a write-in candidacy, but if he does decide to make another go of it, he won’t have the support of the national party.”

Becket Fund (5/7): “Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a brief in federal appeals court defending right of the Elijah Group, a small Evangelical Christian church in Leon Valley, Texas, to hold worship services in its own church building. According to Leon Valley, the church is welcome to use its building for a day care and counseling center five days per week, but the local zoning code prohibits the church from holding worship services on Sunday. Religious assemblies are excluded from the relevant zoning area because they allegedly interfere with commercial activity and decrease the city’s tax revenue.”

Jacksonville Observer: “But the reason for the debate isn’t a religious belief, an incident of sexual abuse or a question of health. The reason is nudism. The questions raised – whether parents have a right to practice nudism in their own home; whether children need to be protected from it; whether law enforcement can seek to stop it – put a new twist on a long-standing issue. When El Mirage police found out that a mother and stepfather were naked around the woman’s two adolescent boys, they investigated and recommended the parents be charged with a crime . . . ”

One News Now: “Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University Law School, is opposed to Kagan partly because she has never been a judge and has limited experience in practicing law. And there are other reasons, he says. ‘[I'm opposed] because I think her judicial philosophy is one of an activist, particularly of a transnationalist that wants to use foreign law to interpret our own domestic law,’ Staver explains, adding that she is ‘very much in favor of the homosexual agenda and very capable of bringing consensus among a diverse group of people.’”

AP: “British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that he will resign – but first hopes to broker a pact with the third-place Liberal Democrats to keep his Labour Party in office as part of a coalition government.”

ACLJ: “The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to fully examine the judicial philosophy of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.”

EXPLAINING THE DEARTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOLS
By: Jack Buckley & Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj
Occasional Paper No. 188
Columbia U. – National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education

English language learners (ELLs) comprise approximately 25% of school-aged children in the U.S., a proportion that is rapidly growing. On average, students classified as ELL score far below their English-speaking peers on standardized tests in English language arts and mathematics and graduate high school at much lower rates. In New York City, for example, only 5.2% of eighth grade English language learners performed at the level of proficiency in English language arts. In an age of sanctions and accountability, this statistic is staggering. Because these students are often seen as “harder to teach,” schools that are able to select their students may have incentives to enroll fewer who perform poorly on standardized tests and cost more to educate . . .

AP: “A key Senate Democrat predicted a vote by early August to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the next Supreme Court justice, even as skeptical Republicans warned against a rush to judgment . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “A Christian teachers group seeking to intervene argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because the original plaintiffs had graduated high school, rendering the case moot. In Doe v. School Board for Santa Rosa County, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44400 (ND FL, May 6, 2010), the court said: ‘The decree itself stands as a valid final order subject to this court’s enforcement jurisdiction, regardless of the graduation status of the named plaintiffs.’”

Religion Clause Blog: “In ACLU v. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, (D MN, May 7, 2010), a Minnesota federal district court refused to dismiss the ACLU’s claim against individual board members of a charter school in a suit that alleged the school is in fact sectarian and promotes Islam in violation of the Establishment Clause.”

Concerned Women for America: “In her disdain for the military, Elena Kagan considers her own views and opinions as more important than obeying the law and equipping the country with the best fighting force in the world. We need justices who put national security over the feelings or demands of special interest groups.”

Religion Clause Blog links to some of her writings and memos from hearings when she was nominated as Solicitor General.

Liberty Counsel: “After becoming dean in 2003, she was able to effect major change in the curriculum to redirect its focus toward international law and policy. Harvard issued a press release stating it hoped this change to transnational law and policy would have the same effect on other law schools as Harvard’s case law method had when Harvard adopted it in the late 1800s under Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell . . . ”

Salon: “Even if Kagan’s judicial beliefs don’t align with Marshall’s in all particulars, her willingness to praise his general judicial principles suggests that she, like Marshall, sees the Constitution as a dynamic bulwark against majoritarian tyranny and political persecution. This contrasts not only with the beliefs of Marshall’s antagonists like Scalia, who view the Constitution as static and unchanging, but even with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who stated blandly at her confirmation hearing that her only interpretive guidepost was “fidelity to the law.” . . . The evidence we have from Kagan’s life and works might not be abundant, but on the whole, it shows her to be a conventional Democrat who is comfortable with at least certain progressive uses of judicial power . . . ”

LifeNews: “Kagan, a former Harvard Law dean, is an ardent abortion advocate who, at 50, would leave a pro-abortion legacy for Obama on the Supreme Court for decades to come . . . LifeNews.com spoke with Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, before the nomination. Kagan was credited by the ACLU with ‘shaping Clinton’s policy on hate crimes,’ Wright noted . . . ”

Americans for Truth About Homosexuality: “According to some reports it is an open secret that Kagan is a practicing lesbian — to which AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responds: ‘If Kagan is practicing immoral sexual behavior, it reflects on her character as a judicial nominee and her personal bias as potentially one of the most important public officials in America. The popular mantra — even among conservatives — is that Kagan’s sexuality is ‘irrelevant.’ But a Justice Kagan would help decide some critically important constitutional issues dealing with: homosexual ‘marriage’ as a supposed civil right; religious liberty and freedom of conscience; and the First Amendment as applied to citizens’ right to oppose homosexuality. So it certainly matters if she, as a lifetime judge, could emerge as a crusading (openly) ‘gay’ advocate on the court.’”

The NY Times provides this review of Kagan’s life.

NOW: “Encouragingly, Kagan has expressed clear opposition to the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that has forced out thousands of lesbian and gay service members from the military. However, having never served as a judge herself, it is unclear where Kagan stands on most of NOW’s key issues . . . ”

The Heritage Foundation, The Foundry Blog observes that Kagan has been critical of the confirmation process in the past. The Blog also carries a statement by Former AG Ed Meese.

Daily Mail: “At the age of six months babies can barely sit up – let along take their first tottering steps, crawl or talk. But, according to psychologists, they have already developed a sense of moral code – and can tell the difference between good and evil. An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as ‘blank slates’ – and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences.”