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Human Dignity on the Sceptred Isle... the land of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Wesley, Wilberforce...
Chuck Colson

A Demented Idea
By Chuck Colson
10/23/2008

The Brits may be losing their marbles. The distinguished Baroness Warnock, labelled by the Daily Telegraph as Britain’s leading moral philosopher, ought to be ashamed of herself.

You see, Lady Warnock once chaired a government committee that helped legalize embryonic research. She’s known for supporting assisted suicide for people don’t want to burden their caregivers.

But now Lady Warnock has gone a step further. She says elderly people who suffer from dementia are “wasting people’s lives” – that is, the lives of those who care for them – and ought to choose to die even if they’re not suffering.

And even if they aren’t a burden on their families, they ought to “off” themselves anyway, as she puts it, because they’re a burden on the public, which, under British national health care, pays for their treatment. According to the Daily Telegraph, Warnock hopes people will soon be “licensed to put others down.”

Putting others down? That’s the kind of euphemism we use when talking about injured horses or sick dogs. It’s not how we talk about human beings – or at least, it’s not how we used to talk about them.

At age 84, Lady Warnock is old enough to remember Hitler’s Final Solution – and the thinking that drove the slaughter, not only of the Jews, but also of the handicapped, gypsies, and others the Nazis considered “defective” or “useless.”

But even though Lady Warnock should remember World War II, she evidently has forgotten its terrible lessons. Given her despicable recommendation for the elderly, she ought to hope that her memory issues aren’t related to dementia.

Thankfully, at least a few Brits are outraged by Warnock’s comments, calling them – in typical British understatement – both callous and deeply ignorant. Neil Hunt, a spokesman for the British Alzheimer’s Society, says to suggest that people with dementia “have some sort of duty to kill themselves is nothing short of barbaric.”

Continued... http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=10455

Ken Conner, “Duty to Die: Why British Govt Advisor Wrong on Killing People with Dementia
http://www.lifenews.com/bio2587.html,” LifeNews.com, 26 September 2008.

'It fires me up to be like Esther and to live in this time, for such a time as this.'

After being burned alive for about 18 hours by the saline solution, Gianna was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic. She weighed just 2 pounds at birth, and doctors said she would never crawl or walk.

Today, Gianna walks with a slight limp – and runs marathons. She's also taking on Sen. Barack Obama on abortion.

1. We know so much of your story from the very early part of your life, but what have you been doing recently?

I ran the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon. It’s kind of adventurous for a girl with CP (cerebral palsy). Also, I’ve had the honour of meeting the president and speaking before Congress. And I’ve just returned from Australia, where I was speaking in the Parliament and House. Every year that I think (God) must be finished, He seems to open up the doors wider. My life is so much bigger than just an issue. I’m not consumed by the abortion issue, which I think is healthy. I have a beautiful life.

It has been an honour to fight for the most vulnerable among us — and for the true empowerment of women and men around the world. When people are exposed to the facts, (they) cannot help (but) be changed. Either they become harder, or they change in favour of life. And I find that the latter is mostly true, and that is so beautiful to me — especially with young people. They are very pro-life these days. I think because they see the result in our culture of not valuing life on so many levels.

I know God can do anything. The possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned is quite high — which is amazing to say. But the thing that does trouble me is the hardness of people. All I know is whether it is overturned or not, we will commit ourselves to care for women and children and stand up for them.

3. In a TV ad, you challenge Sen. Barack Obama over his repeated opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act. In response, a new ad calls you a liar, sleazy and vile. How do you respond to that?

The exact opposite response of what they’re expecting. It actually blesses me because I am God’s girl, and I know that if that is coming, then I am on the right road. It fires me up to be like Esther and to live in this time, for such a time as this.

4. If you could sit down with Sen. Obama, what would you say to him? Do you think you could sway him?

I’ve challenged him, and he won’t meet with me so far, but maybe one day he will.

"Sir, why do you discard life so easily? I just want to know why. When did you decide that you had the right to determine whom lives and who dies? You are not God."

I think God could sway him. I think he’s frightened of me, really. The fact that I have cerebral palsy as a direct result of having survived an abortion is very convicting to people. I mean, that’s my sermon.

If the Lord was sitting right in front of me and said, "G, ('cause that’s my nickname), do you want me to make you whole?" I would say, firstly, "I’m going to be whole when I get home. But, if you leave me this way, I have a sermon to preach without saying a word, and I’ll get to know you in a way I (would) never know you had I not been schooled in the school of adversity."

5. It seems many Christians are pushing the abortion issue to the back burner. Does that bother you?

It’s cowardice (and) appalling. What a man thinks about the most vulnerable among us says everything about him. It will determine all of his other decisions. It’s cowardice on the part of Christians to run away from this because they want to be seen more relevant or less threatening, or whatever the motives may be.

(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)

Posted: October 27, 2008
10:52 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A movie based on the true story reported by WND of a woman trapped in the bathroom of an abortion clinic watching helplessly as her baby died after being born alive is being released to an increasing number of audiences, including the U.S. Congress.

The film, as WND reported , is called "22weeks," made by a young Puerto Rican filmmaker, Ángel Manuel Soto Vázquez. It has been shown to private audiences, screened in Puerto Rico, viewed on Capitol Hill and is now scheduled for two more public screenings this week, in Virginia Beach, VA, and San Diego, CA.

Soto Vázquez told WND that one of the most important audiences – the actual mother depicted in the film – has already seen it and approves.

"Baby Rowan's mom saw it and felt like it was accurate, professional, and sensitive to her, her children and women around the world who have suffered and lived through this," said Soto Vázquez. "That was my biggest joy, knowing that I did justice to her and to the story."

Pro-life activist and WND columnist Jill Stanek agreed that the short 25-minute film was well acted and professionally produced. She was also stunned.

4. Cardinal Egan Compares Abortion Crimes To Those Of Hitler, Stalin – October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favour of looking at it carefully.

If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?

If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society are duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if anyone were to wish to kill it?

If your answer to this last query is negative, that is, if you have no doubt that the authorities in a civilized society would be duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if someone were to wish to kill it, I would suggest – even insist – that there is not a lot more to be said about the issue of abortion in our society. It is wrong, and it cannot – must not – be tolerated.

But you might protest that all of this is too easy. Why, you might inquire, have I not delved into the opinion of philosophers and theologians about the matter? And even worse: Why have I not raised the usual questions about what a "human being" is, what a "person" is, what it means to be "living," and such? People who write books and articles about abortion always concern themselves with these kinds of things. Even the justices of the Supreme Court who gave us "Roe v. Wade" address them. Why do I neglect philosophers and theologians? Why do I not get into defining "human being," defining "person," defining "living," and the rest? Because, I respond, I am sound of mind and endowed with a fine set of eyes, into which I do not believe it is well to cast sand. I looked at the photograph, and I have no doubt about what I saw and what are the duties of a civilized society if what I saw is in danger of being killed by someone who wishes to kill it or, if you prefer, someone who "chooses" to kill it. In brief: I looked, and I know what I saw.

But what about the being that has been in its mother for only 15 weeks or only 10? Have you photographs of that too? Yes, I do. However, I hardly think it necessary to show them. For if we agree that the being in the photograph printed on this page is an innocent human being, you have no choice but to admit that it may not be legitimately killed even before 20 weeks unless you can indicate with scientific proof the point in the development of the being before which it was other than an innocent human being and, therefore, available to be legitimately killed. Nor have Aristotle, Aquinas or even the most brilliant embryologists of our era or any other era been able to do so. If there is a time when something less than a human being in a mother morphs into a human being, it is not a time that anyone has ever been able to identify, though many have made guesses. However, guesses are of no help. A man with a shotgun who decides to shoot a being that he believes may be a human being is properly hauled before a judge. And hopefully, the judge in question knows what a "human being" is and what the implications of someone's wishing to kill it are. The word "incarceration" comes to mind.

However, we must not stop here. The matter becomes even clearer and simpler if you obtain from the National Geographic Society two extraordinary DVDs. One is entitled "In the Womb" and illustrates in color and in motion the development of one innocent human being within its mother. The other is entitled "In the Womb – Multiples" and in color and motion shows the development of two innocent human beings – twin boys – within their mother. If you have ever allowed yourself to wonder, for example, what "living" means, these two DVDs will be a great help. The one innocent human being squirms about, waves its arms, sucks its thumb, smiles broadly and even yawns; and the two innocent human beings do all of that and more: They fight each other. One gives his brother a kick, and the other responds with a sock to the jaw. If you can convince yourself that these beings are something other than living and innocent human beings, something, for example, such as "mere clusters of tissues," you have a problem far more basic than merely not appreciating the wrongness of abortion. And that problem is – forgive me – self-deceit in a most extreme form.

Adolf Hitler convinced himself and his subjects that Jews and homosexuals were other than human beings. Joseph Stalin did the same as regards Cossacks and Russian aristocrats. And this despite the fact that Hitler and his subjects had seen both Jews and homosexuals with their own eyes, and Stalin and his subjects had seen both Cossacks and Russian aristocrats with theirs. Happily, there are few today who would hesitate to condemn in the roundest terms the self-deceit of Hitler, Stalin or even their subjects to the extent that the subjects could have done something to end the madness and protect living, innocent human beings.

It is high time to stop pretending that we do not know what this nation of ours is allowing – and approving – with the killing each year of more than 1,600,000 innocent human beings within their mothers. We know full well that to kill what is clearly seen to be an innocent human being or what cannot be proved to be other than an innocent human being is as wrong as wrong gets. Nor can we honourably cover our shame (1) by appealing to the thoughts of Aristotle or Aquinas on the subject, inasmuch as we are all well aware that their understanding of matters embryological was hopelessly mistaken, (2) by suggesting that "killing" and "choosing to kill" are somehow distinct ethically, morally or criminally, (3) by feigning ignorance of the meaning of "human being," "person," "living," and such, (4) by maintaining that among the acts covered by the right to privacy is the act of killing an innocent human being, and (5) by claiming that the being within the mother is "part" of the mother, so as to sustain the oft-repeated slogan that a mother may kill or authorize the killing of the being within her "because she is free to do as she wishes with her own body."

One day, please God, when the stranglehold on public opinion in the United States has been released by the extremists for whom abortion is the center of their political and moral life, our nation will, in my judgment, look back on what we have been doing to innocent human beings within their mothers as a crime no less heinous than what was approved by the Supreme Court in the "Dred Scott Case" in the 19th century, and no less heinous than what was perpetrated by Hitler and Stalin in the 20th. There is nothing at all complicated about the utter wrongness of abortion, and making it all seem complicated mitigates that wrongness not at all. On the contrary, it intensifies it.

Do me a favour. Look at the photograph again. Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of "legalized" abortion continues to erode the honour of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees Christmas trees.

I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Terence P. Jeffrey
Washington Times
Saturday, October 11, 2008
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/11/debate-in-obamas-past/print/

The most telling debate Barack Obama ever had was not with John McCain but Patrick O'Malley, who served with Mr. Obama in the Illinois Senate and engaged him in a colloquy every American should read.

The Obama-O'Malley debate was a defining moment for Mr. Obama because it dealt with such a fundamental issue: The state's duty to protect the civil rights of the young and disabled.

Some background: Eight years ago, nurse Jill Stanek went public about the "induced-labour abortions" performed at the Illinois hospital where she worked. Often done on Down syndrome babies, the procedure involved medicating the mother to cause premature labour.

Babies, who survived this, Nurses Stanek testified in the U.S. Congress, were brought to a soiled linen room and left alone to die without care or comforting.

Then-Illinois state Sen. Patrick O'Malley, whom I interviewed this week, contacted the state attorney general's office to see whether existing laws protected a newborn abortion-survivor's rights as a U.S. citizen. He was told they did not. So, Mr. O'Malley – a lawyer, veteran lawmaker and colleague of Mr. Obama on the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee – drafted legislation.

In 2001, he introduced three bills. SB1093 said if a doctor performing an abortion believed there was a likelihood the baby would survive, another physician must be present "to assess the child's viability and provide medical care." SB1094 gave the parents, or a state-appointed guardian, the right to sue to protect the child's rights. SB1095 simply said a baby alive after "complete expulsion or extraction from its mother" would be considered a " 'person,' 'human being,' 'child' and 'individual.'"

The bills dealt exclusively with born children. "This legislation was about preventing conduct that allowed infanticide to take place in the state of Illinois," Mr. O'Malley told me.

The Judiciary Committee approved the bills with Mr. Obama in opposition. On March 31, 2001, they came up on the Illinois Senate floor. Only one member spoke against them: Barack Obama.

"Nobody else said anything," Mr. O'Malley recalls. The official transcript validates this.

"Sen. O'Malley," Mr. Obama said near the beginning of the discussion, "the testimony during the committee indicated that one of the key concerns was – is that there was a method of abortion, an induced abortion, where the – the foetus or child, as – as some might describe it, is still temporarily alive outside the womb." Mr. Obama made three crucial concessions here: the legislation was about (1) a human being, who was (2) "alive" and (3) "outside the womb."

He also used an odd redundancy: "temporarily alive." Is there another type of human?

"And one of the concerns that came out in the testimony was the fact that they were not being properly cared for during that brief period of time that they were still living," Mr. Obama continued.

Here he made another crucial concession: The intention of the legislation was to make sure that (1) a human being, (2) alive and (3) outside the womb was (4) "properly cared for."

Mr. O'Malley tightened the logical knot. "[T]his bill suggests that appropriate steps be taken to treat that baby as a – a citizen of the United States and afforded all the rights and protections it deserves under the Constitution of the United States," said Mr. O'Malley.

But to these specific temporarily-alive-outside-the-womb-human beings – to these children who had survived a botched abortion, whose hearts were beating, whose muscles were moving, whose lungs were heaving – to these specific children of God, Mr. Obama was not willing to concede any constitutional rights at all.

To explain his position, Mr. Obama came up with yet another term to describe the human being who would be protected by Mr. O'Malley's bills. The abortion survivor became a "pre-viable foetus."

By definition, however, a born baby cannot be a "foetus." Merriam-Webster Online defines "foetus" as an "unborn or unhatched vertebrate" or "a developing human from usually two months after conception to birth." Mr. Obama had already conceded these human beings were "alive outside the womb."

"No. 1," said Mr. Obama, "whenever we define a pre-viable foetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or other elements of the Constitution, what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a – a child, a 9-month-old – child that was delivered to term."

Yes. In other words, a baby born alive at 37 weeks is just as much a human "person" as a baby born alive at 22 weeks.

Mr. Obama, however, saw a problem with calling abortion survivors "persons." "I mean, it – it would essentially bar abortions," said Mr. Obama, "because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an antiabortion statute."

For Mr. Obama, whether or not a temporarily-alive-outside-the-womb little girl is a "person" entitled to constitutional rights is not determined by her humanity, her age or even her place in space relative to her mother's uterus. It is determined by whether a doctor has been trying to kill her.

Does vaccine turn girls into guinea pigs?
Bishop Fred Henry defends HPV decision on moral and health grounds

First of all, I want to make it clear that, in the case of minors, parents must decide whether or not their child is to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.

A Catholic institution has a different responsibility – to live faithfully its mission and teaching. To witness to the teaching and values of Jesus Christ requires sound moral reflection and judgment.

In some instances, given the complexity of an issue, after due consideration and prayer, parents may opt for a plan of action that is not endorsed by the Catholic school board.

Judgments of what is right or wrong are ethical or moral decisions. The Catholic moral tradition develops through prayer, study, reflection and the recognition of the Holy Spirit at work through various sources. Such sources include health and social service providers, the experience of the Christian community, moral theologians, bishops, church teaching and sacred Scripture. No source of knowledge pertinent to the issue at hand should be neglected.

Some of the values and principles that direct ethical decision-making and that enable us to respond to the call to respect dignity, promote justice and foster trust are: the dignity of every human person, stewardship and creativity, respect for life and the common good.

First of all, are we confident that this vaccine is safe to administer to young girls? Many, including Dr. Diane M. Harper, a lead researcher, scientist, physician, professor and former director of Gynaecological Cancer Prevention Research Group at Dartmouth Medical School have stated: "This vaccine should not be mandated for 11-year-old girls... It's not been tested in little girls for efficacy. At 11, these girls don't get cervical cancer – they won't know for 25 years if they will get cervical cancer. Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment."

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.

People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." – Ref: Cicero – 55 BC

DENVER, Colorado, OCT. 17, 2008 (Zenit.org http://www.Zenit.org). – Here is the address Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver gave tonight at a dinner sponsored by ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women). The talk is titled "Little Murders."

I want to do three things with my time tonight. First, Terry asked me to talk a bit about my book, "Render Unto Caesar," and I’m happy to do that. Second, I want to talk about some of the lessons we can already draw from this year’s election. And third, I want to talk about the mission of ENDOW.

Before I do any of that though, I need to say what a friend of mine calls my “Litany to the IRS.” Here it is. I’m not here tonight to tell you how to vote. I don’t want to do that, I won’t do that, and I don’t use code language – so you don’t need to spend any time looking for secret political endorsements.

I plan to speak candidly, but I can only do that if you remember that I’m here as an author and private citizen. I’m not speaking for the Holy See, or the American bishops, or any other bishop, or even officially for the Archdiocese of Denver. So the things I say tonight are my personal views, nothing more. I think they’re pretty solidly grounded in Catholic teaching and the heart of the Church, but it’s your task as Catholics and citizens to listen, evaluate and then act as you judge best.

As adults, each of us needs to form a strong Catholic conscience. Then we need to follow that conscience when we vote. And then we need to take responsibility for the consequences of the vote we cast. Nobody can do that for us. That’s why really knowing and living our Catholic faith is so important. It’s the only reliable guide we have for acting in the public square as disciples of Jesus Christ.

So let’s talk for a few minutes about "Render Unto Caesar." When people ask me about the book, the questions usually fall into three categories. Why did I write it? What does the book say? And what does the book mean for each of us as individual Catholics? This last question will be a good doorway into talking about the 2008 election, but let’s start at the beginning first. Why did I write this book, now?

One answer is simple. A friend asked me to do it. Back in 2004, a young attorney I know ran for public office as a prolife Democrat. He nearly won in a heavily Republican district. But he also discovered how hard it can be to raise money, run a campaign and stay true to your Catholic convictions, all at the same time. After the election he asked me to put my thoughts about faith and politics into a form that other young Catholics could use who were thinking about a political vocation – and it really is a “vocation.”

That’s where the idea started. But I also had another reason for doing the book. Frankly, I just got tired of hearing outsiders and insiders tell Catholics to keep quiet about our religious and moral views in the big public debates that involve all of us as a society. That’s a kind of bullying, and I don’t think Catholics should accept it.

Another reason for writing the book is that when I looked around for a single source that explains the Catholic political vocation in an easy, authentic and engaging way, it just didn’t exist. So I thought I might as well try to write it, because a friend told me it would “practically write itself.”

Unfortunately, writing a new book is a bit like childbirth. You forget that it hurts until you’re living the labour. I didn’t remember the experience of my first book until after I signed the contract with Doubleday for my second.

So what does the book say? I think the message of "Render Unto Caesar" can be condensed into a few basic points.

Here’s the first point. For many years, studies have shown that Americans have a very poor sense of history, and that’s very dangerous, because as Thucydides and Machiavelli and Thomas Jefferson have all said, history matters. It matters because the past shapes the present, and the present shapes the future. If American Catholics don’t know history, and especially their own history as Catholics, then somebody else – and usually somebody not very friendly – will create their history for them.

Let me put it another way. A man with amnesia has no future and no present because he can’t remember his past. The past is a man’s anchor in experience and reality. Without it, he may as well be floating in space. In like manner, if we American Catholics don’t remember and defend our religious history as a believing people, nobody else will, and then we won’t have a future because we won’t have a past. If we don’t know how the Church worked with or struggled against political rulers in the past, then we can’t think clearly about the relations between Church and state today.

Here’s the second point. America is not a secular state. As historian Paul Johnson once said, America was “born Protestant.” It has uniquely and deeply religious roots. Obviously it has no established Church, and it has non-sectarian public institutions. It also has plenty of room for both believers and non-believers. But the United States was never intended to be a “secular” country in the radical modern sense. Nearly all the Founders were either Christian or at least religion-friendly. And all of our public institutions and all of our ideas about the human person are based in a religiously shaped vocabulary. So if we cut God out of our public life, we cut the foundation out from under our national ideals.

Here’s the third point. We need to be very forceful in defending what the words in our political vocabulary really mean. Words are important because they shape our thinking, and our thinking drives our actions. When we subvert the meaning of words like “the common good” or “conscience” or “community” or “family,” we undermine the language that sustains our thinking about the law. Dishonest language leads to dishonest debate and bad laws.

Here’s an example. We need to remember that tolerance is not a Christian virtue, and it’s never an end in itself. In fact, tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of evil. Likewise, democratic pluralism does not mean that Catholics should be quiet in public about serious moral issues because of some misguided sense of good manners. A healthy democracy requires vigorous moral debate to survive. Real pluralism demands that people of strong beliefs will advance their convictions in the public square – peacefully, legally and respectfully, but energetically and without embarrassment. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the public conversation.

Here’s the fourth point. When Jesus tells the Pharisees and Herodians in the Gospel of Matthew (22:21) to “render unto the Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” he sets the framework for how we should think about religion and the state even today. Caesar does have rights. We owe civil authority our respect and appropriate obedience. But that obedience is limited by what belongs to God. Caesar is not God. Only God is God, and the state is subordinate and accountable to God for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God. Our job as believers is to figure out what things belong to Caesar, and what things belong to God – and then to put those things in right order in our own lives, and in our relations with others.

So having said all this, what does the book mean, in practice, for each of us as individual Catholics? It means that we each have a duty to study and grow in our faith, guided by the teaching of the Church. It also means that we have a duty to be politically engaged. Why? Because politics is the exercise of power, and the use of power always has moral content and human consequences.

As Christians, we can’t claim to love God and then ignore the needs of our neighbours. Loving God is like loving a spouse. A husband may tell his wife that he loves her, and of course that’s very beautiful. But she’ll still want to see the evidence in his actions. Likewise if we claim to be “Catholic,” we need to prove it by our behaviour. And serving other people by working for justice and charity in our nation’s political life is one of the very important ways we do that.

The “separation of Church and state” does not mean – and it can never mean – separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions. That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus when he commands us to be “leaven in the world” and to “make disciples of all nations.” That kind of separation steals the moral content of a society. It’s the equivalent of telling a married man that he can’t act married in public. Of course, he can certainly do that, but he won’t stay married for long.

I began work on "Render Unto Caesar" in July 2006. I made the final changes to the text in November 2007. That’s a long time before anyone was nominated for president, and it was Doubleday, not I, that set the book’s release date for August 2008. So – unlike Prof. Douglas Kmiec’s recent book, "Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question about Barack Obama," which argues a Catholic case for Senator Obama – I wrote "Render Unto Caesar" with no interest in supporting or attacking any candidate or any political party.

The goal of "Render Unto Caesar" was simply to describe what an authentic Catholic approach to political life looks like, and then to encourage Americans Catholics to live it.

Prof. Kmiec has a strong record of service to the Church and the nation in his past. He served in the Reagan administration, and he supported Mitt Romney’s campaign for president before switching in a very public way to Barack Obama earlier this year. In his own book he quotes from "Render Unto Caesar" at some length. In fact, he suggests that his reasoning and mine are “not far distant on the moral inquiry necessary in the election of 2008.” Unfortunately, he either misunderstands or misuses my words, and he couldn’t be more mistaken.

I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed “abortion-rights” presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively “pro-choice;” it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child – and let’s remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion “murder” – the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.

Prof. Kmiec argues that there are defensible motives to support Senator Obama. Speaking for myself, I do not know any proportionate reason that could outweigh more than 40 million unborn children killed by abortion and the many millions of women deeply wounded by the loss and regret abortion creates.

To suggest – as some Catholics do – that Senator Obama is this year’s “real” pro-life candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse. To portray the 2008 Democratic Party presidential ticket as the preferred “pro-life” option is to subvert what the word “pro-life” means. Anyone interested in Senator Obama’s record on abortion and related issues should simply read Prof. Robert George’s essay of earlier this week, “Obama’s Abortion Extremism,” at http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com. It says everything that needs to be said.

Of course, these are simply my personal views as an author and private citizen. But I’m grateful to Prof. Kmiec for quoting me in his book and giving me the reason to speak so clearly about our differences. I think his activism for Senator Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.

And here’s the irony. None of the Catholic arguments advanced in favour of Senator Obama are new. They’ve been around, in one form or another, for more than 25 years. All of them seek to “get beyond” abortion, or economically reduce the number of abortions, or create a better society where abortion won’t be necessary. All of them involve a misuse of the seamless garment imagery in Catholic social teaching. And all of them, in practice, seek to contextualize, demote and then counterbalance the evil of abortion with other important but less foundational social issues.

This is a great sadness. As Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George said recently, too many Americans have “no recognition of the fact that children continue to be killed [by abortion], and we live therefore, in a country drenched in blood. This can’t be something you start playing off pragmatically against other issues.”

Meanwhile, the basic human rights violation at the heart of abortion – the intentional destruction of an innocent, developing human life – is wordsmithed away as a terrible crime that just can’t be fixed by the law. I don’t believe that. I think that argument is a fraud. And I don’t think any serious believer can accept that argument without damaging his or her credibility. We still have more than a million abortions a year, and we can’t blame them all on Republican social policies. After all, it was a Democratic president, not a Republican, who vetoed the partial birth abortion ban – twice.

The truth is that for some Catholics, the abortion issue has never been a comfortable cause. It’s embarrassing. It’s not the kind of social justice they like to talk about. It interferes with their natural political alliances. And because the homicides involved in abortion are “little murders” – the kind of private, legally protected murders that kill conveniently unseen lives – it’s easy to look the other way.

The one genuinely new quality to Catholic arguments for Senator Obama is their packaging. Just as the abortion lobby fostered “Catholics for a Free Choice” to challenge Catholic teaching on abortion more than two decades ago, so supporters of Senator Obama have done something similar in seeking to neutralize the witness of bishops and the pro-life movement by offering a “Catholic” alternative to the Church’s priority on sanctity of life issues. I think it’s an intelligent strategy. I also think it’s wrong and often dishonest.

It’s curious that nobody seems to worry about the “separation of Church and state,” or religious interference in the public square, when the religious voices that speak up support a certain kind of candidate. In his book, Prof. Kmiec complains about the agenda and influence of what he terms RFPs – Republican Faith Partisans. But he also seems to pay them the highest kind of compliment: imitation. If RFPs are bad, is it unreasonable to assume that DFPs – Democratic Faith Partisans – are equally dangerous?

As I suggest throughout "Render Unto Caesar," it’s important for Catholics to be people of faith who pursue politics to achieve justice; not people of politics who use and misuse faith to achieve power. I have no doubt that Prof. Kmiec belongs to the former group. But I believe his arguments finally serve the latter.

For 35 years I’ve watched thousands of good Catholic laypeople, clergy and religious struggle to recover some form of legal protection for the unborn child. The abortion lobby has fought every compromise and every legal restriction on abortion, every step of the way. Apparently they believe in their convictions more than some of us Catholics believe in ours. And I think that’s an indictment of an entire generation of American Catholic leadership.

The abortion conflict has never simply been about repealing Roe v. Wade. And the many pro-lifers I know live a much deeper kind of discipleship than “single issue” politics. But they do understand that the cornerstone of Catholic social teaching is protecting human life from conception to natural death. They do understand that every other human right depends on the right to life. They did not and do not and will not give up – and they won’t be lied to.

So I think that people who claim that the abortion struggle is “lost” as a matter of law, or that supporting an outspoken defender of legal abortion is somehow “pro-life,” are not just wrong; they’re betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child. And I hope they know how to explain that, because someday they’ll be required to.

Before I conclude and we go to questions, let me say just a couple of things about ENDOW. When you’re a bishop, you meet a lot of very good people with very good ideas. You meet a lot fewer people who know how to make good ideas work, or who have the generosity, brains, stubbornness and endurance to lead and grow a good idea into a whole movement of good people who can make a much wider difference.

Betsy Considine, Marilyn Coors, Terry Polakovic and the other women who founded ENDOW are exactly that kind of leader. And the success of ENDOW is a testimony not just to their enthusiasm and hard work, but also to yours.

ENDOW succeeds because its message for women is true. ENDOW succeeds because in forming women in the truth of Jesus Christ, it serves the Church and opens the door to the most powerful kind of renewal – the kind that comes from a Christ-based friendship between husband and wife; the kind that comes from a family shaped by Christian love; the kind that comes from real Catholic leadership by lay and religious women in their communities, in business, in education, in medicine and in public life.

These are difficult times for our country. Even within our Church, the economy, the Iraq War, the life issues in general, and this election in particular, have created a deep spirit of conflict and anxiety. But I do believe Scripture when it tells us not to be afraid. God uses each of us to renew the world if we let him. The genius of women is their capacity to love; to blend talent, intelligence and energy with patience, understanding, and respect for the sacredness of life and compassion for others.

That’s the kind of leadership we need, in our communities of faith, in our public service and throughout our country. Whatever happens next month and in the years ahead, ENDOW will have a hand in sustaining and refreshing the heart of the Church. That’s not a bad achievement for an organization so young. I’m proud of your witness, proud of what you’ve accomplished and very, very grateful for your service to the Church.

10. Killing The Economy - Dennis Howard’s ‘Elephant In The Living Room’ – October 28, 2008

28 October 2008 Vol. 10 / No. 45

Abortion is an unspeakable crime, but it is also an economic disaster. The cost of abortion to the U.S. economy is measured in the trillions of dollars. Some analysts go further. They say it has cost us a recession.

Steven W. Mosher

KILLING THE ECONOMY: DENNIS HOWARD’S "ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM"

By Steve Mosher and Colin Mason

Although it would be simplistic to blame the current financial crisis on America's propensity for killing the unborn, it is equally simplistic to pretend, as many do, that the two have absolutely no correlation.

Demographic researcher Dennis Howard predicted the long-term economic consequences of abortion in his 1997 book, The Abortion Bomb: America's Demographic Disaster. He wrote, "I see little hope that we can avoid an eventual crash on Wall Street that will make the 1930’s look like cashing in your cards after a bad game of Monopoly."

Well, the S&P 500 has not quite reached the levels characteristic of the Great Depression, but the most recent charts are beginning to bear more than a passing resemblance to those of that era.

Howard, whose background is in market research and investigative reporting, has been tracking the effects of institutionalized abortion on the American economy since 1995, and predicted the downturn that we now find ourselves in. "No matter how you slice it," writes Howard in a 2008 piece entitled The $35 Trillion Elephant in the Living Room, "aggressive 'population control' exacts a huge price in future economic growth that can never be recovered. Indeed, it is a loss that reverberates through all future generations. Without an enormous new Baby Boom lasting another 40 or 50 years, that growth is lost forever."

" We don’t have a debt crisis," he continued, "we have a death crisis."

According to Howard, a conservative estimate of the GDP lost through abortion adds up to an incredible $35 trillion. If you further take into account the number of babies lost to abortifacient contraception like the pill, IUDs, and RU-486, that number doubles. "You can estimate the population shortfall based on earlier birth trends," said Howard in an interview with PRI, "and a normalization of that over a period of time." Howard bases his numbers on the direct economic contribution of individuals to the economy.

In so doing, he turns the overpopulation zeitgeist on its head. Instead of a "population bomb," he writes that we are facing an "abortion bomb." Unlike Ehrlich’s bogus predictions, Howard’s warnings have actually been coming true.

We are not speaking here of Howard’s timelines. For instance, he projected a 50% chance of a dramatic economic downturn by 2000, an 80% chance by the year 2010, and a 100% chance by 2020. By this time, he insisted, the crash would be an economic certainty.

While such a timeline is a little too loose to be considered a prediction, it is true that the birth dearth is making our current economic doldrums worse. To the various factors that have pushed us into the current economic crisis, from unscrupulous lending practices to homebuyers, to the lack of regulatory oversight of Wall Street, we must add abortion.

Another interesting insight from Howard has to do with America’s regional economies. During the economic downturn of 1989-1994, he found that the economy recovered the fastest in those states with low abortion rates. In fact, he asserts that "the low [abortion] rate states suffered virtually no recession at all, while those with the highest rates – mainly Democratic 'blue states' – were still in recession five years later."

How does Howard suggest reviving the economy at present? Educate people on the importance of babies – especially pro-lifers. Howard said to PRI that too often, pro-lifers fail to recognize "the complexity of this issue, and how serious and fundamental it is to our whole society." While he emphasizes the power of pro-life laws and regulations (mentioning the Hyde amendment specifically), far more important to him is the issue of education. "We have to educate the public," he says. "The problem is, most people are totally uneducated about what this is costing them, and costing the country."

This point is underscored in his article. "We need to restore real power to the people by making government more responsive to the needs of workers and families," he says. “We need to recognize that families are the fundamental social and economic unit of society for the simple, but profound, reason that they are the source of all supply and demand."

It takes considerable courage to make such arguments, as we at PRI well know. The ethic of abortion-on-demand continues to trump all efforts to engage in reasoned debate. Howard complains of a pervasive hostility presented by the demographic intelligentsia, culminating in a situation where "any pro-lifer who saw the connection between abortion and the world’s economic woes "was made to feel like a skunk at a garden party." We at PRI have noted this phenomenon, as well, in our own work. No matter how many facts, statistics and figures we can marshal to our cause, our arguments will always by dismissed out of hand by the pro-choice extremists.

The connection between robust birth rates and economic growth has long been ignored. Perhaps now, with the economy collapsing around us, these arguments can receive the hearing that they deserve.

Colin Mason is the Director of Media Production at PRI. Steven Mosher is the President of PRI.

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Media Contact: Colin Mason
Email: colin@pop.org
(540) 622-5240, ext. 209

PRI is a 501(c)(3) educational organization. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, lease go to our Donations Page. All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated.

The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation." Find us at www.pop.org.

PRI, PO Box 1559, Front Royal, VA 22630 USA Phone: 540-622-5240

Stem Cell Treatment for Eyes? In animal experiments, adult stem cells have shown a remarkable ability to target and repair damaged blood vessels in the eye. This is a key problem in diabetic eye disease and in macular degeneration. Now the Pfizer Company will be funding a new adult stem cell treatment by funding the creation of a San Diego biotech company named EyeCyte. It will be developing stem cell treatments. Researcher Martin Freelander stated, "It is unbelievable, these cells know where to go and they target the site of injury."

IPS Cells Now to Treat ALS? Researchers at Harvard and Columbia Universities have used the new pluripotent stem cells to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). This was done using the new technique of transforming skin cells into these IPS cells without having to kill five-day old embryos. Watch this one closely; it may be a landmark advance.

Quote of the Week – "If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either." – C.S. Lewis

Table Of Contents:
1. Vaud Debates Assisted Suicide In Nursing Homes
2. Down On The Transplantations
3. Poll: 85 Percent Say Negative Problems After Abortion Common For Women
4. "You'll Kill Patient Trust If You Let Doctors Help Suicides"
5. The Messy, Messy Business Of Birth Control
6. The Epidemic Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
7. Scranton Diocese Priests Read Abortion Position Letter To Parishioners
8. Young Prison Population A Serious Concern
9. 'Eugenic Abortion': With Pre-Natal Testing, 9 In 10 Down Syndrome Babies Aborted
10. Woman Says No To Aborting Down Syndrome Baby: 'He's A Human Being'
11. Okay To Rent Womb In India
12. Church Reiterates Position About Political Issues, Not Candidates

Focus On Children: "Global Hunger: Some Progress, Serious Concerns" – Despite significant progress in global efforts to reduce poverty, hundreds of millions of people across the world are still going to sleep hungry at night, according to a new study by a group of international food policy think tanks... The report identifies as many as 33 countries that have levels of hunger that are "alarming or extremely alarming." Most of those countries are located in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. http://us.oneworld.net/article/357974-global-hunger-some-progress-serious-concerns.

Item #1. Vaud Debates Assisted Suicide In Nursing Homes
The assisted suicide organisation Exit, which already helps terminally ill patients in a number of nursing homes, has launched a people's initiative to force a local debate on the issue – a Swiss first.

Swiss law tolerates assisted suicide when patients commit the act themselves and helpers have no direct interest in their death. Switzerland has five assisted suicide organisations, which help around 350 people each year.

In 2007 Exit carried out 245 assisted suicides by Swiss or foreign nationals living in Switzerland. Exit assists only Swiss residents and usually goes to them in their own homes.

But Lausanne and Geneva university hospitals and several nursing homes also allow assisted suicide on their premises. Out of the 66 assisted suicides in French-speaking Switzerland last year, five took place in old people's homes.

View full article at swissinfo.ch:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Vaud_debates_assisted_suicide_in_nursing_homes.html?siteSect=106&sid=9827035&cKey=1223561854000&ty=st
Item #2. Down On The Transplantations
In a remarkably candid article about organ donation in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), a doctor and a bioethicist make the unnerving observation that, in cases involving vital organs, many "donors" may not actually be dead at the time their organs are taken from them. While this statement corroborates the view of many pro-life groups, scientists, and physicians, it is likely to be news to the general public.

View full article at Touchstone:
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=21-08-046-c

Item #3. Poll: 85 Percent Say Negative Problems After Abortion Common For Women
A new poll conducted by a research institute that surveys how abortion affects women finds 85 percent of Americans say negative emotional problems after an abortion are common or very common. Several post-abortion researchers discussed the poll at a recent forum.

Item #4. "You'll Kill Patient Trust If You Let Doctors Help Suicides"
Physician-assisted suicide as a means of ending chronic illness and suffering threatens to destroy the relationship between doctors and patients, and would cause a moral crisis in the National Health Service, a leading specialist in palliative care has declared.

View full article at Times Online:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4923128.ece

Item #5. The Messy, Messy Business Of Birth Control
Today, about 70 percent of all teenagers have sex at least once before they turn twenty, resulting in more than 820,000 teenage pregnancies a year, just under a third of which end in abortion. These figures are down from their peak in the late 1980s, but they are still shockingly high. Meanwhile, casual sex and "serial monogamy" have become the cultural norms among college students and twenty-somethings, among whom the abortion rate remains above 30 percent. Only 59 percent of the adult population is now married; only 35 percent consider children an important component of marriage; and fewer than a third of all marriages reach their 25th anniversary.

To learn more see Ignatius Insight:
http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2008/10/the-messy-messy.html

Item #6. The Epidemic Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (or STDs) are at unprecedented and epidemic proportions. Thirty years of the sexual revolution is paying an ugly dividend. While a few STDs can be transmitted apart from sex acts, all are transmissible by the exchange of bodily fluids during intimate sexual contact. I want to discuss the severity of the problem as well as what must be done if we are to save a majority of the next generation from the shame, infertility, and sometimes death, that may result from STDs.

The information I am about to share is from data gathered by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health out of Austin, Texas. All of these statistics are readily available from reputable medical and scientific journals.

Today, there are approximately 25 STDs. A few can be fatal. Many women are living in fear of what their future may hold as a result of STD infection. It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 15 and 55 are currently infected with one or more STDs, and 12 million Americans are newly infected each year. That's nearly 5% of the entire population of the U.S. Of these new infections, 63% are in people less than 25 years old.

See the full article at Human Life Alliance:
http://www.humanlife.org/abstinence_epidemic_std.php

Item #7. Scranton Diocese Priests Read Abortion Position Letter To Parishioners
In a statement, Mr. Genello wrote that Bishop Martino is directing pastors to read the letter aloud and circulate it in bulletins this year "because of the confusion and public misrepresentations about Catholic teaching on the life issues, particularly abortion, that have surfaced in the last few months" -- an apparent reference to comments made by Catholic Democrats about the history of the church's position on abortion.

Item #9. 'Eugenic Abortion': With Pre-Natal Testing, 9 In 10 Down Syndrome Babies Aborted
In 1972, a year before the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion on demand nationwide, virtually all children with trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, were born. Less than a decade later, with the widespread availability of pre-natal genetic testing, as many as 90 percent of women whose babies were pre-natally diagnosed with the genetic condition chose to abort the child.

View entire text at CNSNews.com:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37421

Item #10. Woman Says No To Aborting Down Syndrome Baby: 'He's A Human Being'
Although Amanda Clarke was only 22 when she became pregnant with her first child, her obstetrician said she could be screened to see if her baby was at risk for Down syndrome and other genetic conditions. She said she agreed, feeling certain that a woman her age would bear a child free from disabilities.

Item #11. Okay To Rent Womb In India
Ever since her birth on July 25, the baby has been in a legal limbo because the Japanese couple – Mr Ikufumi Yamada, 45, and his wife Yuki Yamada, 41 – who had paid for the services of the surrogate mother, had divorced by then. While Mr Yamada wanted to keep the baby, his ex-wife did not want her any more.

Item #12. Church Reiterates Position About Political Issues, Not Candidates
The church identifies abortion as intrinsically evil, along with destruction of embryos, euthanasia, racism, torture, genocide, terrorism and war against innocent civilians.

"With the Iraq war, we had a debate and we didn't think it met criteria for a just war," Dixon said.

Dixon said on immigration, the church advocates a path to citizenship with a guest worker program.

You Can Change Society:
1. Be Informed: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray Daily: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
3. Become Involved: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues' Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp . To become a supportive Missionary participant for this project in Asia, kindly send your donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824).

Contact Editor: Jerry Novotny, OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; Tel/Fax: 088-843-0406; E-Mail:jerry@lifeissues.net.

Just the title of the story is enough to get any pro-life activist outraged, but that is just the beginning. The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery has a new, federally funded exhibit that, according to the museum's curator, "celebrates women who have challenged and changed America over the past century." The exhibit includes a section on Planned Parenthood founder, well-known racist, eugenics advocate and Nazi sympathizer Margaret Sanger.

"We are looking to represent individuals who have had a significant impact on the nation as a whole," said Ann Shumard, the museum's photography curator.

"This is outrageous," Jim Sedlak, director of STOPP, responded. "Sanger is portrayed as having a positive impact on society when she is probably the largest mass murderer in the history of the world."

It is outrageous that taxpayer money is being used to "celebrate" one of the world's leading supporters and advocates of eugenics. Margaret Sanger was not a woman to be celebrated. Her push to legalize birth control has led to horrendous evils such as abortion and an overall lack of respect for life. Please write to the Smithsonian (http://www.si.edu/contacts/) and demand that materials on Sanger be removed from the exhibit.

Quote of the Week – The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Lifeissues.net Newsletter #394 – October 26, 2008

Table Of Contents:
1. Abortion Boat Headed To Spain For Free Abortions Despite Legal Status
2. Controversy Follows Texas Bishops' Statement Against Pro-Abortion Rights Candidates
3. Family Planning The Natural Way
4. Down Syndrome Families Brought Into Sharp Focus
5. More People, Not Fewer From Abortions, Would Ease The Economic Crisis
6. Pope Reminds Doctors: Respect The Patient's Dignity
7. Terminating Down Syndrome Baby Typically Requires Gruesome D&E Procedure
8. 7 Sons Lay Hero Dad To Rest
9. American Idol Winner Defends Sexual Abstinence
10. Sexually Active Teenage Girls "Twice As Likely" To Suffer From Depression
11. Guttmacher Study Shows: Contraceptives Don't Reduce Abortion Rate
12. The Vindication Of Humanae Vitae

Focus On Children: "'Child Labour Free' Stamp No Guarantee" – There has been a significant decline in the number of children manufacturing soccer balls and other sporting equipment in India since the practice was brought to light in 1996 by a Delhi-based citizens group, but at least 5,000 children remain employed at minimal wages – often as indentured labourers – the organization says.

http://us.oneworld.net/article/357980-indian-sports-industry-no-childs-play-some

Item #1. Abortion Boat Headed To Spain For Free Abortions Despite Legal Status
The pro-abortion group Women on Waves is taking its dangerous abortion boat to Spain even though abortions are already legal there. Typically the organization goes only to nations where abortions are prohibited in order to do abortions or give women dangerous drugs to cause them.

Item #2. Controversy Follows Texas Bishops' Statement Against Pro-Abortion Rights Candidates
The Bishop of Dallas Kevin Farrell and the Bishop of Fort Worth Kevin Vann have issued a joint document concerning Catholics' political responsibilities, receiving significant reaction for insisting that there are no "truly grave" or "proportionate" moral reasons to vote for a pro-abortion rights candidate that can outweigh the intrinsic evil of the millions killed by legal abortion each year.

Item #3. Family Planning The Natural Way
Natural family planning is partly a method and partly a spiritual path. In one sense, it is simply fertility awareness, said Tim Roder, director of marriage and family at the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. But it has a spiritual side as well, rooted in the sense that God created human sexuality to work in a certain way, and that it is wrong for human beings to interfere or circumvent the process.

View article at pjstar.com:
http://www.pjstar.com/failth/x227790864/Family-planning-the-natural-way

Item #4. Down Syndrome Families Brought Into Sharp Focus
The parents of children who have Down syndrome say that raising a child with a disability can also unlock profound and uplifting truths about themselves, their children and the value of life in ways that others could never see.

View full article at Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091301034.html?hpid=topnews

Item #5. More People, Not Fewer From Abortions, Would Ease The Economic Crisis
Human reproduction produces valuable economic assets. Every baby comes equipped with a mind which, when educated, is capable of solving problems and learning valuable skills. And from the time of its arrival, it stimulates the economy, as parents go out and buy larger houses and larger cars to hold their burgeoning brood.

To learn more see LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int956.html

Item #6. Pope Reminds Doctors: Respect The Patient's Dignity
"Respect for human dignity, in fact, requires unconditional respect for each individual human being, born or unborn, healthy or sick, whatever their condition may be," Pope Benedict XVI told members of the Italian Surgical Society at an audience on October 20. He said that while modern medicine continues to advance in the treatment of the sick, it is essential to guard against "abandoning patients at the moment in which it is felt impossible to obtain appreciable results."

Item #7. Terminating Down Syndrome Baby Typically Requires Gruesome D&E Procedure
The test required to determine if a baby in the womb has trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, usually takes place between the 16th and 20th week of pregnancy. As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, studies show that 90 percent of women who receive that diagnosis choose to have an abortion, most typically a late-term D&E abortion that requires a woman's cervix to be dilated and the unborn child to be removed piece by piece.

Full article at CNS News:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37757

Item #8. 7 Sons Lay Hero Dad To Rest
A Father's Love: Vander Woude, 66, died while helping his youngest son, Joseph, 20, who has Down syndrome. Joseph fell through an old cover that gave way into a septic tank on their property. Vander Woude yelled to a workman to call 911 and jumped in, forcing himself past Joseph so that he could get underneath him to hold him up.

Item #9. American Idol Winner Defends Sexual Abstinence
During her interview with FOX News, Sparks admitted that it is difficult to be a young woman dedicated to sexual abstinence while being a part of the entertainment industry. "It's crazy being in Hollywood and making this kind of choice," she said. "You know, they're kind of just waiting to see if I mess up or something like that, so it is – it's hard... So now I really have to watch what I say, and whom I hang out with, where I go, all that kind of stuff. So it does get a little bit more added pressure."

Item #10. Sexually Active Teenage Girls "Twice As Likely" To Suffer From Depression
Research, which appeared recently in the Journal of Health Economics, has found that young girls who are sexually active often experience feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, regret and shame, and are far more likely to suffer from depression than those who remain chaste.

Item #11. Guttmacher Study Shows: Contraceptives Don't Reduce Abortion Rate
As if we needed any more proof, yet another study illustrates that the pro-abortionist contention that more contraceptives will reduce abortion is a lie. This one comes from the Guttmacher Institute, the propaganda arm of Planned Parenthood.

Item #12. The Vindication Of Humanae Vitae
Mohler elaborated: "I cannot imagine any development in human history, after the Fall, that has had a greater impact on human beings than the Pill... The entire horizon of the sexual act changes. I think there can be no question that the Pill gave incredible license to everything from adultery and affairs to premarital sex and within marriage to a separation of the sex act and procreation."

Who could deny that the predictions of Humanae Vitae and, by extension, of Catholic moral theology have been ratified with data and arguments that did not even exist in 1968?

You Can Change Society:
1. Be Informed: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray Daily: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
3. Become Involved: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues' Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp . To become a supportive Missionary participant for this project in Asia, kindly send your donations directly to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824).

Contact Editor: Jerry Novotny, OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; Tel/Fax: 088-843-0406; E-Mail: jerry@lifeissues.net.

13. Newspaper 'Suppressing' Obama Link To Anti-Israel Professor Jim Brown – October 29, 2008

Conservative author and counterterrorism expert Andy McCarthy is criticizing the Los Angeles Times for not releasing a 2003 videotape it obtained of Barack Obama giving a toast to an anti-Israel professor who formerly served as a spokesman for late PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

The LA Times is being accused of "suppressing" a 2003 tape of a farewell gathering in Chicago for then University of Chicago Mideast studies professor Rashid Khalidi, who is a long-time virulent critic of Israel and has justified Palestinian terrorist attacks against the Jewish state. Barack Obama paid a special tribute to Khalidi that night and noted that he and Michelle were frequent dinner companions of the Khalidi’s.

Former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn were also in attendance at the Khalidi bash. While Obama and Ayers served on the board of the left-wing Woods Fund together, they underwrote the Arab-American Action Network (AAAN) to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The anti-Israel group was started by Khalidi and his wife Mona.

Will the LA Times ever release the video of Barack Obama's special tribute to Rashid Khalidi?

Andy McCarthy, the chairman of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies and the legal affairs editor at National Review, says it is obvious why the LA Times is not releasing the tape of the Khalidi bash.

"If either John McCain or Sarah Palin or another prominent Republican or prominent conservative had been at a party, basically in honour of somebody who is a terror apologist, at which terrorists were front and center in attendance, one can't even imagine the thought that the mainstream media, including the LA Times, would not only release that tape but actually fill us for days if not weeks with story after story about the gory details of it," McCarthy contends.

This is yet another example, according to McCarthy, of the mainstream press "covering up" an event that is embarrassing and difficult for Obama to explain.

14. Palin On Faith, Prayer, Homosexual ‘Marriage’, And Abortion – October 20, 2008

Says she feels that in giving interviews with mainstream media “you set yourself up to just continually be mocked”

By Jonquil Frankham

Monday, October 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was interviewed this weekend by CBNews correspondent David Brody, answering a variety of questions on matters ranging from her Christian faith to her position on a federal constitutional marriage amendment that would define marriage as being between one man and one woman.

When questioned about the shots the mainstream media has been taking at her for her religious beliefs, Palin told Brody that her faith has “always been pretty personal and that was kind of a surprise in the last couple of months that people would misconstrue and spin anything that has to do with my faith or anybody else's and turn it into something to be mocked. That's very sad.”

“I don't think that there's anything that I can do about it,” the Alaskan senator admitted, adding “no matter what anybody says about it, I'm going to keep plugging away at this and I'm going to keep seeking God's guidance and His wisdom and His favour and His grace – for me, for my family, for this campaign, for our nation.”

Asked why she does not do interviews with the mainstream cable networks, Palin commented on the media “opaqueness” that “filters” and “contorts… a person’s words and intentions,” which “does more harm than good.” She says that this makes her campaign with presidential candidate John McCain more of a challenge, forcing them to travel “hard and fast and aggressively across the US to reach more people.” Palin said she feels that in giving interviews with mainstream media “you set yourself up to just continually be mocked.”

The governor, however, remains unapologetic about her faith. Saying she is concerned about the possible negative effects on her family of the various “political shots” they have been suffering in recent months, Palin asked for prayers for her family, as well as for “God’s hand of protection [to be]… continually over our land – His wisdom, His grace, His favour.” She also discussed her baptism, which occurred in her early teens: “I knew that there was something certainly bigger than I out there.”

”I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle all that was laid out in front of me in life if I did not have strong faith in my Creator,” said Palin.

Saying she “hadn’t really worn it [faith] on her sleeve,” Palin told Brody that it was more important to live faith rather than preach it: “As you're raised up out of the water it's like ‘hey world, this is my confession of faith that I'm going to try to lead, and live my life according to my belief that God as my Creator has good plans for all of us.’”
Palin demonstrated that she was equally unabashed about her ethical stances on controversial issues such as abortion and same-sex “marriage.” She told Brody she voted “along with the vast majority of Alaskans” to amend the Constitution, “defining marriage as between one man and one woman.” She hopes to take this initiative to the federal level as well, stating plainly, “I don’t support gay marriage.”

Palin also said that senator Barack Obama’s stance on abortion is “extreme – …it’s so, so far left that it’s way out of the mainstream.” She referred specifically to his opposition to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (which would provide legal protection to babies who had survived abortions), to parental consent for out-of-state under-age abortions, and a ban on partial birth abortions. His position, she asserts, is “appalling,” and “should be of concern to voters.”

15. Quote Of The Day – October 31, 2008

"The foundation of our society is (the) strong family, and that's based on that traditional definition of marriage." – Gov. Sarah Palin, GOP vice presidential hopeful.

16. The Canada Revenue Agency Warns Canadians Of Mail Scam – October 29, 2008

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information. The letter is not from the CRA. A PDF version of the letter is available on the CRA Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/alert.

The letter claims that there is “insufficient information” for the individual’s tax return and that in order to receive any “claims,” they will have to update their records. The letter attaches a form specifically requesting the individual’s personal information in writing, via fax or email, including information on bank accounts and passports. This letter is not from the CRA and Canadians should not provide their personal information to the sender.

All taxpayers should be vigilant when divulging any confidential information to third parties. The CRA has well-established practices to protect the confidentiality of taxpayers’ information.

For information about this and other similar scams, or to report deceptive telemarketing activity, visit www.phonebusters.com, send an email to info@phonebusters.com, or call 1-888-495-8501.

To get notification by email when news releases, fact sheets, tax tips, and tax alerts are added to our Web site, subscribe to our electronic mailing list. You can also subscribe to the Media room RSS feed.

On December 10th, radical pro-abortion groups will present petitions asking the UN General Assembly to make abortion a universally recognized human right.

We have initiated a petition drive that calls for governments to interpret the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as protecting the unborn child from abortion. Along with a coalition of pro-life groups from around the world, we will present our petitions at a press conference at UN headquarters.

So far, in only three weeks we have generated 46,417 names endorsing our petition; that is 15,000 a week! I now fully expect that we will present 100,000 names on December 10th, the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If you have not signed the petition, do so now HEREor by going directly to http://www.c-fam.org and clicking on the icon “UN Petition for the Unborn Child.” Then, after you have signed the petition, send this mail or one of your own to all of your family and friends!

If you have already signed the petition, send this email or one of your own to all of your family and friends and urge them to sign it.

What we are trying to do is create a real global Internet campaign that will shock the pro-abortion radicals at the UN on December 10th! To help you, the petition has been translated into 11 different languages and each can be found HERE or by going to http://www.c-fam.org

So, please act now. Go HEREor here http://www.c-fam.org and sign the petition. Then send this message or one of your own to all of your family and friends.

Austin Ruse
President
C-FAM

PS We absolutely must submit more names to the UN than the pro-abortion radicals. They are bigger, richer and stronger than we are. So, act now; sign the petition HEREor go here http://www.c-fam.org. And send this message to everyone you know!

With Halloween fast approaching comes a warning to parents and kids regarding Sherwood brand Pirate's Gold milk chocolate coins imported from China.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to eat, distribute or sell the candy.

It is sold across Canada by Costco and may also have been sold in bulk packages or as individual pieces at various dollar and bulk stores.

The chocolate contains melamine, which is the same chemical responsible for killing several babies in China, and sickening thousands more.

Campaign Life Coalition National Newsletter (Current)