Understanding Islam - Audio Download

Understanding Islam - Audio Download - Answers Bookstore: Daniel Shayesteh journeyed from the darkness of godlessness to the light of Christ-centeredness. As a former radical Muslim who was heavily involved in the Iranian fundamentalist revolution and co-founded the terrorist group Hezbolah in Iran, Daniel was once committed to exterminating Jews, Christians, and other “infidels.”

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Will Creation Be Taught in Indiana Schools?

Will Creation Be Taught in Indiana Schools? | Dr. Georgia Purdom's Blog: The Indiana Senate Education Committee voted 8-2 in favor of a bill stating the following:

The governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation.

The Indiana Senate voted 28-22 in favor of an amended bill stating the following:

The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

What does a creation scientist think of these proposals?

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The Pink Ribbon and the Dollar Sign

The Pink Ribbon and the Dollar Sign | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: Some pro-life persons might wish that the Christian churches had as much influence in the public arena as Planned Parenthood, that we were able to mobilize as many callers and threaten as many boycotts. Some might see this as a sign that we need more money and respect. After all, if some Christian foundation had more financial firepower than Planned Parenthood, Komen might have stood firm.

In all of this, though, we can gain an opportunity to see what the abortion culture is all about: cash. No one, Russell Moore reminds us, can serve both God and Mammon.

Related: After Komen, the next big Planned Parenthood fight

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Planned Parenthood's Hostages

Robert George and Carter Snead: Planned Parenthood's Hostages - WSJ.com: Planned Parenthood is very far from the uncontroversial organization the Susan G. Komen Foundation aspires to be. According to its most recent annual report, for 2010, Planned Parenthood sells abortions to nine out of every 10 pregnant women who come to its clinics. And it's known throughout the country as an implacable and aggressive opponent of any meaningful restrictions on deliberate feticide.

Planned Parenthood has spent millions fighting even those legislative initiatives that command extremely wide public support, such as laws requiring parental notification and informed consent for abortions, and those banning late-term abortions when the child developing in the womb is fully viable. Planned Parenthood even opposes a bill recently introduced in Congress to ban abortions for the purpose of sex selection.

It is easy to see why Komen might not wish to be associated with Planned Parenthood. Fighting breast cancer is something all Americans can and do agree on; promoting and performing abortions is something that divides us bitterly.

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The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World

Ayaan Hirsi Ali:The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World - The Daily Beast: "Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.

"The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake."

Editor: The writer, though sympathetic to Christians, is not known for being a Christian. And her concern, while appreciated, is not well-placed. Christians are not a genetic, ethnic, or racial group in danger of annihilation.

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Who's politicizing breast cancer?

From the editor: I had to avoid watching news shows over the weekend, because the constant rehash of the "poor, poor Planned Parenthood" line was making me sick, as though they are the only resource women have in the fight against breast cancer.

I just want to point something out for the record: Pro-life people have long wanted to participate in Komen fundraising drives. Years ago I collected my yogurt caps and dutifully sent them in, until I learned that Komen funded PP. In other words, any activism on our part was motivated by concern for women and a desire to give.

Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, was motivated by the desire to get. Seeing the end of a lucrative dollar-stream, they screamed and hollered (and perhaps worse) until they got it back. Quite a contrast, if you ask me.

Now, lest we feel too sorry for Komen in all of this, let me just refer you to their recent 990. I'm no accountant, but it appears to me they brought in over $900 million last year. If I'm reading this right, they spent a large chunk of it (well over $368 million) lobbying legislators -- probably for more money.

In light of this information, PP's share ($680,000) is/was a pittance. (I imagine it would have to be a lot more if they actually did mammograms.) We all saw how quickly and easily they were able to make up the difference -- with the media's help. Why should anyone feel sorry for them?

Should anyone feel sorry for Komen? I don't. For one thing, I'd be surprised if all the pro-life ministries in the nation pooled their resources that we could come up with $900 million of income in one year. Maybe I'm wrong (who has time to figure it out?), but I know our entire budget is about half of what PP gets from Komen.

But as the American Association of Pro-Life Ob/Gyns points out, it is not the pro-life side who has politicized breast cancer. The majority of world studies on the abortion/breast cancer link come up positive, but do you hear that from Komen or other major cancer organizations? From Planned Parenthood? No. They have vociferously hidden and obscured the link. And that is unconscionable when you consider all that PP does to promote abortion.

What I'm getting at here is that none of us needs to feel ashamed of our stance on this issue. Let the world say what they like, abortion does not help women, and (dare I say it?) Komen is not helping women. We, with our paltry budgets all aimed at abortion prevention, are helping women more than anyone will ever know.

This Huffington Post article underscores the difference between how pro-lifers wage their battles and how the other side does it: A Komen source is cited as saying "right-wing groups would organize a protest or send out a mailing every now and then, but it was on a low simmer." In contrast, once Komen decided to defund PP:

The backlash against Komen was intense, including threats of violence, angry letters from members of Congress and public rebukes from political figures such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The charity struggled to deal with the pressure, especially in a face-off against Planned Parenthood, an organization whose fine-tuned political team has experience in these high-pitched, high-stakes debates. . . . "politically speaking, they're no match for Planned Parenthood." . . . "They were just naive in the face of [the] incredibly sophisticated Planned Parenthood operation." . . . Komen has been left reeling and its reputation as a top charity endangered. "We're under attack. We're getting threats of violence," the source said. "It's devastating."

Moving Pro-Life Legislation Forward: The Need for Prudence and Civility

Moving Pro-Life Legislation Forward: The Need for Prudence and Civility – The Gospel Coalition Blog: "We support the same goal as personhood advocates -- that is, the complete protection of unborn humans. And we support legislation that limits the evil done while we continue working to reverse the pervasive influence of the federal courts. That's not compromise; it's sound moral thinking."

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Komen Get It

Komen Get It - WSJ.com: In last spring's budget deal, funding for Planned Parenthood was the one subject on which President Obama refused to compromise. Thus Planned Parenthood is most accurately characterized as a political organization, a combatant in the culture wars, with some sidelines in women's health. One of those sidelines occasioned the partnership with Komen that has now turned into an ugly split.

. . . Planned Parenthood's bitter campaign against Komen--aided by left-liberal activists and media--is analogous to a protection racket: Nice charity you've got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it.

The message to other Planned Parenthood donors is that if they don't play nice and keep coughing up the cash, they'll get the Komen treatment. There's one crucial difference, however. In a real-life protection racket, the victim never pays voluntarily. The threat is present from the get-go. By contrast, Komen presumably was not under any duress when it made its grants -- and it could have avoided all this nasty publicity by never dealing with Planned Parenthood in the first place.

Thus smart prospective donors -- especially ones that are apolitical, like Komen -- are getting the message that supporting Planned Parenthood is a trap. Give once, and you will give again -- or else you will pay.

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Southern Baptist leader: Obama Contraception mandate ‘is not only a Catholic issue’

Southern Baptist leader: Obama Contraception mandate ‘is not only a Catholic issue’ | LifeSiteNews.com: The Obama administration’s mandate that religious institutions cover all birth control, including abortifacient drugs like Plan B and Ella, and sterilization in their health insurance plans has people of faith banding together across traditional doctrinal divisions. Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said any government law requiring people of faith to violate their conscience “is not only a Catholic issue, even though the mainstream media wants to make this a Catholic issue.”

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Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise for Stroke

Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise for Stroke, Studies Say - US News and World Report: Treating stroke patients with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow appears to safely help them regain some of their lost abilities, two small new studies suggest.

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My sin…not yours

My sin…not yours. | Abby Johnson: The doctor entered the room in the usual manner. He was about to sit down on his stool and realized she was very upset. Then he did something that left me speechless. He walked over to her and stood next to my chair. He took her hand and began talking to her.

“Why the tears?” he said. “I just feel really guilty about doing this,” she responded.

He asked her why she felt guilty. She said, “Because I just know this is a sin.”

He paused for a minute and looked at her…he was looking at her so carefully…so cautiously…I had never seen one of our doctors treat a patient like this before. He smiled gently at her and said, “No. It is not your sin. It is mine. I will take on your sin. I commit the sin. Not you.”

He patted her hand, walked back to his stool and sat down. Her crying stopped. It was bizarre. Did he really think he was committing a sin? How could he do it if he really thought that? Did he think he was taking on the sins of these women by helping them obtain abortions?

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The Bible's Teaching on Marriage and the Family

By Andreas J. Kostenberger

• The Current Cultural Crisis
• What Is the Family?
• Marriage: Contract or Covenant?
• What Is Marriage?
• How Did Sin Affect Marriage and the Family?
• The Restoration of God's Original Design for Marriage and the Family in Christ

The Stem Cell Debates - Lessons for Science and Politics

The New Atlantis » The Stem Cell Debates - Lessons for Science and Politics: A comprehensive history of every aspect of the stem cell debates is beyond our present purposes, although the five appendices following the body of this report, each of which can be read as a standalone chapter, offer up-to-date explanations of the science of stem cells, the medical promise of stem cells, the ethical questions raised by stem cell research, the relevant policy and legal history, and other nations’ stem cell research policies.

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Interview: Mom says no to Plan B after her disabled daughter is raped

Interview: Mom says no to Plan B after her disabled daughter is raped | LifeSiteNews.com: Last week, Elise Hilton’s disabled daughter was kidnapped and brutally raped, repeatedly. But when the nurse handed her Plan B, Hilton said no. In a blog post* republished by LifeSiteNews Thursday, Hilton explains that while she was sorely tempted to give her daughter the drug, she knew God was calling her to put her pro-life convictions into action.

*Contains objectionable language.

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Abortion a weapon

Abortion a 'weapon' (OneNewsNow.com): In the report Under-the-Radar Violence in the Conflict Over Abortion, Life Dynamics documents 80 known cases of women murdered for refusing to have abortions. And Crutcher says that is only the tip of the iceberg, as there are also women and girls who are coerced, intimidated, and threatened into terminating pregnancies. So as the pro-lifer concludes, "Ignoring that is a scandal."

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Changes in medicine should prompt new limits on abortion

Changes in medicine should prompt new limits on abortion - CNN.com: In the same way that the law had to change to accommodate advances in DNA evidence that can exonerate those on death row, state laws must change to accommodate that with modern medical care, a child born at 27 weeks is very likely not only going to live, but live a fairly normal life.

We progressives tend to revere science, and there are few scientific proofs more convincing than those former preterm infants who live and thrive all around us. Though late-term abortions are only a small fraction of the total number of terminated pregnancies, it remains a defining issue for our society.

As someone who works against the death penalty, trying to save the lives of people who have committed murder, I have a moral obligation to set my feet, breathe in deeply and honestly admit that prosecutors are morally in the right to pursue cases where they believe viable fetuses are being aborted in violation of the law. A life is ended, and that is murder, if the facts so prove.

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Student Whose Mom was Advised to Abort Shares Story

Student Whose Mom Doctors Told to Have Abortion Shares Story | LifeNews.com: Kristal Dahlager, now a third year law student at Liberty University, has a remarkable story. Her mother was advised to essentially abort her because of a serious prenatally diagnosed problem. Yet Kristal, a thriving, beautiful and joyful young woman, survived and thrived.

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I dreaded going to the abortion clinic to protest, but what happened next was incredible

I dreaded going to the abortion clinic to protest, but what happened next was incredible | LifeSiteNews.com: "This morning, after attending my regular Tuesday Bible Study with the men from Harvest Bible Chapel Orlando, I felt called to go and visit the local abortion clinic that was only one mile away from where our bible study is located. . . . I have to be honest. I did not want go to this clinic. In the past, I have been more soft spoken about my Christian beliefs and it just hasn’t been ‘my style’ to go do something like this. "

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Michigan Presidential Primary, Feb. 28

RTL Michigan: Are you ready for the Tuesday, February 28, Presidential Primary? Many candidates have thrown their hats into the 2012 presidential race. Check out who is on the campaign trail and what they have to say about life issues (English and Spanish).

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An Amoral Manifesto (Part I)

Philosophy Now: [T]his philosopher has long been laboring under an unexamined assumption, namely, that there is such a thing as right and wrong. I now believe there isn’t. . . . [A] ‘soft atheist’ would hold that one could be an atheist and still believe in morality. And indeed, the whole crop of ‘New Atheists’ are softies of this kind. So was I, until I experienced my shocking epiphany that the religious fundamentalists are correct: without God, there is no morality. But they are incorrect, I still believe, about there being a God. Hence, I believe, there is no morality.

. . . [T]he problem with morality, I now maintain, is that it is in even worse shape than religion in this regard; for if there were a God, His issuing commands would make some kind of sense. But if there is no God, as of course atheists assert, then what sense could be made of there being commands of this sort? In sum, while theists take the obvious existence of moral commands to be a kind of proof of the existence of a Commander, i.e., God, I now take the non-existence of a Commander as a kind of proof that there are no Commands, i.e., morality.

It All Starts with God’s Character

It All Starts with God’s Character - Answers in Genesis: How do we know that the Bible text itself is authentic? Where does its authority come from?

We must start with the very character of God.

The Bible is truly authoritative, not because human theologians insist that it is, or because textual criticism validates its authenticity, or even because it claims to be authoritative. The Bible is truly authoritative because of Who it comes from. It is the Word of God.

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Contraceptive mandate could face tough sledding in Supreme Court

Contraceptive mandate could face tough sledding in Supreme Court - latimes.com: The healthcare law's mandate to require religious-affiliated employers to pay for contraception for their workers has prompted two lawsuits. If the matter gets to the Supreme Court, it will go before justices who recently affirmed — in a 9-0 ruling — that the 1st Amendment gives special leeway to religious employers.

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First, They Came for the Catholics

Michelle Malkin: First, They Came for the Catholics: President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It's about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty.

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A Renewed Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor

Cornwall Alliance: An Evangelical Examination of the Theology, Science, and Economics of Global Warming

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Gingrich Wants Scrutiny of IVF Clinics

Gringrich Wants Scrutiny of IVF Clinics: What Should Happen to the More than 400,000 Excess Embryos in the U.S.? | Healthland | TIME.com: Gingrich, who believes life begins at conception, wants a commission to dissect the ethical issues attendant with assisted reproductive technology. Ostensibly, it’s not the babies born from IVF he’s got a problem with; it’s the potential babies — and there are lots and lots of them — who aren’t.

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