Christian Action Commission

Land: Christians must battle barbarism

NEW ORLEANS (BP and local reports) — Civilization stands at a fork in the road and will either ascend to greater heights or tumble into barbarism unless Christians reassert the value of all human life and absolute moral truth, Richard Land told a Founder’s Day audience October 6 at New Orleans Seminary.

Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, said the future of civilization turns on two fundamental questions: Is moral truth real and knowable or is it merely a preference? A question of human value follows: Is mankind of value because of the essence of mankind, or only for what mankind can do?

These questions are at the heart of policy debates over abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and health care reform, said Land, who is scheduled to speak October 26 at …

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The Public Health Plan: A Pro-Life Non-Starter

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has posted on its Web site the health care reform bill they have been working on. It’s called the “Affordable Health Choices Act.” As promised, it contains a public health care option. The impact on other health insurance providers is reason enough to oppose a public health plan, but an even greater reason is the way it is going to undermine pro-life values.

The public plan’s immediate and long-term threat to pro-life values is what makes it a non-starter. The plan’s immediate threat to pro-life values is evident from its failure to provide any pro-life protections. There is no protection for health care providers who, due to their faith convictions, cannot provide abortion or abortion referrals. There is no protection for pharmacy owners or workers who cannot in good conscience dispense abortion drugs. There is no restriction on abortion, …

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Parent-child relationship further weakened with court order

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman of New York to order the FDA to make Plan B, post-intercourse contraceptives available to 17-year-old girls without a prescription from their doctor is one more example of the government believing it has the right to interpose itself between parents and their children. It is shameful that the Obama administration has decided it will not appeal this terrible federal court decision.

Allowing drugs with such powerful physiological and emotional effects to be sold over the counter to adults without a prescription, as has been the case since 2005, has no doubt had significant consequences, none of them good. The decision to allow such drugs to be marketed and sold to underage teenagers without a prescription is absolutely incredible. No good can come out of it.

This decision will certainly lead to increased rates of sexual activity for …

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Being a Pro-Life Church

Is your church pro-life? I mean really pro-life? As a body, are you encouraging each other to not only think in a pro-life way but also act in a pro-life way?

Undeniably, Christians have been the backbone of the pro-life movement since its inception. If more churches would harness their membership and organizational power on behalf of pro-life causes, however, perhaps the tide could be turned in America and we would once again live in a society that values every human life.

Let’s think about some practical ways your church members can be pro-life.

Teach your children

“Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls . . . teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road” (Deut. 11:18-19).

Explain to your children from an early age why human …

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Seventh in the Nation

The national organization, Americans United for Life (AUL), ranks our state seventh when it comes to protecting the unborn. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 decided that the right of privacy secured by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes a woman’s “fundamental right” to determine whether or not to end her pregnancy. Over the years, state legislatures have attempted to make changes to modify the force of this statute by providing protection for the unborn.

In the last several years Mississippi has made great strides in this long, slow process. In fact, the AUL states, “Mississippi exemplifies how women can be protected and the number of abortions drastically reduced through incremental legislation.” Mississippi has only one abortion clinic, and according to the AUL, the abortion rate has dropped more than 60 percent.

Sunday, January 20, 2008 is designated Sanctity of Human Life Sunday …

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Aborted Babies: The Memorial is Their Maker

Abortion! No word seems to have divided America more than this one word. Place all of the other words together that project images and no word is loaded with baggage like this word.  Some sing it as a fight song while others equate it to a freedom song.

In the midst of this struggle to have it one way or another (abortions or no abortions), some have suggested we should settle for simply having less abortions. At first glance, that seems reasonable. Think about crime for a moment. We realize that we cannot stop crime altogether, but we can reduce crime; therefore, we do all we can from neighborhood watches to hiring more policemen. We even applaud cities that reduce their crime rate by percentage points. While it sounds great, ask some politician to try and get elected on a platform to reduce murders in his/her city from …

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Calling All Pennies

The one-cent coin, commonly known as the penny, was the first currency authorized by the United States.  Benjamin Franklin suggested the first design. The penny derives its name from its British counterpart, the pence.

Pennies are plentiful. Since 1787, well over 300 billion pennies have been minted with eleven different designs. The first coins were one hundred percent copper. Paul Revere, the famous blacksmith, supplied some of the copper for the coins minted in the early 1790’s. Now due to the rising price of copper, the composition is 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.

Pennies are powerful. On December 10, 2006, the Boston Globe ran an article entitled “Powerful Pennies.” The article highlighted a high school that waged a “penny war,” collecting monies for a food pantry.  For years charitable organizations have used the collection of pennies to fund projects aimed at helping …

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Are We There Yet?

Every person who has traveled any distance with young children has heard them ask, “Are we there yet?” When the answer is “No,” the next question is, “When will we get there?” Those are some of the same questions we find ourselves answering in the Christian Action Commission. The phone rings and the caller inquires as to the number of pennies collected, and the first question is “Are we there yet?” Our response is “No,” and the following question is “How many do we lack?”

THANK YOU for calling and asking. We are not there yet but progress is being made. Every week, if not every day, more pennies are collected. Many churches and individuals are working as hard as ever to collect pennies for which we are grateful. It is also amazing that every week someone calls and says, “What is this penny project?” Or they say, …

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White Crosses Represent Fifty Million American Babies

We are approaching the 33rd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. Mired in controversy, Roe holds that a woman has a constitutionally protected right to choose abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. After thirty-three years, let us reflect on the fifty million babies whose hearts were beating but who were violently denied the chance to take their first breath. Fifty million children are alive today in the presence of Almighty God. Even as God knew Jeremiah before He created him in his mother’s womb, God knew each of these fifty million innocents, personally and intimately. Even as God had a purpose for Jeremiah’s life before he was born, God had a purpose for each of these precious infants. King David said in Psalm 139:13-14, “For you formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you for I am …

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Seeing is Believing: A Device That Determines if You Have a Heart

I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, “If it’s not a baby, you’re not pregnant!” Why is it that pro-choice proponents would have everyone to believe that a baby in the womb is not a baby? Recent technology advances are now making it more clear than ever before that “a person’s a person no matter how small.”(1) New four-dimensional ultrasound machines are being used to give expectant parents clear video footage before their little one is born. Like old ultrasound machines, the 4-D units produce images by bouncing waves off tissue. The test, often used to determine the baby’s gender, offers no risk to the mother or the baby. “The most surprising benefit of the new machine is the instant bond it builds between the mother and the unborn child.”(2) Expectant parents have been getting excited about ultrasounds for years. Many times, however, those fuzzy black and white images …

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