Bp. Julian Dobbs speaks at Sacred Assembly in Raleigh

posted Feb. 4, 2012

From the "Moving Forward Together" PEAR Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina on January 16-18, 2012

Sacred Assembly Statement

Coronal aurora over Fairbanks, Alaska (January 22, 2012)

Time-lapse movie of the coronal aurora appeared over Fairbanks, Alaska.


Lights Over Lapland photographer Chad Blakley captured this amazing view of the aurora borealis in Sweden on January 24th, 2012. The January 23rd solar flare and ensuing coronal mass ejection are the 'lighting engineers' of this incredible display.

List of charities and organizations that are linked to Planned Parenthood and/or the culture of death..

This list was posted on June 30, 2011

Life Decisions Int’l, the same organization that compiles the Planned Parenthood Boycott List, compiled the following list of charities and organizations that are linked to Planned Parenthood and/or the culture of death. Now that you know, as Christians, let us stop funding any organization that collaborates with Planned Parenthood or backs Embryonic Stem Cell Research!...

List here

...It is truly sad that so many of these organizations continue to support Embryonic Stem Cell Research, when there has not been one cure reported from ESCR, yet over 71 diseases have been cured through Adult Stem Cells. Bottom line, any support of these organizations either puts money in the coffers of PP, the largest committer of abortions, or your generosity goes to destroy innocent human life through Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Either way, your generosity is supporting death! Keep the list handy through the year, and know before you give!

Technologies that we’ve lost – and the quest to find them again

By Alasdair Wilkins
Feb 1, 2012

Greek fire. Damascus steel. These are two technological innovations whose secrets are said to be lost to time. Even the original schematics for the Apollo missions have disappeared into the mists of history, forever hidden inside hopelessly obsolete computers. How do we lose technologies that were once so important? Some say that they aren't really lost, and are working on rediscovering them.

Certainly, the specific techniques and materials required to construct some of the famed inventions of the ancient world (and the late 1960s) can be lost. And it's definitely true that people can forget how some ancient invention works for hundreds, even thousand of years. But the history of technology is very much the history of ideas, and as you'll see, ideas are pretty much indestructible - even in the face of truly terrible record keeping.

The Fiery Savior of the Byzantines

It's useful to think of the famous examples of lost technology in terms of a few distinct categories. First, let's consider the most famous lost technology of them all, the ancient Byzantine incendiary weapon Greek fire, a unique chemical formula that produced inexhaustible flames. This terrible weapon was a closely guarded military secret of the Eastern Roman Empire, and its fearsome effectiveness in battle arguably extended the life of the empire by over 500 years. the rest image

Albert Mohler: The President, the Pill, and Religious Liberty in Peril

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Excerpt:
In actuality, the Obama Administration trampled religious liberty under the feet of the leviathan state, forcing religious employers to do what conscience will not allow. Religious organizations such as schools, colleges, and hospitals will be required to pay for services that they believe to be immoral and disobedient to God.

In a final insult, the administration allowed that religious employers could, if qualified, have an extra year to comply with the decision. As Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah made clear, this intentionally evades the point. “The problem is not that religious institutions do not have time enough to comply,” he said, “It’s that they are forced to comply at all.”

Roman Catholic authorities were among the first to respond with outrage. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York City, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who had personally made the case to President Obama for a broader exemption, said simply: “We are unable to live with this.”

This last Sunday, Catholics around the nation heard letters from their local bishops with the same message. The Bishop of Marquette, for example, put the matter with severe simplicity: “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law.”

In other words, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have signaled their clear intention to defy the law rather than to violate their conscience. Will evangelical Christians demonstrate the same courage and conviction? the rest image

Most Amazing High Definition Image of Earth - Blue Marble 2012

Updated February 2, 2012:

According to Flickr, "The western hemisphere Blue Marble 2012 image has rocketed up to over 3.1 milling views making it one of the all time most viewed images on the site after only one week."

A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.

Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth. the rest/image

Larger image Visit mission Flickr gallery

Komen's decision to aid Planned Parenthood again sparks reactions

By Jeannine Stein
 Los Angeles Times
February 3, 2012

As soon as Susan G. Komen for the Cure issued an unexpected statement reversing its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, statements praising and criticizing the move were released.

"We are enormously grateful that the Komen Foundation has clarified its grantmaking criteria, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Komen partners, leaders and volunteers," said the statement from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "What these past few days have demonstrated is the deep resolve all Americans share in the fight against cancer, and we honor those who are at the helm of this battle."

The organization saw a substantial spike in donations this week after Komen initially said it would end most grants to Planned Parenthood due to changes in its policy. One of those was to stop funding organizations currently under investigation by federal, state or local authorities. Planned Parenthood is under a congressional investigation begun by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who is trying to determine if federal money is being used to fund abortions, forbidden by law.

Today's statement from Komen, a national breast cancer foundation, said, in part, "We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

"Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair." the rest

Pyrrhic Victory for Planned Parenthood as Komen Kisses The Abortion Ring

Thugs and abortionists win!

Komen Caves to Feminazis

Komen Games

Komen reversing decision on funding

Military Wives Choir

The Improbable Story Behind The U.K.'s Top-Selling Christmas Single

The happiest wives in America

by Maggie Gallagher
02/02/2012

Let's take a break from politics to ask the burning question: How did Karen Santorum and Ann Romney get so lucky?

Just who are the happiest wives in America?

According to a new report by the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project, "When Baby Makes Three," the surprising answer is: women who attend church at least weekly with their husband and have four or more children.

Women like Mrs. Romney and Mrs. Santorum, in other words. This insight is embedded in a larger report whose overall purpose is to find out the factors that lead to happy and successful married families -- particularly using data from "next generation marriages," among those currently 18 to 46 years old.

Children are known to stress marital happiness, on average, but what helps some couples resist the stress and build enduring and happy married families? the rest image

But pro-child attitudes are also very important. Agreeing that raising children is "one of life's greatest joys" doubles the likelihood that these younger married women report being very happily married.

Karnataka Hindu extremists attack a Jesuit Catholic College. Students and teachers beaten

The attack on the colleges of St. Joseph Anegal (40 km south of Bangalore) occurred on January 27. Reason for the assault, failure to display the Indian flag during celebrations for the national holiday. The extremists attack the university campus before the eyes of the police, who arrested without cause, the rector Fr. Melvin Medonca. The University is renowned for its commitment in the education of Dalits and tribals.
01/31/2012
by Nirmala Carvalho

Bangalore (AsiaNews) - The violence against Christians in the Karanataka continues. In recent days, a mob of radical Hindu extremists stormed St Joseph's College Anegal Pu, (40 km south of Bnagalore). The radicals beat up the students and asked for the arrest of the director of the school for not having hoisted the national flag during the celebration of the Indian Republic, last January 26. The assailants belong to the Hindu movement Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Rashtra Sakthi Sese and Karnataka Raskshana Vedike, and even included members of Anekal City Council.

During the attack. Fr. Melvin Mendonca, director of the institute, and Fr. Anil D'Mello local superior of the Jesuits, tried to calm the crowd, which broke into the school, disrupting classes. The police were present but did nothing to stop the attackers. Students from the school had to form a shield to defend their rector, but were beaten by security agents before the extremists. To avoid accidents, the priest turned himself in to agents. Under pressure from the radicals, the police forced the priest to walk the distance to station on foot under a shower of verbal abuse, anti-Christian slogans and intimidation. Without any reason, the agents detained Fr. Melvin at the station only releasing him at 9 in the evening after nine hours of interrogation. The Director of the school is not allowed to make any statement on the aggression he suffered. the rest

Pelosi Vows to Stand With Obama Against Catholic Church

By Thomas Cloud
February 2, 2012

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) vowed today that she will join with the Obama administration in standing up against the Catholic Church in defending a new regulation that will require Catholic individuals to buy, and Catholic institutions to provide, health insurance plans that cover sterilizations and artificial contraceptives, including those that induce abortions.

The Catholic church teaches that sterilization, artificial contraception and abortion are morally wrong and the Catholic bishops of the United States have argued that forcing a Catholic individual to purchase a health insurance plan that covers these things--or forcing a Catholic institution to provide such a plan--forces Catholics to act against their consciences and is a violation of the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. the rest

'Catholic' Pelosi Supports Obama Birth Control Mandate

Pelosi: Girl Scouts ties with Planned Parenthood, other organizations, ‘very valuable’

Catholic Backlash Against Obama Grows

Pro-aborts hack Komen website over cutting Planned Parenthood

by Kathleen Gilbert
Thu Feb 02, 2012

February 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Internet hackers eager to take revenge against Susan G. Komen for the Cure for cutting its financial ties with Planned Parenthood have hacked the breast cancer foundation’s web address to ridicule the group.

Even as Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker told MSNBC Thursday the overall response to the groups’ decision this week was “favorable,” the opposing party made their ire known: Komen’s Internet visitors Wednesday night began noticing elements on the site mocking the group.

The graphic on the Komen page, which Mediaite reports is actually a fake site to which hackers re-directed visitors the Komen.org URL, had replaced its original text with “Help us run over poor women on our way to the bank.” the rest

Lift up your heads, O gates!

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD, strong and mighty,

the LORD, mighty in battle!

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of hosts,

he is the King of glory!

Psalm 24:7-10 image

Muslims force general from West Point prayer breakfast

CAIR leads campaign against Boykin for his 'Islamophobic' views
posted February 2, 2012
The controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations – an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror-funding scheme – is boasting of preventing an outspoken retired general from speaking at an upcoming prayer breakfast at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Retired Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, a strong critic of CAIR, has recommended a WND Books bestseller, “Muslim Mafia, that exposes the group’s role as a front group in the U.S. for the Muslim Brotherhood, the originator of most of the world’s major Islamic terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Hamas.

Fox News reported that while West Point defended its invitation to Boykin, the retired general voluntarily withdrew amid pressure from CAIR and VoteVets.org, who complained of his “Islamophobic” views.

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement that his group welcomed the withdrawal and hoped that “the speaker who replaces him will offer cadets a spiritual message that promotes tolerance and mutual understanding.” the rest

After Komen, the Next Big Planned Parenthood Fight

Pro-life groups target $487 million in taxpayer funding for the nation's largest abortion provider.
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
2/01/2012

Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards called 2011 "the most difficult year in our history." With yesterday's announcement that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation is ending its grants to the organization, 2012 isn't looking too good for the organization, either.

Komen had provided more than $600,000 to Planned Parenthood last year for breast exams and breast-cancer education. And while pro-life groups are cheering the move, they have their sights set on a much bigger target: the hundreds of millions of dollars Planned Parenthood receives in government funding. Building on successful defunding efforts in 2011, pro-life groups aim to keep more taxpayer dollars out of the hands of the nation's largest abortion provider.

The $1 billion-a-year organization said in its most recent annual report that it performed 329,445 abortions in 2010. $487 million, 46 percent of its revenue, came from government health service grants and reimbursements. The organization cannot legally use taxpayer dollars for an abortion. But, pro-life activists allege, the agency does not segregate funds as it should, effectively resulting in taxpayer support for abortion.

Employee scandals, government deficits, and budget-cutting lawmakers have provided a rare opportunity for pro-life groups to advocate for defunding Planned Parenthood. This year, pro-life leaders believe the House of Representatives will vote as it did last year to remove federal funding. (The measure failed in the Senate in 2011.) At the state level, Planned Parenthood has lost about $80 million in government funds in the past year, triggering budget cuts and clinic closures. the rest

Komen Also Stops Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research Centers

Church of England clergy challenge civil partnership stance

1 February 2012

A letter signed by 120 clergy is calling for the Church of England to reverse its ban on civil partnership ceremonies being held in churches.

The signatories, from the diocese of London, want discretion to uphold loving homosexual relationships.

It is the first sign of significant resistance within the Church to its refusal to permit civil partnership ceremonies in Anglican churches.

The law has allowed them in English and Welsh places of worship since December.

In their letter to the London diocese representatives on the General Synod, the signatories stopped short of calling for same-sex marriage.

However, they said they should be given the same discretion in deciding whether to hold civil partnerships in church as they currently have in deciding whether to remarry divorced people. the rest

Take no decision on ACNA, archbishops’ synod paper argues

February 1, 2012
By George Conger

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has welcomed the release of a general synod paper under the signature of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York that addresses the province-in-formation’s relationship to the Church of England.

In a statement released on 21 January 2012, the primate of the ACNA, Archbishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said the province-in-formation was “encouraged by the desire of the Church of England to continue to embrace the Anglican Church in North America and remain in solidarity with us as we proclaim the Gospel message and truth as revealed in Scripture in the way it has always been understood in Anglican formularies.”

The document released online on 20 January 2012 urges inaction upon the synod in defining its relationship to ACNA, but also serves as a backhanded recognition the new North American province is part of the Anglican world. the rest

Anglican Unscripted Episode 26: February 2, 2012

Your intrepid hosts discuss the troubles with the Anglican Ordinariate of late. They also give some commentary on Bishop Lawrence's address on the Future of Anglicanism from the Mere Anglicanism Conference last week. Allan discusses the current budget struggle between Bishop Sauls, Dr. Jefferts-Schori and Bonnie Anderson. And Peter Ould ponders a Church/State split in England.

A.S. Haley: Diocese of Virginia is an Emperor without Clothes

Thanks to BabyBlue, we learn that the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, barely a week after its Bishop held out the olive branch to the departed CANA parishes, used his other hand to hit them with a sucker punch: his attorneys have filed a motion with Judge Randy Bellows for an award of prejudgment interest. (You can read the text of the motion and supporting memorandum at the link to BabyBlue's post.)

"Prejudgment interest" means just what the name says -- it is interest on an amount made payable for a time period before any actual judgment is entered. (After a judgment is entered against a defendant for a sum of money, postjudgment interest begins to accrue on the amount of the judgment, and continues to accrue until the judgment is paid in full.)

How can interest accrue on an amount before it is awarded? Well, first of all, the amount has to be known and certain -- that is, the claim against the defendant has to be for a specific sum of money which is already known, or is readily ascertainable. For example, if I offer you $10,000 to paint my house, but then delay paying you after you have finished the job, so that you eventually are forced to sue and get a judgment against me for the $10,000, then you could ask the court to award (prejudgment) interest on the unpaid amount from the day you finished the job until the day the court entered judgment. (Once the judgment is entered, postjudgment interest takes over from there.)
the rest

Yes, Bishop Johnston, certainly you are following those "contingency plans"; certainly you are "prepared for any eventuality." You just need the prejudgment interest to bolster the amounts you will have available to keep up these properties until you can turn them into more cash to pay back the line of credit you took out to finance the lawsuits; we see that. That is why you now really want to stick it to your fellow Christians, and make them atone with every last drop of their blood for the offense they gave the Diocese by having the temerity to seek what they thought were their rights under Virginia law at the time.

My Smart Phone Made Me Stupid

BlimeyCow YouTube channel

•Sexual promiscuity costing UK billions of pounds

January 31st, 2012

A culture of sexual license and promiscuity in the UK is costing the taxpayer approximately £100 billion per year, according to findings by the Jubilee Centre.

In a paper entitled nbsp;  “Free sex: Who pays? Moral hazard and sexual ethics”, it’s argued that sex is widely seen as an activity which only affects the couple involved.

However, the report found that sexual freedom has significant costs which are “imposed on society as a whole”, representing “a moral hazard which threatens both our economy and our society.”

The paper warns of a culture which “implicitly views sexual freedom as a greater good than stability of relationship”, causing rising trends in abortion, teenage pregnancies and STI rates, all of which cost the taxpayer large sums of money.

“Our culture’s sexual freedom comes with massive costs attached, accounting for a significant proportion of public spending”, the report claims.

“These costs are met by society collectively rather than by the individuals most directly involved in causing them.” the rest

Washington Post Ombudsman: Worst March for Life Coverage Ever

by Tim Graham
1/31/12

In his Sunday column, Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton agreed with readers who felt the Post “downsized” the massive “March for Life” by failing to show broad crowd shots. Pexton quoted AP that it’s “consistently one of the largest protests of the year in Washington” and “One observer e-mailed that he stood at the Supreme Court and it took marchers two hours to walk by. That’s a big crowd.”

Pexton failed to compare this massive crowd – and the Post’s failure to write more than one story (in Metro) on it – to the Post’s slobbering love affair with the Occupy DC protests that have spread far and wide across the liberal newspaper. Pexton found the Post photo editor sneering that pro-lifers can never be pleased:

But no one knows how big it was….Still, you can find images of the large crowd taken by amateurs on Flickr or Facebook, and I imagine the AP took some, too. Probably Post photographers did as well.

But these shots didn’t find their way into the main Web photo gallery on the march. And I think this is where The Post fell down in its coverage of the march this year. And that’s mostly what antiabortion readers wrote to me about. the rest



Best. 2012. March for Life. Video. Ever.

GetReligion: Missing March for Life photos discovered

Christ Church Episcopal seeks contempt against sister congregation

February 1, 2012
By Jan Skutch

Christ Church Episcopal may be back home in its Johnson Square building, but squabbling over church property continues.

The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and Christ Church Episcopal on Monday asked Chatham County Superior Court Chief Judge Michael Karpf to hold the Rev. Marcus Robertson and Christ Church Savannah in contempt of court.

They argue Robertson and Christ Church Savannah have failed to comply with a court order to return a $2 million endowment fund and other property after the two congregations agreed to the return of the historic Johnson Square property in December.

The civil action alleges Christ Church Savannah, the Anglican congregation, has refused to relinquish control of such items as the endowment fund held by the Savannah Bank, corporate, business and other records, the domain name and website www.christchurchsavannah.org.

It also argues the Anglican congregation has failed to relinquish the names “Christ Church Savannah” and “The Mother Church of Georgia” despite three court rulings against them. the rest

Mass Sterilization

A Massachusetts judge revives a favorite old practice of the state's elites.
By Daniel J. Flynn
1.31.12

Can a judge, without even holding a hearing, order a woman sterilized in a state where compulsory sterilization has never been the law?

As North Carolina prepares to pay reparations to victims of its decades-long eugenics campaign, Massachusetts strangely enters a sterilization debate that most had thought long over. Norfolk County Probate and Family Court Judge Christina L. Harms earlier this month ordered that a bipolar and schizophrenic woman be "coaxed, bribed, or even enticed…by ruse" to abort her pregnancy and undergo sterilization. If the mentally ill woman were sane, the judge determined, she "would not choose to be delusional" and therefore, she would choose abortion.

Does "our bodies, our choice" still apply when we are not in our right minds?

The Michael Dukakis-appointed jurist abruptly retired following the controversial decision and a state appeals court overturned part of her ruling. "We reverse that portion of the order requiring sterilization," wrote Judge Andrew R. Grainger. "No party requested this measure, none of the attendant procedural requirements has been met, and the judge appears to have simply produced the requirement out of thin air." The reversal crucially noted, "In ordering sterilization sua sponte and without notice, the probate judge failed to provide the basic due process that is constitutionally required." The abortion order was also subsequently overturned by a separate court. the rest

Special Report: Mormonism besieged by the modern age

By Peter Henderson and Kristina Cooke
Tue Jan 31, 2012

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A religious studies class late last year at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, was unusual for two reasons. The small group of students, faculty and faithful there to hear Mormon Elder Marlin Jensen were openly troubled about the future of their church, asking hard questions. And Jensen was uncharacteristically frank in acknowledging their concerns.

Did the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints know that members are "leaving in droves?" a woman asked.

"We are aware," said Jensen, according to a tape recording of his unscripted remarks. "And I'm speaking of the 15 men that are above me in the hierarchy of the church. They really do know and they really care," he said.

"My own daughter," he then added, "has come to me and said, 'Dad, why didn't you ever tell me that Joseph Smith was a polygamist?'" For the younger generation, Jensen acknowledged, "Everything's out there for them to consume if they want to Google it." The manuals used to teach the young church doctrine, meanwhile, are "severely outdated."

These are tumultuous times for the faith founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, and the rumbling began even before church member Mitt Romney's presidential bid put the Latter-Day Saints in the spotlight. the rest

Walk then in the spirit...

Walk then in the spirit, like Abraham, without knowing whither you go; be content with your daily bread, and remember that in the desert the manna of to-day could not be preserved until to-morrow without corrupting. The children of God must be shut up to the grace of the present moment, without desiring to foresee the designs of Providence concerning them.
 ...Francois Fenelon image by Mike McCune

Mainline Churches See Slowest Growth, Research Shows

Tue, Jan. 31 2012
By Michael Gryboski

Compared to other religious groups in the U.S., mainline denominations had the slowest growth rate with only 19 percent of their congregations reporting growth between 2005 and 2010, according to a researcher from The Episcopal Church.

By contrast, conservative Protestant churches had the highest growth rate at 43 percent, followed by non-Christian congregations with 33 percent.

C. Kirk Hardaway, Congregational Research Officer for the Episcopal Church and chairman of the research task force for the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, presented the findings on Tuesday.

The research findings were based on surveys conducted by around 11,000 American congregations representing various Christian and non-Christian congregations. The growth rate of said congregations was measured from 2005 until 2010. Those filling out the survey were the leaders of the congregations, including clergy and laymen.

Hardaway attributed the strong growth of conservative Protestant churches to them being largely concentrated in the South, as well as having other attributes found in stronger churches that were measured by the research. This included more innovative worship practices, having a clearer mission and purpose, and having more newer congregations. the rest

Anglican Ink: TEC in One Word: DOWN

A.S. Haley: Episcopal Church Faces Budget and Structural Changes

Greece decides to 'pay child molesters'

Also included in the officially expanded list of "disabilities" are exhibitionists, kleptomaniacs, and pyromaniacs.
Charlie Butts
1/31/2012

Greece is now designating pedophilia as an infirmity, and one attorney deems it outrageous that such offenders will qualify for disability funds from the economically broken government.

According to Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, it is an outrage that people will receive payments for their attraction to children. He says rewarding such an alleged "disability" is evidence that the "sexual anarchy movement" is running amok.

"This is the logical conclusion of what we can expect here in the United States with the sexual anarchy movement," he warns. "Part and parcel of that movement is the homosexual movement, the pedophile movement, the radical pro-abortion movement -- [and] those who push this idea of [values-neutral] comprehensive sex education ...." the rest

ObamaCare and Religious Freedom

How about some respect for Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease?
By TIMOTHY M. DOLAN
JANUARY 25, 2012

Religious freedom is the lifeblood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the first freedom in the Bill of Rights.

In particular, the Founding Fathers fiercely defended the right of conscience. George Washington himself declared: "The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them." James Madison, a key defender of religious freedom and author of the First Amendment, said: "Conscience is the most sacred of all property." the rest

Marco Rubio Introduces Bill to Reverse Contraception Mandate on Religious Employers

Religious Liberty and Civil Society

Obamacare’s Great Gift: Clarification
January 31, 2012
Elizabeth Scalia

...But HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and President Obama “botched” nothing. The decision put forth is a purposeful one, transparently provocative. If the administration had simply wanted to provide free contraception and sterilization to those who want it, they could have inserted that notion into any one of a number of spending or entitlement bills. Had they meant to demonstrate respect for conscience–and according to Archbishop Timothy Dolan the president said he “considered the protection of conscience sacred”–the administration could have taken the advice of others and looked closely at how Hawaii managed conscience exemptions under their law.

There are questions as to whether HHS has authority to issue exemptions to Obamacare, although quite a few have been issued for reasons other than conscience. There appear to be no questions in the president’s mind, or in Secretary Sebelius’, that they have the authority to intrude on freedom of religion. With this ruling they insist that church-affiliated institutions either act against their own belief or so narrow the scope of their community service as to be removed from the public square; either way, the government is deliberately affecting the free exercise of religion. Considering some Catholic schools, hospitals and charities were serving their communities before the secular governments even thought to follow suit, that is a damnable, and damning, legacy for a president who once taught constitutional law...  Full essay

Mohler says insurance mandate not just 'Catholic' issue
By Bob Allen
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – A Southern Baptist seminary president applauded Roman Catholic bishops for refusing to obey an insurance mandate forcing employers to offer coverage for contraceptives and sterilization, and predicted that evangelical leaders will soon face similar choices.

“Our religious liberty is being similarly subverted and attacked,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said of the Obama administration’s inclusion of pregnancy in “preventive services” that health insurers must provide.

In his daily podcast briefing Jan. 31, Mohler commented on a letter from bishops read in Catholic churches Jan. 27 stating in part, “We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law.”  the rest

WH:‘No Constitutional Rights Issue’ in Forcing Catholics to Act Against Their Faith

Komen to Stop Grants to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz

by Steven Ertelt
1/31/12

After years of protests and criticism from pro-life advocates, the biggest breast cancer organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has announced it is halting further grants and donations to the Planned Parenthood.

Figures from August directly from the Komen for the Cure foundation show 18 affiliates of the breast cancer charity gave a total of more than $569,000 to the Planned Parenthood abortion business in 2010. That was down from the $731,303 Komen officials publicly confirmed in October 2010, when they acknowledged that 20 of the 122 Komen affiliates gave to Planned Parenthood during the 2009 fiscal year.

Now, Komen says it is halting all grants because of public pressure from pro-life groups and due to the impending investigation in Congress of the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

The policy makes it so no further Planned Parenthood grants will be given unless the investigation results in Planned Parenthood’s favor.
the rest

Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood
...Every time a woman has an abortion and part of the money to fund that center staying open came from Komen, they are putting women at a greater risk for breast cancer...

Yet Another Study Links Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk

Fifty-one of 68 epidemiological studies since 1957 report an abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link (not counting biological and experimental evidence). found here

Canada: Afghan Family Found Guilty in Honor Killings

By AP
Monday, Jan. 30, 2012

(KINGSTON, Ontario) — A jury on Sunday found three members of an Afghan family guilty of killing three teenage sisters and another woman in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor," ending a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet.

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. the rest

Ex-clinic manager becomes abortion protester

TONY LEYS
Jan. 28, 2012

Iowa abortion opponents have picked up a startling ally.

A longtime Storm Lake clinic manager for Planned Parenthood has switched sides, and she is speaking out against her former employer’s use of an electronic system to dispense abortion pills throughout the state.

“You couldn’t really write a story that’s as odd as all that’s happened,” Sue Thayer told about 150 activists Saturday at an Iowa Right to Life meeting in Des Moines.

Thayer, 52, said she ran Planned Parenthood’s Storm Lake clinic for more than 17 years before being fired in 2008. She believes she was dismissed because she’d raised questions about the agency’s remote-control system for providing abortion pills at small-town clinics. the rest

'Father' and 'Son' Ousted from the Trinity in New Bible Translations

By Hussein Hajji Wario
Fri, Jan 27, 2012

A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words "Father" and "Son" from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for "producing Bibles that remove "Father," "Son" and "Son of God" because these terms are offensive to Muslims."

Concerned Christian missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, and national church leaders have come together with a public petition to stop these organizations. They claim a public petition is their last recourse because meetings with these organizations' leaders, staff resignations over this issue and criticism and appeals from native national Christians concerned about the translations "have failed to persuade these agencies to retain "Father" and "Son" in the text of all their translations."

Biblical Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon International, is sponsoring the petition. the rest

Colson: Obama Admin. Restricting Religious Freedom

Fri, Jan. 27 2012
By Chuck Colson

I warned you that the Supreme Court's decision to grant religious groups a "ministerial exception" in hiring, while important, does nothing to halt the Obama Administration's relentless crusade to restrict religious freedom.

Just Friday, the Administration announced it would not expand exemptions for religiously affiliated organizations when it comes to insurance. So, a Catholic hospital, for instance, will be forced to purchase insurance for its employees that would provide free contraception and sterilization services.

Now, in case you didn't know, the Catholic Church teaches that using artificial contraception or undergoing sterilization are grave sins. The government now said, "Tough."

Even the liberal Washington Post sees this for what it is: a restriction of religious freedom. Its lead editorial called the Administration's decision, "wrong." the rest

UK: Girls as young as nine forced into Muslim marriages

January 27, 2012
by PAVAN AMARA

Excerpt:
IKWRO, which made headlines last month when they revealed there had been almost 3,000 “honour-based” violence cases in 2010, has shown the Tribune records which revealed at least three 11-year-old girls and two nine-year-olds had been forced into marriage with older men within Islington. The oldest girls involved were 16.

They have warned that hundreds of Islington girls could be suffering sexual, emotional and physical scars as a result of the child marriages every year and are calling for teachers, social workers and police to be better trained to spot and manage the abuse.

Information from the Ministry of Justice, following a Freedom of Information request, revealed that 32 Forced Marriage Protection Order applications were made for children under 16 in Britain last year.

Six of these were made for under-16s within Islington at the Royal Courts of Justice, although these were not necessarily made for Islington residents.

At the Islington court, “five or fewer” orders were made to protect children between the ages of 9-11.

The orders are a form of injunction that threaten legal punishment if marriage takes place due to emotional or physical force. the rest