By Lewis Willis
I want to call to the attention of the reader that there is an International Organization for Ladies. Every lady should be a member of it. However, I feel I should give credit to whom it is due and explain how I happen to have some of the information in this article. Brother Eugene Britnell did some research on the policy and goals of the National Organization for Women. He exposed some of these goals and I reprint them below. Brother Billy James (Granada, Miss.) used them in an article that I read in the bulletin of the Florence, Alabama church. As you can tell, I did not get this straight from the horse’s mouth. (All emphasis in the ten points that follow is mine. L.W.) The goals of NOW are:
1. To ratify the ERA (pp. 1,12,13).
2. To require employers to grant “parent leave” to both parents; not just maternity leave (p. 3).
3. To eliminate women’s exemption from the military draft (pp. 18,19).
4. To legalize homosexuality, to promote sexual revolution; to make abortions and contraceptives available on demand with no restrictions (pp. 20,21).
5. To establish free child care centers, government controlled for all children (pg. 14,15). (isn’t this what Hitler did and the Communists are advocating? E.B.).
6. To eliminate tax-exempt status of churches; to force churches to place women in places of leadership; and to “restate theological concepts” for women’s roles (pp. 17, 18).
7. To remove all “sexism” from textbooks – anything which shows “stereotyped” roles of men and women (pp. 9,10).
8. A guaranteed annual income for everybody (pp. 5).
9. To require parents to share equally in family support (pp. 16).
10. To work through the FCC to deny licenses to broadcasters who do not air feminist views (p. 8).
So, there you have a statement of purposes for NOW. The women (where I was raised such gals were not called “ladies”) who champion the cause of NOW became infuriated several months ago when the states failed to ratify their number one project, the Equal Rights Amendment. They became more infuriated when the current House of Representatives failed to adopt the ERA. They hit the newspapers, radio, and television with their venomous assaults upon every representative who voted against their issue. They vowed, in most unlady-like ways, to banish all of their enemies from Washington. These activists were so hot with rage that they could have cooked one of their TV dinners with the breath of their mouths.
Last week NOW endorsed Walter Mondale as their presidential candidate. Of all possible candidates, he is the one they feel who best represents their position and they plan to work enthusiastically for his election. I don’t want this to be a political statement, but Mondale is the same fella who spoke at a “Gay-Rights” political fund raiser in New York (9/29/82) praising the audience for a great turnout and expressing his delight in being there. He seems to be gathering around him a wonderful group for his presidential push. He has the homosexual community and the women of NOW. I doubt he needs anyone else to help him.
The ladies I know don’t seem to care much for NOW. If you feel NOW does not represent the interest off ladies, may I suggest to you that there is an International Organization for Ladies. This IOL is an old organization. It is variously identified in the writings of antiquity. It is frequently referred to in the New Testament. The IOL is the COG (Church Of God, 1 Cor. 1:2). Every lady should be in the IOL. In fact, there is room enough in this IOL for the women of NOW if they could ever figure out how to act like ladies. Such a change and commitment to God will not grant them much media attention, but they will receive the loving attention and forgiveness from God if they will associate themselves with His church.
I wasjust thinkin’- I wonder what the condition of the church of God would be if the ladies in it worked as diligently as the women of the world are working for NOW? I don’t know what kind of progress the church would make, but it would be an interesting sight to observe. But not being a lady, there is nothing I can do to campaign for the movement. Having voiced my views on NOW and IOL, this is LBW` signing off . . .
Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 5, p. 146
March 1, 1984