Children are the key

Of the 900,000 people who have visited the Creation Museum in the last 2 ½ years, many have been secularists/atheists. They frequently express their dismay that the many children they see here are being influenced by biblical teaching. One secular humanist professor said he was worried because “children may come away confused. And that means we’ll have a harder job convincing them.” This professor wants to take your children and indoctrinate them against God — and he is furious that the Creation Museum has made his teaching job harder! Answers in Genesis

Sperm donor screening needs to be overhauled

The Donor Sibling Registry reported about the recent birth of a severely handicapped and profoundly retarded baby girl who had inherited an unbalanced translocation from sperm donor D-250. Now, the same problem has been disclosed as occurring at the London Women's Clinic. A donor was found to be a balanced translocation carrier only after his semen had been widely commercialised. A couple had to destroy 22 embryos created over the period of a year, at a cost of over 15 thousand pounds, and undoubtedly with considerable emotional investment. Eleven other women were also treated with the abnormal sperm, and are likely to also be suffering enormous turmoil. Whether they miscarried, are pregnant or were unsuccessful at conceiving, all of them will be asking tough questions about how this could happen. BioNews

Related: Fertility doctor accused of substituting own sperm for patient's husband's

'Empathy gene' may provide clues to autism

In the first study of its kind, researchers in the US have identified a genetic variant that appears to influence both a person's ability to empathise, and how they respond to stress. The research may shed significant light on scientists' understanding of autism, which is characterised by problems with empathy and social communication. BioNews

Human trials of ES cell research could begin soon

Stem cell therapy came one step closer to being tested for the first time in people this week, as a US company applied to the Food and Drug Administration for a licence to start a clinical trial. The embryonic stem cell therapy is being developed to treat Stargardt, a currently incurable disease that causes blindness in young people. Advanced Cell Technology, a Massachusetts-based firm, has tested the treatment on rats and mice which model the human Stargardt disease, and found it prevented further vision loss without adverse side effects. BioNews

New drug could help treat Down syndrome

A new drug that is being developed may lessen the effects of learning difficulties caused by the genetic condition Down syndrome. Children with the condition are not developmentally delayed at birth, but often fall behind as they grow older because of memory deficits. BioNews

Get to Know: NARTH

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality is a scientific organization which defends the right to seek psychological care for unwanted homosexual attractions, and the right of therapists to provide care directed at changing a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual if the client desires it. Unfortunately, these freedoms are under attack by homosexual activists who seek to persuade people that change is impossible, that efforts to change are harmful, and that homosexuality is harmless.

Pro-life Democrats let down movement, leaders say

Pro-life leaders expressed disappointment with Senate Democrats who advocate protecting unborn children after the upper chamber voted Nov. 21 to move forward with a health-care bill that authorizes federal funds for abortion. With all Democrats in support, the Senate voted 60-39 to invoke cloture and bring Majority Leader Harry Reid's legislation to the floor for debate. Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land expressed his displeasure. "When you compare the current Senate bill to scriptural principles embodied in the Baptist Faith and Message and in the ERLC's fifteen principles of health-care reform, it is a fatally flawed bill -- fatal in that it does not provide sufficient protections for unborn human life and would use public money to underwrite the abortion of unborn citizens." Baptist Press

New CDC Report: Abortions Rose 3.1% in 2006

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims the number of abortions has risen during 2006, the last year for which it has national data available. Yet a January 2008 report from the Guttmacher Institute, which is considered more effective in tabulating abortions, shows abortions declining. LifeNews, PDF file

Updated: President Barack Obama's Pro-Abortion Record

While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this recently updated list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions. LifeNews

Gang accused of killing to sell human fat

Peruvian police said on Thursday they had broken up a gang that allegedly killed dozens of people and sold their fat to buyers who used it to make cosmetics. Four Peruvians were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, murder and trafficking in human fat. Reuters

National Religious Leaders Release Historic Declaration on Christian Conscience

Today a group of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars released the Manhattan Declaration, which addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences. Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, the Manhattan Declaration is available at DeMossNews.com/ManhattanDeclaration.

The Future of Evangelicals: A Conversation with Pastor Rick Warren

The evangelical Christian movement historically has been defined by its members' distinctive doctrinal standards and practices. Yet in recent years many Americans have come to understand evangelicals more by their political, rather than religious, identity. The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life invited Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., to discuss how this political association has affected the evangelical movement, what evangelicals' most important concerns are today, and how the movement is evolving. Pew Forum, US News

Reid's Senate Health Care Bill Contains Monthly Abortion Premium for Taxpayers

House Republican Leader John Boehner says the new health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled yesterday contains a monthly abortion premium that taxpayers will be forced to pay. His analysis follows that of pro-life groups that say the bill contains massive abortion funding. "Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s massive, 2,074-page bill would levy a new 'abortion premium' fee on Americans in the government-run plan." LifeNews

Action Needed: Contact your Senators

The Origin into Schools project

This November, Ray Comfort's Living Waters will be giving away more than 100,000 copies of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species at 100 top U.S. universities (other individuals and churches have purchased approximately 70,000 copies to also give to students). This will be the entire publication (304-pages). Nothing has been removed from Darwin’s original work, but Ray has added a 50-page introduction. Read the entire text here.

New UNFPA Report Goes Green to Promote "Reproductive Rights"

The United Nations Population Fund released its annual State of the World Population Report yesterday, linking efforts to promote "sustainable development" and affect "climate change" to its "reproductive rights" agenda. Critics see the report as a thinly-veiled attempt to harness popular environmental concerns in service of population control. The report, "Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate," asserts that achieving "universal access to reproductive health" would both contribute to declines in fertility and "help reduce green-house gas emissions in the long run." It calls upon nations to "fully fund family planning services and contraceptive supplies." C-Fam

Get to Know: Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life Education & Awareness Campaign

On Saturday, November 14 in Kansas City, there was a celebration of hope for patients with disabling diseases and injuries, with the launch of the Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life Education & Awareness Campaign. For 3 hours, patients shared their stories of how adult stem cells had saved their lives, improved their health, saved their families, and given them hope. The campaign is committed to raising awareness that adult stem cell treatments are available for patients, promoting access to therapies, encouraging development of more adult stem cell treatments, and dedicated to educating the public, policy makers, and the medical community about the medical miracles of adult stem cell transplants. Over 1,500 adult stem cell transplants have taken place in the Kansas City metro area alone. FRC Blog

Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn

Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood clinic director whose about-face on abortion prompted her to resign her job, says she's gotten flack for her decision from an unexpected quarter: her own church. Whereas clergy and parishioners at St. Francis Episcopal in College Stationwelcomed her as a Planned Parenthood employee, now they are buttonholing her after Sunday services. Mrs. Johnson, 29, spent much of her 20s searching for the right church. "I was raised Southern Baptist but didn't find the Southern Baptist community was very accepting of my work at Planned Parenthood," she said. Washington Times

Why do mutations pose a problem for evolutionists?

The mutations that we see in the world around us involve a loss of genetic information, not a gain. Mutations could never cause a species to gain genetic information and change into a more advanced species. This poses a problem for evolutionary claims that humans evolved from apes. Answers in Genesis

"Salad Bar" Christianity Popular on CA College Campuses

"During conversations with college students, I've often discovered what professors teach gets mixed in with scripture, although the two don't go together at all." California Family Council

'Three parent babies' take a step closer to reality

Researchers used eggs from young donors to repair damaged eggs of older women in order to increase their chances of fertilisation. They have not yet used the eggs to produce babies, but they have injected them with sperm to produce an early stage embryo in the laboratory. While the move breathes new life into "old eggs" and could also remove genetic illnesses, it is likely to provoke an ethical storm as critics believe it could lead to hybrid or genetically modified children.

IVF often fails in older women because there are abnormalities in the outside of their eggs, known as cytoplasm, which surrounds the nucleus. The team in Japan believes one way around the problem would be too implant the healthy nucleus - which contains most of the information to produce a baby - into the cytoplasm of a donor, usually a younger mother. Telegraph

Editor: This experimentation demonstrates the immorality of a lot of fertility research. In the process, embryos are allowed to form but not to "produce babies."

The Miracle of Life

Video from Real Alternatives.

Did Christianity cause the crash?

America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong. The Atlantic

The Impact of Abortion After Prenatal Testing

Couples are not prepared for the negative emotions that frequently ensue. Nor are they usually informed about the help that is available for raising children with special needs. For an informed choice to be truly available pregnant women and their partners need to be told about the possible impact of abortion on them and their other children, and they also need to have information about the care of children with special needs. Elliot Institute

See also: Psychological impact on women after second and third trimester termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomalies

Michael Glatze: The 'straight' scoop – 2 years later

For those healing from the sin of homosexuality, or connected to folks who might be trying to deal with this sin, one of the worst things people have to face in this situation is the feeling like stopping homosexual practices and starting heterosexual practices is a "big deal." You can carry around that sense of "big deal" in your brain, and it can cripple you from just letting go of all that mental muck, just letting go of what you think people might think of you, and just be yourself. I mean it! WND, LifeSiteNews

What happens during a 6 to 7 week abortion

(Not graphic) YouTube

Planned Parenthood's abortion quotas exposed

"There are definitely client goals," former clinic director Abby Johnson said. "We'd have a goal every month for abortion clients and for family planning clients." The Bryan, Texas, Planned Parenthood clinic performed surgical abortions every other Saturday, but it began expanding access to abortion to increase earnings."

One of the ways they were able to up the number of patients that they saw was they started doing the RU486 chemical abortions all throughout the week." Johnson said the chemical abortion costs the same as an early first-trimester abortion: between $505 and $695 for each procedure.

The clinic was experiencing financial difficulties due to the economic downturn. "Abortion is the most lucrative part of Planned Parenthood's operations. Even though they're two separate corporations, all of the money goes into one pot. With the family planning corporation really suffering, they depend on the abortion corporation to balance their budget, help get them out of the hole and help make income for the company. They really wanted to increase the number of abortions so that they could increase their income." WND

Cord Blood Reverses Cerebral Palsy in Colorado Girl

Soon after Chloe’s first birthday, the Levines, who live in Denver, learned their daughter had suffered a stroke in utero and had become afflicted with cerebral palsy. Her parents remembered they had banked stem cells from Chloe’s umbilical cord at her birth, and wondered if they could be used to help treat her. At the age of 2, Chloe received a 15-minute re-infusion of her stem cells. Within four days, her parents saw a noticeable difference. "Her life is completely normal, she doesn’t drag her right foot, she can use her right hand," Jenny Levine said. "She rides a bike, a scooter…we’re taking her skiing this year. She’s fabulous." At this time, Kurtzberg said she does not know how long the effects of cord blood will last on kids like Chloe, but if there is a good chance it will be "durable and last indefinitely." This is essential, since most babies have enough cells for only one infusion. Fox News

California Awards Grants for Research Projects in Nonembryonic Stem Cells

In a tacit acknowledgment that the promise of human embryonic stem cells is still far in the future, California’s stem cell research program on Wednesday awarded grants intended to develop therapies using mainly other, less controversial cells. The $230 million in grants were awarded, but only 4 of the 14 projects involve embryonic stem cells. NY Times

What's wrong? It takes research to figure it out

A mouse that can speak? A monkey with Down's Syndrome? Dogs with human hands or feet? British scientists want to know if such experiments are acceptable, or if they go too far in the name of medical research. To find out, Britain's Academy of Medical Sciences launched a study Tuesday to look at the use of animals containing human material in scientific research. The work is expected to take at least a year, but its leaders hope it will help establish guidelines for scientists in Britain and around the world on how far the public is prepared to see them go in mixing human genes into animals to discover ways to fight human diseases. Martin Bobrow, a professor of medical genetics at Cambridge University and chair of a 14-member group looking into the issue, says, "It is important that we consider these questions now so that appropriate boundaries are recognized and research is able to fulfill its potential." Reuters

Wellness Should be at the Core of Health Care Reform

Richard Land believes there is a need for a "universal threshold of health care for Americans," but it doesn't look like what the House just voted on. Among other things, he says wellness, including rewarding individuals for avoiding risky and unhealthy behavior, should be at the core of any reform measure. ERLC

Editor: Sounds a lot like what Mark Blocher advocates in the latest Biblical Bioethics Advisor.

Pro-Life Amendment Seen as Historic Victory Overshadowed by Dangers of Health Bill Passage

At approximately 10:20 p.m. EST Saturday night, the U.S. House voted 240-194 to approve an amendment to H.R. 3962 that maintains long-standing federal policy on abortion by banning government-appropriated funds from covering elective abortions. Then, just before 11 p.m., House lawmakers voted 220-215 to pass the massive health care overhaul. One Republican voted for the bill.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins called the passage of the pro-life amendment "a huge pro-life victory" and congratulated the bipartisan effort against the bill's abortion coverage. "We applaud this House vote which prohibits the abortion industry from further profiting from taxpayers by using government funds to pay for the gruesome act of abortion," he said. "Unfortunately, H.R. 3962 is a seriously flawed piece of legislation," said Perkins, who pointed out the bill's massive governmental power grab and open door to health care rationing, among other issues.

Pro-abort leaders across America flew into a rage as the pro-life Stupak amendment, unexpectedly approved for consideration Friday night, went on to gain an easy victory Saturday. Some Democrat lawmakers have already vowed to pursue a reversal. "I feel certain [the Stupak amendment] will come out of the bill before it comes back from committee," pro-abortion California Democrat Lynn Woolsey told The Hill. "I will insist that it come out."

Ultimately pro-life leaders appeared to agree that the amendment, though important in its own right, put hardly a dent in an otherwise massively dangerous bill. Noted FRC's Perkins: "The Speaker's bill still allows rationing of health care for seniors, raises health costs for families, mandates that families purchase under threat of fines and penalties, encourages counseling for assisted suicide in some states, does not offer broad conscience protections for health care workers and seeks to insert the federal government into all aspects of citizen's lives." LifeSiteNews

Mike Huckabee interview with Abby Johnson

Abby Johnson describes what she saw on the ultrasound that changed her mind about abortion. YouTube

Spraying on Skin Cells to Heal Burns

A relatively new technology has the potential to heal burns in a way that's much less invasive than skin grafts. With just a small skin biopsy and a ready-made kit, surgeons can create a suspension of the skin's basal cells--the stem cells of the epidermis--and spray the solution directly onto the burn with results comparable to those from skin grafts. Technology Review

More stem cell news:

• Scientists reveal how induced pluripotent stem cells differ from embryonic stem cells
• Lung tissue generated from human embryonic stem cells

Abortion Practitioner Admits "Yes I Am" Killing Unborn Children

Curtis Boyd is one of the few abortion practitioners to admit what he is doing, but he has no qualms with his job. Boyd opened the first abortion center in Dallas in 1973. In an interview with WFAA yesterday after news surfaced that he re-opened his late-term abortion center, Southwestern Women's Surgery Center, in the huge metro area last week after more than a year following the closure of the Aaron's abortion facility, he makes a startling admission. "Am I killing?" Boyd said. "Yes, I am. I know that."

He is a former Baptist ordained minister who is now a part of the pro-abortion Unitarian Universalist church; he says he prays often about the abortions he does. "I'll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding." LifeNews

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Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut

A judge's decision to reduce a killer's sentence because he has genetic mutations linked to violence raises a thorny question – can your genes ever absolve you of responsibility for a particular act? New Scientist

Australia's "Dr. Death" visits San Francisco

Philip Nitschke will bring his suicide seminar to the Buddhist Center in San Francisco, where he will teach attendees how to kill themselves. Shouldn't there be limits to assisted-suicide permissiveness? Not according to Nitschke, who bluntly takes assisted-suicide advocacy to its logical conclusion. If we each own our bodies, he says, and if self-termination is an acceptable answer to human suffering, then assisted suicide shouldn't be restricted to limited "subgroups," such as the dying. Indeed, in 2001 interview with National Review Online, Nitschke asserted that "all people qualify ... including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, the troubled teen." SF Chronicle

Editor: "If we each own our bodies." That's a big if.

Biblical faith is not a 'leap'

The opposite of knowledge is not faith, but ignorance. And the opposite of faith is not knowledge, but unbelief. It’s certainly possible to have knowledgeable faith and ignorant unbelief. More importantly, the knowledge vs. faith equation is not what the Bible teaches. In fact, Scripture affirms just the opposite. Stand to Reason

Video: A True Story of Embryo Donation & Adoption

Listen to this compelling story of two families brought together by their common desire to become parents. The Spohrs and the Oviatts clearly communicate the difficulties facing both donor and adopting families and how their families became connected through the gift of embryo donation. Embryo Adoption & Awareness

Editor: While this is a positive story, it should not be used to encourage IVF. See What About Fertility Assistance? for ethical considerations of fertility treatments.

Wayne State Study Shows Adult Stem Cell Grafts Help Paralyzed

A new study by a Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher details the outcome of adult stem cell grafts in spinal cord injuries and how the procedure led to increased mobility and quality of life for patients. The process involves the use of adult stem-like progenitor cells in the patient’s own nasal tissue. The use of a person’s own stem cells lessens the problems of rejection, tumor formation, and disease transmission. WWJ

Another study reveals benefit of adult stem cells for acute lung injury

THE POSITIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENT’S RELIGIOUS PRACTICE ON CHILDREN

While specific doctrine or religious practice may not determine whether a young person chooses to go out and smoke marijuana or steal a car, positive role modeling by parents via religious activity is yet another protective factor that parents can give to their children. What religion represents is a pathway for young people to consider in their developmental journey from youth to adulthood. . . . [A] strong belief in Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, Vishnu, the Virgin Mary, or some other ―higher power correlates to an avoidance of risky behaviors later in life for young people whose parents attend faith services. The Youth Connection, page 5