News
| 12/21/11 | Report:Europe No Longer the Epicenter of Christianity Once the world's epicenter of Christianity, Europe now accounts for only 25.9 percent of the global Christian population, down 40 percent from a century ago. The change is explained in part by the massive growth of Christianity in Africa and Asia, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. |
| 12/20/11 | Penn. keeping abortuaries in check With the passage of new legislation, Pennsylvania will be keeping a closer watch on abortion clinics to ensure that they're following general health standards that have been overlooked in the past. Maria Vitale Gallagher of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation says the governor and legislature of Pennsylvania moved on the bill after a nasty situation's extensive publicity. |
| 12/20/11 | Defending the public celebration of Christmas A conservative congressman is taking action to ensure that Christmas is safe in the public arena. Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), a member of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, has 30 co-sponsors for his H.R. 489, a resolution to respond to those around the country who want to steal Christmas from Christians. |
| 12/19/11 | Court sides with church in termination suit An advocate for Christians says a California court ruling in favor of a church's termination of a teacher upholds the right of a religious institution to keep a moral standard. The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin had the right to fire a preschool director for living with her boyfriend while she is unmarried. In upholding a lower-court ruling, the court said the church's decision to fire teacher Sara Henry was acceptable because she violated a church ordinance. The preschool director continued to live with her boyfriend following a failed marriage and had a child out of wedlock. Henry filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the church in 2009. |
| 12/19/11 | School punishes religious beliefs, student sues A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a Michigan public school student who was punished for telling his teacher he opposes homosexuality. When his economics teacher, a homosexual activist, specifically asked Daniel Glowacki, a junior at the time, about his feelings on homosexuality, the student responded that as a Catholic, he is offended by the lifestyle. He was then threatened with suspension and ordered to leave the classroom. News of the incident spread nationwide, and Richard Thompson of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) accounts that the reaction was rarely positive toward the student. |
| 12/16/11 | Judge to Consider 'Sister Wives' Challenge of Utah Bigamy Law A polygamous family made famous on a reality television show is asking a Utah federal judge not to block their challenge of the state's bigamy law. Kody Brown and wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn filed a lawsuit in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court in July. Oral arguments in the case are set for Friday before U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups. |
| 12/16/11 | Planned Parenthood Offers Tips For Pro-Abortion Conversation Around ‘Holiday Table’ Planned Parenthood’s New York City affiliate has posted an article telling visitors to its Web site how to successfully discuss abortion around the “holiday table.” The article, “Talking Turkey: 8 Easy Steps for Discussing Reproductive Health and Justice at the Holiday Table,” also includes a quiz to help people prepare for “touchy questions about your politics over the dinner table.” |
| 12/15/11 | Planned Parenthood Hiring 14-Year-Old Kids to Push Sex Ed The Planned Parenthood abortion business in Wisconsin is going beyond the pale in its efforts to push its pro-abortion agenda on kids and teenagers — by hiring them to push its sex education agenda on their peers. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin recently posted a job listing indicating it is looking for children as young as 14 to work as sex educators. |
| 12/15/11 | Obscenity vs. protected speech in libraries Morality in Media says it's at war with the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association over open access to obscenity in public libraries. Because librarians are often given misleading information on the subject, Dawn Hawkins of Morality in Media (MIM) says her organization is developing a campaign to let them know they have the right to keep pornography off of public computers. |
| 12/14/11 | Survey: Teen pot use rises, alcohol use declines More teens are turning to pot and see it as less of a risk at the same time alcohol use among the same age group has dipped to historic lows, according to an annual national survey of drug use released Wednesday. The findings were based on a survey of 47,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. |
| 12/14/11 | Fewer Americans than ever are getting married: poll Just 51% of American adults are married, down from 72% in 1960 Fewer American adults are jumping on the wedding bandwagon. Barely half of all adults in the United States - a record low - are currently hitched, a new report from the Pew Research Institute found. |
| 12/12/11 | Workers willing to testify against abortion giant Seven former employees of Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliates are encouraging the Congressional review of the abortion provider and are willing to offer their public testimony against it. The seven workers have sent a letter to Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and their message has been circulated to other members of Congress. Marilyn Musgrave, special projects director for the Susan B. Anthony List, says they can provide information on several issues, including whether tax dollars are used for abortions. |
| 12/12/11 | War on Christmas Hits Korean Peninsula North Korea on Sunday made unspecified threats against plans by Christians in the South to illuminate giant steel Christmas “trees” near the world’s most heavily armed border, warning of “unexpected consequences” resulting from what the Stalinist regime views as a propaganda stunt. The South Korean government has given permission for evangelical groups to light three of the structures for 15 days, beginning just before Christmas, in locations where they will potentially be seen by hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. |
| 12/07/11 | HHS Secretary Stops 'Plan B' from Going to Girls Under 17 Without Parental Permission In a surprise move, the nation's health secretary stopped the Plan B morning-after pill from moving onto drugstore shelves next to the condoms, deciding Wednesday that young girls shouldn't be able to buy it on their own. The Food and Drug Administration was preparing to lift a controversial age limit and make Plan B One-Step the nation's first over-the-counter emergency contraceptive, available for purchase by people of any age without a prescription. |
| 12/07/11 | Hillary Clinton: ‘Religious Beliefs’ Are ‘Standing in the Way of Protecting Human Rights of LGBT People' Religious beliefs and cultural values do not justify the failure to uphold the human rights of homosexuals, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday. "Now, raising this issue, I know, is sensitive for many people and that the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT people rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural, and religious beliefs," Clinton said. |
| 12/06/11 | Planned Parenthood, NARAL Oppose Sex-Selection Abortion Ban As members of Congress hold a hearing today on legislation that would ban sex-selection abortions and abortions done if the unborn child is of a specific race, leading pro-abortion advocacy groups are strongly opposed to it. Their opposition could explain why organizations like Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the ACLU almost never speak out against the horrible human rights abuses associated with the one-child policy in China – ranging from sex-selection abortions, to forced abortions, to coercive sterilizations and infanticides. |
| 12/06/11 | Obama FDA Considers Putting Morning-After Pill on Supermarket Shelves The Washington Post reports that, under President Obama and his Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Food and Drug Administration is considering letting “anyone of any age buy the controversial morning-after pill Plan B directly off drugstore and supermarket shelves without a prescription.” The Post writes, “The Food and Drug Administration has until Wednesday to respond to a request from the drug’s manufacturer to make the pill as easy to get as toilet paper and toothpaste.... |
| 12/05/11 | OPINION: Media Bias Continues on Abortion-Breast Cancer Link Studies Which of the following is likely to be motivated by ideological bias: Reports on independent medical studies that show a link between a commonly chosen medical procedure and rates of a certain type of cancer, or news stories that ignore the latest scientific evidence and rely on a single, controversial, and now-debunked report to make the case in favor that the medical procedure? |
| 12/05/11 | Dolly Scientist Says Abandon Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ian Wilmut, the scientist who achieved international notoriety for cloning the sheep Dolly, is now urging his fellow scientists and researchers to abandon embryonic stem cell research. His comments at a conference follow on the major news that Geron, a cloning company the Obama administration funded to undertake the first human clinical trials involving embryonic-like stem cells, abruptly canceled the trials and got out of the embryonic stem cell research business. |
| 12/01/11 | Christian Groups Bring ‘True Meaning of the Season’ to the Supreme Court’s Steps Two Christian groups on Wednesday led a procession of actors and singers to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building where they formed a live Nativity scene, including a baby, three wise men bearing gifts and a well-mannered camel. The idea, they said, is to combat “growing hostility” toward religious symbols in the public square. |
| 12/01/11 | White House Aide: Obama Should Concentrate on Transgender Issues ‘In Whatever Time We Have Left’ President Obama “has been pretty clear” in his support for big-ticket items on the homosexual activist agenda – like trying to repeal the "so-called" federal Defense of Marriage Act -- according to a top White House liaison to the LGBT community. But now, “in whatever time we have left” in office, the White House has an opportunity to concentrate on lesser-known items on the LGBT activist agenda – including HIV/AIDS and helping homeless transgendered teens, Gautam Raghavan, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, said Tuesday night. |
| 11/30/11 | 2012 Presidential Hopefuls Urged to Sign a ‘Pledge for Religious Freedom’ A religious freedom advocacy group is challenging all 2012 presidential contenders to sign a pledge committing themselves to promote religious freedom at home and to make it a foreign policy priority. As of late Tuesday, Republican former Sen. Rick Santorum had signed the Open Doors USA pledge and the other candidates – including the Democratic incumbent – were “considering” doing so, the organization said. |
| 11/30/11 | OPINION: Media Still Ignores Studies Showing Abortion Hurts Women You would think that when researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania determine that something nearly TRIPLES a woman’s breast cancer risk, it would be big news. But not if that “something” is abortion. |
| 11/29/11 | OPINION: Siri Sends Women to Pregnancy Centers, Not Abortion Clinics Technology has been instrumental in moving public opinion on abortion. From the advent of ultrasound technology, which provides stunning glimpses into life in the womb, to iPad applications that allow a pregnant mother to track her baby’s development, the pro-life movement has benefited from greater awareness of the humanity of the unborn child. Now, the latest model of Apple’s iPhone provides women with alternatives to abortion when making related abortion searches on its new voice-directed Siri technology. |
| 11/29/11 | Home Bible studiers in the clear A legal analyst says it was "wise" for a California city to drop a citation filed against a couple for hosting a home Bible study. |
| 11/21/11 | SF picking on pro-life centers San Francisco's new ordinance leveled at pro-life pregnancy centers will face federal court scrutiny. The core of the lawsuit is First Amendment viewpoint discrimination. First Resort is a chain of pro-life centers filing the case. The group's CEO Shari Plunkett claims the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordination was "crafted to target one or two specific organizations and carefully shelter from its scope all groups whose viewpoints the city agrees with." |
| 11/21/11 | Welfare-Reform Bill Would Ban Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Through 77 Welfare Programs Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be going to fund abortion through federal welfare programs, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said earlier this week. “If you look at the abortion issue in America the country is roughly evenly divided,” Vitter said. “However, if you ask folks should we use taxpayer dollars when its so controversial and at least half the country have fundamental moral problems with it, the overwhelming majority say, no, we shouldn't force taxpayers to be funding abortion." |
| 11/18/11 | Businesses have no business in culture war Several major corporations, including CBS, Google, and Starbucks, have filed legal briefs asking the federal government to recognize homosexual "marriage." The companies ask the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a 2010 lower-court ruling in which Judge Joseph L. Tauro struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The friend-of-the-court brief argues that DOMA forces businesses to discriminate against "gay" employees. |
| 11/17/11 | Geron Announcement Throws Stem Cell Research into Question In the wake of a California-based research company's decision to drop the world's first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells, many investigators who once held to the promise of stem cell research now wonder whether the field of embryonic stem cell research has been abandoned in the U.S. completely. |
| 11/16/11 | Ethical standards out the window? Christian physicians are concerned over the debate connected to harvesting human organs as they review the proposed government-endorsed changes to ethical standards. Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association (CMA) has expressed his concern in a letter to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. He tells OneNewsNow the proposal could change the definition of "death" for the sake of organ transplants. |