Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" for February 1, 2012

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Feb. 1

4:00 - Dean Koontz: 77 Shadow Street
Inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour, a terrifying certainty grows: It’s the latest novel from Catholic writer Dean Koontz 77 Shadow Street. He joins us.

4:20 - “Out of the Darkness”
"Out of the Darkness" tells the stories of Shelley Lubben and Mark Houck; both victims of the sexual revolution and sexual utilitarian philosophy. Shelley Lubben is a former porn actress who spent 8 years in the sex industry and suffered terribly at its hands. Mark Houck is one of the millions of men who became addicted to pornography and suffered for years under its yoke. World-renowned experts Dr. Judith Reisman and Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons provide important insights and their own moving stories to this compelling and important film. Their years of experience and study allow them to see more clearly what has happened to our society and why. And perhaps more importantly, they are able to point people towards the road out. We discuss the film with Executive Producer John Saffian.

4:40 - Kresta Comments – Jimmy Carter

5:00 – Catholic Leaders Respond Nationwide to HHS "Preventive Services" Mandate
Both the president of the U.S. bishops and the bishops’ Pro-Life chairman called on the thousands of Catholics gathered today at the March for Life to speak out for the protection of conscience rights and religious liberty. “From a human point of view, we may be tempted to surrender, when our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the ‘center for disease control,’ when chemically blocking conception or aborting the baby in the womb is considered a ‘right’ to be subsidized by others who abhor it,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). His words referred to the January 20 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that nearly all employers will be forced to cover drugs and procedures that violate their conscience in their health insurance plans Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron is here to discuss it.

5:20 - Thomas More Law Center Appeals Ninth Circuit’s Anti-God Decision to the U.S. Supreme Court
The Thomas More Law Center announced this week that it has appealed a controversial decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal was filed in the case of Bradley Johnson v. Poway Unified School District. For the past twenty-five years, Bradley Johnson, a high school math teacher in California had been displaying red, white and blue banners in his classroom that contained patriotic phrases such as: “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” and “God Bless America.” However school officials ordered Johnson to remove his banners because they promoted a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint. In an outrageous case of double standard, school officials allowed other teachers to display non-Christian religious displays in their classrooms including a 40-foot string of Tibetan prayer flags with images of Buddha, poster with Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi’s “7 Social Sins;” a poster of Muslim leader Malcolm X; a poster of the Buddhist leader Dali Lama; and a poster containing the lyrics of John Lennon’s anti-religion song “Imagine,” which begins, Imagine there’s no Heaven. Richard Thompson of the Law Center is here.

5:40 – Kresta Comments