LifeSiteNews.com

Tuesday December 2, 2003

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print ArticlePrint


     

Polygamists' Bigamy Convictions Challenged In Light of Texas Sodomy Ruling

SALT LAKE CITY, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Tom Green, a polygamist in Utah with five wives, argued at the Utah State Court Monday that his bigamy convictions should be overturned based on the U.S. Supreme Court decision against the Texas sodomy law. In a related case, Rodney Holm, who has three wives and 21 children will argue that Supreme Court decision in the Texas case throws the constitutionality of Utah's bigamy law into question.

Green's lawyer John Bucher noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that what homosexuals do in the privacy of their own homes does not concern government. "It doesn't bother anyone, (and with) no compelling state interest in what you do in your own home with consenting adults, you should be allowed to do so," Bucher said applying the same argument to his client's case.

The argument is compelling and demonstrates the veracity of the warnings conservative lawmakers and faith and family groups have been making against the institutional sanction of homosexual unions. In fact, some advocates of traditional marriage have noted that polygamy is more defensible than homosexual 'marriage'. Maggie Gallagher of MarriageDebate.com argued this summer that "Polygamy is not worse than gay marriage, it is better. At least polygamy, for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children."

The state seems at a loss for a counter argument and is asking the court to disallow the appeal based on Green's failure to raise the issue at trial. Green has been convicted and is serving time on a host of other charges including child rape for having sex with one of his 'wives' while she was 13, and criminal non-support of his 30 children.

See Gallagher's column in National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gallagher07140...

See the AP coverage of the Utah cases:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1201prosecutingpolyga...

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Canadian Bishops Object to Making Abortifacient Morning After Pill Over-the-Counter

Say Women Have a Right to Know 'Emergency Contraception' Can Cause Abortion

OTTAWA, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Writing on behalf of the pro-life arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Baie Comeau Bishop Pierre Morissette sent concerns to Health Minister Anne McLellan Thursday over the Government's plan to allow the morning after pill over the counter in pharmacies.

Bishop Morissette, the Chairperson of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), told the Health Minister that it is "inaccurate to refer to this pill as emergency contraception, given its potential to act as an abortifacient." He continued, "Women have a right to know that what is described as "emergency contraception" may in reality be a form of early abortion."

The letter concludes, "Given that the morning after pill may act as an abortifacient, and because it may pose physical risks to women without in any way addressing the emotional and psychological distress they may be experiencing, we ask you to reconsider the proposal to make the morning after pill available 'over the counter'. How can it possibly be in the best interests of Canadian women to make this pill widely available without accurate information from Health Canada and without adequate safeguards for women and their unborn children."

See the full COLF letter at:
http://colf.cccb.ca/PublicStatements.htm?CD=&ID=489

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Catholic Bishops Apply to Intervene in Canadian Supreme Court Reference on Homosexual 'Marriage'

Evangelical, Islamic and Catholic Groups Also Intervene

OTTAWA, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has applied for leave to intervene in the Supreme Court of Canada reference from the federal government on its proposed same-sex marriage legislation.

The CCCB notice of motion argues that the proposed legislation would establish a social and moral order that would threaten freedom of conscience and religion. "If Canadian law would compel that intimate sexual relations at the core of same-sex unions be shown the same public respect and approval as sexual relations at the core of heterosexual marriages," says the CCCB, "a risk is created that those who believe and publicly support the premise that homosexual sexual conduct is immoral, could be considered as anti-gay, homophobic, intolerant and no better than racists."

The brief warns, "Once this social and moral orthodoxy is established, it becomes but a small step to remove charitable status and other public benefits from individuals, religious groups, or affiliated charities who publicly teach or espouse views contrary to this orthodoxy. It adds legitimacy to the charge [which is also being made] that those who teach or espouse these views are hate-mongers."

The CCCB application also argues that the current definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman is constitutional and that there is an obvious and compelling state interest in the institution of marriage which is the creation and nurturing of the next generation of citizens.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), the Catholic Civil Rights League and the Islamic Society of North America have also sought to intervene in the case jointly as the 'Interfaith Coalition'. The Interfaith Coalition strongly argues that redefining marriage to include same-sex couples is not required by the Charter and will have a profound impact on clergy and religious institutions. The Memorandum of Argument states: "Clergy in many denominations and religious faiths are, by their religious principles, unable and unwilling to solemnize marriages between persons of the same sex. Similarly, millions of Canadians, represented by the Interfaith Coalition, by their religious principles, are unable to recognize same-sex unions as marriages."

The full text of the CCCB application and that of the Interfaith Coalition may be found at:
http://www.cccb.ca/Files/application_to_intervene.pdf
http://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/resources/resource_viewe...

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Philosopher-Author Alice Von Hildebrand Reveals Sinister Roots of Feminism

NEW YORK, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Philosopher and author Alice Von Hildebrand, wife of famed philosopher Dietrich Von Hildebrand, has authored a book entitled "The Privilege of Being a Woman." In an interview with Zenit News last week, Von Hildebrand laid out the roots of feminism, pointing out that it attacks femininity.

"The poison of secularism has penetrated deeply into our society. It did so by stages. Men were its first victims: They became more and more convinced that in order to be someone they had to succeed in the world. Success means money, power, fame, recognition, creativity, inventiveness, etc. Many of them sacrificed their family life in order to achieve this goal: They came home just to relax or have fun. Work was the serious part of their life," she told Zenit.

Of feminism Von Hildebrand says, "The amazing thing is that feminism, instead of making women more profoundly aware of the beauty and dignity of their role as wives, as mothers, and of the spiritual power that they can exercise over their husbands, convinced them that they, too, had to adopt a secularist mentality: They, too, should enter the work force; they, too, should prove to themselves that they were someone by getting diplomas, competing with men in the work market, showing that they were their equals and -- when given opportunities -- could outsmart them. They let themselves become convinced that femininity meant weakness. They started to look down upon virtues -- such as patience, selflessness, self-giving, tenderness -- and aimed at becoming like men in all things."

For the complete Zenit interview see:
http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=45243

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Jury Convicts Abortionist Finkel on 24 Counts of Sexual Abuse

PHOENIX, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Abortionist Brian Finkel, who was in years past acclaimed as a "national hero" by the pro-abortion movement for his 'courageous' stand against pro-lifers, has been convicted of 24 counts of sexual abuse. Finkel was on trial for 60 counts of sexual assault and abuse of 35 women in his abortion clinic since 1986. He was acquitted of 34 counts including all sexual assault charges.

A darling of the pro-abortion movement, Finkel was famous for patrolling his now-closed abortuary in a bulletproof vest and holstered gun taunting pro-life picketers, calling them 'religious racketeers,' and 'mean-spirited, hate-filled Christians engaged in guerrilla warfare'. Reports say Finkel "relished being on the front lines of the abortion battle, terminating more than 20,000 pregnancies in 20 years and proud of it."

See local coverage:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1202Finkel02-ON.html

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Blood, Not Babies, Viable Source for Stem Cells

LONDON, UK, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new technique developed by a British biotech company has determined that blood itself, not necessarily harvested from babies, may be the best source of stem-cell-like cells. Stem cell research is a relatively new development in medicine. They are undifferentiated cells, which means they can be transformed into cells ordered to almost any bodily tissue. They may aid in the repair and regeneration of tissues previously thought irreparable; for instance, the brain in Parkinson's disease, or heart tissue in heart attack sufferers, and so on.

Research to date has incorporated both adult and fetal sources of stem cells. Although studies involving fetal stem cells have generally yielded poor results when compared with studies involving adult stem cells, experiments utilizing stem cells from aborted babies are ongoing. While adult stem cells have successfully treated patients, fetal stem cells used in experiments with human patients have caused sometimes fatal damage to the human subjects of those experiments.

TriStem, a UK company, has used a new procedure to turn the white blood cells of mice into the blood-generating cells found in bone marrow. Their research will appear in the January, 2004, edition of the Current Medical Research and Opinion (vol 20, p 87). The implications for human blood cells are obvious. An individual's own normal white blood cells may revert back to stem-cell-like cells.

Read article published in New Scientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994418

Back to Top Back to Top


     

Religious Freedom of Students at Stake as U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Scholarship Case

ANN ARBOR, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a significant case involving the religious freedom of college students who receive state scholarships. The case grew out of a dispute between Joshua Davey, the recipient of a state scholarship, and the state of Washington after Davey chose Pastoral Ministry as a double major along with Business Management/Administration. Because he chose to study Pastoral Ministry, Davey was stripped of his state scholarship.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan filed a brief in support of Davey because it is involved in a similar case pending against Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm on behalf of Ave Maria College student Teresa M. Becker. Becker, who had been receiving financial assistance through Michigan's Competitive Scholarship Program for the past two years, was stripped of that scholarship when she declared a major in Theology. At issue in the Michigan case is a state statute that expressly prohibits distribution of scholarship funds to students who major in "theology, divinity or religious education". A federal district judge ruled in July that Michigan's law constitutes "unlawful viewpoint discrimination" and that Becker will likely win her case pending the decision of the Supreme Court in the upcoming Davey case.

The Law Center brief filed in the Davey case with the Supreme Court argued that the State of Washington's policy wrongly disqualifies students from receiving scholarship funds if they choose to major in theology taught in a way the State of Washington deems unacceptable. The brief further pointed out that this view rests upon an arbitrary and perverse assumption that the few thousand dollars a student receives will be used to pay for Theology instruction-as opposed to the countless secular expenses a student incurs in pursuing their undergraduate degree.

See the ABC coverage of the case:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20031202_951.html

Back to Top Back to Top


     

One in Three Girls, One in Six Boys Victim of Childhood Sexual Abuse Says Study

MONTREAL, December 2, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One in three girls, and one in six boys are victims of sexual abuse according to a study. The statistics are based on studies of childhood sexual abuse in the U.S. and Canada over the past 20 years, as reported to The Montreal Gazette by professor of psychology Marc Tourigny of the University of Sherbrooke.

Also, when surveyed about knowledge and perceptions of incest and sexual abuse of children, 982 Quebecers polled on the subject estimated the incidence of abuse to be approximately 40 percent.

It is hard to quantify accurately the incidence of incest versus other types of abuse, says Marie-Josee Leroux, as the victims are usually younger and less likely to report the abuse. Leroux is executive director of the Marie Vincent Foundation, which commissioned the poll. The Montreal organization for the prevention of child abuse made the poll results public in November.

The CROP poll, a telephone survey of 982 adult Quebecers, also revealed that Quebecers are more willing to talk about incest and expose members of their own family who had abused them sexually as children, compared with other surveys conducted in the past.

While not denying the harsh reality of childhood sexual abuse, pro-family experts have often urged caution in the past about such studies. There has been a tendency to sometimes exaggerate the extent of abuse in order to create a climate for more interference in family life by government.

Read further coverage from The Gazette at:
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=...

Back to Top Back to Top


     

LifeSite NewsBytes

Australian Government Works to 'Keep Christ in Christmas'
Multicultural Affairs Minister Gary Hardgrave says of Christian traditional Christmas, "We should get out there and flaunt it rather than having people retreat from it."
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8028671%255E421,...

Christmas Returns to Schools?
http://www.fotf.ca/familyfacts/tfn/2003/120203.html

Economy-Destroying Kyoto Protocol on 'Global Warming' Dies From Lack of Support
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/12/2/121957.sh...

Pro-Family Leader Calls for World AIDS Day to Focus on Prevention Successes
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/afa/22003f.asp

Catholic Organization Heads to California Supreme Court to Fight For the Right to Stand by its Convictions.
Catholic Charities sued the Golden State because the organization was not exempted from new laws mandating all insurance policies cover contraceptives. Organization officials say they've been placed in the impossible position of having to choose between Church teachings and state law.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0029049.cfm

Encroaching Under-population Woes in Scotland Prompt Offers of $10K to Have a Child
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/international/europe/30SCO...

Pope John Paul to see Mel Gibson Movie reports The Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=136817...

Mel Gibson, Feminist
One of the truths in The Passion of Christ.
http://www.nationalreview.com/lopez/lopez200312020843.asp

Citizen Columnist David Warren on Larry Spencer - A man ahead of his time
"In my own experience, the lobbying and propagandizing for what its exponents call "gay rights" has been very impressive. It had to be, to succeed -- for when the activists claim that our society was formerly "homophobic", they are telling the truth. It took a tremendous amount of clever manoeuvring to cover the political distance of the last forty years -- to move a huge chunk of society from an unthinking homophobia to an equally unthinking homophilia. To turn a moral objection into moral approval."
http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/SunSpec/Nov03/index102.shtm...

Another view of the 'Larry Spencer' affair
Is there actually a gay agenda? Emphatically, yes!
But don't psychiatrists say homosexuality is normal? No, they don't.
What has also been excluded from discussion is any consideration of the actual behaviors involved. It's ironic that, if I were to describe them here, this essay would not be published by any newspaper.
http://www.chp.ca/CHPNews/spencer031129.htm

Robert Latimer who killed his 12-year-old disabled daughter transferred to minimum security jail
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story.asp?id=3A766C56-1...

Anglican Catholic Unity Talks Break Down over Homosexual Bishop and Homosexual Unions
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$UYKXNINELVIXPQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2003/12/01/nchur01.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/12/01/ixportal.html

Free Condom machines to be as popular as water dispensers in Washington
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26814-2003Dec...

Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=716&...

Who Will Write the New Conservatives Party's Platform?
Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson says "Early returns from the weekend's delegate-selection meetings suggest that Progressive Conservatives across the country have emphatically endorsed the proposal to merge with the Canadian Alliance."
"Unfortunately, the new party's inaugural policy conference is not scheduled to occur until after the election, which means its platform will have to be crafted exclusively by the leader and his advisers. The Conservative Party of Canada will have the most elite-driven agenda of any major party in the election campaign."
"During the leadership campaign, Stephen Harper, Jim Prentice, Peter MacKay and whoever else runs will have to spell out where they stand on the issues that currently divide the two parties. The winner's platform will, in effect, become the party platform."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/L...

Canadian Thought Police on the March - National Review
Look at what's happening in Canada. If we don't watch out, we're next.
Professor of constitutional law at the University of Western Ontario says, "Canada now is a totalitarian theocracy. I see this as a country ruled today by what I would describe as a secular state religion [of political correctness]. Anything that is regarded as heresy or blasphemy is not tolerated."
A great deal more censorship in Canada seems inevitable. For example, British Columbia's extremely broad hate-speech law prohibits the publication of any statement that "indicates" discrimination or that is "likely" to expose a person or group or class of persons to hatred or contempt. The Canadian thought police are on the march. Hopefully, it is not too late to stop them.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bernstein200312020910....

Canadian SARS quarantines were 'Draconian,' study says
Now that authorities know that SARS is not easily spread among people, and methods for preventing transmission are better understood, the study argues, authorities should prepare different strategies, such as isolating people in their homes only once they begin showing symptoms.
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031202.wsa...

Bagram GI: Troops Waited While Hillary Chowed Down
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/12/2/11616.shtml

Gay Group Admits AIDS Culpability
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0029048.cfm

Questions and Answers: What's Wrong With Letting Same-Sex Couples "Marry?"
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IF03H01&f=PG03I03

Conservatives Must Fight to Protect Marriage
It's not just liberals who need convincing that homosexual "marriage" is a problem. A few misguided conservatives are now proffering the argument that America should embrace same-sex "marriage" because the institution of marriage, no matter the gender of the partners, inherently makes people better and more stable. That may sound nice, but it is simply not true.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU03L02

Back to Top Back to Top

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print ArticlePrint

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any Internet re-publishing of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.