News
| 06/06/11 | Church Taxation Battle Heats Up in PA- Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network defends rights of churches Philadelphia, PA—The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is attempting to take a hearty tax chunk from a new church facility, even though a state law prevents churches from having to pay real estate taxes. Northmoreland Baptist Church in Wyoming County is defending a position on churches and real estate taxes, even though churches being exempt from taxes is a fundamental proposition of the Pennsylvania Constitution and state law. |
| 06/06/11 | NPR Poll: 59% of Americans Say Having an Abortion is Wrong A new poll conducted by Thomson Reuters for NPR, coming after a Gallup survey showing Americans oppose all or most abortions, finds a majority of Americans say having an abortion is wrong. NPR asked “do you personally believe having an abortion is wrong” and 59.3 percent of Americans polled said yes compared with just 40.7 percent who said no. The youngest age category of those polled, under 35, gave the most pro-life responses with 65.5 percent saying that having an abortion is wrong. |
| 06/06/11 | TX college set straight on 'adoption priorities' The University of Texas at San Antonio has agreed to permit a job posting for Christian house parents after originally refusing to do so, stating the ad was discriminatory. Adoption Priorities is a Christian organization that assists in the adoption of children of women in distress. The university changed its mind on the group's ad after receiving a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). |
| 06/03/11 | Objections fly with rainbow flag President Obama has declared June "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month" -- and to the dismay of a pro-family group based in Richmond, Virginia, the Federal Reserve Bank is joining in the celebration. Though The Family Foundation's new office in Richmond has a beautiful view of the state capitol and the flags, the rainbow flag fluttering from the flagpole outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is also in view. Foundation president Victoria Cobb does not expect it to fly away any time soon. |
| 06/03/11 | Doctor Who Helped Others Commit Suicide Did Not Take His Own Life Jack Kevorkian, nicknamed “Dr. Death” for assisting in the suicide of some 130 people who had medical conditions, has died at age 83. No official cause of death has been announced, but local media is reporting that Kevorkian had kidney and respiratory problems. |
| 06/03/11 | 'Biological fact' wins in TX marriage case A Texas court has affirmed through a controversial marriage case that gender is determined at birth. Relying on a previous ruling that gender is determined at birth and not changed by later surgical procedures, a Texas court has declared that the "marriage" between two men, one of which led the other to believe he was a woman, is null and void. |
| 06/01/11 | When Tapes Show Sex Abuse Coverups, Abortion Agenda Becomes Clear Multiple Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation clinics across the country including five in Alaska were targeted as part of a nationwide phone survey that revealed clinic staff encouraging a caller who said she was a 13-year-old girl to cover up statutory rape and child sexual abuse. The audio recordings of those March 2002 calls were released earlier this month online. |
| 06/01/11 | Court: Evangelism is free speech A Christian pastor who ministers to Muslims has won a free-speech victory against Dearborn, Michigan. The Thomas More Law Center's (TMLC) Richard Thompson reports that Sudanese Christian Pastor George Saieg ministered at the International Arab Festival in Dearborn for five years, until 2009. (See earlier story) |
| 05/31/11 | Parental notification awaits governor's approval New Hampshire's new parental notification law, which corrects defects in an earlier measure that has caused problems in the U.S. Supreme Court, is awaiting the signature of Governor John Lynch (D). State Rep. Kathleen Souza (R) points out that Lynch is the same governor who signed the bill that repealed the law originally passed in 2003. Abortion proponents are lobbying hard to convince Governor Lynch to veto the new measure, even though Souza views it as a common-sense bill. |
| 05/31/11 | Ill. diocese ends adoptions over 'gay rights' law The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford says it's ending adoptions and foster care services because a new Illinois law would have required it to allow homosexual or unmarried couples to adopt or foster children in violation of church teachings. Diocese officials say they're being forced to terminate state contracts for adoption and foster services after lawmakers failed to pass an amendment exempting religious groups from provisions of the state's new civil unions law, which takes effect June 1. |
| 05/27/11 | $500 Million Obama Administration Program Will Help Kids 'Sit Still' in Kindergarten Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that the administration's new $500 million early learning initiative is designed to deal with children from birth onward to prevent such problems as 5-year olds who "can't sit still" in a kindergarten classroom. “You really need to look at the range of issues, because if a 5-year-old can’t sit still, it is unlikely that they can do well in a kindergarten class, and it has to be the whole range of issues that go into healthy child development,” Sebelius said during a telephone news conference on Wednesday to announce the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. |
| 05/27/11 | Majority Say Abortion Morally Wrong, But Call Themselves Pro-Choice A second national poll released this week has voters confused about the way in which they term their own views on the issue of abortion — saying they are “pro-choice” when they actually oppose abortion. A new Rasmussen Reports survey has a plurality of voters saying they consider themselves “pro-choice” but most still consider abortion morally unjust most of the time. Some 49 percent of those polled in the Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters say they are “pro-choice” while 41% classify themselves as pro-life. |
| 05/26/11 | Annual Symposium Focuses on Building Euthanasia Opposition A collection of people of all stripes — disability rights advocates, bioethicists, pro-life people and religious leaders — will gather together in western Canada next month for the next installment of an international conference on euthanasia. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is again sponsoring the Third International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide from June 3-4 in Vancouver at the Vancouver Airport Marriott Hotel in order to educate people about the ways in which activists are promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide and to build opposition to the practices. |
| 05/26/11 | Parents defenseless against gender 'diversity training' As teachers spent May 23 and 24 using all-girl geckos and transgendered clownfish to teach gender diversity lessons, a California school has raised concerns with teaching that there are more than two genders. Students in all grades at Oakland's Redwood Heights Elementary School got an introduction to the topic on Monday, as teachers told them there are different ways to be boys and different ways to be girls. In the lesson called "Gender Spectrum Diversity Training," documents released by the school say that students were taught that "gender is not inherently nor solely connected to one's physical anatomy." |
| 05/25/11 | The truth about Girl Scouts' leanings Two sisters who parted from the Girl Scouts over a year ago are working to get the word out about the organization's growing liberal agenda. After participating as Girl Scouts for eight years, Sydney and Tess Volanski turned in their cookies and boxed up their awards upon discovering the organization's leftward leanings. Tess Volanski tells OneNewsNow the group's promotion of Planned Parenthood and other liberal causes made it impossible for her family to stay involved. |
| 05/25/11 | Taxpayer Funding Blamed for Rise in Abortions on Poor Women A major pro-life group is responding to the study released by a pro-abortion organization saying abortion rates have fallen for women as a whole but increased for women below the poverty line. The National Right to Life Committee blames taxpayer funding. As LifeNews reported, the new study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology indicates the abortion rate has decreased in the United States — good news because it means more pregnant women are opting against having an abortion. However, the report presents news that should spark a drive to help more women below the poverty level find pregnancy resources and support because it indicates poor women are having abortions at a higher rate than before. |
| 05/24/11 | OPINION: Outlawing Abortion: Making the Case for an Incremental Approach There is a discussion on FB about Texas passing a sonogram bill that does not protect certain groups of preborn babies, such as those conceived in rape, incest, or those with fetal anomalies. My friend Juda Myers is a pro-life warrior who was conceived in rape, and is understandably let down by these exceptions. This has reignited the ongoing debate within the pro-life community regarding incrementalism vs. unconditional surrender. I believe that we can all get to the finish line together. What follows are modified comments I left on FB this morning: |
| 05/24/11 | Cohabitation gets credit for fewer divorces New census figures show the "seven-year itch" is still a reality, as couples who break up typically separate following seven years of marriage and divorce a year later. But while U.S. divorces are leveling off, cohabitation is on the rise. Many pro-family advocates consider the decline in divorce good news, but the rise of unmarried couples choosing to cohabitate before marriage is troubling. |
| 05/20/11 | Senate Refuses to Confirm Obama's Liberal Appeals Court Nominee The nomination of controversial Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals failed by a vote of 52-43 on Thursday with Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) joining Senate Republicans in blocking the long-stalled nomination. Fifty-one Democrats were joined by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in voting to send the Liu nomination to the Senate floor for an up or down vote. The nomination needed to garner 60 votes to be sent to the floor. |
| 05/20/11 | Missouri abortion ban may be tightened Missouri's legislature has tightened its late-term abortion ban, which provides for a health exception for the mother. Susan Klein of Missouri Right to Life comments that the newly passed piece of legislation goes even further. “We give the guidelines, the boundaries that abortion cannot be done unless it creates a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function for the mother,” she says. Supporters blocked a proposed amendment to include a mental health exception. |
| 05/19/11 | Clinton's cries against pro-family 'hate' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia May 17, but the founder of one pro-family group says those words were invented by homosexual activists. |
| 05/19/11 | 'Candy cane' case: Free speech on chopping block The head of Liberty Institute says the infamous "candy cane" case -- to be heard on Monday -- could result in "a massive shift of power away from citizens and families to the government." Two highly respected, former U.S. solicitors general have joined Liberty Institute to defend the First Amendment rights of elementary students. Paul Clement served under George W. Bush, and Ken Starr is now president of Baylor University. They are joining in Morgan v. Plano Independent School District -- the infamous "candy cane" case. Eight years ago young Jonathan Morgan was prevented from handing out candy canes with a religious message during a school "winter" party. |
| 05/18/11 | Adult Stem Cells are Treating Thousands of Patients Now Stem cell research continues to move ahead. Not embryonic stem cell research, however, which relies on the destruction of young human life. After over 30 years of embryonic stem cell research, first with mouse and then human embryonic stem cells, not a single patient has been helped. And while over the past year, three experimental trials have been approved in the U.S., even many embryonic stem cell scientists believe the practical dangers of embryonic stem cells (tumors, incorrect tissue growth, immune problems) make such trials preliminary; simply using patients for experiments. Embryonic stem cells fail on both ethical and practical aspects, and have contributed only hype to the debate and false hope to patients. |
| 05/18/11 | Religious liberties or not? Voters to decide Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) is to decide the date when voters will have a chance to weigh in on a religious freedom constitutional amendment that one pro-family leader believes will be approved. The proposal, which was approved in the Senate by a 34-0 vote, is first directed at the rights of public school students "to pray and to acknowledge God on a voluntary basis, to be able to express their religious beliefs in written or oral assignments and to not be forced to participate in academic presentations or school work that violates their religious beliefs," explains Joe Ortwerth, executive director of the Missouri Family Policy Council. |
| 05/17/11 | Bill To Restrict NYC Library Porn- Councilmen to Make Watching Porn Near a Minor a Misdemeanor Two New York City councilmen said they want to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to watch porn within 100 feet of a child in the library. The legislation would make it a misdemeanor and could be punishable with up to $1,000 in fines. Council Members David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) and Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) are spearheading the effort to keep public libraries g-rated for minors. "The last place we should be worried about our children spending time is a public library. They are safe havens for children, and not safe havens for perverts," said Ulrich. "It's a violation of public decency and it shouldn’t be there to begin with." |
| 05/17/11 | Supreme Court won't hear challenge to 'So help me God' The Supreme Court is brushing aside an atheist's challenge to religion in government, refusing to hear a complaint about President Barack Obama adding "so help me God" to his inaugural oath of office. The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Michael Newdow, who argued that government references to God are unconstitutional and infringe on his religious beliefs. |
| 05/13/11 | Study: Abortion pill less safe than surgery A study from Australia adds to the proof that the abortion drug RU-486 is dangerous, despite how pro-abortion advocates make it appear. Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America (CWA) says the study is consistent with the United States' experience, as it shows that the use of RU-486 is more dangerous than surgical abortion. She says the drug was put on the market purely for political reasons -- not because it is in the best interest of women or their health. |
| 05/13/11 | Assisted suicide getting nowhere in Vermont virginia Governor Peter Shumlin (D) promised while campaigning that he would pass an assisted suicide law during his first session in office. However, he has not followed through on that pledge. Mary Hahn Beerworth, who heads Vermont Right to Life, recently led a campaign to bring the governor's lack of action to light. |
| 05/12/11 | Pennsylvania House Cracks Down on Abortion Centers Like Gosnell’s The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday passed HB 574, a bill that responds to the horrifying discoveries at the abortion business ran by Kermit Gosnell that had numerous violations and where babies were killed in abortion-infanticides. The bill, sponsored by State Representative Matt Baker, is a response to the grand jury report in the Kermit Gosnell abortion center case in West Philadelphia. Gosnell and members of his unlicensed staff are charged with the murders of seven newborn babies and one female patient as a result of what has been described as an abortion center “house of horrors.” |
| 05/12/11 | Planned Parenthood unsure it can serve clients while challenging Ind. law Planned Parenthood of Indiana will receive no Medicaid reimbursement for about the next six weeks while it prepares to challenge a new state law cutting off its money. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, who will hear the health-care provider's case on whether the law is constitutional, denied Planned Parenthood's request for an emergency hold on the law Wednesday. |