Articles for Month: December 2008

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 […]

CHICAGO, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a move which could be replicated in major cities across North America, the Pro-Life Action League will hold its sixth annual “Empty Manger” Christmas Caroling Day on Saturday, December 20. Two caroling tours will take place, one visiting four Chicago abortion facilities and one visiting four in DuPage County. “The Christmas story is a story of hope and joy brought into the world by a newborn baby,” said League communications director Eric Scheidler. “We want abortion-bound mothers in Chicago and the western suburbs to know that their unborn babies are a gift, too.” […]

VATICAN, December 19, 2008 (CWNews.com/LifeSiteNews.com) – The Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN has opposed a resolution that decries discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity.” Archbishop Celestino Migliore said that the Holy See endorsed the proposal’s condemnation of violence against homosexuals, and agrees with the call “to put an end to all criminal penalties against them.”  However, the archbishop said, the non-binding resolution – introduced by France and the Netherlands, and endorsed by 66 UN member-states – “goes well beyond the above-mentioned and shared intent.” He explained that the terms “sexual orientation and gender identity” are […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski SEOUL, S. Korea, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Doctors at Severance Hospital in Sinchon-dong are refusing to carry out the sentence of the Western District Court ordering doctors to remove life support, including feeding tubes, from a comatose woman. The physicians are appealing the ruling to S. Korea’s Supreme Court. AsiaNews reports that the administration of Severance Hospital said that it would wait until December 17, the deadline established by the District Court for carrying out the euthanasia, before taking any action, and has now rejected the court’s decision. “This is a question concerning life, and […]

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 […]

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 […]

WASHINGTON, DC, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – American Life League (ALL) will feature two of the most innovative new voices in the pro-life movement at their Training and Activism Week (TAW) and Personhood Conference Jan. 21-23. The TAW will feature Jill Stanek, renowned pro-life blogger and former nurse who launched the Born Alive Truth campaign during the 2008 presidential elections, and Lila Rose, the UCLA student president of Live Action Films who outed Planned Parenthood’s cover-up of statutory rape and acceptance of racially motivated donations. “Jill and Lila’s work with new technology and media has helped uncover the truly despicable activity of […]

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 […]

By Kathleen Gilbert LONDON, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – London’s Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has overturned a ruling that granted compensation to a U.K. registrar subjected to harassment and the potential loss of her job after refusing to conduct civil unions between same-sex couples. The court ruled that Islington Council of north London had not unjustly discriminated against 47-year-old Lillian Ladele, who objected to involvement in the unions because of her Christian beliefs. “The council were not taking disciplinary action against Ms Ladele for holding her religious beliefs,” stated the EAT ruling.  “They did so because she was refusing to […]

FRONT ROYAL, VA, December 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International (HLI), today challenged Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA to reconsider his participation in the upcoming inaugural ceremonies for President-elect Barack Obama. “We applaud Pastor Warren’s support of pro-life causes as well as his defense of traditional marriage,” said Father Euteneuer. “This is why we are concerned that his high-profile and explicitly Christian prayerful invocation at President-elect Obama’s inauguration may be perceived as an endorsement, even a blessing, of what will likely be the most anti-life administration […]