World News: Dec. 9, 2009
December 9, 2009
At least 53 members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama urging him to remove Kevin Jennings, the pro-homosexual activist appointed to lead the nation’s office of safe schools, reported WorldNetDaily. The campaign has been posted online at the website StopJennings.org. Jennings founded an organization that promoted homosexual books that included descriptions of child molestation, adult-child sex, explicit descriptions of sex acts, and tales of cruising restrooms for sex. The lawmakers signing the letter to Obama say that Jennings “has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools.” Also a point of concern is that Jennings is “viciously hostile to religion” and that he believes that only pro-homosexual views should be permitted on the issue. He also advocates sexual indoctrination for even young children.
WorldNetDaily reports that Operation Rescue, a pro-life organization, has filed complaints with two Michigan state agencies asking for investigations into allegations that an abortionist forced a woman to have an abortion. The woman has already filed a civil complaint against abortionist Alberto Hodari. She alleges that she withdrew her consent for an abortion after seeing her baby on an ultrasound. The woman accuses Hodari, who once famously told a university audience that abortionists have a license to lie, of holding her down and covering her mouth to muffle screams while he forced an abortion on her. Judy Climer, chief of the Flint Right to Life, said that “evidence shows that Hodari has likely forced abortions on women for at least two decades.”
The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention plans to scale back its overseas missions force by up to 600 missionaries in 2010 due to the economy, according to Christian Post. The reduction will occur through natural attrition, completion of service, retirements, and limiting appointments rather than recalling any personnel.
The Rutherford Institute, a Christian organization defending religious liberty, has issued a document titled “Twelve Rules of Christmas,” legal guidelines to follow for celebrating Christmas in public, at school, or at work. For example, public school students’ written or spoken personal expressions, including wearing T-shirts, concerning Christmas or Jesus may not be censored; neither private nor public employers may prevent employees from decorating their offices for Christmas, playing Christmas music, or wearing clothing related to Christmas as long as these don’t harass or intimidate others; government entities may erect and maintain celebrations of the Christmas holiday, such as Christmas trees, creches, and the like.
One of only two copies of the Bible that was handwritten by Americans across the U.S. was sold on eBay for more than $15,000, reported Christian Post. Proceeds will go to a Bible translator. The other copy will be placed in a museum.
Superior Judge William Cohen of Vermont has ruled that Lisa Miller must turn over her daughter, Isabella, to her former lesbian partner, reported CitizenLink.com. Miller, a former lesbian who is now a Christian, conceived her daughter through artificial insemination while she was in a civil union with Jenkins. Jenkins sued for custody of Isabella. Miller admits she made a mistake in signing a custody agreement while in the relationship with Jenkins. But Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and legal counsel for Miller, said that would not stop him from appealing the decision to the Vermont Supreme Court. The courts in the past had ordered Isabella to spend time with Jenkins, and Miller complied until her daughter complained. “Every time that the visitation actually occurred, Isabella had violent reactions because Janet exposed her to the lesbian lifestyle,” said Staver. “[She] even tried to scare her by saying that she was going to be taken from Lisa.” Eventually Miller refused the court-ordered visitations. Staver asked, “How can a third party, a stranger, interfere with the parental rights of a biological parent when that parent is fit?”
OneNewsNow notes that the Salvation Army this year is experimenting in 30 cities with red kettles that are able to take debit and credit card giving. They come as fewer shoppers are carrying cash. Last year the new kettles had an 11 percent increase in Colorado Springs and Dallas.
New York lawmakers rejected a bill that would have made it the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, according to numerous sources. The measure failed by a larger than expected margin. Sen. Eric Adams had challenged lawmakers to set aside their religious beliefs and vote for the bill. “When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out,” said Adams. Sen Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister who led opposition to the bill replied to Adams’s statement, “You should carry your Bible all the time.” In New Jersey, gay supporters are trying to get a similar bill passed before Rep. Gov.-elect Chris Christie takes office in January. Christie said he would veto such a bill.
The leader of the global Anglican communion issued an unusually sharp and swift rebuke to church leaders this week over the election of Mary D. Glasspool, a lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, said a story in the Los Angeles Times. Amid pressure from overseas Anglicans, Episcopal leaders had agreed in 2006 not to elect anymore homosexuals as bishops. But they reversed that moratorium at their national convention in Anaheim in July.
The New York Times reported that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from a Christian student group that had been denied recognition by a public law school in California for excluding homosexuals and nonbelievers. The group, the Christian Legal Society, says it welcomes all students to participate in its activities but does not allow students to become voting members or assume leadership positions unless they affirm what the group calls orthodox Christian beliefs and disavow “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle.”
The Obama administration has had to concede recently that the U.S. confronts a rising threat from homegrown extremism of Muslims, reports the Los Angeles Times. Anti-terrorism officials and experts see signs of accelerated radicalization among American Muslims, driven by a wave of English-language online propaganda and reflected in aspiring fighters’ trips to hot spots such as Pakistan and Somalia. Recent U.S. cases point to 2009 as being the most dangerous year domestically since 2001. There have been major arrests of Americans accused of plotting with Al Qaeda and its allies, extremists joining foreign networks of terrorists, and the Fort Hood, Tex., massacre.
A judge in California has accused parents of being bigots for opposing “gay” lessons for their grade school children, curriculum that is pro-homosexual, reports WorldNetDaily. Judge Frank Roesch denied a motion to allow parents to have their children excused from the lessons. The Pacific Justice Institute is defending the parents’ rights, noting also that the school district has grilled parents inappropriately, asking numerous questions about church attendance, sermons they might have heard against homosexuality, and whether the Bible had been used to defend racism and oppression. PJI President Brad Dacus said, “If LGBT advocates really want to stop name-calling and bullying, they should start with themselves.”
In South Korea, abortion foes are gaining ground, as a leading obstetrician who had for two decades aborted as many babies as he delivered changed his mind about abortion, said a story in the Los Angeles Times. “Over time, I became emotionless,” said Dr. Shim Sang-duk. “I came to see the results of my work as just a chunk of blood. During the operation, I felt the same as though I was treating scars or curing diseases.” The doctor came to despise himself despite the money he was getting. Two months ago he found an activist group of physicians who refuse to perform abortions and advocate prosecution for those doctors who do so. Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim says he has received death threats for deciding to stop performing them.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that Republicans will make strong inroads next year in the elections, said a story in newsmax.com. “I think there’s a backlash building against the entire secular, socialist wing of the Democratic Party,” noted Gingrich. “Whether it’s Speaker Pelosi of Majority Leader Reid or President Obama, all of them are arousing the American people to defend America against very left-wing, radical ideas.” Gingrich said that Republicans must be the alternative party, not just the opposition party, meaning that they must provide better solutions for jobs, energy, health, and defending the country. They must also contest every seat at every level—from school boards, to city councils, to state legislatures, to Congress.
Harding University in Arkansas is a Christian college that now says students are forbidden to play the lottery. Students caught will be dealt with. “It is important to me that all people, both here and away from campus, know that Harding University stands firmly against gambling,” stated President David Burks.
While evangelical and Catholic leaders have been working tirelessly in recent weeks to oppose any federal funding of abortion in any health care bill, leaders of the nation’s mainline denominations have been doing just the opposite, even going so far as to call abortion a “God-given right,” according to BP News. The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church all are members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a pro-abortion rights group. Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, said that most members of mainline denominations know little if anything about support of such groups. “At least 90 percent have no idea what happens with the money after it leaves the local church.”
There are new reports of a new wave of arrests of Christians in Eritrea in eastern Africa, reports Mission Network News. Some 90 Christians from various localities were believed to have been arrested last month. There are now more than 3,000 Christians in detention in Eritrea, none of them being charged with anything or having a trial. None has been allowed a lawyer to represent him or her. They are being held in storage containers in the desert.
OneNewsNow reports that an internationally recognized expert on stem cells and cloning says that President Obama’s decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem-cell research is wasting lives and taxpayer dollars when all resources should be going toward adult stem cells. Last Wednesday, the Obama administration approved 13 new human embryonic stem-cell lines for taxpayer-funded experiments. During the Bush administration, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research was limited to cell lines that were already in existence. Dr. David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences with the Family Research Council, said that by approving funding for new lines, the Obama administration continues to push political ideology, not science. “Embryonic stem cells have not helped any human being,” said Prentice, who reports that nearly 80 diseases or injuries have been treated successfully with adult stem cells.
