According to a recent book by a professor at the University of Colorado, animals have a sense of morality just as humans do. In essence, the book says that “different species of animals appear to have an innate sense of fairness, display empathy and help other animals that are in distress.” The book is newsworthy not merely because it contradicts the age-old assumption that only humans can tell right from wrong, but also because it lays the ethical groundwork for extending human rights to animals. The U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper reports it this way: “His conclusions will provide ammunition for animal welfare groups pushing to have animals treated more humanely.” I…
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Obama Fails To Transcend Abortion Debate
I watched President Obama’s commencement speech at Notre Dame with some interest this afternoon (see video and transcript below). I was curious (along with everyone else in the country) about how he would address the protests surrounding his appearance at a Roman Catholic (and ostensibly pro-life) university. The buzz leading-up to the speech was that the President would address the issue head-on while attempting to transcend the old “culture war” debates about abortion.
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Americans More Pro-Life Than Ever?
For the first time since Gallup began tracking this issue in 1995, more Americans now identify themselves as pro-life (51%) than those who identify themselves as pro-choice (42%). Gallup says that the “bottom line” of their survey is this: ‘With the first pro-choice president in eight years already making changes to the nation’s policies on funding abortion overseas, expressing his support for the Freedom of Choice Act, and moving toward rescinding federal job protections for medical workers who refuse to participate in abortion procedures, Americans — and, in particular, Republicans — seem to be taking a step back from the pro-choice position. However, the retreat is evident among political moderates…
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Violence at Notre Dame
James Kushiner of Touchstone magazine talks about the violence that we can expect to see during the protests of President Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday. He writes, ‘When it comes to whatever number of people protesting at Notre Dame, the right image is not that of Vietnam War protesters or those people that show up at the various global economy “summits”, and certainly not the PETA people. It’s not there won’t be violence–there will be violence, but it won’t be on the part of protesters, though they will be accused of angry hatred. The violence will be seen in the pictures some of them…
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Albert Mohler on Gender Confusion in the Culture
There was an editorial in the New York Times on Sunday that is a virtual case-study of the gender confusion that pervades our culture. Dr. Albert Mohler has an insightful riposte that is worth the read. He writes: “The world we know is a world increasingly in revolt against the idea that gender is assigned by our Creator and is thus a fixed category. . . “The Christian worldview is clear at this point. The Bible presents gender as part of the goodness of creation. God reveals his glory in every aspect of creation, and this is abundantly true with respect to the two sexes. God glorifies himself in creating…
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Al Mohler on the ‘Swine’ Flu
On his radio program yesterday, Dr. Albert Mohler talked about how Christians should respond to the potential ‘Swine’ flu pandemic. You can download the audio here or listen to it below. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/totl/2009/AMP_04_28_2009.mp3] The interesting thing about this discussion is that Dr. Mohler compares the current threat with how Christians in previous eras dealt with plagues. The comparison is apt and one that we should all be thinking about from a biblical perspective.
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Another Outrage from Planned Parenthood
Lila Rose is a 20-year old college student at UCLA. She has the voice of a 14-year old, but she has an ingenious plan to expose Planned Parenthood’s serial abuse of vulnerable young girls who are pregnant. Rose produces undercover videos in which she poses as an underage teen seeking an abortion from Planned Parenthood. Recently, she was featured in a front-page story in the LA Times. Watch the video, and read the article. Unbelievable.
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A Clarification about Plan B
The FDA announced this week that it will allow “Plan B” contraceptive pills to be sold without a prescription to girls as young as 17 years old. You can read the announcement here. Earlier this morning I read the New York Times‘s editorial about the decision and was miffed that the editors implied that there were no human life concerns when it comes to the use of the Plan B pills. The editors say that Plan B merely “blocks” or “prevents” pregnancies. Such language might appear to some to be saying that human life is not endangered by the use of this drug. But nothing could be further from the…
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Maggie Gallagher Critiques Rick Warren
Maggie Gallagher has a sharp critique of Rick Warren’s recent appearance on “Larry King Live.” She writes: ‘Many religious people and groups will bow to, if not exactly endorse, the power of gay activists. Witness Rev. Rick Warren, who on “Larry King Live” this week came very close to recanting his support for Proposition 8. Rick did not quite do so. What he did, instead, is what many good people will do in the face of the massive campaign of intimidation and harassment designed to silence Christians and others of good will who support marriage: He dodged. Rick said, more or less: I am not now and never have been…
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Vermont Legalizes Same-Sex “Marriage”
Vermont has just become the fourth state to legalize same-sex “marriage” (read here). This is significant not just because the state has redefined “marriage,” but also because of how it was done. The other three states that have legalized these unions (Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa) have done so through the courts. And in each of those cases, same-sex “marriage” opponents can argue that judicial activism rather than democracy produced the result. This is not the case in Vermont. The elected representatives of the people of Vermont overwhelmingly voted to override the governor’s veto to make this happen. It’s also important to note this. Not only are we seeing marriage redefined,…