NOW, THE NEWS:
ROE WAS WRITTEN TO BE OVERTURNED. AND THAT DAY HAS ARRIVED.
from: LiveAction News
(30 Nov.) With the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the U.S. Supreme Court, our Nation faces the possible upending of the landmark decision Roe v. Wade – the case that has dictated America's abortion laws for over 48 years. However, the justices in the majority made it clear that its temporary, provisional holding in Roe was never meant to be the final say on abortion.
As the Court later explained in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 challenge to Roe, its decision was merely the Court's best attempt to encourage "the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division" based on the facts available in 1973.
Consider the sequence of events that led to the Court's final decision in Roe: The first draft of the Court's opinion did not establish abortion rights; the second draft did but Justice Blackmun, Roe's author, held that those rights only exist in the first trimester even though he recognized that standard as "arbitrary" and "equally arbitrary" to viability, which is when a fetus can first survive outside of his or her mother; but then, after Justice Powell suggested that viability would be more "generally accepted," the final opinion crafted the Court's viability standard in holding that women have a constitutional right to abortion up until fetal viability.
Further, consider the Roe Court's discussion of outstanding questions and issues that needed to be resolved. First, the Court claimed that it could not permit states to ban abortion at fertilization since justices could not determine "when life begins . . . at [that] point in the development of man's knowledge"; this left open the possibility that if man's knowledge developed to prove that a human's life begins at fertilization (‘the fertilization view'), then the Court could be confident that abortion entails the taking of a human's life and could hold that states have the Tenth Amendment right and Fourteenth Amendment duty to protect the preborn from abortion throughout pregnancy.
Second, the Court found that "the law ha[d] been reluctant to endorse any theory that life . . . begins before live birth or to accord legal rights to the unborn"; this left open the possibility that if states were to protect preborn humans in other legal contexts, then the Court could be confident that abortion bans are genuine protections of preborn humans instead of attempts to control women.
The Casey Court enshrined this logic in its standard for overturning precedents: "In constitutional adjudication as elsewhere in life, changed circumstances may impose new obligations, and the thoughtful part of the Nation could accept each decision to overrule a prior case as a response to the Court's constitutional duty." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: This article, written by a lawyer, illustrates not only the temporary nature of the legal cases that have brought us to this current genocidal practice of abortion right up to the time of birth, but also the foolish and flimsy logic that the majority of those judges exercised by bowing to social pressure to conform to society's desire to indulge the passions without thinking of the consequences. The "what about" excuses of rape, incest, deformity, or disease account for only a small fraction of all abortions: it's like saying that if a husband is speeding, rushing to the hospital his wife who's about to give birth, this allows anyone to break the speed limit at any time. And they do: just try driving on a highway at the posted speed limit and you'll see virtually all the traffic passing you!
EUTHANASIA TAKES A BACKWARD STEP IN PORTUGAL AND COLOMBIA
from: BioEdge.org
(4 Dec.) The president of Portugal has refused to sign a bill legalising euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticised its wording as imprecise.
This is the second time this year that Rebelo de Sousa, a former law professor, has rejected a euthanasia bill. He sent the first version to Portugal's Constitutional Court for an assessment in February. While the original bill specified a "fatal disease" as a pre-requisite for "assisted dying," the new version uses the words "incurable" or "serious."
However, no longer requiring patients to be terminally ill means, he says, "a considerable change of weighing the values of life and free self-determination in the context of Portuguese society." This effectively shelves the euthanasia bill until a new parliament and government are chosen early next year.
The bewildering status of euthanasia in Colombia remains bewildering after a vote in the country's House of Representatives. A bill sponsored by euthanasia campaigner Congressman Juan Fernando Reyes Kuri failed again last month, with 65 votes in favour and 78 against.
What makes Colombia's battle over euthanasia different is that the Constitutional Court ruled that it was legal as long ago as 1997. However, it directed the national legislature to draft a law permitting it. In the ensuring 24 years, there is still no law. Up until now, Colombia's lawmakers have been resolutely against euthanasia.
Expressing the sentiments of many, Congressman Buenaventura Le?n declared in the debate before the vote: "The practice of euthanasia constitutes a serious offense against the dignity of the person and encourages the corrosion of fundamental values in a social order. It would be very dangerous for the most fragile. The Law is made to protect life." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: Hurrah for Portugal and Columbia! Congressman Buenaventura Le?n hit the nail on the head: the purpose of laws is to protect life, not to end it. Every adult has a responsibility to create the next generation and protect the past generations. To violate this by means of euthanasia, abortion, fornication, or homosexual acts is the same as taking a life, as in today's p.s. below.
KAZAKHSTAN: TIGHTER EVENT RESTRICTIONS BACK IN PARLIAMENT'S LOWER HOUSE
from: Forum 18 News Service
(Dec.) On 2 December, the upper house of Kazakhstan's Parliament, the Senate, approved in revised form amendments to the Religion Law to make holding religious events away from state-registered places of worship more difficult. The Senate narrowed the type of events that would need to undergo the burdensome process of seeking special official permission in advance. The amendments include a new definition of religious materials subject to prior compulsory state censorship, but the Senate removed a provision that would have widened the scope to include links to religious material. The amendments were then sent back to the lower house, the Majilis.
The amendments do not change the current situation of religious communities without state registration having no permission to exist. All exercise of freedom of religion or belief by them remains illegal. Any state-registered religious community which wants to hold a pilgrimage or other event away from their own place of worship would have to have advance state permission for such an event, if these amendments are adopted by Parliament and signed by President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev.
State-registered religious communities would be required to:
- seek permission for such events from local administrations at least 10 working days in advance;
- and provide precise and exhaustive detail about the proposed event, some of which the religious community will find difficult to provide in advance. The precise details required include the date, start and end time, how people will get there, whether loudspeakers will be used, and how many vehicles will be used as well as their travel route.
Local officials are given many ways to arbitrarily refuse such requests. It appears that only one-off special events registered religious communities want to hold away from their normal places of worship would now require official permission in advance. The earlier version of the amendments would have required official permission for any meeting, including for meetings for worship in a rented venue. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: Constitutions and their amendments, like the U.S. First Amendment, can be arbitrarily circumvented by government officials invoking "temporary Covid restrictions," zoning laws, neighborhood resistance, topographical issues, traffic flow, etc., whose real goal is to restrict the free exercise of religion. This occurs not only in the former USSR and its satellites, but also right here in the U.S. as I have personally experienced. Church attendance remains down by one-third nationwide, even though Covid lockdowns were lifted months ago.
CDC SAYS 1 IN 44 KIDS HAVE AUTISM
from: Disability Scoop
(2 Dec.) Autism rates are increasing yet again, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which finds for the first time that more than 2% of American children have the developmental disability.
The CDC said Thursday that 1 in 44 children, or 2.3%, are on the autism spectrum. The data comes from a report published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that looked at data from 2018 on 8-year-old children in 11 communities across the country. By comparison, a similar report released in March 2020 that was based on data from 2016 found that 1 in 54 children had autism. In 2000, the rate was 1 in 150.
"We can’t say for sure what is behind the increase in prevalence," said Matt Maenner, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities who led the new study. "But it may be due to the way children are identified, diagnosed and served in their communities, as well as continued reductions in racial or socioeconomic disparities."
Autism prevalence varied significantly across the communities studied, researchers said. At the low end, 1 in 60 children in Missouri – or 1.7% – were on the spectrum in the latest study. Meanwhile, the highest rate was seen in California were 1 in 26 children, or 3.9%, qualified for a diagnosis. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: These new statistics would seem to show that there is something in the environment or in society that is causing this increase in autism. Is it in the drinking water, the air, what's on TV, or the way parents are raising their children? What it is remains to be discovered.
(2 Dec.) The AUCCRO (All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations) has released a statement on inexpediency of ratification of the Istanbul Convention on the official website of the Council. Spiritual leaders have noted that Ukraine has the opportunity to go its own way and develop its own legislation, which may be better than the Istanbul Convention.
The AUCCRO opposed introduction by the Istanbul Convention of the concept of “gender” as an ideological concept of human self-identification as it ignores the existence of biological sexes. Instead of ratifying the Istanbul Convention, the AUCCRO proposes to develop the national legislation of Ukraine on countering domestic violence and violence against women, as other European countries do. The document calls on the President of Ukraine, government representatives and human rights organizations to engage in a dialogue on joint actions, including with the participation of the religious community, in the field of preventing and countering domestic violence in Ukraine.
Six threats of the Istanbul Convention, specified by religious leaders:
1. Believers of different faiths are concerned about the announced intention by the Office of the President of Ukraine to submit to parliament a draft law on ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (known as the Istanbul Convention). We are concerned about the ideological bias and certain provisions of the Istanbul Convention, which convince us that it is inappropriate to ratify this particular international document.
2. The Istanbul Convention introduces the concept of “gender” as an ideological concept of human self-identification (Article 3). We cannot agree with this, because ignoring the fact that there are biological sexes that characterize a woman or a man, and the associated obligation to teach children non-stereotypical gender roles (Article 14 of the Convention) threatens to distort the younger generation's sexual identity, popularize same-sex sexual relations and spread cases of gender dysphoria among children and young people.
3. Our concern about the introduction of a gender ideology through the Istanbul Convention is reinforced by evidence of violence committed against girls and women by men who have declared a change in their “gender” and received the right to use women's washrooms, changing rooms, showers. As an example, in 2021 a high-profile incident occurred in Virginia, USA, when... [read more...]
COMMENTARY: It is remarkable (and strange) that a Muslim country like Turkey would host such a convention that proposes the erasure of the distinction between men and women. To assert that gender is fluid and people can assign to themselves any gender or identification they choose contradicts basic Christian as well as Muslim doctrines.
A DOCTOR WANTED BABY J ABORTED. HE'S NOW 6 MONTHS OLD, AND THRIVING.
from: Daily Signal
(30 Nov.) The eyes of the world are on the Supreme Court as the justices convene Wednesday to hear oral arguments in a potentially landmark abortion case.
This is a critical moment for the pro-life movement, which has fought for decades to secure any legal protections for unborn babies. The decision in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, could allow for more extensive protections for the unborn to go into effect without interference by federal courts.
This week also marks another significant event – one that will garner no media attention but is nonetheless meaningful. One little boy, Baby J, is turning 6 months old.
I had the privilege to write about Baby J and his mom back in March. His mother had just received a distressing prenatal diagnosis for her baby, and her doctor was putting enormous pressure on her to terminate the pregnancy. The doctor even went so far as to warn her how expensive it would to care for a sick or disabled baby in the neonatal intensive care unit.
This news would be a traumatic experience for any woman, but it was made even more so by the callous treatment of a doctor who saw abortion as the best, easiest, and quickest answer to a complicated problem.
Fortunately, Baby J's mom had the courage to fight for her son. With the help of a pro-life doctor, she was able to begin a treatment plan that got to the bottom of her baby's issues, ensured that he had the proper care, and ultimately resulted in the birth of a little boy who, at 6 months, has no significant health issues and is a joy to his family – sleepless nights notwithstanding. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: This article illustrates how the "pro-choice" (pro-abortion) movement is not really about freedom and choice, it is an ideology, a hedonistic worldview, that is being pushed even by medical doctors whose Hippocratic Oath pledged them to preserve life, not to destroy it. It is also a violation of the Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you: if the pro-abortion folks would practice on themselves what they preach for others, we wouldn't be having this foolish debate.
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
The idea of holiness or sanctification (the same word in Greek) is being set apart, consecrated to God. In Romans 12:1-2 we read "Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
We see this same idea in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God." Being sanctified is something that all who call themselves Christians should practice. We tend to emphasize sexual sins, but we ignore the others such as thievery (taking home those office supplies from work), greed, covetousness, cheating in business, and excessive drinking. All these violate the doctrine of holy living.
The Apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthians (6:14-18) describes this idea of being set apart, holy "Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' Therefore, 'Come out from among them, and be separate,' says the Lord, 'Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty.'"
And St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians (4:30-32 through 5:1-5) repeats this call to sanctification "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, yelling, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance. But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate; but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God."
But some (many?) who call themselves Christians confuse holiness for superficial piety of attending church and other religious observances, as in Hosea 6:1-4 "Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; He has injured us, and He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us. On the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him. Let us acknowledge the Lord. Let us press on to know the Lord. As surely as the sun rises, the Lord will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth. Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early." Let us truly be set apart, holy!
Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. Family values: "He who does not engage in propagation of the race is as though he had shed blood." - the Talmud
