Pro-lifers are gathering at new Planned Parenthood for a rally Saturday morning at 10 am. Several local pro-life leaders have been scheduled to speak. The rally will be held to protest Planned Parenthood’s toxic presence near the West end of our fair city. This move is consistent with Planned Parenthood’s M.O. in other cities, where seventy-nine percent of other Planned Parenthood clinics serve low-income African-American communities.
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Are you ready for your teenage daughter to be drafted into a combat role?
I said that this could happen, and now it has. The Army and Marine Corps chiefs are calling for women to register for the draft. The Washington Post reports: The top officers in the Army and Marine Corps testified on Tuesday that they believe it is time for women to register for future military drafts, following the Pentagon’s recent decision to open all jobs in combat units to female service members. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chief of staff of the Army, and Gen. Robert B. Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, both said they were in favor of the change during an occasionally contentious Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the forthcoming…
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Who is going to win the Iowa caucuses and the GOP nomination?
A lot of folks have asked me who I think will win the Iowa caucuses and the Republican nomination. My short answer about Iowa is that I don’t know. My long answer is that if the polling trends are correct, Trump will win. If there is a low overall turnout and high evangelical turnout, Cruz will squeak past Trump and win—especially if Rubio’s surge has indeed plateaued. My short answer about the GOP nomination is that it depends. I expect Santorum and Huckabee to drop out of the race after Iowa. Other candidates will drop out after New Hampshire and South Carolina. The sooner the field winnows, the sooner we’ll…
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My thoughts on the last debate before Iowa caucuses
Just a quick note on the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses. I think Gov. Jeb Bush had his best night, and I know I’m not the only one who is thinking about what might have been had Donald Trump not been in this race. But Trump is in the race, and he has sucked all the proverbial air out of the room. Some would see this as a show of strength. But I don’t see it that way. It’s a show of insult and bravado. Michael Gerson is right: Days away from the first votes of the presidential nomination process, the prohibitive Republican front-runner is successfully applying the…
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The “Rubio or Bust” Theory
Readers of this blog know what I regard to be the transcendent moral issues of our time–the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage, and religious liberty. I have views on national security, the economy, etc., but those first three items are the biggies as far as I’m concerned. And there is more than one presidential candidate in the field who would do reasonably well on each of those issues. So please do not construe what follows as an endorsement, because it’s not. I am not going to endorse a candidate–mainly because I’m a pastor and I don’t want to give the impression that you have to vote for…
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A younger generation will rightly sit in judgment on ours
Your must-read piece on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is from Frederica Mathewes-Greene. It is stunning, tragic, and wonderful. I give you just the conclusion here, but you must read the whole thing. She writes: The pro-life cause is perennially unpopular, and pro-lifers get used to being misrepresented and wrongly accused. There are only a limited number of people who are going to be brave enough to stand up on the side of an unpopular cause. But sometimes a cause is so urgent, is so dramatically clear, that it’s worth it. What cause could be more outrageous than violence — fatal violence — against the most helpless members of…
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What was wrong with Trump’s appearance at Liberty
Perhaps the best way to explain what went wrong with Donald Trump’s appearance at Liberty University earlier today is to clarify what wasn’t wrong with it (watch above). There’s nothing wrong per se with a Christian university hosting a presidential candidate for a speech on their campus. In a university setting—even in a Christian one—a speech need not equal an endorsement. If other candidates are given equal access and if it is clear how such a visit might contribute to robust Christian thinking and conviction, there is no necessary offense in this. In fact, it could be a win. There’s nothing wrong per se with a Christian university hosting a…
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Leader Nancy Pelosi is not morally serious
Melinda Henneberger published an interview with Leader Nancy Pelosi two days ago in which Henneberger actually presses Pelosi about funding for Planned Parenthood. In response, Pelosi committs a number of howlers. 1. Pelosi indicates that she has never taken the time to actually watch the undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress (see above). I’m sorry. But if you haven’t taken the time to watch the videos by now, you have forfeited your right to criticize them. 2. Pelosi also claims that the videos were “doctored” (see above). When Henneberger presents Pelosi with evidence that the integrity of the videos have been verified by Planned Parenthood’s own investigators, Pelosi…
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A religious test for conservative Christians in academia
In terms of cultural influence, there is hardly any group more consequential than the faculty members of elite universities. They have an incalculable impact on emerging generations of leaders in business and politics and other fields that define our national life. How do they come to this position of influence? The first and most important qualification is the Ph.D. degree. Who determines who gets Ph.D.’s in our country? Little groups of faculty members meeting in little rooms determine who gets into the programs and thus who will comprise the future faculties of our nation’s colleges and universities. How do these committees do their work?
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When transgenderism hurts children
Many people treat gender identity conflicts and sexual orientation as if they are the same. If a sexual orientation is something you are born with and is thus immutable (a claim I would contest as a Christian), then gender identity must work the same way. It’s something you’re born with and can’t be changed. If therefore a child embraces a gender identity at odds with his/her biological sex, then it would be harmful and wrong to try and change that gender identity to align with the child’s biological sex. It would be harmful and wrong in the same way that trying to change sexual orientation is harmful and wrong. Because…