Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Apr. 10th, 2006 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdNorth Carolina pastor calls for a rethinking of Biblical condemnations of homosexuality (courtesy ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rosepurr);
Associated Press: RU-486 ruled out as cause in woman's death;
FotF wants a grand jury to investigate a doctor who provides abortion services after a patient dies under his care; the state medical board has cleared him of wrongdoing, but they want a criminal probe;
FotF reports more on the Episcopal church issues over the American gay bishop;
FotF on Gospel of Judas; authentic, but "secret conversations that were preserved by small, elitist sects" which were "cultic" in nature;
There's no story associated with it, but Concerned Women for America has a little note up about their meeting at the White House with the fundamentalist Christian Medical Association's Jonathan Imbody on "life issues";
CWA's Robert Knight testimony before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee in support of their anti-marriage amendment attempt; raises the usual claim that marriage rights "destroyed marriage" in Scandinavian countries (it actually had no effect at all), condemns studies showing similar outcomes for children raised in lesbian and gay families as heterosexual; brings up the "gay bowel syndrome" nonsense; and so on;
CWA president Wendy Wright on a board declaring Social Security the "most harmful" government programme in existence; I list it here mostly because the CWA main website linked to it;
LifeNews: "Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis for False Hopes";
The Patriot News condemns RU-486, demands it be taken off the market;
Semi-regular CWA wonk Warren Throckmorton defends(!) GLSEN/CEAI guidelines on GBLT issues in schools;
National Right to Life committee member - the American Family Association describes him as a "researcher" - claims RU-486 numbers are bad, calls for it to be taken off the market;
Baptist Press alarm: Supreme Court in Israel to hear marriage-rights case in May; issues is whether Israelis married in Canada can have their marriages recognised by Israel upon their return;
Christian Council of Korea files lawsuit seeking to ban The DaVinci Code;
Baptist Press, other Creationists declare yet another intermediate form fossil not to count; this is the problem with trying to argue with creationists with data, particularly on the so-called "missing link" issue; they either declare your example doesn't count, or they play the fallacy of the beard at you and demand ever finer gradients of intermediate forms;
Baptist Press declares the recently discovered "Gospel of Judas" text to be "heresy and unreliable history";
Canada Family Action Coalition reprints Jeff Jacoby Boston Globe column "Adoption, Kids and the Gay Agenda," condemning GBLT groups for not signing on to a request by Catholic Charities to let Catholic Charities discrimination against lesbian and gay families in adoption proceedings;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns "Gospel of Judas" as heresy, attacks media for reporting it so widely as an attack on "traditional Biblical beliefs of Christianity";
Faith and Freedom Network "Talking Points" set eight against marriage rights.
----- 1 -----
Using Bible as a weapon profanes its most important messages
by Steve Runholt
Asheville Citizen-Times
published March 12, 2006 6:00 am
http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION03/60310032/1058
Like many readers of the Citizen-Times, I was raised a devout Baptist. I thus grew up believing that the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality, and I held that view well into my adulthood.
My experience may thus be helpful to those who wonder how a Christian pastor could condone homosexuality, and even go so far as to support the rights of gay and lesbian people to share in the blessings of legal marriage.
The starting point in my journey on this issue was not a book or an idea, but a person. One of the men in my college dorm — I’ll call him “Michael” — was gay. Michael usually remained sequestered in the closet, but he came out to me.
And I discovered something that stunned me: he was just like me, only he was gay.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Abortion pill ruled out in one woman's death
FDA investigating second death from rare infection
Associated Press via MSNBC
Updated: 7:54 p.m. ET April 10, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12255365/
WASHINGTON - Health officials said Monday they have ruled out the abortion pill RU-486 in one of two recent deaths in women who had taken the drug. The second remains under investigation.
The one death was unrelated to either abortion or use of the pill, the Food and Drug Administration said. The second woman showed symptoms of infection. One of the women died weeks after her abortion, although it was not immediately clear which of the two.
[...]
Four other women have died of a rare but deadly infection after undergoing pill-triggered abortions. In those four deaths, all involving Californians, the women tested positive for Clostridium sordellii, a common but rarely fatal bacterium.
The FDA has warned doctors to watch for infection by the bacterium. However, the drug, also called Mifeprex or mifepristone, has not been proved to be the cause in any of those cases, the FDA has said.
[...]
Pill instructions not followed
Neither of the two women followed FDA-approved instructions for the pill, which require swallowing three tablets of one drug, followed by two of another drug two days later.
[...]
The only other U.S. death associated with RU-486 was a case of a ruptured ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy in October 2001. The drug is not to be used by women in those cases.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Tiller Investigation Sought
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
from staff reports
April 10, 2006
[Ed. Note: their top-level headline is, "Pro Life Kansans Take on New Strategy: Their target is the man they call “Tiller the Killer” and the strategy includes a Grand Jury investigation. That's not in the story's main page, though.]
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040133.cfm
Pro-lifers seek a grand-jury probe into the Kansas abortionist, after a mentally retarded woman died under his care.
Pro-life groups in Kansas want an objective investigation into notorious abortionist George Tiller. Specifically, they want to know what happened in the death of Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old mentally retarded woman who died under Tiller's care.
Gilbert's death was looked into by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, which quickly cleared Tiller of any wrongdoing. But the investigation was finished before an autopsy proved she died from a botched abortion.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
Episcopal Church Panel Recommends 'Caution' in Appointing Gay Bishops
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006
by Pete Winn, associate editor
The American branch of one of the largest Christian denominations is in danger of decertification.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040138.cfm
A special advisory committee is recommending that the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) exercise "considerable caution" from now on before electing homosexual bishops.
The commission also recommended that the American church offer "apology and repentance" and stop holding blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples, at least for a while.
The Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, a church law expert and theologian for the ECUSA's Diocese of South Carolina, said the committee report is another salvo in a dispute over homosexuality that threatens the relationship of the 2.3 million-member American church to the worldwide Anglican Communion — the world's third-largest Christian denomination at 88 million.
He compared the church's relationship to the Communion to a rocky marriage.
"This is a marriage that's in full separation," he said, "and it's in danger of divorce."
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
The Gospel of Judas Creates Debate
by Jessica Stollings
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006
Is book further understanding of early religion or clarifier Christ’s mission?
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0040121.cfm
The discovery of the book of Judas is being called one of the most important archaeological finds in the last 60 years. The text speaks of secret conversations that were preserved by small, elitist sects. The writings suggest Judas Iscariot was a hero. There is no question that the book is a brilliant discovery for scholarship but Craig Hazen, Professor of Apologetics at Biola University, believes it’s being sensationalized.
“In the mainstream media, people have been setting forth the gospel of Judas as some real contender to the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul.”
He says it’s a great source for studying early religious thought but instead, it’s becoming a debate of historical accuracy.
“It’s really not telling the truth about Jesus, it’s reflecting some beliefs of early cultic groups of Christianity.”
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
CWA President at the White House
Concerned Women for America
Online as of 10 April 2006
http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp
CWA President at the White House!
April 4, 2006--Christian Medical Associations’s Senior Policy Analyst Jonathan Imbody joined Concerned Women of America President Wendy Wright at the White House to discuss life issues.
----- 7 -----
When Did Defending Marriage Become an Act of Bigotry?
Concerned Women for America
4/10/2006
Robert Knight presents written testimony to the Maryland House Judiciary Committee.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10516/CFI/family/index.htm
Written Testimony by Robert H. Knight, Director,
Culture & Family Institute,
an affiliate of Concerned Women for America
For the Maryland House Judiciary Committee
January 31, 2006
Concerning H.B. 48, the Maryland Marriage Amendment
Marriage defenders often hear some pretty amazing claims from opponents, such as, “You want to put bigotry into the Constitution.” Or: “You’re against equality and for discrimination.” They’re now even hearing such wild charges from sitting judges.
According to Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock, who took it upon herself on January 20 to strike down Maryland’s marriage law because it doesn’t include unions that exclude a bride or a groom, the very nature of marriage as we have always known is discriminatory.
Since when did defending the integrity of marriage become an act of bigotry? Well, it’s not.
For all of America’s history, marriage has been defined as the union of a man and a woman. In fact, all major religions honor marriage. Marriage was created by God and is protected in the law because it is indispensable to human social order. Morality is not bigotry, even if Judge Murdock apparently thinks it is.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Most Harmul Program: Social Security
Human Events Online
Posted Apr 10, 2006
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13871
"We don't have anyone who speaks for the Constitution."
That is what a refreshingly candid spokesman for the office in the Department of Labor that oversees the affirmative action program for federal contractors told us last week when we asked to be directed to the language in the Constitution that authorizes his program.
[...]
For each of the last four years, HUMAN EVENTS has asked a panel of distinguished public policy experts and scholars to develop this list for us. This year, 38 panelists participated. They ranged from Larry Kudlow, host of CNBC's "Kudlow and Company," to Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly, to FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey, to Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright, to Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian, to George Mason University Professor of Economics Walter Williams.
Each judge was asked to nominate a few programs for the list. We then sent them ballots listing the nominated programs. They ranked their choices 1 through 10, with No. 1 being the program they believed to be "most harmful." A program earned 10 points for each No. 1 vote it received, 9 points for each No. 2 vote, and so on. The program with the highest aggregate score -- Social Security -- was given the No. 1 position on this year's list, and next year will be retired into the Government Program Hall of Shame (See story). When the ballots were tallied, we phoned spokesmen for the federal agencies responsible for each program that made the list to see if they could point to the constitutional language, if any, that authorized the program.
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis for False Hopes
LifeNews.com
by Michael Fumento
April 9, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1441.html
Note: Michael Fumento is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World.
There's bad news and there's more bad news for paralysis victims hoping that some variety of stem cell will soon help them walk again. Adult stem cell paralysis treatment has just suffered a major setback. Worse, these victims are being mercilessly exploited by those desperate to convince us that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) – yet to be tested in a human – are a miracle cure desperately needing massive infusions of taxpayer funds.
There have been many claims of improvements for quadriplegics using adult stem cells – those found throughout the human body as well as in umbilical cord blood, placenta, and most recently menstrual blood. But only one has appeared in a peer-reviewed publication.
That was the case of South Korean Hwang Mi-soon, paralyzed from the hips down for 19 years. After an infusion of umbilical cord cells into her spine, she was able to get out of bed and walk with the aid of a walker. It was called a miracle; but tragedy soon struck. Since receiving a second infusion she's been wracked with pain and bedridden. Doctors aren't sure why.
Whatever the case, this is very sad news. Other paralysis victims have testified before Congress that they've tremendously improved since receiving stem cell transplants from their own olfactory (nasal) stem cells, but this has yet to be documented in a medical journal.
Still, that still leaves embryonic stem cells, right?
We've being flooded with news about paralyzed rats receiving ESCs suddenly doing back flips and dancing the Cha-Cha, most recently in a February CBS 60 Minutes segment. While utterly ignoring ASCs, it touted the work of the University of California, Irvine's Hans Keirstead, to the extent of showing the video he's been displaying since 2002 of his walking rats. But most of what surrounds these rodents is mere hype.
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Abortion pill has potential to destroy women's lives
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The Patriot News
BY ANNE MARIE MANNING
http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114448862484540.xml?pennrand&coll=1
If I, as a doctor, offered you a pill that had just been linked to the deaths of two women, do you think you could trust my medical judgment? Or would you go shopping for a different doctor -- one who didn't prescribe potentially lethal drugs?
As a practicing ob/gyn, I am deeply troubled by those who would continue to defend RU-486 -- after the Food and Drug Administration announced recently that two more women had died after taking the drug. How many more women have to die before this dangerous pill is pulled from the market?
It appears that abortion politics, rather than legitimate science, is the overriding factor in the illogical defense of RU-486.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Educator Defends Guidelines for Dealing with Homosexuality in Schools
Part 1 of a Two-Part Series
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A psychology professor and anti-bullying expert is rejecting claims that the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) caved in to pressure from homosexual activists by reaching an agreement with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) on how to deal with the issue of sexual orientation in public schools.
Division remains among conservative Christians over the First Amendment guidelines endorsed by GLSEN and CEAI. Pro-family activist Linda Harvey of Mission America has condemned the "Common Ground Guidelines," saying homosexuality is not a viewpoint, but rather "an array of high-risk abnormal behaviors" -- and Christians have no business dialoguing with GLSEN, she adds.
But noted mental health counselor and sexual orientation researcher Dr. Warren Throckmorton contends there are a variety of viewpoints Christians disagree with that are constitutionally protected.
"There are people who are attracted to the same sex, but don't act on it," the Grove City College educator offers. "There are young men and women who are gender non-conforming in their preferences, and they're teased and harassed at school because they look gay. That's not a behavior. They're not doing anything."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Researcher: Abortion Advocates Manipulate Data To Make RU-486 Look Safe
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006e.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-life activist says while the abortion lobby "plays with numbers," women are dying from the use of the abortion drug RU-486.
According to Randall O'Bannon, a researcher with the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the pro-abortion lobby claims more than half a million women have taken RU-486 -- also known as mifepristone -- with only a handful of problems occurring. However, he contends, this claim about the broad-scale use and low incidence of complications "doesn't seem to be true on either side."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Israel, too? Supreme Court in Holy Land
to hear 'gay marriage' case in late May
Apr 6, 2006
By Michael Foust
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22990
JERUSALEM (BP)--Israel's Supreme Court has announced it will hear a "gay marriage" case in May, raising the possibility that the land where Christ once walked will recognize "marriage" between homosexuals.
The announcement, reported first by the homosexual news service 365Gay, comes as more and more countries worldwide redefine marriage. Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized "gay marriage," and South Africa is expected to follow suit this year. Oral arguments before the Israeli court will take place May 28, according to the news service.
The Israel case involves a handful of homosexual couples who were "married" in Canada and returned to Israel, where they filed suit to have their "marriages" recognized there. The couples' attorney apparently is asking only that out-of-country "gay marriages" be recognized, and not that Israel itself grant licenses to homosexual couples. Nevertheless, that would be a significant liberalization of its marriage law -- and a very significant win for homosexuals in the Holy Land. Marriage law in Israel is defined by Orthodox Jewish law.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 10, 2006
American Family Association/Agape Press
Compiled by Jody Brown
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006h.asp
[...]
...On Friday, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed a court injunction to stop Sony Pictures from showing The Da Vinci Code in that country, saying it defiles the sanctity of Jesus Christ and distorts facts. "The Da Vinci Code is a movie which belittles and tries to destroy Christianity," says CCK official Rev. Hong Jae-chul. Hong indicated the CCK plans other steps in case the movie is released as scheduled on May 18. The CCK also asked other Christian organizations around the world to join efforts to boycott the screening of the film. (Manmin News Service)
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
‘Missing link’ claim for fossils debunked by creationist group
Apr 10, 2006
By Doug Waters
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Not missing a beat, a leading creation science organization responded quickly to the latest well-publicized “missing link” claim by evolutionary researchers.
This time, The New York Times, USA Today and other media outlets trumpeted the discovery of fossils near the North Pole said to belong to a 375-million-year-old fish. The finding by a team of researchers, led by Neil H. Shurbin of the University of Chicago, initially was reported in Nature magazine April 6.
In a preliminary response -- titled “Gone fishin’ for a missing link?” on its website -- Answers in Genesis called attention to the “cautionary words being used about this creature.”
“… [W]hen you read other tentative wording (e.g., the use of the word ‘may’ in the headline ‘Fossil may link fish, land animal’), then the find is not as firm as evolutionists would lead you to believe,” Answers in Genesis noted.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
‘Gospel of Judas’ is heresy & unreliable history, profs say
Apr 10, 2006
By Tim Ellsworth
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23009
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--The newly published “Gospel of Judas” contains teaching that is completely foreign to the New Testament, according to the assessment of several Union University professors.
“It presents a completely different cosmology and theology from what we find in the New Testament,” said George Guthrie, the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union University, a Baptist-affiliated university in Jackson, Tenn.
Guthrie and other Christian studies faculty members at Union said the Gospel of Judas document is unreliable as a source for the actual historical events in the life of Jesus and promotes the heresy of Gnosticism, an ancient teaching condemned by the early Christian church.
“It is not in any way, shape or form a writing that tells us anything reliable about either the real Jesus or Judas,” added Greg Thornbury, dean of Union’s school of Christian studies.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
Adoption, kids, and the gay agenda
Mar 16, 2006
by Jeff Jacoby
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/gay-agenda-adoption.htm
In psychology, "projection" occurs when someone attributes to others his own unpleasant beliefs or motivations. It is projection, for instance, when a liar assumes that everyone he deals with is dishonest, or when a man tempted by adultery accuses his spouse of planning to deceive him. Projection occurs in the public arena as well, as when supporters of racial preferences label "racist" those who believe the law should be strictly colorblind.
A fresh example of projection arrived the other day by way of a news release from the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest gay and lesbian political organizations.
On March 10, Catholic Charities of Boston had announced that it was being forced to shut down its highly regarded adoption services, since it could not in good conscience comply with the government's demand that it place children for adoption with homosexual couples. Caught between the rock of Catholic teaching, which regards such adoptions as "gravely immoral," and Massachusetts regulations, which bar adoption agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, the Boston Archdiocese had hoped to obtain a waiver on religious-freedom grounds. But when legislative leaders refused to consider the request, the archdiocese was left with no option but to end a ministry it had been performing for a century.
[More at URL]
----- 19 -----
The Non-Gospel of Judas
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/non-gospel-of-judas.html
The lower lip of the media has quivered this past week as they have announced the coming, nearly messianic coming, of The National Geographic special, “The Gospel of Judas.”
The "U.S.A. Today" headline on April 6, said, “Long Lost Gospel of Judas Recasts ‘Traitor.’
Their “promotional” story begins, “With a plot twist worthy of Da Vinci Code, the gospel – 13 papyrus sheets bound in leather and found in a cave in Egypt – purports to relate the last days of Jesus’ life, from the viewpoint of Judas, one of Jesus’ followers. Christians teach that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but in this gospel, he is the hero, Jesus’ most senior and trusted disciple and the only one who knows Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God.”
The discovery of this ancient, and it appears that it is indeed ancient; manuscript has been hailed by the media as a breakthrough that once again shows the vulnerability of the settled and accepted Christian beliefs.
Katie Couric couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she promoted The National Geographic special on the TODAY show this past week. News anchors have earnestly asked the question, “Is Christianity flawed,” or “has Christianity been wrong?”
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
Talking Points: The Case for Marriage VIII
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/talking-points-case-for-marriage-viii.html
Isn’t marriage just about love and commitment?
* Love and commitment are the bonding elements between two individuals in a marriage relationship, but marriage isn’t just for adults. It’s also for children, and every child has a birthright to a mom and dad.
[Ed. Note: And yet we don't bar single-parent families, and we don't take children away from widows or widowers. Why not? This is, again, a double-standard; heterosexual couples are forgiven all evils, lesbian and gay couples are permitted no virtues, and it all comes down to "because queers are evil, because we say god said so."]
* Because marriage is rooted in the natural order of procreation, the state has a compelling interest in supporting and encouraging the ideal family unit for the nurturing and development of children.
[Ed. note: A variety of studies, all of which they condemn as biased because they hate the outcome - see previous CWUs - show that children raised in lesbian and gay families do fine. Similarly, if the "ideal family unit" is what we're looking for here, why the hell did my fucktard adoptives get ahold of me? When this rule is applied to heterosexual couples, come back and talk to me again. Also, see above.]
* There are over 10,000 studies that support the idea that children do best when raised with a mother and father in a marriage relationship.
[Ed. note: Keep in mind that these are creationists talking here. I'd strongly suggest that their ideas of "science" are so broken as to make no sense, and also, really, to provide for no coherent rebuttal. One cute way to do is to say that tens of thousands of astronomers and astrologers and millions of laypeople believed the sun revolved around a fixed Earth until Galileo said "um, no."]
* No other area in social science has this level of research support and confirmation.
[Ed. note: No clue. I imagine that they're comparing against single-parent families, who for income and resource reasons typically have more problems than two-parent families. And yet we don't take children away from heterosexual individuals, again. They are almost without a doubt picking studies comparing two-parent families against various forms of disadvantages families and silently swapping in lesbian and gay families as the "lesser case." This is like taking a study comparing the health benefits of, say, bread and cake, and substituting in something else for the cake, but declaring that the result - "bread is better" - applies to the "something else," too.]
rosepurr);Associated Press: RU-486 ruled out as cause in woman's death;
FotF wants a grand jury to investigate a doctor who provides abortion services after a patient dies under his care; the state medical board has cleared him of wrongdoing, but they want a criminal probe;
FotF reports more on the Episcopal church issues over the American gay bishop;
FotF on Gospel of Judas; authentic, but "secret conversations that were preserved by small, elitist sects" which were "cultic" in nature;
There's no story associated with it, but Concerned Women for America has a little note up about their meeting at the White House with the fundamentalist Christian Medical Association's Jonathan Imbody on "life issues";
CWA's Robert Knight testimony before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee in support of their anti-marriage amendment attempt; raises the usual claim that marriage rights "destroyed marriage" in Scandinavian countries (it actually had no effect at all), condemns studies showing similar outcomes for children raised in lesbian and gay families as heterosexual; brings up the "gay bowel syndrome" nonsense; and so on;
CWA president Wendy Wright on a board declaring Social Security the "most harmful" government programme in existence; I list it here mostly because the CWA main website linked to it;
LifeNews: "Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis for False Hopes";
The Patriot News condemns RU-486, demands it be taken off the market;
Semi-regular CWA wonk Warren Throckmorton defends(!) GLSEN/CEAI guidelines on GBLT issues in schools;
National Right to Life committee member - the American Family Association describes him as a "researcher" - claims RU-486 numbers are bad, calls for it to be taken off the market;
Baptist Press alarm: Supreme Court in Israel to hear marriage-rights case in May; issues is whether Israelis married in Canada can have their marriages recognised by Israel upon their return;
Christian Council of Korea files lawsuit seeking to ban The DaVinci Code;
Baptist Press, other Creationists declare yet another intermediate form fossil not to count; this is the problem with trying to argue with creationists with data, particularly on the so-called "missing link" issue; they either declare your example doesn't count, or they play the fallacy of the beard at you and demand ever finer gradients of intermediate forms;
Baptist Press declares the recently discovered "Gospel of Judas" text to be "heresy and unreliable history";
Canada Family Action Coalition reprints Jeff Jacoby Boston Globe column "Adoption, Kids and the Gay Agenda," condemning GBLT groups for not signing on to a request by Catholic Charities to let Catholic Charities discrimination against lesbian and gay families in adoption proceedings;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns "Gospel of Judas" as heresy, attacks media for reporting it so widely as an attack on "traditional Biblical beliefs of Christianity";
Faith and Freedom Network "Talking Points" set eight against marriage rights.
----- 1 -----
Using Bible as a weapon profanes its most important messages
by Steve Runholt
Asheville Citizen-Times
published March 12, 2006 6:00 am
http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION03/60310032/1058
Like many readers of the Citizen-Times, I was raised a devout Baptist. I thus grew up believing that the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality, and I held that view well into my adulthood.
My experience may thus be helpful to those who wonder how a Christian pastor could condone homosexuality, and even go so far as to support the rights of gay and lesbian people to share in the blessings of legal marriage.
The starting point in my journey on this issue was not a book or an idea, but a person. One of the men in my college dorm — I’ll call him “Michael” — was gay. Michael usually remained sequestered in the closet, but he came out to me.
And I discovered something that stunned me: he was just like me, only he was gay.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Abortion pill ruled out in one woman's death
FDA investigating second death from rare infection
Associated Press via MSNBC
Updated: 7:54 p.m. ET April 10, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12255365/
WASHINGTON - Health officials said Monday they have ruled out the abortion pill RU-486 in one of two recent deaths in women who had taken the drug. The second remains under investigation.
The one death was unrelated to either abortion or use of the pill, the Food and Drug Administration said. The second woman showed symptoms of infection. One of the women died weeks after her abortion, although it was not immediately clear which of the two.
[...]
Four other women have died of a rare but deadly infection after undergoing pill-triggered abortions. In those four deaths, all involving Californians, the women tested positive for Clostridium sordellii, a common but rarely fatal bacterium.
The FDA has warned doctors to watch for infection by the bacterium. However, the drug, also called Mifeprex or mifepristone, has not been proved to be the cause in any of those cases, the FDA has said.
[...]
Pill instructions not followed
Neither of the two women followed FDA-approved instructions for the pill, which require swallowing three tablets of one drug, followed by two of another drug two days later.
[...]
The only other U.S. death associated with RU-486 was a case of a ruptured ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy in October 2001. The drug is not to be used by women in those cases.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
Tiller Investigation Sought
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
from staff reports
April 10, 2006
[Ed. Note: their top-level headline is, "Pro Life Kansans Take on New Strategy: Their target is the man they call “Tiller the Killer” and the strategy includes a Grand Jury investigation. That's not in the story's main page, though.]
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040133.cfm
Pro-lifers seek a grand-jury probe into the Kansas abortionist, after a mentally retarded woman died under his care.
Pro-life groups in Kansas want an objective investigation into notorious abortionist George Tiller. Specifically, they want to know what happened in the death of Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old mentally retarded woman who died under Tiller's care.
Gilbert's death was looked into by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, which quickly cleared Tiller of any wrongdoing. But the investigation was finished before an autopsy proved she died from a botched abortion.
[More at URL]
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Episcopal Church Panel Recommends 'Caution' in Appointing Gay Bishops
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006
by Pete Winn, associate editor
The American branch of one of the largest Christian denominations is in danger of decertification.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040138.cfm
A special advisory committee is recommending that the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) exercise "considerable caution" from now on before electing homosexual bishops.
The commission also recommended that the American church offer "apology and repentance" and stop holding blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples, at least for a while.
The Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, a church law expert and theologian for the ECUSA's Diocese of South Carolina, said the committee report is another salvo in a dispute over homosexuality that threatens the relationship of the 2.3 million-member American church to the worldwide Anglican Communion — the world's third-largest Christian denomination at 88 million.
He compared the church's relationship to the Communion to a rocky marriage.
"This is a marriage that's in full separation," he said, "and it's in danger of divorce."
[More at URL]
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The Gospel of Judas Creates Debate
by Jessica Stollings
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006
Is book further understanding of early religion or clarifier Christ’s mission?
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0040121.cfm
The discovery of the book of Judas is being called one of the most important archaeological finds in the last 60 years. The text speaks of secret conversations that were preserved by small, elitist sects. The writings suggest Judas Iscariot was a hero. There is no question that the book is a brilliant discovery for scholarship but Craig Hazen, Professor of Apologetics at Biola University, believes it’s being sensationalized.
“In the mainstream media, people have been setting forth the gospel of Judas as some real contender to the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul.”
He says it’s a great source for studying early religious thought but instead, it’s becoming a debate of historical accuracy.
“It’s really not telling the truth about Jesus, it’s reflecting some beliefs of early cultic groups of Christianity.”
[More at URL]
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CWA President at the White House
Concerned Women for America
Online as of 10 April 2006
http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp
CWA President at the White House!
April 4, 2006--Christian Medical Associations’s Senior Policy Analyst Jonathan Imbody joined Concerned Women of America President Wendy Wright at the White House to discuss life issues.
----- 7 -----
When Did Defending Marriage Become an Act of Bigotry?
Concerned Women for America
4/10/2006
Robert Knight presents written testimony to the Maryland House Judiciary Committee.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10516/CFI/family/index.htm
Written Testimony by Robert H. Knight, Director,
Culture & Family Institute,
an affiliate of Concerned Women for America
For the Maryland House Judiciary Committee
January 31, 2006
Concerning H.B. 48, the Maryland Marriage Amendment
Marriage defenders often hear some pretty amazing claims from opponents, such as, “You want to put bigotry into the Constitution.” Or: “You’re against equality and for discrimination.” They’re now even hearing such wild charges from sitting judges.
According to Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock, who took it upon herself on January 20 to strike down Maryland’s marriage law because it doesn’t include unions that exclude a bride or a groom, the very nature of marriage as we have always known is discriminatory.
Since when did defending the integrity of marriage become an act of bigotry? Well, it’s not.
For all of America’s history, marriage has been defined as the union of a man and a woman. In fact, all major religions honor marriage. Marriage was created by God and is protected in the law because it is indispensable to human social order. Morality is not bigotry, even if Judge Murdock apparently thinks it is.
[More at URL]
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Most Harmul Program: Social Security
Human Events Online
Posted Apr 10, 2006
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13871
"We don't have anyone who speaks for the Constitution."
That is what a refreshingly candid spokesman for the office in the Department of Labor that oversees the affirmative action program for federal contractors told us last week when we asked to be directed to the language in the Constitution that authorizes his program.
[...]
For each of the last four years, HUMAN EVENTS has asked a panel of distinguished public policy experts and scholars to develop this list for us. This year, 38 panelists participated. They ranged from Larry Kudlow, host of CNBC's "Kudlow and Company," to Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly, to FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey, to Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright, to Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian, to George Mason University Professor of Economics Walter Williams.
Each judge was asked to nominate a few programs for the list. We then sent them ballots listing the nominated programs. They ranked their choices 1 through 10, with No. 1 being the program they believed to be "most harmful." A program earned 10 points for each No. 1 vote it received, 9 points for each No. 2 vote, and so on. The program with the highest aggregate score -- Social Security -- was given the No. 1 position on this year's list, and next year will be retired into the Government Program Hall of Shame (See story). When the ballots were tallied, we phoned spokesmen for the federal agencies responsible for each program that made the list to see if they could point to the constitutional language, if any, that authorized the program.
[More at URL]
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Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis for False Hopes
LifeNews.com
by Michael Fumento
April 9, 2006
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1441.html
Note: Michael Fumento is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World.
There's bad news and there's more bad news for paralysis victims hoping that some variety of stem cell will soon help them walk again. Adult stem cell paralysis treatment has just suffered a major setback. Worse, these victims are being mercilessly exploited by those desperate to convince us that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) – yet to be tested in a human – are a miracle cure desperately needing massive infusions of taxpayer funds.
There have been many claims of improvements for quadriplegics using adult stem cells – those found throughout the human body as well as in umbilical cord blood, placenta, and most recently menstrual blood. But only one has appeared in a peer-reviewed publication.
That was the case of South Korean Hwang Mi-soon, paralyzed from the hips down for 19 years. After an infusion of umbilical cord cells into her spine, she was able to get out of bed and walk with the aid of a walker. It was called a miracle; but tragedy soon struck. Since receiving a second infusion she's been wracked with pain and bedridden. Doctors aren't sure why.
Whatever the case, this is very sad news. Other paralysis victims have testified before Congress that they've tremendously improved since receiving stem cell transplants from their own olfactory (nasal) stem cells, but this has yet to be documented in a medical journal.
Still, that still leaves embryonic stem cells, right?
We've being flooded with news about paralyzed rats receiving ESCs suddenly doing back flips and dancing the Cha-Cha, most recently in a February CBS 60 Minutes segment. While utterly ignoring ASCs, it touted the work of the University of California, Irvine's Hans Keirstead, to the extent of showing the video he's been displaying since 2002 of his walking rats. But most of what surrounds these rodents is mere hype.
[More at URL]
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Abortion pill has potential to destroy women's lives
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The Patriot News
BY ANNE MARIE MANNING
http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114448862484540.xml?pennrand&coll=1
If I, as a doctor, offered you a pill that had just been linked to the deaths of two women, do you think you could trust my medical judgment? Or would you go shopping for a different doctor -- one who didn't prescribe potentially lethal drugs?
As a practicing ob/gyn, I am deeply troubled by those who would continue to defend RU-486 -- after the Food and Drug Administration announced recently that two more women had died after taking the drug. How many more women have to die before this dangerous pill is pulled from the market?
It appears that abortion politics, rather than legitimate science, is the overriding factor in the illogical defense of RU-486.
[More at URL]
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Educator Defends Guidelines for Dealing with Homosexuality in Schools
Part 1 of a Two-Part Series
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006c.asp
(AgapePress) - A psychology professor and anti-bullying expert is rejecting claims that the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) caved in to pressure from homosexual activists by reaching an agreement with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) on how to deal with the issue of sexual orientation in public schools.
Division remains among conservative Christians over the First Amendment guidelines endorsed by GLSEN and CEAI. Pro-family activist Linda Harvey of Mission America has condemned the "Common Ground Guidelines," saying homosexuality is not a viewpoint, but rather "an array of high-risk abnormal behaviors" -- and Christians have no business dialoguing with GLSEN, she adds.
But noted mental health counselor and sexual orientation researcher Dr. Warren Throckmorton contends there are a variety of viewpoints Christians disagree with that are constitutionally protected.
"There are people who are attracted to the same sex, but don't act on it," the Grove City College educator offers. "There are young men and women who are gender non-conforming in their preferences, and they're teased and harassed at school because they look gay. That's not a behavior. They're not doing anything."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Researcher: Abortion Advocates Manipulate Data To Make RU-486 Look Safe
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006e.asp
(AgapePress) - A pro-life activist says while the abortion lobby "plays with numbers," women are dying from the use of the abortion drug RU-486.
According to Randall O'Bannon, a researcher with the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the pro-abortion lobby claims more than half a million women have taken RU-486 -- also known as mifepristone -- with only a handful of problems occurring. However, he contends, this claim about the broad-scale use and low incidence of complications "doesn't seem to be true on either side."
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Israel, too? Supreme Court in Holy Land
to hear 'gay marriage' case in late May
Apr 6, 2006
By Michael Foust
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22990
JERUSALEM (BP)--Israel's Supreme Court has announced it will hear a "gay marriage" case in May, raising the possibility that the land where Christ once walked will recognize "marriage" between homosexuals.
The announcement, reported first by the homosexual news service 365Gay, comes as more and more countries worldwide redefine marriage. Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized "gay marriage," and South Africa is expected to follow suit this year. Oral arguments before the Israeli court will take place May 28, according to the news service.
The Israel case involves a handful of homosexual couples who were "married" in Canada and returned to Israel, where they filed suit to have their "marriages" recognized there. The couples' attorney apparently is asking only that out-of-country "gay marriages" be recognized, and not that Israel itself grant licenses to homosexual couples. Nevertheless, that would be a significant liberalization of its marriage law -- and a very significant win for homosexuals in the Holy Land. Marriage law in Israel is defined by Orthodox Jewish law.
[More at URL]
----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 10, 2006
American Family Association/Agape Press
Compiled by Jody Brown
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006h.asp
[...]
...On Friday, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed a court injunction to stop Sony Pictures from showing The Da Vinci Code in that country, saying it defiles the sanctity of Jesus Christ and distorts facts. "The Da Vinci Code is a movie which belittles and tries to destroy Christianity," says CCK official Rev. Hong Jae-chul. Hong indicated the CCK plans other steps in case the movie is released as scheduled on May 18. The CCK also asked other Christian organizations around the world to join efforts to boycott the screening of the film. (Manmin News Service)
[More at URL]
----- 16 -----
‘Missing link’ claim for fossils debunked by creationist group
Apr 10, 2006
By Doug Waters
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Not missing a beat, a leading creation science organization responded quickly to the latest well-publicized “missing link” claim by evolutionary researchers.
This time, The New York Times, USA Today and other media outlets trumpeted the discovery of fossils near the North Pole said to belong to a 375-million-year-old fish. The finding by a team of researchers, led by Neil H. Shurbin of the University of Chicago, initially was reported in Nature magazine April 6.
In a preliminary response -- titled “Gone fishin’ for a missing link?” on its website -- Answers in Genesis called attention to the “cautionary words being used about this creature.”
“… [W]hen you read other tentative wording (e.g., the use of the word ‘may’ in the headline ‘Fossil may link fish, land animal’), then the find is not as firm as evolutionists would lead you to believe,” Answers in Genesis noted.
[More at URL]
----- 17 -----
‘Gospel of Judas’ is heresy & unreliable history, profs say
Apr 10, 2006
By Tim Ellsworth
Baptist Press
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23009
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--The newly published “Gospel of Judas” contains teaching that is completely foreign to the New Testament, according to the assessment of several Union University professors.
“It presents a completely different cosmology and theology from what we find in the New Testament,” said George Guthrie, the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union University, a Baptist-affiliated university in Jackson, Tenn.
Guthrie and other Christian studies faculty members at Union said the Gospel of Judas document is unreliable as a source for the actual historical events in the life of Jesus and promotes the heresy of Gnosticism, an ancient teaching condemned by the early Christian church.
“It is not in any way, shape or form a writing that tells us anything reliable about either the real Jesus or Judas,” added Greg Thornbury, dean of Union’s school of Christian studies.
[More at URL]
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Adoption, kids, and the gay agenda
Mar 16, 2006
by Jeff Jacoby
Canada Family Action Coalition
http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/gay-agenda-adoption.htm
In psychology, "projection" occurs when someone attributes to others his own unpleasant beliefs or motivations. It is projection, for instance, when a liar assumes that everyone he deals with is dishonest, or when a man tempted by adultery accuses his spouse of planning to deceive him. Projection occurs in the public arena as well, as when supporters of racial preferences label "racist" those who believe the law should be strictly colorblind.
A fresh example of projection arrived the other day by way of a news release from the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest gay and lesbian political organizations.
On March 10, Catholic Charities of Boston had announced that it was being forced to shut down its highly regarded adoption services, since it could not in good conscience comply with the government's demand that it place children for adoption with homosexual couples. Caught between the rock of Catholic teaching, which regards such adoptions as "gravely immoral," and Massachusetts regulations, which bar adoption agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, the Boston Archdiocese had hoped to obtain a waiver on religious-freedom grounds. But when legislative leaders refused to consider the request, the archdiocese was left with no option but to end a ministry it had been performing for a century.
[More at URL]
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The Non-Gospel of Judas
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/non-gospel-of-judas.html
The lower lip of the media has quivered this past week as they have announced the coming, nearly messianic coming, of The National Geographic special, “The Gospel of Judas.”
The "U.S.A. Today" headline on April 6, said, “Long Lost Gospel of Judas Recasts ‘Traitor.’
Their “promotional” story begins, “With a plot twist worthy of Da Vinci Code, the gospel – 13 papyrus sheets bound in leather and found in a cave in Egypt – purports to relate the last days of Jesus’ life, from the viewpoint of Judas, one of Jesus’ followers. Christians teach that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but in this gospel, he is the hero, Jesus’ most senior and trusted disciple and the only one who knows Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God.”
The discovery of this ancient, and it appears that it is indeed ancient; manuscript has been hailed by the media as a breakthrough that once again shows the vulnerability of the settled and accepted Christian beliefs.
Katie Couric couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she promoted The National Geographic special on the TODAY show this past week. News anchors have earnestly asked the question, “Is Christianity flawed,” or “has Christianity been wrong?”
[More at URL]
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Talking Points: The Case for Marriage VIII
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/talking-points-case-for-marriage-viii.html
Isn’t marriage just about love and commitment?
* Love and commitment are the bonding elements between two individuals in a marriage relationship, but marriage isn’t just for adults. It’s also for children, and every child has a birthright to a mom and dad.
[Ed. Note: And yet we don't bar single-parent families, and we don't take children away from widows or widowers. Why not? This is, again, a double-standard; heterosexual couples are forgiven all evils, lesbian and gay couples are permitted no virtues, and it all comes down to "because queers are evil, because we say god said so."]
* Because marriage is rooted in the natural order of procreation, the state has a compelling interest in supporting and encouraging the ideal family unit for the nurturing and development of children.
[Ed. note: A variety of studies, all of which they condemn as biased because they hate the outcome - see previous CWUs - show that children raised in lesbian and gay families do fine. Similarly, if the "ideal family unit" is what we're looking for here, why the hell did my fucktard adoptives get ahold of me? When this rule is applied to heterosexual couples, come back and talk to me again. Also, see above.]
* There are over 10,000 studies that support the idea that children do best when raised with a mother and father in a marriage relationship.
[Ed. note: Keep in mind that these are creationists talking here. I'd strongly suggest that their ideas of "science" are so broken as to make no sense, and also, really, to provide for no coherent rebuttal. One cute way to do is to say that tens of thousands of astronomers and astrologers and millions of laypeople believed the sun revolved around a fixed Earth until Galileo said "um, no."]
* No other area in social science has this level of research support and confirmation.
[Ed. note: No clue. I imagine that they're comparing against single-parent families, who for income and resource reasons typically have more problems than two-parent families. And yet we don't take children away from heterosexual individuals, again. They are almost without a doubt picking studies comparing two-parent families against various forms of disadvantages families and silently swapping in lesbian and gay families as the "lesser case." This is like taking a study comparing the health benefits of, say, bread and cake, and substituting in something else for the cake, but declaring that the result - "bread is better" - applies to the "something else," too.]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 06:28 pm (UTC)ding ding ding ding WINNAH!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 06:30 pm (UTC)Wow, there's someone who knows nothing about the history of Israel or the meaning of the word "conservative" or Jewish law and tradition.