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WEEKLY BULLETIN for March 15, 2009

The Times and the Scriptures

A Christian citizenship curriculum for developing
people with an understanding of the times,
to know what America ought to do
(cf. First Chronicles 12:32)

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Obama Imposes Embryonic Experimentation

Taxpayers Must Fund “Research of the Past”

     Taking tax funding away from ethical adult stem cell research, which works, and giving it to life-killing embryonic stem cell research, which does not, President Obama fulfilled one of his “campaign promises,” which pro-lifers called a “campaign threat,” by signing his expected executive order last week.  Most news media uncritically reported his claim that the action was a triumph for “science over ideology.”  Opponents said it was precisely the opposite.

     The President promised that the reversal of government policy would lead to treatments and cures for Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, and spinal cord injuries.  Family Research Council President Tony Perkins noted the irony that adult stem cells already have successfully treated all four of those ailments, while embryonic cells have a 100% failure rate.  Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life called embryonic stem cell experimentation “the research of the past” and said adult stem cell research has generated 78 cures and treatments with 1200 more human clinical trials underway.  None of these experiments have caused harm.

     By contrast, embryonic stem cells are known to cause cancer in animal recipients, and drug companies are shying away from investing in them, leaving the American taxpayer as the only remaining source of funding.  The one human patient who received embryonic stem cell therapy, an Israeli boy, has now developed brain tumors according to a new medical journal report.

     Former President Bill Clinton illustrated the widespread ignorance on this issue during a CNN interview designed to support President Obama’s new policy.  He said, “It’s a pro-life decision to use an embryo that’s frozen and never going to be fertilized for embryonic stem cell research.”  Of course, Mr. Clinton was confusing an embryo with an egg.  An embryo has already been fertilized and is genetically a fully unique human individual.  When these frozen embryos are allowed to grow, they become children, popularly known as “snowflake babies,” some of whom appeared at a press conference last week with several pro-life members of Congress.

      For discussion:  Can you think of any Obama campaign promises other than this one that you would rather have seen him keep?  Is it becoming harder to discern the motivation behind the political insistence on promoting embryonic stem cell research, and the media’s complicity in promoting that agenda?  Is it hard to imagine this agenda actually costing people (not just the unborn!) their lives?  Discuss these Psalms that portray God as the source and the sustainer of life:  Ps. 34:11-14 (which also connects life with telling the truth!), Ps. 36:9, Ps. 66:9.  Notice how I Tim. 6:20, which is often cited as a warning against godless evolutionism, is also appropriate in the “good and bad science” debates about stem cells.

Christian Activism Turns Back Proposed Church-Control Law

     Protestants and Catholics in the liberal state of Connecticut came together energetically and made short work of a proposed state law that would have dictated to Catholic churches how their finances would be regulated.  State Sen. Andrew McDonald withdrew his bill in the face of angry demonstrators outside the capitol and colleagues who told him their phones were “burning up” with protests.

     The bill was supposedly a reaction to an incident in one Catholic parish where a priest allegedly embezzled the church’s money.  The law would have dictated that priests must oversee only “matters pertaining exclusively to religious tenets,” leaving finances under the power of democratically elected laymen.  Catholic leaders responded that the state should simply prosecute the individual embezzler and let the church decide how to handle its money.  Protestant churches, seeing the danger of the precedent the new law could set, joined vociferously in the opposition.     

      For discussion:  Review Backgrounder #12, The Separation of Church and State, noticing the irony that the “separation” metaphor in its true sense grew out of a Connecticut church situation 207 years ago!    

T&S WEEKLY BULLETIN, March 15, 2009, Page 2

County Leaders Rescind Planned Parenthood Funds

     The Board of County Supervisors in Orange County, CA, voted unanimously last week to take back the $292,000 they had earlier approved for Planned Parenthood clinics.  The money had been slipped into the budget by county staff, they said, without the recipient of the money being explicitly identified.  After citizens tracked down the details, the board made the unusual reversal despite PP’s promise that the money wouldn’t be used directly for abortions.

     Pro-life leaders say that similar tactics are used in other communities also, and that concerned citizens should take the trouble to read their budget documents and ask probing questions when they see categories with generalized titles.  It’s especially helpful, they say, if the budget committee has an alert pro-life member in the first place.

     The success of Live Action Films and its president Lila Rose (see 1-4-09 Weekly Bulletin) as Planned Parenthood watchdogs has inspired others to take a more aggressive look at the questionable activities of PP and other abortion providers.  For example, a pregnant mother has gone to authorities in Kansas after an apparently successful “sting” operation on late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller who was already under investigation on 19 criminal charges.  In this case, the mother received a sonogram at Tiller’s clinic which showed her baby was beyond the legal age for an abortion, but she says the sonogram technician discarded the evidence, filled out a bogus form with a lesser gestational age, and scheduled the requested abortion.

      For discussion:  Review Backgrounder #29, Realities of “Planned Parenthood.”   What do you think about the ethics of using deception in “sting” operations to get evidence against abortion clinics?  Discuss the opportunity Christians have to occupy places of responsibility in city or county governments, such as on budget committees.  Notice the Jewish equivalent of “sitting in the gates,” as in Prov. 31:23.

Sebelius Appointment Continues to Dismay Pro-Life Community

     Many of President Obama’s cabinet nominations have raised unusually passionate protest from the public, but none have matched the continuing outrage being leveled at the choice of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services.  Now the governor’s own archbishop has voiced his opposition to the nomination and to the administration’s portrayal of her as a pro-life Catholic.  Last year the cleric went so far as to publicly ask Sebelius to refrain from taking communion in hopes that the move would motivate her “to reconsider her support for what is an intrinsic evil—the destruction of human life,” and to “protect others from being misled” by her example.

     Sebelius has deliberately subverted attempts to enforce her state’s legal abortion restrictions, making Kansas a favorite destination for out-of-state mothers seeking late-term abortions, and has specifically protected infamous abortionist George Tiller (see article above) from prosecution

     Meanwhile, MSNBC host Chris Matthews used his broadcast on March 3 to call pro-lifers “terrorists” for their opposition to the Sebelius nomination.

      For discussion:  After all the campaign talk of moderation, unity, and consensus-building, doesn’t it seem like there must be potential nominees for these cabinet positions that would be less controversial (and more ethically respectable in their own finances)?  Notice how Moses was advised to choose quality people to assist him in his role as administrator, Ex. 18:21.  Surely people exist who fit those qualifications!

      Website to check:  A pro-life organization has prepared a website on Gov. Sebelius’ qualifications for office at www.operationrescue.org.   Click on “Not Fit to Serve” Fact Sheet.

“STIMULUS PACKAGE” HIDES ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SUBSIDIES

     Americans who favor consistent application of immigration laws are finding subsidies for illegal immigrants hidden in the so-called stimulus bill and in the recently-passed omnibus spending bill.

USA Today reported that illegal immigrants could get as many as 300,000 construction jobs under the rapidly-passed stimulus which deliberately did not require employers to verify workers’ immigration status.  The Center for Immigration Studies says a million illegal immigrant families, assisted by the race-based La Raza organization, had acquired mortgages before the housing bubble burst, and very little prevents them from partaking of the mortgage bailout.  La Raza itself, which advocates for illegal immigration, received an additional $1 million earmark in the new omnibus spending bill.

      For discussion:  Review Backgrounder #31, Immigration:  The Stranger Within Your Gates.   

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