YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH!
There are a lot of good things happening at Saint John. During the past month, the parents of the youth have gathered together twice to discuss plans on moving forward with an active youth ministry. Please keep the youth of both Warrenville and Saint John UMC in your prayers as they plan special events and build this very important ministry.
The Children of Saint John
One of the things that I have noticed about Saint John is that it does not lack any children, which is something to celebrate. Now that the youth are in the beginning stages of working toward an active youth ministry, the attention also needs to be on our younger children. For the next several months, I will be focusing on opening up opportunities for the parents of the younger children to meet and discuss how to meet the needs of raising up the children of Saint John in the Word. I will be speaking to key people in the meantime to see how we can all move forward together as Christ would have us move forward. So, just as you are keeping the youth in your prayers—please keep the children in your prayers as well — and please keep the parents in your prayers.
Saint John Seniors
See the Events page for what’s coming up with Saint John Seniors
With all this excitement surrounding the children and the youth of Saint John, the seniors of Saint John have been just as active. On March 8th, Robert Healy (Pastor Kendell’s father) delivered a very informative talk on human-sex-trafficking. The following is an article that Mr. Healy wrote recapping the talk:
Saint John Seniors,
Thank you for allowing me to present at your luncheon on March 8. Rev. Kendell asked me to summarize the work of the South Carolina Legislative Roundtable. Being part of the Legislative Roundtable is the way I live out my Christian Faith. The Lord Jesus made it clear that he values children and wants his Church, to protect them from the sins of the world. (Matthew 18:5-7) Sadly, here in South Carolina, children are being sexually abused and exploited. One way we can protect children from this abuse is by aligning the laws of South Carolina with Biblical principles. The mission statement for the Legislative Roundtable is: Advocating legislation to dismantle the financial, legal and social infrastructure that enables the underground human trafficking economy. The Roundtable has a full legislative agenda. I covered two important bills in my talk: H4535 Youth Protection from Pornography Act and H4563 Cyber Sexual Harassment (aka Revenge Porn). The following is a summary of these bills.
H4535 Youth Protection from Pornography Act. In 1998 the US Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) which banned the publication of commercial pornography from the internet. The law was immediately challenged and in 2004 the US Supreme Court struck down the law finding it unconstitutional in that it violated the First Amendment right to Free Speech, recognizing some forms of pornography as protected speech. (Ashcroft v ACLU 2004). The Court also recognized that states have a legitimate and compelling interest in protecting children from harmful adult material. They ruled that banning the publication of pornography was overly broad and that the objective of COPA could be met by the installation of pornography filters on hand-held devices use by children to connect with the internet. As a result, the manufacturers installed filters on smart phone and tablets. This is a good thing, however the way the manufacturers implemented the Court’s decision to install filters served not to meTet the objectives of COPA but to preserve the status quo. The default setting for the filters was set to OFF at the point of sale and the public was not informed the filters were on the devices. Also activating the filters was burdensome for a non technical parent and the filters were not password protected making it easy for a technically competent child to deactivate. As a result, since 2004 millions of American children have been exposed to and harmed by pornography.
H4535 is elegant in its simplicity. It would mandate filters on all devices sold after Jan 1, 2023 have the default setting set to ON and that the filters be password protected. This simple action places the control of a child’s exposure to pornography in the hands of their parent. It also protects the Free Speech right of adults by allowing the deactivation of the filter by inputting the passcode into the device. Children are not able to deactivate the filters because the parents who bought the device hold the passcode.
H4563 Cyber Sexual Harassment. The advent of smart phones with cameras has led to a high risk and potentially devastating social behavior. Juveniles and young adults produce sexually explicit private self-images and share them with others. Often, they share these private images with others they have met only online and not face to face. Many of these so-called friends are pedophiles and traffickers who use the images to coerce children into commercial sex or other nefarious activities. Frequently, when the relationship turns sour the person in receipt of the private image posts it on social media without the consent of the depicted person as an act of revenge. Once an image is posted on a social media platform it is impossible to take down and may be viewed many thousands of times. Currently South Carolina is one of only two states without a Revenge Porn Statute. Massachusetts is the other state.
H4563 addresses this need. Children need guard rails to warn them of damaging behaviors. Like speed bumps or danger signs, properly constructed laws are warning signs of high risk and dangerous behaviors. Without legal sanctions these behaviors often become entrenched as normal and acceptable. That is what has happened in South Carolina. We need this law.
Robert L. Healy, Director South Carolina Legislative Roundtable