Politics
Friday January 14, 2005
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Print- Alberta MP Says Tell MPs You Won’t Vote For Them if They Support Same-Sex Marriage
- The Da Vinci Code – LifeSiteNews.com Analysis Exposes Real Purpose of Book
- United Nations Grants National Abortion Federation NGO Status
- Italy Likely to Gut Pro-Life Elements of IVF Law by Referendum
- Catholic Sault Ste Marie MP Announces Support for Same Sex Marriage
- Catholic Bishop of London Issues a “Call to Action” on Homosexual “Marriage”
- Winnipeg Archbishop Defends Family and Democracy in Pastoral Letter
- Judge Rules Against Science Book Sticker Saying Evolution is a Theory
- Secret Documents Show Health Canada Investigating Provinces on Abortion Provision
- LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes - January 14, 2005
Alberta MP Says Tell MPs You Won’t Vote For Them if They Support Same-Sex Marriage
TODAY'S HEADLINES
LLOYDMINSTER, Alberta, January 13, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Leon Benoit, Conservative MP for Vegreville—Wainwright in Alberta, emphasized the strategy that is most likely to motivate MPs to change their minds about supporting the federal government’s marriage redefinition bill.
The Lloydminster Meridian Booster reports that at his Jan 3rd Fight For Marriage Rally the pro-family MP stated, “The most effective way to change a Member of Parliament’s mind, or get them to listen, is to have people who live in the constituency to write directly to their MP stating their position, and saying ‘if you don’t support me on this issue, I won’t vote for you in the next election.’”
The local paper reported that Benoit also said that to block the legislation, Canadians need to change the minds of 20 MPs who would currently vote for the same-sex legislation. The MP asked local citizens to encourage people across Canada to write, call and email their MPs.
The Alberta MP acknowledged that this was going to require a lot of work. He also encouraged everyone to write to the Prime Minister and insist that he allow a completely free vote on the bill. The Prime Minister has announced that he has ordered the large number of MPs in his cabinet to vote for the bill, regardless of their personal beliefs or that of the constituents who elected them as their representative.
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Back to TopThe Da Vinci Code – LifeSiteNews.com Analysis Exposes Real Purpose of Book
January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – There have been numerous books and articles written about author Dan Brown’s best seller fictional novel masquerading as a factual expose of supposed dark secrets of Christianity and especially Roman Catholicism. The Da Vinci Code has sold an astonishing 12 million copies worldwide to date and is set to be made into a major Hollywood movie. Alarmingly, many readers have been taking its outrageous, if not vicious anti-Christian claims of fact seriously.
The massive interest in the book and uncritical acceptance of its claims by readers that he talked to motivated Christendom College student John Jalsevac to conduct his own research on The Code and its popularity and influence. Jalsevac soon came to conclusions he felt compelled to share and which were somewhat different than written in articles to date. The result is today’s LifeSiteNews.com Special Report, “The Da Vinci Code: Hoodwinking the World”.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the controversy, still unsure about it or inclined to accept many of The Code's supposed "facts", this analysis will be most useful.
Young John Jalsevac cuts to the chase and tells it straight up. He tells us about a central character who reflects the author’s cynical views on history and the possibility of knowing truth. He explains why many readers are taking the novel’s impossible claims seriously. Jalsevac also explains why believers of any religion should be concerned about the book’s influence but also why in the end, the whole controversy could, unintentionally for the author, produce positive results.
Finally, John reveals what he sees is the obvious real purpose of the novel that readers should be alerted to and seriously question.
See today’s LifeSiteNews.com Special Report
“The Da Vinci Code: Hoodwinking the World”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/050114a.html
Offer: For a donation of $30 or more LifeSiteNews.com will send you a professionally recorded CD of a talk on the book from a Catholic perspective by Fr. William Slattery. Just mention in the comments section of your donation that you would like a copy of The Da Vinci Code: Truth or Hoax.
To donate see http://www.lifesite.net/contribute/
United Nations Grants National Abortion Federation NGO Status
NEW YORK, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United Nations Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) recommended 22 new NGOs for consultative status last week, including the US National Abortion Federation (NAF).
The new status means that NAF will have a greater voice at the UN: organizations that have consultative status can attend meetings of the Council, circulate statements, speak at meetings and propose items for the Council’s agenda.
The NAF revealed its low level of morality with its 1994 “soap campaign”. At a NAF conference that year, a woman stood up to introduce the "campaign," explaining to the assembled pro-abortion women that "when you sleep with your senators and your congressmen, you take a bar of soap... and when it comes time for him to vote, you mail him the soap from that hotel and you remind him of where his vote needs to be."
The NAF was instrumental in blocking the implementation of US President George W. Bush’s partial-birth abortion ban. In 2002, Life Dynamics Inc. exposed a partnership between the National Abortion Federation and men who sexually abuse underage girls.
In 2001, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) launched a $2 million ad campaign to promote the abortion drug RU-486 in popular women’s magazines.
A representative of the Holy See opposed the NGO status of the NAF, stating that no human right to abortion existed and that abortion contradicted the essence of the human rights to life. The United Nations did not support or promote abortion as a method of family planning, he said, and the Committee should, therefore, question its current policy on abortions to ensure that its activities did not erode the most fundamental human right to life.
Meanwhile, Feminists for Life of America, a national organization trying to secure, through non-violent means, the basic human right to life for all people from conception until natural death, was also granted NGO status.
Germany and Cuba voiced objections to the Feminists for Life inclusion as an NGO, arguing that there should be a “level playing field” in the Committee regarding applications from organizations that dealt with reproductive rights.
Considering the large number of pro-abortion NGOs and the UN’s general strong support for abortion and population control, there is anything but a “level playing field” at the UN when it comes to life issues.
See related LifeSiteNews.com report:
Pro-Abortion Feminist Movement Morally Depraved
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1998/jul/98070901.html
See the Life Dynamics Special Report on Child Predators Online, exposing the partnership between Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and men who sexually abuse underage girls:
http://www.childpredators.com/ReadReport.cfm
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Italy Likely to Gut Pro-Life Elements of IVF Law by Referendum
ROME, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Italy’s constitutional court has ruled that the law regulating in vitro fertilization (IVF) must be put to a referendum to amend those aspects that protect life and the traditional family.
LifeSitenews.com reported January 13th, that Canadian pro-life leaders are alarmed by the increasing dominance of a libertarian mentality in Canadian conservatism that demands that all political questions of morality be decided by referendum. Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition asked, “what if the people choose something immoral?” This fear is now being played out in Italy where one of the world’s strongest laws regulating IVF is under attack by a court-ordered plebiscite demanded by a coalition of radical leftists, anti-clericalists and libertarians.
The coalition, led by the Radical Party of Italy, has pushed to have the law regulating IVF overturned since it was passed a year ago. The law restricts artificial means of reproduction to heterosexual couples, bans egg or sperm donation, restricts the number of ova that can be fertilized, bans the freezing of embryos and restricts experimental research on living embryos. The court order rejected a proposal to overturn the law entirely and instead allows a referendum to overturn the key elements.
Italy’s Radical Party, an extreme left group whose governing principle is undisguised anti-Catholicism and anti-clericalism, collected 500,000 signatures to force the Italian courts to order a referendum on IVF. The party claimed that the way the law, imposed without a popular vote, constituted a “threat to democracy.”
“Now we have the chance to change this disgraceful law in parliament if there is agreement between the various political forces, otherwise via a vote of our citizens,” said Gavino Angius, a Senate member of Italy's main opposition party Democrats of the Left. Angius called the law, “the worst in Europe.”
The Radical Party claims that any objections to IVF are a manifestation of the Catholic Church’s attempt to “condemn… all modern thought and civilization,” and “return the world to the middle ages.” That the Italian court took these charges seriously has alarmed pro-life leaders who frame the argument in terms not of obscure religious prohibitions, but of universal natural moral law and scientific realities.
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Catholic Sault Ste Marie MP Announces Support for Same Sex Marriage
Met With Controversial Priest Before Making Announcment
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tony Martin: he is a Member of Parliament, a Catholic who attends Mass weekly, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and a lector at his parish. In a press release Tuesday, Martin announced he will support the same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation which is set to come before Parliament this February.
In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com Martin said, “It took me a while to work through this very important public business and I certainly considered very seriously and at some length my own personal faith journey and my being a member of the Roman Catholic Church and certainly all of the signposts and touchstones that I was able to reach and get direction from indicated that this was the decision that was most in keeping with that."
One of those signposts Martin got direction from was his pastor, Fr. George LaPierre of St. Gerard Majella church in Sault Ste. Marie. Martin revealed to LifeSiteNews.com, “I did have a confidential conversation with my pastor before I made any announcement.” However, Martin would not divulge the content of the conversation noting it was a “very confidential thing I won’t comment on.”
Numerous calls to Fr. LaPierre were not returned.
Long-time LifeSiteNews.com readers may be familiar with Fr. LaPierre. Prior to his assignment to St. Gerard’s he was the pastor of St. Basil’s Church in Toronto. In November 2000 LifeSiteNews.com notified Fr. LaPierre that Canada's leading advocate of pedophilia was to be part of a Christmas concert at the church. The priest responded in a hostile manner indicating that the LifeSiteNews.com reporter was "the only person who's complained about it" and that he had "no intention of being swayed by one complaint." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/nov/001102a.html )
In his release, Martin said, "I respect the strong views on both sides but I have yet to hear a convincing, compelling argument to have me vote against this."
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Sault St. Marie Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe about Martin’s situation. Bishop Plouffe said Martin is a practicing Catholic who attends Mass regularly. The Bishop admitted, “I have work to do to try to put across my position in this diocese, particularly with MPs.” He also said he planned to write to Martin and several other Catholic politicians in his diocese who support same-sex ‘marriage’.
Asked if he would be warning such politicians not to present themselves for communion, Bishop Plouffe told LifeSiteNews.com, “I personally think we ought to be very sensitive, I don’t like to ostracize or excommunicate people in public. I don’t think its up to me to ban people from communion, I think my job is to try to convince them that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman.”
Martin called his decision a “huge” one. Asked if he was concerned about loss of relationship with the Catholic community he said, “It’s a concern. I don’t know how that will play out. I get a lot out of my weekly participation at Mass on Sunday morning with my family.”
Asked if he were told he could no longer receive communion if it would change his decision, Martin responded, reflecting the flawed theology of the Canadian bishops’ 1968 Winnipeg Statement, “No, it wouldn’t. I’ve taken this position after careful thought and consideration and I wanted to live with and work through whatever consequences come.”
Bishop Plouffe stressed, “I hope I would not be interpreted as being against homosexuals. I feel that if the homosexual community feels, that they are being deprived unjustly in the present system, or reality that we live now, I think the government could make an effort to address this without changing the definition of marriage.”
Canada already has one of the world’s most aggressive pro-gay ‘rights’ legal environments. In addition to receiving most of the benefits of married couples, homosexual couples also have adoption rights and lesbians the right to have children through artificial procreation. Anti-discrimination laws have barred ads in newspapers citing bible versus against homosexuality, and have resulted in Christian mayors being fined thousands of dollars for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride days.
See related article
Bishops' infamous 1968 Winnipeg Statement seen by many as main source of problem
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04042705.html
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Catholic Bishop of London Issues a “Call to Action” on Homosexual “Marriage”
LONDON, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Roman Catholic bishop of London Ontario, Ronald P. Fabbro, has asked his flock to begin lobbying their MP’s against the proposal to change the definition of marriage to include homosexual partnerings.
“I ask you to take an active role in defending the traditional meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Fabbro wrote in a letter dated January 5th. “As Catholics, we have a duty to make our voices heard in the public realm. These are momentous and far-reaching decisions that are being made. Your members of Parliament need to hear from you. They need to know what you consider to be for the good of future generations.”
Sarnia-Lambton MP, Roger Gallaway said of the Catholic lobbying effort, “This is huge and I don't think all of the intellectual people in the prime minister’s office are expecting this.”
Bishop Fabbro said in an interview that one of the many reasons to oppose the equating of homosexuality with true marriage is the decline in the birth rate. “The birth rate is falling in Canada. It's low here. This new definition of marriage would make children an optional part of that and that's a big concern,” he said.
In Canada, the birth rate has been declining steadily for about the same time that divorce, abortion and contraception have been legal. To maintain a steady population and work force, Canada relies heavily on immigration, but this results in an aging population demographic.
Pro-life activists have been joined recently by demographers who warn that this world-wide trend is an economic disaster waiting to happen. Fabbro said that the institution of homosexual “marriage” is a move toward “an experiment of social engineering which we don't know the consequences of and risking to further undermine (traditional marriage).”
The page on which Bishop Fabbro’s message appears on the diocesan website includes links to suggested sample letters and the Parliamentary website where names and addresses of MP’s can be found.
To read Bishop Fabbro’s message:
http://www.rcec.london.on.ca/CalltoActionMarriage/MarriageDefinitionLetterToFait...
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Winnipeg Archbishop Defends Family and Democracy in Pastoral Letter
WINNIPEG, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The main point of the argument about homosexual “marriage” is the well being of children, and that point is being lost in the rhetoric. So says James Weisgerber, Catholic archbishop of Winnipeg, in a letter appearing yesterday in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Archbishop Weisgerber wrote that society is founded upon normal families made up of a mother and a father to raise children. “To help a young child become a mature, responsible member of society is a great gift to that society,” he says. “To equate any other relationship with marriage cannot but make less of its importance. Canada needs to strengthen traditional marriage, not undermine it.”
Recalling similar arguments made 40 years ago that culminated in the legalization of divorce, Weisgerber wrote, “Canadians were told that such a change would affect a small number of people, that marriage would not be much affected. Today almost one in two marriages end in divorce.” The Archbishop says that children are the victims of the Liberal Party’s first attack on the family, “But what of the children? Children are gravely wounded by the divorce of their parents and, if children are hurt, our society is also hurt.”
Maria Slykerman, head of Campaign Life Coalition in Manitoba, called the message “excellent” and said, “We’ve been waiting for a message from our shepherd for a long time.” Archbishop Weisgerber’s letter follows closely that of Calgary’s Bishop Fred Henry who said that the “state must use its coercive power to proscribe or curtail” attacks on the family such as divorce, pornography and homosexuality.
Archbishop Weisgerber writes that attempts made to exclude the Catholic Church from the discussion are undemocratic. “We are told that churches will not be obliged to perform same-sex marriages, and therefore should be excluded from public discussion.” He says that Canadian Catholics have as much interest as anyone in the future of our society and have, therefore as much right as anyone to be heard. “Excluding voices because we don't agree with them is not worthy of democratic society. Nor is democracy served by obliging members of Parliament to vote with the leader of the party.”
See also
Canadian Bishop Warns Same-Sex Marriage is "Powerful Pshychological Weapon" For Acceptance of Homosexuality
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05011302.html
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Judge Rules Against Science Book Sticker Saying Evolution is a Theory
Lawyer Says “Decision Defies Logic, Discriminates against Christians and Must Be Appealed”
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal district court judge has ruled that a two-sentence sticker added to public school textbooks containing lessons on evolution in Cobb County, Georgia, is unconstitutional. The sticker reads: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
“This decision makes the theory of evolution the Sacred Cow of the public school system,” Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said Thursday. “According to the decision, any criticism of Darwin's theory in a public school biology classroom endorses ‘religion’ in violation of the federal constitution, and therefore must be prohibited. For the sake of good science education,
this ruling must be appealed.”
In his ruling Thursday, Federal Judge Clarence Cooper concluded that the school board had non- religious reasons for adopting the sticker, and that the sticker served the legitimate secular goal of "fostering critical thinking." Yet he held the sticker was unconstitutional because it described evolution as a "theory" and not fact, and that some people might perceive the school to be aligning itself with Christians who criticize Darwin's theory from a religious perspective.
“This decision is bad law, bad for education, and ultimately bad for students who are purposely kept in the dark about the growing scientific controversy over the Theory of Evolution,” Thompson concluded.
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Secret Documents Show Health Canada Investigating Provinces on Abortion Provision
Gov’t Falsely Claims Canada Health Act demands public funding for all abortions
OTTAWA, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Health Canada is investigating all Canadian provinces for supposed breaches of the Canada Health Act by allowing patients to pay for services at private medical clinics.
The government agency forbids individuals from being charged a fee to obtain what Health Canada considers any “medically necessary” service. The Health Act explicitly gives provinces the authority to determine which services are medically necessary but the government has been increasingly claiming that provincial power.
Abortions are one of several types of services which patients are paying for at private institutions and which the feds consider medically necessary, according to a secret document unearthed by The Globe and Mail. The document was obtained through the Access to Information Act.
“Abortion services are considered medically necessary insured services in all provinces and territories,” according to Health Canada spokeswoman Catherine Saunders, in an e-mail to LifeSiteNews.com Friday. “Our position is that insured health services should be covered by provincial and territorial health care insurance plans whether they are provided in a public hospital or in any other facility providing hospital care. The Canada Health Act requires provincial and territorial health care insurance plans to cover all medically necessary hospital and physician services.”
The government has previously admitted that it is not aware of any studies proving that abortions are medically necessary. The Canadian Abortion Rights Action League has admitted that abortions are mosty committed for “socio-economic reasons”.
See Where’s the evidence of medical necessity?
http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/national_news/2002/news_1102.html#5
Medical Experts Testify Partial-Birth Abortion Never Medically Necessary
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04041605.html
CARAL ADMITS ABORTION DONE FOR "SOCIO-ECONOMIC" REASONS
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/nov/011101.html
See the Globe report
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050113/HEALTH13...
HEALTH CANADA ADMITS THERE'S NO EVIDENCE ABORTION IS 'MEDICALLY NECESSARY'
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/mar/01032101.html
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LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes - January 14, 2005
Fla. College Bans Gibson's 'Passion'
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/1/14/152912.shtml
The Facts of Life & Marriage - Social Science & the Vindication of Christian Moral Teaching
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=18-01-038-f
Next Step in the Agenda: Canadian Private Members Bill Coming Which Will Impose Special Trans-Sexual Rights
http://www.avi.org/node/view/954
Couple are jailed for killing child because he was not perfect
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/14/npois14.xml
22 gay, lesbian groups reset priorities in wake of losses
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/13/MNG1OAPG4D1.DTL
Disease, Abortions Declining Thanks to Bush
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42380
Poll: Few Americans Trust Media
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/1/13/204619.shtml
Lutherans Compromise on Gays in the Clergy
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lutheran14jan14,1,5002913.s...
Lutheran decision splits on gay clergy
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050114-121259-8502r.htm
Abortion Battle Can Be Won With Bi-Partisan Support
http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayArticle.cfm?ID=10220
Priests For Life Calls for Abortion Clinic Investigations
http://www.earnedmedia.org/pfl0114.htm
Contraceptive dangers: Rising concern over side effects
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=64371
Canadian Pro-Abortion Catholic Immigration Minister -- Stepping Down under Scandal Cloud
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_T...
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