Articles for Month: December 2008

By Kathleen Gilbert   December 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Departing from the usual atheist response to proselytizing believers, Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller fame mused aloud in a video monologue: if you believed eternal life was at stake, why would you remain silent? In other words, they wondered why Christians are so strangely reluctant to share what they believe is necessary for the eternal salvation of every person.   Penn, a magician and entertainer, is known for irreverently debunking the Bible as a hoax on a list with such items as alien abduction and ESP on the popular “Penn […]

I wish to thank you all for your invaluable services in promoting the culture of life and further inspiring others to do the same. LifeSiteNews is one of my main news sources that I check throughout the day and one which I have encouraged many others to read and support.    Also, a special mention of thanks to Steve Jalsevac for his insightful four part series “Election Message to Bishops”. As one who promotes the Holy Father’s emphasis on the Sacred Liturgy and writes about its centrality in the life of the Church, I wish to thank Mr. Jalsevac for […]

December 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Center for Bioethical Reform in Slovakia www.cbreurope.sk has this week filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic as a result of serious free speech violations committed against them by the Slovak Ministry of Interior and the Police Corps.   On 16th October 2008 the police in the city of Kosice, where the constitutional court sits, forced pro-life activists to remove a display of twelve large frame-mounted billboards showing aborted fetuses juxtaposed with images of other genocides including victims of the gulag, holocaust, ethnic cleansing etc. The activists who were outnumbered […]

U.S. Supreme Court Appeal Is Now the Next Step

By Piero A. Tozzi  NEW YORK, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two dueling declarations were presented yesterday at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on the controversial subject of “sexual orientation and gender identity.” The first, submitted by the French-led European Union (EU) and signed onto by roughly 65 nations, called upon member states to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected non-discrimination categories and “to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties.” Nearly sixty nations, principally from the Islamic world, sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania, presented an alternate statement […]

CHICAGO, Illinois, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Morr-Fitz v. Blagojevich that individual pharmacists and pharmacy owners do have legal standing to challenge a rule requiring them to dispense Plan B, which abortion activists call “emergency contraception,” regardless of their religious, moral, or conscientious beliefs.   The rule was originally forced upon the pharmacists and pharmacies by a 2005 emergency order of Governor Rod Blagojevich, who stated in no uncertain terms that pharmacists should either dispense the controversial drug or leave the profession. Two lower courts had previously ruled that the plaintiff-pharmacists and pharmacies did […]

December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae hurtled to financial ruin, their charitable foundations continued to pour money into homosexual causes, reports the organization Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX).   Their largest single gifts came in the last year — just months before both companies collapsed and were taken over by the government.   Freddie Mac gave more than $20,000 to the 2008 fundraising gala of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG-DC). Fannie Mae gave between $10,000 – $19,000 to the same event.   According to its […]

By Kathleen Gilbert SILVER SPRING, Maryland, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A network of anti-war, anti-poverty and anti-abortion advocates has issued a response to Barack Obama’s call for input for the future administration. They are urging the President-elect to consider in every policy-making decision, “Would this policy enhance the dignity, affirm the worth and increase the well-being of humans at all stages of life and in all circumstances?” The memorandum was issued by Consistent Life, an interfaith and international coalition of 200 organizations and prominent individuals who decry the threat to human rights posed by war, abortion, poverty, racism, capital […]

Our fundraising campaign is in the final stretch.   So far, 925 LifeSiteNews reader have donated a total of $49,123 for an average donation of about $49 in response to our Christmas campaign.   This has been one of our most successful fundraising years ever, but it has not come to an end yet! More is needed. If everyone pitches in before the New Year our readers may yet cover the majority or even all of our expenses for the past year,   Have you made a donation yet?    Stop for a moment and ask yourself: During the last […]

Editorial by John-Henry Westen   VATICAN CITY, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) –  Now this is not a normal news item, but a change to the Vatican website to add Google search capability needs to be pointed out.  The immense archives on the Vatican site are now searchable through a dedicated Google interface.   Between you, me and the gatepost, the Vatican website’s old search engine was notoriously hard to figure out.  This is a change worthy of note to the many researchers and writers out there who look to LifeSiteNews for resources.   This is an early Christmas present for researchers – have […]