Report: U.S. Pressured Chinese Dissident to Leave Embassy

Report: U.S. Pressured Chinese Dissident to Leave Embassy « Commentary Magazine: Speaking by phone from his hospital room in Beijing on Wednesday night, a shaken Chen Guangcheng told the Associated Press that U.S. officials relayed the threat from the Chinese side. Chen, who fled to the embassy six day ago, left under an agreement in which he would receive medical care, be reunited with his family and allowed to attend university in a safe place. He says he now fears for his safety and wants to leave. A U.S. official denies knowledge of the threat, but says Chen was told his family would be sent back home if he stayed in the embassy.

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Which Country Believes in God the Most, Least?

Which Country Believes in God the Most, Least?: The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic nation, was found to have the highest percentage (84 percent) of people who "know God really exists and ... have no doubts about it," and the lowest percentage (less than one percent) of people who said they "don't believe in God" at all. Atheism is highest in former East Germany, where 52 percent of people don't believe in God.

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The sad journey of Chen Guangcheng

The sad journey of Chen Guangcheng - HUMAN EVENTS: It therefore came as something of a surprise when Chen left the U.S. embassy and handed himself back to the Chinese government, checking into a Beijing hospital for the treatment of injuries he sustained during his escape.  American officials initially stated this was Chen’s freely chosen path, after he received assurances of safety from the Chinese government… but then a different, and much darker, story began to emerge.

Fox News reports Chen “now claims Chinese officials threatened to kill his wife if he did not leave the American Embassy where he had sought sanctuary,” and furthermore implicates U.S. officials in relaying these brutal threats.  He also said American officials were supposed to accompany him to the Beijing hospital, but no one stayed behind after he was deposited there, and now he wants to flee the country with his family… an option that is clearly no longer on the table.

Embassy officials dispute Chen’s story, and say they only relayed the Chinese government’s promise to move his family back to their home province, where he was long held under arrest, rather than any direct threats of violence.

Read Chen's report on forced abortion and other abuses -- the least we can do

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Young Chinese heroine kidnapped for helping Chen flee

Young Chinese heroine kidnapped for helping Chen flee: advocate | LifeSiteNews.com: He Peirong is a beautiful, petite Chinese woman friends describe as having a “spine of steel” - one that proved an immense benefit to her friend, human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, whose bid for freedom she spearheaded.

But the young woman’s fate is now dangerously unknown, as she disappeared immediately after the last leg of her effort to get the forced-abortion opponent out of the government’s reach and into the U.S. Embassy last week. Advocates say she has likely been kidnapped by Chinese officials, who are infamous for their brutal torture methods against those who defy the Communist regime.

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Where Are All the Women Apologists?

Her.meneutics: Where Are All the Women Apologists?: Thousands of intelligent females argue daily for everything from atheism to Islam without hearing an articulate reason to believe otherwise. Because of this, we need more women on the cultural laywoman level (check out the list of women in philosophy of religion) dedicating their minds to understanding the cultural persuasiveness of non-Christian arguments, so that we can “always be ready to give an answer (Greek apologia) for the hope that is in us.”

We need women who can understand and articulate what Jesus thinks about N.O.W., about Buddhist mums who seem to offer more compassion than Christians, about Fifty Shades of Gray. We need women to speak about a better way to educate youth groups about sexuality than, “Men are animals and women need to be modest.” We need women to weigh in on why and what to do about Christianity’s ability to both mend broken families and tear others apart.

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Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things

Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things : NPR: We like to help each other, especially people we identify with. And when we are helping people, we really don't see what we are doing as unethical.

Editor: I saw a parallel with abortion in this. The story went on to say how, when faced with a person they like who wants them to do wrong, people rarely think of the big picture -- future abstract consequences. The woman is there, staring you in the face; her baby -- and countless other nameless, faceless unborn babies -- is an abstraction.

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Is there an 'overnight solution' to abortion?

We Could End Abortion ‘Overnight’—If We Really Wanted To: "[W]e could end abortion virtually overnight. Here’s how we can “go viral” with this. If every Sunday, in every pulpit, in every evangelical church across America, ministers would devote one minute—ONE MINUTE—to decrying the evil of abortion on demand, such universal solidarity within the ranks of Christian leadership would accomplish two things, maybe three."

Editor: I'd love to hear your comments about this essay. For what it's worth, here's my response . . . 

After Googling the author and finding no connection to pro-life work of any kind, other than pro-life groups who cited his article, I wonder what grounds he has for "browbeating" (his term) anyone on this issue.

I am suspicious of anyone who thinks they know how to solve the abortion problem "overnight," or even "virtually overnight" as he amends it, particularly when they have no track-record. I might say -- "virtually solve," because the minute we think we've eradicated abortion it will only take one more abortion somewhere in all the world to undo the solution.

Thus, I think he's set up a straw man and an even flimsier solution. At the very least, it's a legalistic, simplistic one. Really, one minute per sermon per church? For how long? One Sunday would be "overnight." A month of Sundays would not fit his artificial criteria.

I admit to being impatient with artificially set time-frames for what many of us have been working at for decades. He doesn't seem to understand the problem, so how can he comprehend the solution? Abortion is a matter of the heart. The heart set on self, devoted to the works of the flesh, will kill. The only way to eliminate sin -- all sin, not just this one -- is death: dying with Christ, dying to self, living for Him. As far as I know, God has not promised universal salvation. Some people will reject Christ until they die.

But I'm not sure that's what he was talking about. I thought he was going to say we need to love people to Christ, but then he did a sharp turn and started talking about the ballot box and overturning Roe. Is that the answer? Do we pin our hopes on a law that can be overturned again, by another ballot box? Have we solved the problems of murder, rape, or fraud by enacting laws against them?

It's important to note that he has drawn a false distinction between evangelism or "ministry" and love. Giving people the Good News (and bad news) is love. Giving them things without giving them hope is not love. It is possible, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, to give my all and not have love.

Is there really too much prayer or preaching in the world? I've got a sneaking suspicion there's not enough. There may be a lot of ineffective ministries out there, but I dare say it's not because they're giving the gospel too often.

The other night, my boss was the speaker for a small-town pregnancy care center's banquet. This center is only open a few hours a week, has no paid staff, might not fulfill most of our ideas of success. But they invited a man to give his testimony of how the center had impacted his life and that of his wife. I don't know all the story, whether there was an abortion in their past or whether they had ever faced abortion, but it was clear that they were changed people. The center director had apparently mentored him, showing him "how to be a man." I thought, this is what it's all about. This is change. What happened to him is the solution.

The writer doesn't seem to have taken PCCs into account. They are, after all, ministries that attempt to fulfill the Great Commission and what he terms as "the Greater Commission." Thus, I don't understand his impatience with ministries. 

There's no neat package for this, no easy way to bottle it. Perhaps some pastors and churches could do a better job of preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God's word, which is pro-life from end to end. But it would take more than a minute a week to expound how deeply rooted in the gospel the sanctity of human life is.

Later: Rolley Haggard published a follow-up article -- Louder than the Silent Scream, the deafening silence of our pulpits. And this is my response to an essay by Jonathan van Maren -- Don't discern. Join the fight for the unborn now!

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Unexpected Outcomes

Conflict Of Interest: UnExpected Outcomes (7): In light of America's moral collapse, I am staggered at the time, talent and treasure invested in the efforts of both the Democrats and the Republicans to maintain or regain the White House. Does it matter who is the President of the United States of America? Yes. The significance of this election brings the 1860 Presidential election to my mind. Is the cost of quality healthcare too high to be accessible to all Americans? Yes. Is taxpayer funded abortion on demand healthcare? No. Is the national debt too high and the efforts to balance the budget too low? Yes. Is the lack of conservative fiscal policies the underlying root cause of our problems? No.

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Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisory Board Chair Writes about Praying for Abortion

Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisory Board Chair Writes about Praying for Abortion | NRL News Today: Jane Emma Newall, Chair of the Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisory Board, writes, “Our sacred texts and traditions teach us that women have the right to take care of their bodies. So when I graduated Yale Divinity School in 1991, I made the decision to support women as a core part of my ministry.”"

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Deep Ecology, Neo-Paganism, and the Irrationalism of Global Warming Hysteria

Cornwall Alliance :: Stewardship Notes :: Deep Ecology, Neo-Paganism, and the Irrationalism of Global Warming Hysteria: As a logic teacher, I am regularly grieved by the illogic often apparent in alarmists’ arguments (e.g., non causa pro causa, correlation taken for causation, consensus rather than data and explanation in science, argumentum ad verecundiam, and argumentum ad hominem, etc.).

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Activists allege forced abortions, sterilizations in China

Activists allege forced abortions, sterilizations in China - CNN.com: The issue of forced abortions -- and in some cases, forced sterilizations -- in China has seized the spotlight in recent days with news of escaped activist Chen Guangcheng. "Chen may be safe for the moment, but the women for whom he risked everything are not," said Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, a California-based organization that describes itself as a "broad-based, international coalition that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery in China. Forced abortion is not a choice. It is official government rape."

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Obama Faith Advisor to Head Pro-Abortion Religious Group

Obama Faith Advisor to Head Pro-Abortion Religious Group | LifeNews.com: The Reverend Harry Knox, a former official with the pro-abortion Human Rights Campaign who has served on the President’s faith-based commission, will begin as the head of the Religious Coalition on Reproductive Choice in July. The Episcopal Church pastor received rave reviews from the pro-abortion religious group.

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Chen Leaves Embassy for Hospital, U.S. Guarantees Safety

Chen Leaves Embassy for Hospital, U.S. Guarantees Safety | LifeNews.com: In a new deal between the United States and China, Chen has left to a local hospital and is reportedly under American protection, as U.S officials have guaranteed his safety. Chen also received a call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and he thanked her for supporting his case.

As part of the agreement that ended the fraught, behind-the-scenes standoff, U.S. officials said China agreed to let Mr. Chen receive a medical checkup and be reunited with his family at the hospital; his wife and two children joined him there Wednesday afternoon. He would then be relocated to a safe place in China where he could study at university — all demands activists said Mr. Chen had raised.

Related: Will China follow through on assurances?

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Is the Megachurch the New Liberalism?

AlbertMohler.com – Is the Megachurch the New Liberalism?: The Gospel is robbed of its power if any sinner or any sin is declared outside its saving power. But the Gospel is also robbed of its power if sin — any sin — is minimized to any degree.

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Seminary to honor Planned Parenthood officials

Seminary to honor Planned Parenthood officials (OneNewsNow.com): Auburn Seminary in New York, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is honoring the president and board chair of Planned Parenthood for being what it calls "champions for reproductive health care, education and women's health."

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Pea Personhood?

Good Grief: Now It’s Pea Personhood » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Have you heard the one about the professor who claims it's unethical to eat peas because pea plants can communicate chemically?

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Joni Eareckson Tada: Sanctity of Life and Disability

Sanctity of Life and Disability | The Lausanne Global Conversation: While society seemingly supports the Americans with Disabilities Act, cheers on Special Olympics, and provides special education, and ramps, in the same breath it offers those most vulnerable among us a special right to die. This seemingly schizophrenic worldview raises the question, does one’s worldview matter?

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United Methodist policy re: abortion changing?

No change expected on UMC policy re: homosexuality (OneNewsNow.com): The United Methodist General Conference reportedly has approved not sending any United Methodist moneys to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a pro-abortion advocacy group. Beyond that, they approved and will be sending to the floor of this General Conference legislation that would withdraw the entire United Methodist Church from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights for the first time ever. That will be voted on later this week.

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Tory minister: Abortion ‘part of the human condition’

Tory minister: Abortion ‘cannot be eliminated’ and is ‘part of the human condition’ | LifeSiteNews.com: Whether one accepts it or not, abortion is and always will be part of society,” the government whip Gordon O'Connor insisted. “No matter how many laws some people may want government to institute against abortion, abortion cannot be eliminated. It is part of the human condition.” Society has “moved on” from the abortion debate, and so pro-life efforts are an attempt to “turn back the clock.”

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Canadian MP slams anti-science views in rare abortion debate

Birth not a moment of ‘magical transformation’: MP slams anti-science views in rare abortion debate | LifeSiteNews.com: Speaking in the House of Commons’ first hour of debate on Motion 312, Tory MP Stephen Woodworth  called on his fellow parliamentarians to “courageously follow the facts” and said: “Canadians expect parliamentarians to embody that courage, that strength, that principled quest for the truth. Will we be seen as bold for the sake of truth, or as fearful? We can trust Canadians to embrace the truth with us.”

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Sebelius squirms as pro-life lawmaker grills her on birth control mandate

VIDEO: HHS Secretary Sebelius squirms as pro-life lawmaker grills her on birth control mandate | LifeSiteNews.com: HHS Secretary Sebelius appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee where she was grilled by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) on the mandate. The Congressman, a former solicitor for South Carolina’s Seventh Judicial Court, said there are three legal tests used to balance competing issues, the third being “strict scrutiny” in the case of “fundamental rights” like religious liberty. Asked which test she used, Sebelius said: “I’m not a lawyer and I don’t pretend to understand the nuances of the constitutional balancing tests. … I am not going to wade into constitutional law.”

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Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens

Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes: As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker, Dan Savage, began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly name-called those who refused to listen.

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IVF and the ‘right’ to be a parent

IVF and the ‘right’ to be a parent: the child as an expensive lifestyle accessory | LifeSiteNews.com: One thing has become abundantly clear since the development of a global, multi-billion dollar artificial procreation industry: children are now regarded as luxury commodities, very expensive ones, and they had better measure up to the expectations of customers. This assumption was bolstered the other day with the announcement in the UK from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority that the numbers of single women and lesbians receiving IVF treatment has tripled in the last five years.

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Moral velocity: The death of humanness

Solid Ground, STR:  Years ago, Francis Schaeffer said that what was unthinkable yesterday is thinkable today, and ordinary and commonplace tomorrow. In other words, when a culture’s decline in values begins to pick up speed, it becomes velocitized and ceases to notice the descent. . . . Humanness is dying. The concept of unique human dignity is fading fast. We are putting it to death.


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Chen Guangcheng’s Reasonable Demand is a Big Test for Wen and Obama

Chen Guangcheng’s Reasonable Demand Biggest Test for Chinese Premier Wen and Obama Administration | NRL News Today: “This is a test of Premier Wen’s commitment to fundamental human rights, the rule of law, and common decency,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who recently convened a hearing in Washington, D.C. to spotlight the growing concern for Chen’s safety and that of his family. It is also a test of America’s resolve to safeguard human rights whenever and wherever those rights are violated.”

Related:
Rebel without a Cause? Reading the Washington Post, you would think so
BLIND LAWYER FORCES U.S. TO DEAL WITH FORCED ABORTIONS
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