Pro-Lifers and “Repeal and Replace”

Pro-Lifers and “Repeal and Replace” « Public Discourse: Richard Stith, a pro-life law professor at Valparaiso University, is urging his fellow pro-lifers to stay off the “repeal and replace” bandwagon. In an article for First Things online, he has suggested that a more promising approach for pro-lifers is amending the new law with clear pro-life language.

What Evangelism is Not | LifeWay

What Evangelism is Not | LifeWay: The Great Commission Resurgence proposals within the Southern Baptist Convention have reminded us of the high priority of evangelism and local/global missions. The same is true of many denominations across the theological spectrum of beliefs as Christian leaders worldwide seek to regain strongholds of spiritual influence in North America and Europe. However, unless we're cautious and clear, a sloppy, imprecise definition of missions and evangelism will destroy renewal efforts. Let's define evangelism by what it is not and then by what it is.

Poverty: Where We All Started

Another cartoon video from Population Research Institute.

Major religious leaders release statement supporting true marriage

Major religious leaders release statement supporting true marriage | LifeSiteNews.com: Leaders of some of the largest religious communities in the United States have come together to express their commitment toward the protection of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In an open letter released yesterday, entitled “The Protection of Marriage: A Shared Commitment,” leaders from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Sikh communities in the United States affirmed the importance of preserving marriage’s unique meaning.

Young Families Delay Marriage, Not Parenthood

Young Families Delay Marriage, Not Parenthood : NPR: A provocative new report finds Middle America, the 58 percent of adults who finished high school but have no four-year college degree, losing faith in marriage, while more educated Americans embrace it. In a striking reversal, working-glass Americans are now more likely than those with college degrees to have children outside of marriage. They're postponing marriage in many cases, and their divorce rates are up. At least part of the reason appears to be economic.

This day in history: Newton urged Wilberforce to stay an MP

William Wilberforce was in turmoil over what he should do: give up his political career and all that went with it and be shunned by his contemporaries? Or stay in politics and face the disapproval of his new Christian friends? On December 7, 225 years ago, he sought the advice of John Newton, who wisely encouraged the young Wilberforce to stay in politics and serve God there, with all the abilities and influences that he clearly had. Newton later wrote: “It is hoped and believed that the Lord has raised you up for the good of His church and for the good of the nation.”

He also wrote of Wilberforce to his good friend and fellow hymnwriter William Cowper: “I hope the Lord will make him a blessing both as a Christian and as a statesman. How seldom do these characters coincide! But they are not incompatible.” William Wilberforce went on to show how true that last statement was, as he spent the remainder of his life seeking to transform society through distinctively Christian political involvement. Christian Institute

Navigating Past Nihilism - NYTimes.com

Navigating Past Nihilism - NYTimes.com: Whatever role religion plays in our society today, it is not this one. For today’s religious believers feel strong social pressure to admit that someone who doesn’t share their religious belief might nevertheless be living a life worthy of their admiration. That is not to say that every religious believer accepts this constraint. But to the extent that they do not, then society now rightly condemns them as dangerous religious fanatics rather than sanctioning them as scions of the Church or mosque. God is dead, therefore, in a very particular sense. He no longer plays his traditional social role of organizing us around a commitment to a single right way to live. Nihilism is one state a culture may reach when it no longer has a unique and agreed upon social ground.

US legal row 'Scotland's chance to lead the world in stem cell race'

US legal row 'Scotland's chance to lead the world in stem cell race'

Legal wrangles in the United States over stem cell technology are creating an opportunity for Scotland to become a world leader in the sector, according to experts. Firms in America are now looking to develop their stem cell treatments abroad because the US government won't fund the research, which has proved controversial in some parts of the world.

Key oral arguments made in stem cell case

The Great Beyond: Key oral arguments made in stem cell case: The attempt by two adult stem cell researchers to quash US funding for human embryonic stem cell research reached a critical juncture this morning, as a high-profile appeals court heard key oral arguments in the case.

Arguing before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Thomas Hungar argued that “it is undisputed in this case that human embryonic stem cell research always entails the destruction of embryos.” As such, he said, it breaks the law at the center of the case: the Dickey Wicker amendment, which bars federal funding for research in which human embryos are destroyed.

Evolution and Logical Fallacies - Audio Download

Evolution and Logical Fallacies - Audio Download - Answers Bookstore: In this informative presentation, recorded recently at Creation College 3, Dr. Lisle gives listeners a fastpaced course on logic. In addition to reviewing numerous logical fallacies, Dr. Lisle gives examples of how evolutionists often use fallacious arguments in arguing for their position. Learning to recognize these fallacies provides a whole new opportunity for defending the faith and arguing for the truth of creation.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Alternatives Still Present Moral issues

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Alternatives Still Present Moral issues | LifeNews.com: With the new mRNA method for producing iPS cells the prospects for iPS cell research are better than ever. In this respect, opponents of ESCR should welcome the news. They should be aware, however, that it is no moral panacea.

To begin with, demand for embryonic stem cells will continue in the near future. Researchers need to compare the iPS cells to ES cells, which means destroying embryos. In the long run, fewer embryos may be destroyed in stem-cell research as research shifts to iPS cells; but this transition may take years.

The moral complications of the new state of the art go even deeper, due to an advance that scientists anticipate within a decade: using iPS cells to create human sperm and egg cells. Scientists will be able to create an entire embryo using ordinary skin cells or other adult cells, without ever using gametes harvested from a person. This method, which we might call gameteless reproduction, makes in vitro fertilization look like child’s play and gives us more control than ever over human reproduction.

Peter Singer: Full Moral Status Not Earned by Babies “Until After 2 Years”

Peter Singer Says Full Moral Status Not Earned by Babies “Until After 2 Years” » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The bioethicist was asked at what point he thought an infant would be considered a person. He replied, "My understanding is that it is not until after the first birthday, so somewhere between the first and second, I think, that they typically recognize the image in the mirror as themselves…Really, I think this is a gradual matter."

Persons not property: An African-American pastor tackles abortion

Persons not property: An African-American pastor tackles abortion | LifeSiteNews.com: The “unconditional love” for the pre-born child in my heart, is rooted in the love Christ has for all. While the current conditions may have “temporarily defeated” the personhood of the pre-born child, I believe the “righteousness of personhood” is stronger than the “evil of pre-natal murder” and will ultimately prove triumphant. I believe personhood is the final word in reality of the pro-life movement.

A solution to the Tea Party/Pro-Life dispute over social issues

A solution to the Tea Party/Pro-Life dispute over social issues | LifeSiteNews.com: The fiscal conservative Tea Partiers and the pro-life voters were both crucial in the GOP’s November electoral victories. The game of “whose mandate is it anyway?” is just an opportunity for needless bloodletting. Both sides should realize there is a very easy way to find common ground, come together, and get down to the business of helping American taxpayers – those born and unborn.

What’s the solution? Get abortion and social issues off the national table by overturning Roe v. Wade – congressional style! If members of the Tea Party movement do not want to see the Congress “run down any social issue rabbit holes,” then let’s finally defuse the issue on a national level by enacting the Sanctity of Life Act.

Fertilised eggs get microscopic bar codes

Short Sharp Science: Fertilised eggs get microscopic bar codes: Researchers have come up with an ingenious solution for keeping track of embryos and egg cells during in vitro fertilisation procedures: microscopic bar codes. Mouse eggs were tagged by injecting microscopic silicon bar codes into their perivitelline space, the gap between the cell membrane and an outer membrane called the zona pellucida, which binds sperm cells during fertilisation. The bar codes, which carry unique binary identification numbers, are biologically inert: they do not affect the rate of embryo development and are shed before the embryos implant into the wall of the uterus. The technique aims to simplify individual embryo identification, streamlining in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer procedures.

Warren Buffet says tax the rich, but sterilize the poor | LifeSiteNews.com

Warren Buffet says tax the rich, but sterilize the poor | LifeSiteNews.com: Warren Buffet, one of the world’s wealthiest men, is in the news for saying that he wants the rich to pay more in taxes. But according to the Population Research Institute, Buffet prefers to spend his money ensuring that the poor have as few children as possible. Over the years, the Buffet Foundation has funded some of the most hard-edged, even fanatical, population control programs around.

Ted Turner calls for global one-child policy like China's

The population control advocate said that under this scheme the world’s poor could sell their fertility rights and thereby profit from avoiding procreation. LifeSiteNews

Teens say, teach us more about family values

Teach us more about family values, say teenagers | News | The Christian Institute: Young people want to learn about responsible parenting rather than sexual mechanics in sex education, a recent survey has revealed. And around three quarters of teenagers interviewed said that a relationship does not need to involve sex. The survey, conducted among over 2,000 13 to 16-year-olds from a range of schools and backgrounds, has surprised experts in the field.

Debunking the Lie: "We Need to Reduce the Need for Abortion"

Debunking the Lie: We Need to Reduce the Need for Abortion | LifeNews.com: Our goal isn’t merely just to reduce child killing; it is to END child killing. . . . I am sickened by the fact that this twisted language has even made it into Christian circles. I have heard Christians use this statement and I want to explode every time I hear it.

There is NO need for abortion! There never has been and there never will be. Would anyone make the statement “reduce the need for slicing babies into pieces”? The fact is that the word abortion itself is just a sanitized way of saying, “kill a baby.”

Noah's Flood and the Earth's Age

Noah's Flood and the Earth's Age - Audio Download - Answers Bookstore: This presentation reveals the failed attempts of evolutionists to account for millions of years of earth history and points to the true biblical age of the earth.

Marriage is hard, but worth it

Then Again ... by Marybeth Hicks: Marriage is hard. That's what I told the guy sitting next to me on the plane Tuesday when he explained that he and his bride of less than a year have split up, despite the birth several weeks ago of their son. That's what I told a girlfriend in an e-mail, and another over lunch recently when she shared her fear that she and her husband might not make it through a rocky patch. That's what I tell myself on any given day, and what I remind my husband when we try each other's patience.

The people who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”

The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.” – A New Commentary by Bryan Kemper « Social Justice Begins in the Womb – Daily Pro-life Updates from the BK Lounge: Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence thereof. Darkness cannot exist where there is light. Darkness cannot overcome light unless the light retreats. The Light will always defeat the darkness; God will always defeat evil. We must carry the Light of God. Christ, into battle and never retreat.

Retreat and doubt are crippling the church, as we seem to want to hide the Light in fear of offending the darkness. I hear so many people who claim to be followers of the Light, too ashamed to shine that light fully because we might just offend the darkness; we would not want anyone to be turned off by how bright our Light is.

This is a cop-out, a lie straight from the pit of hell. Of course the darkness will be offended by the Light: the Light destroys, exposes, makes vulnerable the darkness and is painful to those who remain in that darkness.

ACOG Again Denies Conscience Rights of Doctors

ACOG Again Denies Conscience Rights of Doctors on Abortion | LifeNews.com: This month the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) reviewed and reaffirmed the 2007 Ethics Committee Number 385, entitled The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine. And last week a pro-life nurse was denied the right to sue the hospital where she was forced to participate in abortion. There has never been a greater need to pass comprehensive conscience protection measures than now.

Lilith: the barren child-killing mascot of the abortion movement

Lilith: the barren, sex-crazed, child-killing mascot of the abortion movement | LifeSiteNews.com: According to legend, Lilith was the first woman created by God, as Adam’s wife and equal. After she refused to be subservient or submissive and so flew away from Eden, God punished her by dictating that one hundred of her own demon children would be killed each day. She responds by asserting her perpetual desire to sicken and kill newborn infants. The abortion industry’s poster girl if ever there was one.

It’s time to rebuild the Democratic pro-life presence, from the grassroots up

It’s time to rebuild the Democratic pro-life presence, from the grassroots up | LifeSiteNews.com: Planned Parenthood and company is waiting for the Affordable Care Act’s abortion money bomb to go off with the stroke of a pen cancelling Stupak’s executive order. The pro-life movement can give itself some more insurance if they can prevent Obama (and Pelosi) from saying of the next Democratic Congress, “there is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat.”