In The Days

• Submitted By: Mike and Carol Raley
• Source: WND
• News Date: 6/13/08

‘Generation Joshua’ used, trademarked by homeschoolers years ago

False Prophets

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
—Matthew 24:24

Perilous Times

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,deceiving, and being deceived”
—2 Timothy 3:13″

The plans by the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a longtime supporter of abortions throughout pregnancy, to launch a major “Joshua Generation Project” to reach out to young Christian evangelicals and Catholics may have run into a glitch.

It seems the term “Generation Joshua” already is trademarked by the Home School Legal Defense Association, the world’s premier advocacy organization for homeschooling parents and students.

The Obama campaign project first was reported by David Brody on CBN News, who said the campaign would launch sometime in June.

“The Joshua Generation project will be the Obama campaign’s outreach to young people of faith,” the report said. “There’s unprecedented energy and excitement for Obama among young evangelicals and Catholics. The Joshua Generation project will tap into that excitement and provide young people of faith opportunities to stand up for their values and move the campaign forward.”

Slow down, J. Michael Smith, the president of the HSLDA, said this week.

“About June 7, the Home School Legal Defense Association learned that Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign may be planning to unveil a major new program to attract younger evangelicals and Catholics, using the name the ‘Joshua Generation Project’ or the ‘Joshua Generation,’ he said in a prepared statement.

“HSLDA is the owner of two federal trademark registrations, GENERATION JOSHUA® and GENERATION JOSHUA & Design®. Both trademarks were registered with the U.S. Patent ® Trademark Office in 2006 for use with ‘education services, namely conducting programs in the field of civic involvement and providing training for youth in the field of performing civic activity,’” he said.

The media office at Obama’s Chicago headquarters declined to return a telephone request today from WND seeking a comment on the apparent conflict, or their plans for their own campaign.

The CBN report noted that the “Obama campaign understands that the issue of abortion is a problem for some voters of faith.” But the report said they view the “Joshua” program plans as a way to broaden the discussion on values, and cite issues of poverty, climate change, the war on terror and others on which evangelicals may agree with Obama.

HSLDA chief Michael Farris told Roll Call that the outreach, if using the Joshua moniker, “is an improper invasion of our trademark and we’ve retained legal counsel to notify the Obama campaign to stop this.”

The HSLDA’s website offers, “Generation Joshua is designed for Christian youth between the ages of 11 and 19 who want to become a force in the civil and political arenas.”

“It’s impossible to miss this, as web savvy as they are,” Farris, who also wrote a 2005 book called, “The Joshua Generation: Restoring the Heritage of Christian Leadership,” told Roll Call.

The government lists “Generation Joshua” as being registered on Feb. 28, 2006, to the Home School Legal Defense Association, a nonprofit based in Purcellville, Va.

In a statement on the issue, Smith said the HSLDA registrations are a matter of public record.

“HSLDA has used these two trademarks continuously since 2003 for various services related to engaging young people, particularly within the Christian community, in civic involvement,” the statement said.

“After hearing of this possible use of the name ‘Joshua Generation’ by Obama for America, HSLDA’s legal counsel promptly sent a letter to the campaign. This letter provided additional notice of HSLDA’s federal trademark registrations, explaining that the similarity of the ‘Joshua Generation Project’ name – as used with the proposed activities of the Obama for America campaign – is likely to cause confusion with HSLDA’s GENERATION JOSHUA® marks. HSLDA also requested that the campaign promptly refrain from using the ‘Joshua Generation Project’ name or any other name that is confusingly similar to HSLDA’s GENERATION JOSHUA® trademarks. This letter provided several days for the Obama for America campaign to appropriately process and respond to this request.”

Columnist Cal Thomas wrote about the issue, explaining the significance is that in the biblical account of the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, Moses led them to the edge of the Promised Land, but Joshua led them into that region.

“Apparently, if we have enough faith in Obama, he will lead us all into a new America, but if we vote for John McCain, we will demonstrate a lack of faith (in Obama) and die in the political badlands,” Thomas said.

Besides the apparent conflict between Obama’s support for abortion and Christian beliefs, Thomas said there are other legitimate questions that remain unanswered by the Obama campaign regarding the senator’s claim to be a Christian.

“Obama has declared himself a committed Christian. He can call himself anything he likes, but there are certain markers among the evangelicals he is courting that one must meet in order to qualify for that label,” Thomas said.

He cites Obama’s expressed belief in “many paths to the same place.”

“There is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and man and be a Christian. Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called ‘false prophets,’” Thomas wrote.