Year 2005 Promises to be busy as politicians set out to redefine the world in which we live, i.e., the definition of marriage,family. You can help by keeping in touch with the politician that represents you in the hallowed halls of government.

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2/3's of Canadians support legal protection for the unborn.
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Mission Statement
How did our NS Member of Parliament vote in the last parliament ?
Did he or she vote to define Marriage as one man and one woman?
Did they support pro-life legislation when presented?
Find out More by going to www.clcns.com/mpvotes (Click Here)

Index of News Items 

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Press Release: National Priests' Group: Court Rulings Should Follow Science

National Desk

Contact: Jerry Horn of Priests for Life, 540-220-0095

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /Christian Wire Service/ --  Priests for Life, a national anti-abortion organization, praised the decision of a Cook County judge who ruled that a frozen embryo destroyed in a Chicago fertility clinic was a human being whose parents are entitled to file a wrongful-death lawsuit. Judge Jeffrey Lawrence II said "a pre-embryo is a 'human being'... whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb."

"Judge Lawrence understands what science has taught for a long time," said Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "Rulings of courts should be based on these simple scientific facts. Otherwise, public policy will be subject to the whims of those who want to exploit human beings by defining them as less than human."

Priests for Life is an Association of the Faithful recognized under the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, and is a 501(c)3 tax- exempt organization. Its mission is to assist the Church and all people of good will to protect human life from abortion and euthanasia.

For more information about Priests for Life, visit http://www.priestsforlife.org

The preceding was forwarded to you by the Christian Communication Network.

You can always find the latest press releases at www.ChristianWireService.com

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Toronto Researchers Discover “Jack-Pot” of Stem Cells in Umbilical Cord

TORONTO, February 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Umbilical cords continue to surprise researchers as an abundant source of stem cells. Today’s Toronto Star reports that a group of scientists at the University of Toronto have discovered what they are calling the ‘jack-pot’ of stem cells in a mass of jelly found inside the umbilical cord...

The full text of the story is available at:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05020904.html

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Press Release: Dolly the Sheep Cloner Gets License to Clone Humans

Operation Rescue warns that human cloning is dangerous and unethical

To: National Desk

Contact: Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue , 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue Outreach Coordinator, 316-516-3034

WICHITA, Ks., Feb. 8 / Christian Wire Service / -- The man who cloned Dolly the Sheep has been granted a license today by the British government to begin cloning human embryos for research. Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly at the Roslin Institute in Scotland in 1996, has been given approval to begin the "therapeutic" cloning of human embryos for experimentation investigating faulty nerve cells that cause motor neuron disease. "Therapeutic" cloning is so called because the human embryos created are not allowed to mature. They are killed when their cells and/or organs are harvested for research.

"The only difference between therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning is that in the first method, the baby is destroyed at an early stage of development, while in the latter method, the baby is implanted in the womb in an attempt to bring a child to term," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger, who authored a booklet on the ethics of such biotechnological developments. "There is no difference in technique. These 'therapeutic' experiments create human beings for the sole purpose of killing them. It is hard to image an act more unethical and devaluing to human life."

"It should also be noted that Dolly the Sheep died prematurely from complications in the cloning process that have not been fully resolved," said Sullenger. "There should be concern that the tissue harvested from cloned human embryos may present more dangers than many are willing to admit."

Operation Rescue was one of the first pro-life groups in the United States to publicly oppose human embryonic experimentation such as cloning and stem cell research.

"It is completely unethical to engage in these life-destructive human experiments," said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, who led some of the first protests against human embryonic experimentation in the United States. "Even if some cure using human embryonic tissue is found, the price paid in loss of human life makes this kind of experimentation totally unacceptable. We trust that the world's scientists are bright enough to find another way to deal with the world's ill than to kill innocent children at their earliest stages of development in a dubious and uncertain quest for knowledge."

Background: Bioethics in an Age of Emerging Biotechnology by Cheryl Sullenger, available online at: http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/000082.shtml

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Call for BOYCOTT - Loblaws/Superstore, Canadian Tire

BOYCOTT: Please visit the managers of Loblaws/Superstore and Canadian Tire and tell them you will BOYCOTT them if they don't remove their sponsorship from this TV series on gay living. Shows like this are breaking down the moral fabric and foundations of every industrial country.  Our "greatest of all" civilization will self-destruct if we glorify, legalize and encourage sodomy, and in the meantime destroy the institution of family life - one man and one woman committed for life and producing loved offspring.

IHS and love, Diana Read-Miedema, Truro, NS. www.thirdwatchministries.org

This was posted on National Post web site:

Producer is hoping TV show will tip balance - "My fabulous gay wedding"
By Siri Agrell, National Post

February 2, 2005

A Canadian film producer is hoping a new documentary series on gay and lesbian weddings will help tip the balance of public acceptance around the issue.

"I don't expect politicians to change people's minds, I don't expect Supreme Court judges to change people's minds," said David Paperny, whose company, Paperny Films, has produced My Fabulous Gay Wedding , a series of six reality-style episodes.

"I think the way to do it is through programs like this where we present real gay and lesbian couples to other Canadians. We're not dolling these people up and presenting them as something they're not. We're saying, 'This is who these people are. What would you be afraid of?' "

The hour-long episodes will start airing in Canada in April and have already attracted big sponsors, including Loblaws, Canadian Tire and Moet champagne, as well as an American broadcaster: MTV's new gay channel, Logo.

Each show follows a gay or lesbian couple through the two weeks leading up to a dream wedding, planned by host Scott Thompson (of Kids in the Hall fame) and his "colourful" group of assistants.

Among the show subjects is an Anglican minister whose partner is an HIV francophone. The pair travels to the partner's small Quebec hometown to seek his 80-year-old parents' blessing to wed.

In another episode, two lesbians, who had been married to men, must explain to their children that they are entering a same-sex union.

"For some of these people, their wedding is something they've been hoping to do for years and now, for the first time in history, they're allowed to do it," Mr. Paperny said. " It gives their life and their love
and their sexual orientation credibility, validity in the larger society that they're part of. It's a great celebration of their love, their gayness, their membership in a tolerant society."

Mr. Paperny does not believe the majority of Canadians are opposed to redefining the nature of marriage and said the Conservative Party's battle against Bill C-38 is really about power struggles within a minority government.

"I think as Canadians we should be very proud of ourselves that we are open enough, tolerant enough, generous enough, loving enough to let our fellow Canadians go through this in a public way where they don't feel persecuted."

Mr. Paperny has produced a CBC show called The AIDS Diaries of Dr. Peter, in which an HIV-positive physician described his illness, and Kink, a Showcase documentary about sexual fetishes.

My Fabulous Gay Wedding host Scott Thompson said he was drawn to the show because it focuses on relationships that are impervious to political debate.

On the first day of filming for the premiere episode, a cape-wearing Mr. Thompson broke into a gay couple's house, jumped into bed with them, popped a bottle of champagne and began discussing who would be the bride and who would be the groom.

"I do it with litmus paper," Mr. Thompson joked. "They pee in a glass, I add a tablet and shake it, and if it turns blue, they're the groom; pink, they're the bride."

Both he and Mr. Paperny agree the controversy over same-sex legislation will increase the show's ratings and they have already signed on for another seven-episode season with Global Television.

"Even if it's crap, they're going to watch it," Mr. Thompson said. "Gay marriage is giving me work."

Copyright C 2005 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp. All rights reserved.

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Lifeissues.net Newsletter 313

Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)

Pregnant Plus Alcohol Equals Nerve Damage. A recent study out of Chile, published in the March issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, brings more information about drinking during pregnancy. They report that infants born to women who drink heavily during pregnancy may experience damage to the nerves in their arms and legs. This is in addition to the well-known mental retardation and other birth defects. Heavy drinking was defined as four beers or equivalent a day. This is the first study to show that maternal alcohol consumption may cause peripheral nerve damage in their infants.

Dutch Abortions Drop? New figures show that the number of abortions in the Netherlands has dropped for the first time in a decade. Such figures are highly questionable, however, as the Dutch define abortion in their reports different than most other nations. "Menstrual extraction", which is a surgical removal of the developing embryo, is not included among their abortion statistics. In almost all other nations it is, as it properly should be, included among "induced abortions."

New Permissive Law in South Africa goes against its citizens. In August, the South African parliament passed a bill making abortion much more permissive. It allowed registered nurses to perform abortions. It authorized abortion in a wider range of health care facilities. The law passed with little opposition in parliament, even though public polls show overwhelming opposition in this country to permissive abortion.

God Bless and have a nice weekend.
Jerry Novotny, OMI

p.s. It has been more than "six weeks" since an earthquake-induced tsunami devastated coastal communities in Southeast Asia. We ask for continued prayer support for the victims living in those areas. Thank you.

"The struggle against hunger and also against thirst for that matter goes well beyond dealing with emergencies: It has to address a whole series of complex factors such as, for example, the need to invest in the human capital of local populations (I am thinking of education and health issues), to equip them with appropriate technology and to guarantee equity in international commerce."  (Card. Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State.)

Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #213
February 6, 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Test-tube babies pass 100,000 mark: report
2. Japanese with AIDS at record high
3. New Bone Marrow Stem Cell has all the Flexibility of Embryonic Cells
4. Animal-Human Hybrids: Is there a limit to how far bio-scientists are willing to go?
5. Defend unborn's rights, Pope tells Catholic lawyers
6. Brazil to Focus on Adult Cells for Cardiac Patients
7. UN Women's Committee Pressuring Samoa to Legalize Abortion, Drop Fertility Rates
8. 170 Ontario Laws to be rewritten by Liberals to redefine spouse to include gays
9. Ron Boswell: Abortion's elusive truths
10. Stem cell issue stirs both sides
11. Project: Online vote for Terri.
12. Church Groups Turn to Sonogram to Turn Women From Abortions

"NEW" ARTICLES POSTED RECENTLY at http://www.lifeissues.net

– Irving News Comments: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=irvi
– Barbara Kralis: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kra
– Ronald Rolheiser: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=ron
– A.I.R.V.S.C.: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=air
– Theresa Burke: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=bur
– Jeff J. Koloze: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kol
– Germain Kopaczynski: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=kop

New Website: The Gabriel Project http://www.gabrielproject.com/. The Gabriel project not only seeks to save babies, but also to save women from years (and sometimes eternal) spiritual darkness and death. It is a parish-based, "hands-on" help program that helps assure pregnant women that they will be helped.

ITEM #1. Test-tube babies pass 100,000 mark: report

The government of the Philippines has refused to endorse condom use as a means of family planning, the AsiaNews service reports.

The Philippines, with a population of 84 million people, has a population growth rate of 2.3 percent, one of the highest in the world. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said last year that she intends to bring the rate down to 1.9 percent, but has refused to endorse artificial contraceptives. Her government has instead opted for a policy "of natural family development."

Although acknowledging that condoms may prevent the spread of AIDS, government health minister Manuel Dayrit said that the government's population control program was separate from its AIDS prevention program.

View full text at The Japan Times:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050128a7.htm

ITEM #2. Japanese with AIDS at record high

A record number of Japanese contracted HIV and developed AIDS last year, a government panel said as it urged citizens to take greater precautions to avoid infection.

In 2004, 748 Japanese became infected with HIV and 366 developed AIDS, according to a report released Wednesday from the committee that the health ministry appointed to monitor infection rates.

A year earlier, 640 people contracted HIV and 336 developed AIDS. Japan has a population of around 127 million.

Read article at The Japan Times:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050128a8.htm

ITEM #3. New Bone Marrow Stem Cell has all the Flexibility of Embryonic Cells

(LifeSiteNews.com) - A type of adult stem cell has been isolated from bone marrow that shows all the characteristics of human embryonic stem cells. A team of researchers at Boston's Tufts University have found cells that come from adult donors that can change into many, if not all of the different types of tissue in the human body. It was previously thought that only embryonic cells could produce this.

The cells were tested on rats with heart damage and some changed into heart muscle tissue to directly repair damage, and others went to form new blood vessels. Treated rats had more than twice the number of blood vessels and less scar tissue than those of the control group.

Tufts cardiologist Dr. Douglas W. Losordo said, "I think embryonic stem cells are going to fade in the rearview mirror of adult stem cells." He said that bone marrow "is like a repair kit. Nature provided us with these tools to repair organ damage."

Scientists have long sought approval for using embryo-derived stem cells since, they say, such cells have the potential to be used for an almost limitless number of applications. Some researchers, however, have admitted that embryo stem cells, while theoretically able to change into almost any kind of tissue, are extremely hard to control and are unlikely ever to have any practical therapeutic application because of the medical dangers they pose to patients. However, embryonic stem cell research is seen to be a potentially far more lucrative source of financial profit for researchers and drug companies.

Many reports have come out recently showing the nearly universal flexibility of certain types of adult stem cells. These also avoid any ethical problems and do not pose medical dangers from immune system rejection. Stem cells derived from bone marrow are showing more and more promise and do not have the tendency, as do embryo stem cells, of developing into tumors.

Dr. Losordo added that the newly discovered bone marrow cells are easy to grow and maintain in the lab. "We've got freezers full of these things now," he said.

ITEM #4. Animal-Human Hybrids: Is there a limit to how far bio-scientists are willing to go?

BIOTECHNOLOGY is becoming dangerously close to raging out of control. Scientists are engaging in ever increasingly macabre experiments that threaten to mutate nature and the human condition at the molecular level. Worse, many scientists have made it clear that society has no right to apply the brakes.

According to this view, scientists have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to conduct research. This means that only the most compelling state interest – such as preventing the release of a plague – justifies society placing any constraints on scientific inquiry. Moreover, only scientists have the right to judge whether a proposed area of scientific inquiry is moral. As for the rest of us, our job is to support research with our taxes, applaud when benefits are derived, and otherwise mind our own business. Indeed, many scientists literally believe that in science, virtually "anything goes."

The latest evidence of this phenomenon can be found in an article headlined "Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy," published in the current National Geographic News, which reports that scientists are creating creatures that are mostly animal but part human. Actually, this isn't really news. Such experiments have been going on for some time. Indeed, the primary reason that Ian Wilmut made Dolly, the first cloned sheep, was to learn how to use cloning to create a herd of genetically altered "transgenic" sheep bioengineered to possess a human gene. Their purpose was laudable. Wilmut intended to "pharm" the sheep, that is, obtain substances from ewes' milk that could be used in the creation of human medicine.

View full text at The Daily Standard:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/204bqkvl.asp

ITEM #5. Defend unborn's rights, Pope tells Catholic lawyers

In a rare personal message, the Pope has appealed to Australia's Catholic lawyers to defend the rights of the unborn and aged.

Conferring his blessing on the St Thomas More Society, the Catholic lawyers' association, the Pope John Paul II urged its members to defend the "inviolable dignity and rights of every human being – from conception until natural death".

The message came as the society marked its 60th anniversary at St Mary's Cathedral with a "Red Mass" to mark the start of the legal year. The mass was celebrated in the presence of three cardinals and before some of the state's most senior judges, barristers and solicitors.

The society, named for the lawyer and politician beheaded by Henry VIII in 1535 for refusing to accept the king's claim to be supreme head of the English church, has quietly lobbied for changes to the abortion laws.

The society has also opposed euthanasia and advised on the Catholic Church's formal protocol for dealing with sexual abuse claims. Most recently, it argued for the NSW Government to give legal protection to foetuses and is now urging Federal Parliament to hold the line on banning the use of embryos in stem-cell research.

View article at LifeNews.com:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Defend-unborns-rights-Pope-tells-Catholic-lawyers/2005/01/31/1107020329722.html?oneclick=true

ITEM #6. Brazil to Focus on Adult Cells for Cardiac Patients

(LifeSiteNews.com) - Likely in response to the large number of reports appearing about the successes into such research, the Brazilian government has announced it will fund one of the world's largest studies on stem cells and heart disease. Health Minster Humberto Costa said the study will involve 1200 cardiac patients at National Institute of Cardiology at Laranjeiras.

The Brazilian research will involve drawing the patients' own stem cells from bone marrow, cultivating them and re-inserting them to repair damaged heart tissue. The government is seeking an effective treatment for cardiac patients that can be reliable enough to be covered by the public health care system.

The use of embryonic stem cells has been found to be ineffective and dangerous for patients in therapies. The debate on the use of embryos has been ongoing in the Brazilian Congress for over a year. In January, the Brazilian Bishops issued a statement criticizing some scientists who "sell hopes to a whole list of seriously ill people, as if, once the law is approved, effective therapies will at once be able to take place."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Further Developments in Stem Cell Research to Treat Heart Attack and Fatal Neural Disorder http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05010605.html

ITEM #7. UN Women's Committee Pressuring Samoa to Legalize Abortion, Drop Fertility Rates

(LifeSiteNews.com) - At the United Nations, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is pushing the government of Samoa to legalize abortion and force more women out of their traditional family roles and into work and political life.

CEDAW issued a press release January 24, in which it complained that, despite having set up a Ministry for Women's Affairs, the role of married women in Samoan society was too traditional and mostly oriented towards family life. It said not enough women run for political office, and that abortion is still illegal despite attempts to bring the country up to date.

The report said, "The daily lives of the majority of Samoan women were regulated by customary law and practices that were based on female subordination and stereotypical gender roles." The committee experts said that despite the necessity of respect for Samoan cultural values, "it was important to struggle against the 'entrenched prerogatives of the patriarch.'"

Traditional Samoan life is oriented around the extended family. This has provided care and a social safety net for women, children and the elderly. Since the government adopted the CEDAW convention in 1992, however, the incursions into that traditional way of life by the push to get women out of the home and into the workforce have begun to destabilize Samoan society.

In order to meet the goal of westernizing and modernizing the Samoan way of life, the report says, "Samoa needed to target measures at both women and men to combat deeply entrenched stereotypical attitudes." The report praised the partial progress made towards CEDAW's restructuring goals. "Other changes in the economic, social and political lives of women in Samoa include increased participation in paid employment, an increasing number in management positions, decreased fertility and a reduction in family size."

The Samoan representatives said the country's ban on abortion "had not kept up with the real situation." Ms. Heather Latu said that babies are being abandoned at birth and that women are seeking "the services of backstreet abortionists." Latu said "last year, Samoa's Chief Justice had issued a directive that the Government consider the issue of abortion. The discussions on the issue were about to begin."

Read CEDAW press release: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/wom1481.doc.htm
For much more information on the history and dangers of CEDAW enter the word CEDAW in the LifeSiteNews.com search window. http://lifesitenews.com/

ITEM #8. 170 Ontario Laws to be rewritten by Liberals to redefine spouse to include gays

Ontario will change about 170 laws and regulations to redefine the word "spouse" to comply with the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling clearing the way for same-sex marriages, Attorney General Michael Bryant said Wednesday.

"It is clear that we have to update the definition of spouse that is in our current laws," Bryant said on the way to a cabinet meeting.

"We would have done it six months ago, except that the Supreme Court of Canada reference had an added question of whether or not the Ontario case law was basically correct."

ITEM #9. Ron Boswell: Abortion's elusive truths

"For over 30 years, abortion has been the great sleeper issue of Australian politics, although in that time abortion has touched the lives of millions of Australians... The current debate about the impact of abortion in our community is thus very welcome, and long overdue." (Vicki Dunne, Liberal MLA, ACT)

"I believe it is important that a mature and wide-ranging debate takes place." (Karin Sowada, former Democrats senator)

"Being pro-woman means being pro-life. Parliaments need to find creative life-affirming alternatives for women who often feel abortion is the only option." (Christine Campbell, ALP, Victoria)

MY intention in the abortion debate has been a genuine one to move to a position where the truth is known and able to be discussed. I have confidence in the truth.

It is strange that in this day and age that we do not have accurate statistics on a public-funded medical procedure undergone by tens of thousands of Australian women every year. This is especially strange when the decision to have the procedure is a fraught and traumatic one, with potentially far-reaching implications.

Our society does not have a clear picture of the support needed before and after the decision on abortion is made. This is one reason why the religious faiths – Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist – are united in calling for more information so they can carry out their pastoral role of serving women in difficult circumstances.

COMMENT: – a very constructive and thought provoking opinion piece. Note the lack of statistically significant studies available, even after 30 years, needed for careful planning for these critical issues. That's typical. No accurate information, no scrutiny. No truth. – Dr. Dianne Irving, Ph.D.

View entire text at The Australian:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12140053%255E7583,00.html
ITEM #10. Stem cell issue stirs both sides (Disabled add their voices to debate on cloning ban.)

COMMENT: Imagine the scientifically naive proclamation by the following physician during heated debates on human cloning legislation before the Missouri legislature this week:

Sen. Charles Wheeler, a Democrat and physician from Kansas City, repeatedly argued that because no sperm is used in SCNT, no person is created. "There has to be a sperm," he said. "It reminds me of that old ad: 'Where's the beef?' There's no beef in a somatic cell nuclear transfer."

Apparently this physician is not aware of the long known scientific fact that human beings can be reproduced both sexually (involving an oocyte and a sperm during fertilization) and asexually (e.g., as the immediate product of many different cloning procedures).

For example, almost all of us have seen human twins and triplets at one time or another (except, perhaps, this particular physician). With naturally occurring monozygotic human twinning that occurs naturally in utero, one of the twins begins to exist at fertilization (i.e., sexual reproductive process that does involve a sperm). However, the other twin (or triplet) begins to exist by blastomere separation or by blastocyst splitting. These are asexual reproductive processes that do not involve a sperm, but rather are naturally occurring forms of human cloning. Should we then conclude that because a sperm was not involved, one of a pair of human twins, or two of human triplets, ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS? Blastomere separation and blastocyst splitting are now commonly used in IVF centers to asexually reproduce twins and triplets which are then implanted into the woman's uterus, carried to term, and born. Would this physician not treat such asexually reproduced human beings because they were not reproduced using sperm?

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), like "twinning" is a well-established cloning technique. Once the enucleated human oocyte cell containing the donated human nucleus is activated, then "the matter is appropriately organized" as they say, and a new living human being begins to exist asexually. This is an objective scientific fact:

TOM STRACHAN and ANDREW P. READ, Human Molecular Genetics 2 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1999): Animal clones occur naturally as a result of sexual reproduction. For example, genetically identical twins are clones who happened to have received exactly the same set of genetic instructions from two donor individuals, a mother and a father. A form of animal cloning can also occur as a result of artificial manipulation to bring about a type of asexual reproduction. The genetic manipulation in this case uses nuclear transfer technology: a nucleus is removed from a donor cell then transplanted into an oocyte whose own nucleus has previously been removed. The resulting 'renucleated' oocyte can give rise to an individual who will carry the nuclear genome of only one donor individual, unlike genetically identical twins. The individual providing the donor nucleus and the individual that develops from the 'renucleated' oocyte are usually described as "clones", but it should be noted that they share only the same nuclear DNA; they do not share the same mitochondrial DNA, unlike genetically identical twins. Nuclear transfer technology was first employed in embryo cloning, in which the donor cell is derived from an early embryo, and has been long established in the case of amphibia. Wilmut et al (1997) reported successful cloning of an adult sheep. For the first time, an adult nucleus had been reprogrammed to become totipotent once more, just like the genetic material in the fertilized oocyte from which the donor cell had ultimately developed. Successful cloning of adult animals has forced us to accept that genome modifications once considered irreversible can be reversed and that the genomes of adult cells can be reprogrammed by factors in the oocyte to make them totipotent once again. (pp. 508-509)

For the scientific explanation of the role of "regulation" in twinning, SCNT, and other cloning techniques, see Irving, Playing God by manipulating man: Facts and frauds of human cloning (October 4, 2003), at:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_22manipulatingman1.html. – Dr. Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D.

View full article at columbiatribune.com:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Feb/20050203News008.asp

ITEM #11. Project one: Online vote for Terri - Results.

The vote is now over and results was 80% against killing Terri Schiavo.

http://www.countypressonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13864624&brd=&PAG=699&dept_id=&startrow=1&MaxRows=10

ITEM #12. Church Groups Turn to Sonogram to Turn Women From Abortions

Sixteen months ago, Andrea Brown, 24 years old and unmarried, was desperate for an abortion, fearing the disappointment of her parents and the humiliation she might face.

While frantically searching the telephone book one day, she came across the Bowie Crofton Pregnancy Center and Medical Clinic, a church-financed organization that provides counseling and education about sexual abstinence. The receptionist told Ms. Brown that the clinic did not perform abortions or make referrals but that she could come in for an ultrasound to make sure her six-and-a-half-week pregnancy was viable. When she did, everything changed.

COMMENT: Note this quote: "Such centers, many financed by churches and church groups, try to persuade women through counseling to carry their pregnancies to term, and often provide prenatal care and pregnancy tests and sometimes clothing and supplies." While this doesn't adequately describe the services offered (housing, for example), the obvious question is "What are abortion clinics offering?" (Nancy Valko, RN)

Article located at New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/national/02pregnant.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1107555319-NY5jtxVeygekHJ0BZkyieA

ACTION:

(1) Pray that all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
(2) Stay informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net
(3) All past issues of Newsletter available online. Click here: http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0

SUPPORT US: Consider a donation to LIFEISSUES.NET:

(1) Online: http://www.lifeissues.net/help_us.html
(2) Or by mail donation: Saint Kolbe Foundation, 25108 Marguerite Parkway, #B-250, Mission Viejo, CA 92692-2400, U.S.A. (or directly to Fr. Jerry Novotny OMI.)

CONTACT EDITOR:

Jerry Novotny OMI, Akebono-cho 1-15-9, Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072;
[tel/fax: 088-843-0406]; email: jerry@lifeissues.net


WEBSITES BY EDITOR
*English site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
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The Rt. Hon. Mr. Paul Martin, P.C., M.P.,
Prime Minister of Canada,House of Commons,

Parliament Buildings,

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6.

Dear Prime Minister,

I understand the difficulty in which recent decisions of various Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada have left the Government of Canada regarding the traditional opposite-sex definition of marriage. Parliament is about to consider legislation to redefine marriage as a lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others, thus paving the way for same-sex marriages.

So far the debate has been among lawyers. It is time for there to be a debate in Canadian society as a whole. It is time for ordinary Canadians to be given a sufficient opportunity to discuss the issues and to reflect on the deeper implications before a debate occurs in Parliament and a decision is made that could irrevocably change the nature of marriage and the family in Canada.

My purpose in writing this open letter to you is to urge caution in taking this step towards the re-definition of marriage. We all would do well to pause reflectively before we alter social structures like marriage and the family that lie at the core of our society, and that represent the accumulated wisdom and experience of the ages.

The conjugal partnership of a man and a woman is the beginning and basis of human society and the family is the first and vital cell of society. Tampering with marriage and the family poses significant social risks.

Can we say with certainty what the social outcome of a re-definition of marriage would be? In all humility, none of us can do so. Human sexuality is a powerful force, which society has acknowledged through many of our laws and social customs.

If same-sex marriage receives the approval of Parliament, then what?

The law is a teacher. Does Canadian society as a whole, and do parents in particular, understand what the law will be teaching in this instance? It will be teaching that homosexual activity and heterosexual activity are morally equivalent. Public schools will be required to provide sex education in that light. Many parents, religious and non-religious, would not agree, nor would many, if not the majority, of Canadians. Is it fair to put children in the position of having to reconcile the values and beliefs of their parents with a novel state-sponsored understanding of marriage that may not be truly supported by the majority of Canadians?

Prime Minister, have you received assurances from provincial premiers that they are providing legislative protection for the right of religious officials and organizations to decline to celebrate same-sex marriages that are contrary to their faith? Are you prepared to pass legislation in the absence of such assurances?

An open and full public debate would explore these and other implications of the proposed re-definition of marriage.

I urge you, Prime Minister, to table a Bill that legislatively enacts the traditional opposite-sex definition of marriage, coupled with a clause that provides for the legislation to take effect notwithstanding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As you know, the so-called “notwithstanding clause” has a five-year life span. A five-year period will allow this national discussion sufficient time to occur and to ripen into a sober and careful decision. It will give time for Canada to observe the social experiments now under way in Belgium and the Netherlands, and in other places where legislation implementing same-sex marriage might occur.

Some will argue that the use of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is wrong in principle. I must respectfully disagree. The notwithstanding clause was inserted into the Charter to recognize parliamentary supremacy and the need for democratic oversight for courts. No Canadian can say that courts always get things right. Judges are not elected and are ultimately not accountable for their decisions. Fundamental social change should only occur with the consent of the people through their democratic institutions. This understanding of the role of Parliament led to the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter. Its use in the context of same-sex marriage would be most appropriate.

Finally, Prime Minister, you will no doubt agree that freedom of conscience is fundamental to our society. Members of Parliament must be free to vote in accordance with their consciences on a matter as basic to our social structure as the definition of marriage. I urge you to permit all parliamentarians, Cabinet Ministers included, to vote their consciences on any legislation that is put to a vote in Parliament on the issue of marriage.

Wishing you a happy new year, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Archbishop of Toronto

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Catholic Bishops Call On Parishioners To Oppose Gay Marriage

Bishops call on parishioners to oppose gay marriage.

The Edmonton Journal
Wed 05 Jan 2005 - Page: A9
Byline: Bob Harvey
Source: Ottawa Citizen; CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Ontario's Catholic bishops are enlisting parishioners in a campaign against gay marriage.

"This is a very important issue to the bishops. They want to remind Catholics of the meaning of marriage and suggest they should make their feelings known," said Tom Reilly, spokesman for the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He said a group has also been established to press for a constitutional amendment that will enshrine the historical definition of marriage.

The executive of the bishops' conference has suggested the province's 16 dioceses send letters to parishioners, spelling out Catholic opposition to gay marriage and urging them to do their civic duty and tell MPs and the prime minister they oppose it.

Pastors will be asked to include inserts on gay marriage in their weekly bulletins, and include prayers about marriage at all Sunday masses until Easter.

The dioceses have also been requested to have married couples speak at weekend masses about the federal government's plan to change the definition of marriage and urge parishioners to make their opposition known.

Gilles Ouellette, the spokesman for the archdiocese of Ottawa, said Tuesday Archbishop Marcel Gervais "has already established a plan of action concerning the request from the Ontario bishops. He will present it to the English and French pastoral councils, and issue his plans and a press release after that."

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged all Canadians to participate in the debate over the definition of marriage and called on married Catholics to speak out.

The Supreme Court ruled in December the federal government has exclusive authority to define marriage.

Gay marriage has become an international issue for the Vatican.

Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized it, and, on Dec. 30, Spain became the third European country to approve it.

Seven of Canada's provinces have opened the door to it, as has the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

Pope John Paul II has called on Catholics to reject what he says is an attempt to legally undermine the family. Two weeks ago he said: "Who destroys this fundamental fabric causes a profound injury to society and provokes often irreparable damage."

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Canadians Need A National Referendum On Marriage

Whether you support or oppose licensing homosexual marriage, one thing is clear. Canadians have strong opinions on both sides of this issue, yet the Bill coming into Parliament next month is a cynical farce which will not change anything.

If MPs approve the Martin government's Bill, gay marriage will then be legal in all 10 provinces. If it is defeated or withdrawn, gay marriage will remain legal in all provinces (except, for now at least, Alberta and New Brunswick) where it has already been approved and implemented by judges.

Stopping this Bill will not end same-sex marriage.

What is going on in Parliament on this issue is a cynical exercise in election-posturing by all parties, including the Conservatives.

The Citizens Centre is launching a national campaign to have the question put to a referendum.

The prime minister's stance that elected legislators must NEVER overrule judges on a matter of rights is legally false, politically treacherous, and democratically outrageous. He has repudiated Canada's constitution.

Regardless of which side in this debate you support, and regardless of which side you think would win a national referendum, you must surely agree with the principle of "government by consent of the governed."

Our politicians are about to set a destructive precedent that will set Canadian democracy back for generations.

Please use this link (www.marriagereferendum.ca) to tell Paul Martin, other party leaders, and the Supreme Court that it's time to ask Canadians whether they want to institute same-sex marriage.

If they do, Parliament should proceed.

If they don't, Parliament can and must to put a stop to it.

Either way, a national referendum is the only way to settle the question properly.

Please be sure to forward this message to everyone you know who may be interested.

Sincerely,

Link Byfield
Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
www.citizenscentre.com

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Papal Encyclical On Same Sex Marriage

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Martin Threatens MPs and Betrays the Electorate.

Dr. McVety, President of Canada Family Action Coalition says "People of faith and good will across Canada are deeply disappointed and saddened that Prime Minister Paul Martin has breached their trust by once again breaking his word". Mr. Martin has broken his election promise to allow a free vote re-defining marriage and is now threatening Canadians with an expensive frivolous election and accosting Members of Parliament with loss of their position and the rigors of a campaign to regain their job. In addition Mr. Martin is threatening to fire Cabinet Ministers. He also seems to have plans to withdraw protection for Clergy in his proposed legislation. It appears that Mr. Martin's promises are not worth the paper they are written on.

On numerous occasions the Prime Minister gave his word to allow Members of Parliament to vote their consciences as he presents legislation to redefine marriage. Mr. Martin realizes that the majority of Canadians oppose his agenda and that he may lose the upcoming vote. Now he has panicked and threatens to force an election upon the nation. He knows the sitting members are tired and their resources depleted from the election a few months ago. They would then need to launch another election campaign to regain their post. Mr. Martin has broken his word again.

For Cabinet Members the threat is compounded by Mr. Martin's existing admonition that any defectors from his plan to redefine marriage will lose their cabinet post. McVety states "Several prominent Cabinet Ministers are forced, against their will to abandon their consciences, break their word and desecrate marriage." This new threat adds insult to injury.

For over one year Mr. Martin has been proclaiming that he would invoke the "Notwithstanding" clause to protect Clergy from being forced to marry same sex couples. Consequently he stood idly by as British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba forced marriage commissioners to agree to perform same-sex marriages under duress or lose their livelihood. McVety says "It now appears that Mr. Martin is preparing to fully abandon his word and withdraw the proposed clergy protection from the draft legislation to redefine marriage."

As Mr. Martin breaks his word, abandons his commitments and compromises his friends he wrongfully states that he is protecting the Charter of Rights. Mr. Martin knows that the Supreme Court denied his request to rule on the constitutionality of marriage and promptly demanded that Parliament decide whether or not to redefine marriage. Dr. McVety states "It is a shame that the Prime Minister of Canada has to resort to such tactics of subterfuge and that his word one day is opposite the next."

For Additional Information Contact

Dr. Charles McVety, President, Canada Family Action Coaltion

50 Gervais Drive, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Z3 416.391.5000 Fax. 416.391.3969
Cell 416.434.8261 email: charles@canadachristiancollege.com

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National Call to Prayer for Marriage

January 29 - 30, 2005

A joint message from the following national organizations:

Canada Family Action Coalition, Focus on the Family Canada, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Christian Legal Fellowship, Evangelical Association of Churches, Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada, Real Women of Canada

Dear Fellow Canadians;

Marriage is on the frontlines - again. The attempts to redefine marriage are an affront to this God-ordained institution, its righteousness and sanctity.

We know that prayer has the power to change things. God's people are required to be a force of righteousness and the light. It is up to the church to lead and promote marriage. So we are issuing this email to invite you to join us in prayer in the days ahead, culminating in a national prayer weekend January 29 -30, 2005.

On December 9, 2004 our Supreme Court issued an opinion that Parliament may "broaden" the definition because it has the authority. However, it did not say it must do so. God's Word including instruction about marriage will not pass away regardless of what man decides. But we must realize the harmful consequences if we, the church, do nothing and allow man to redefine the institution of marriage.

We have chosen Jan 29-30 as a focal point for this call to prayer because Parliament is expected to go back to work about January 31. We are called to pray for our leaders. We are called to petition God on such matters. This is a critical matter that demands a concerted, unified corporate response.

A number of organizations in Canada who are defending marriage feel that we need to seek Him for direction. We must seek God with all of our heart and lean not unto our own understanding. Prayer is the spiritual trigger for this to happen.

We urge you - whether in churches, synagogues, small groups or privately - to join others across this nation for a weekend of fasting, prayer and repentance before God.

Would you as a spiritual leader in this nation take sufficient time in your service on Saturday January 29 or Sunday January 30 to call all people in the church to pray? Let us continue in prayer until we hear from God.

INFORMATION:

http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/family/marriage/call-to-pray.htm

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Definition of the Core of Society: The family represents this core! How?

Dr. McBride is a retired Political Science professor from St. Mary's University.

· Just as 'families have inherent and inviolable rights', families make indispensable and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society.

· The family is the primary social unit.  It is society's first school, first church, first medical clinic, first welfare agency, and first cultural center.  One might add the first community.

· The family is society's first school, wherein children receive their primary intellectual formation.

· The family is society's first church, wherein children receive their primary spiritual formation.

· The family is society's first medical clinic, wherein children receive their primary health care.

· The family is society's first welfare agency, wherein children receive their primary sustenance of food, shelter and clothing.

· The family is society's first culture center, wherein children receive their primary sense of how high the human imagination can reach.

· The family is the first community, whereas children learn to co-operate and be tolerant of others and learn to adjust in a multi person environment.

· In society, the family comes first, and government correspondingly must put family first.

First, last, and always, the family is the most important part of society. The family is the first shelter for the helpless, the last refuge for the hopeless, and always the source of those ties of affection, recollection, and aspiration that bind the past, present and the future.

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Progress Report on "Marriage - Let the People Decide"

Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy

January 21, 2005

The political controversy over same-sex marriage has been escalating all week (Globe and Mail news story below). Paul Martin didn't escape it even in India.
 
The Citizens Centre campaign for a referendum on the meaning of marriage is also steadily escalating.
 
We exceeded our e-mail target for the week, with over eleven thousand e-mail letters having now gone to Paul Martin, and CCs to nine other national decision-makers. That's 110,000 personalized e-mails.
 
If you haven't yet forwarded notice of this campaign to your on-line friends and family, please do so by going to http://www.marriagereferendum.ca.
 
There was also enough response to our appeal for on-line donations to enable us to start mailing paper printouts of the first ten thousand letters to the Prime Minister, key cabinet ministers, Opposition leaders, and the Supreme Court.
 
To help us continue this print-and-mail project, and give the referendum demand more visibility on Parliament Hill, you can contribute safely on line at http://www.citizenscentre.com/support.html.
 
Globe and Mail
January 21, 2005
 
TITLE: E-mails flying over same-sex marriage showdown - Opposing sides line up their support
By GLORIA GALLOWAY
With a report from Canadian Press
 
OTTAWA – MPs' e-mail boxes are flooded, ad campaigns are ramping up, churches are becoming more vocal and both sides are staking out what they see as the high moral ground in the next showdown of the same-sex marriage debate.

"If they [the politicians] think they're getting a lot of e-mails and letters now, it's nothing compared to what it's going to be over the month of February and however long it takes until there's a final vote," said Derek Roguski, vice-president of family policy for Focus on the Family Canada, a group trying to reserve marriage as a right for heterosexuals.

"We've seen some recent polling that reflects to us that we've got the majority on our side," he said.

"So it's just a matter of mobilizing those people and asking them to contact their MP and asking them to vote a certain way and making sure that the MP understands how important an issue it is to them."

In fact, both sides in the gay-marriage battle claim to represent the majority of Canadians as the federal government contemplates changing the traditional definition of marriage to include same-sex spouses.

Although it appears the Liberals have enough support to push a bill through the House, the final result is far from certain.

Many Liberal MPs will say only that they are "voting with the government," rather than state their personal beliefs when asked whether they support same-sex marriage.

Carolyn Bennett, the Public Health Minister who represents Toronto St. Paul's, which claims a large number of gay and lesbian constituents, is not one of them.

"This country is only as strong as the people who decide to look after one another in individual family units that they should get to define," Ms. Bennett said. "And if people want to formalize that in a way, then obviously we should support that."

Like many other MPs, Ms. Bennett has been inundated with e-mails from people on both sides of the issue.

But it is an ad campaign started this week by the Conservatives that has her "really annoyed," she said. "Whether people are comfortable or uncomfortable with same-sex marriage is not the issue any more. The issue is, are you prepared to turn human rights on and off like a light switch."

Courts in seven provinces and one territory have ruled that preventing same-sex couples from marrying is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But Conservative Leader Stephen Harper told reporters in Quebec yesterday that, if the traditional definition of marriage is expanded, "radical" groups may begin launching constitutional battles arguing that it is legal for a man to marry more than one woman, or other types of marriages.

"As soon as they've got to attack one traditional idea, the next one is down the road," he said.

"I don't want to get into the polygamy debate, but I fear if we do this, the next thing on the Liberal agenda will be polygamy, and who knows what else."

Fears like that have pressed otherwise apolitical Canadians into action.

Inky Mark, another Conservative opposed to same-sex marriage, said his staff in Ottawa has been handling hundreds of e-mails a day on this issue since December.

He met with 54 religious leaders in his community two days ago - all opposed to homosexual weddings - to plot strategies for continuing their fight.

Mr. Mark said he advised them "to continue the lobby, what else can we do? Don't take anything for granted."

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I have just sent off my letter in defense of marriage to my MP, the Prime Minister and a handful of other provincial and federal politicians through a simple process called "1 Click Lobbyist."

All it takes is five minutes to let your voice be heard at http://www.1clicklobbyist.ca/index.php?affid=216

I hope that you will visit the site and consider taking 5 Minutes to make a difference in the future of Canada.

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Marriage referendum billboard

A Critical Decision for Canadians

The Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy is placing the above billboard message at strategic, high-traffic points across the country.

With Members of Parliament returning to Ottawa to debate gay marriage, Canadians must assert themselves NOW. As citizens we must demand a direct and decisive say in this important issue.

If we are ever to get control of our parties, judges and constitution, now is the time.

Billboards are a cost-effective way to broadcast the message, and the Citizens Centre has already selected prime billboard sites in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa. But we're a grassroots group and we can't do it without your support. You can donate securely on-line here (www.citizenscentre.com/support.html), in any amount.

WHO WE ARE

The Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy is a national non-profit organization based in Edmonton promoting “responsible government.” This means government that is honest, accountable and constitutional. www.citizenscentre.com

Link Byfield

The Centre is chaired by Link Byfield, one of Alberta’s four senators-elect, and an award-winning journalist who was for many years editor and publisher of the high-profile Alberta and Western Report newsmagazines.

In 25 years of political journalism he has developed extensive contacts and personal relationships with national policy-setters.

The operations manager is Craig Docksteader, who served in the same capacity for many years with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and later the Centre for Prairie Agriculture.

The Citizens Centre’s main activities at present are to promote a national referendum on marriage, greater public awareness of federal corruption, and provincial election of Senate candidates across Canada.

Craig Docksteader

THE REFERENDUM STRATEGY

In the past three weeks, over sixteen thousand Canadians have used the Citizens Centre's website to e-mail Paul Martin and nine other national policy-leaders (including the Supreme Court) on the need to settle the marriage question openly, fairly and democratically.

That’s over 160,000 e-mail messages to Ottawa. Paper copies of those e-mails are now being sent to all recipients.

However, the Referendum Campaign requires much higher public visibility.

Evidence abounds, and grows every day, that most Canadians want the government to settle this issue by referendum.

The most cost-effective way of making media and politicians deal with this issue properly is to place the message “let the people decide” on billboards along major traffic arteries across the country.

Like everyone else, jounalists and politicians notice billboards.  They're too big to ignore.

THERE’S NO “FREE VOTE”

Paul Martin has said that as a Roman Catholic he personally is against gay marriage, but that the “courts” have forced him to introduce a law legalizing it. (In legal and constitutional fact, the “courts” have done nothing of the sort. He’s doing it for political gain. Still, since he’s ready to violate his own conscience for political gain, how long will it be before he violates yours?)

He says it will be a “free vote” in Parliament, even though he is forcing the entire 39-member Liberal cabinet to support the Bill, whether or not it violates their consciences or the clear wishes of their constituents.

By binding the cabinet, of course, Martin also binds the vote of any Liberal backbenchers with cabinet ambitions.

Jack Layton, meanwhile, says it will not be a “free vote” for his 19 MPs, because gay marriage is an established “Charter right.” It isn’t, of course, but in his effort to make it one he will force his caucus to toe the NDP party line.

With 58 Liberal and NDP MPs -- one fifth of the House -- under direct orders to vote in favor, how can anyone pretend this is a “free vote”? It isn’t.

Conservative leader Steve Harper holds a position that is more democratic. His party formally opposes the Bill, but individual Tory MPs will be free to vote as they please, and a few will support it. Still, Harper is hoping there are enough Tory and backbench Liberals to defeat it.

But even if there are, what then?  Since 2003, gay marriages have been taking place in most provinces on orders from various lower courts. The Liberal Bill, if it passes, would make it legal everywhere. But even if the Bill is defeated or withdrawn, gay marriage will remain legal across most of the country.

REFERENDUM IS THE ONLY ANSWER

Under Canada’s constitutional system, Parliament may call a referendum -- as it did with the Charlottetown Accord in 1992. The results are not legally binding, but, as with Charlottetown, they are politically compelling.

In fact, referendums are a common method around the world to settle thorny constitutional questions.

Like Charlottetown, referendums have a way of answering questions for the long term. They give people a chance to discuss the issue, the motive to really think it through, and the power to dispose of it, one way or the other.

In the case of same-sex marriage, both sides claim to speak for the majority.

There’s only one way to find out which one does.

WE’LL KEEP YOU INFORMED

Events and opinions are changing daily on this issue, and at the Citizens Centre we’re following them closely. If you’d like us to keep you promptly informed of the key developments, you can use the following link to receive daily news and commentary from around the country. http://www.citizenscentre.com/subscribe.html.  Be sure to select the "Daily National News on the Marriage Issue" which is third from the top. 

CONTRIBUTIONS

Canada is approaching a key moment of decision.  How we as Canadians decide this very important question will determine more than just the meaning of marriage.  It will determine whether we will rule ourselves democratically or surrender all important decisions to party leaders and the judges they appoint to the courts.

But freedom and democracy depend on the willingness of citizens to act on their beliefs.  Please contribute to the cost of this project.  You can donate securely on-line here (www.citizenscentre.com/support.html), in any amount.


Citizens Centre logo
Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy
203, 10441 - 178 Street
Edmonton, AB  T5S 1R5
1-866-666-6768  
www.citizenscentre.com
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Sun, January 30, 2005
Some Straight Talk on Same-Sex Issue
All the packaging in the world doesn't alter substance

 By Bishop Fred Henry -- Calgary Sun

Many assume we are powerless, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been invoked and the Supreme Court has spoken and settled the same-sex issue. However, such an assumption is erroneous.

The Supreme Court has said Parliament may redefine marriage, it has not said that it must redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. Supreme Court Justices talk about reading the Constitution "expansively" and it is like a "living tree which by way of progressive interpretation, accommodates and addresses the realities of modern life."

Nevertheless, I would suggest there are more roots to the tree than simply the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There are also historical, cultural, philosophical, moral, and anthropological roots. The failure to attend to the health of all the roots runs the risk of killing the tree and destroying the public good. Contrary to what is normally alleged, the primary goals in seeking legalization of same-sex "marriage" are not financial or health benefits associated with marriage; nor are the goals the search for stability and exclusivity in a homosexual relationship. The principal objective in seeking same-sex "marriage" is not really even about rights. The goal is to acquire a powerful psychological weapon to change society's rejection of homosexual activity and lifestyle into gradual, even if reluctant, acceptance. It is significant to note that 18 months after same-sex marriage arrived in Canada (principally as a result of court decisions in Ontario and B.C.) some 95% of adult Canadian gays have chosen to ignore their new legal right. The Supreme Court also refused to answer whether the Charter requires that marriage be redefined. The majority of Canadians understand marriage to be the union of a man and a woman, faithful in love and open to the gift of life. Marriage and the family are the foundations of society, through which children are brought into this world and nurtured as they grow to adulthood. As such, the family is a more fundamental social institution than the state, and the strength of the family is vital for the well-being of our whole society. Since homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography undermine the foundations of the family, the basis of society, then the State must use its coercive power to proscribe or curtail them in the interests of the common good. It is sometimes argued that what we do in the privacy of our home is nobody's business. While the privacy of the home is undoubtedly sacred, it is not absolute. Furthermore, an evil act remains an evil act whether it is performed in public or private. Personal choice is exercised both in opting for the marital state and in the choice of one's spouse. However, the future spouses are not free to alter marriage's essential purpose or properties. These do not depend on the will or sexual orientation of the contracting parties. They are rooted in natural law and do not change. The committed union of two people of the same sex is not the same human reality as the committed union of one man and one woman. A same-sex union is not a physical union that transmits human life, producing children. A same-sex union is not the joining of two complementary natures that complete each other. Simply stated, a same sex union is not marriage. The idea that homosexuals can create same-sex "marriage" through their individual choice is false. All the packaging in the world doesn't alter substance. Some would allege that opposing same-sex "marriage" is pure prejudice. This contention is also false. There are human rights laws, which say: Men and women must be paid the same wage for the same work; an employer may not refuse to hire someone because of skin colour; landlords may not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. These decisions uphold the rights of the individual and, at the same time, strengthen Canadian society. They encourage us to recognize the humanity of the other person. Furthermore, a man and a woman wanting to marry may be completely different in their characteristics such as: Colour, ethnicity, in wealth and social status, physical attributes, and educational background. None of these differences are insurmountable obstacles to marriage. The two individuals are still a man and a woman, and the requirements of nature are respected. Two individuals of the same sex, regardless of their race, wealth, stature, erudition or fame, will never be able to marry because of an insurmountable biological impossibility. The denial of the social and legal status of marriage to same-sex couples is not discrimination. It is not something opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice requires such an opposition. It is the right and responsibility of all citizens, troubled by this proposal to reinvent the institution of marriage, to enter into the debate and, with clarity and charity, to make their voices heard by fellow citizens and our political leaders.

If you object to the proposal to reinvent the institution of marriage, please write, email and/or fax government leaders and your local Member of Parliament to register your objection.

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Gay Marriage is not a Done Deal