The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission | All Articles

Partner with the Psalm 139 Project to Save Lives

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:51:34 CST

November 2009

Dear friend,

In the wake of a natural disaster, some needs are obvious: food, shelter, water. Others go unnoticed, but the consequences can be even more serious.

Imagine a young woman who, having discovered her pregnancy just weeks or days before a disaster strikes, can be identified as having a “crisis pregnancy.” As she tries to piece her life back together, she’s approached by a “women’s health” group who notes her plight and offers her a disastrous solution: a free abortion, along with contraceptives and morning-after pills.

Unfortunately, this story is not fictional. After hearing similar accounts involving Planned Parenthood activity following several disasters, the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes and the Psalm 139 Project are working to provide women with another option—a lifesaving option.

The Psalm 139 Project, administered by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, exists to promote an awareness of the importance of ultrasound technology in crisis pregnancy situations and to provide a way for individuals to contribute to a fund that places ultrasound machines in qualified pregnancy resource centers.

Having already placed five machines in five different states, the Psalm 139 Project is partnering with the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes to provide a portable ultrasound machine that can be literally carried into the heart of crisis situations.

Mary Lou Hendry, who is the Sanctity of Human Life director for the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, told us it is impossible to underestimate the value of a sonogram machine–“We can be right on those sites and provide an ultrasound for a woman in crisis.”

However, without your help this machine will not be placed. The Psalm 139 Project is funded entirely by donors.

We rarely post such an appeal, but given the nature of this special need, we thought it appropriate to give as many people as possible the opportunity to join in this effort.

Please pray that we can meet our goal of placing this machine in early 2010, hopefully in advance of the start of the year’s hurricane season. Please pray that the Lord will provide through donations and gifts the approximately $6,000 that we still need to purchase the machine.

Eighty percent or more of the women who are considering abortion change their mind and give their baby life after viewing an ultrasound image of their unborn child.

Would you pray about how the Lord would have you be involved in this effort? One hundred percent of financial contributions donated to the Psalm 139 Project go to evangelistically-oriented centers, such as those that work with the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes.

If you choose to give a tax-deductible gift to the Psalm 139 Project, mail it to 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203. Donations can also be safely and easily made online at the Psalm 139 Project Web site.

For more information about the value of ultrasound technology in crisis pregnancy situations and how you can help place sonogram machines in pregnancy resource centers, visit the effort’s Web site.

There is no question that God intends for those who hold human life as precious to stand in the gap for those who cannot defend themselves. The unborn need a protector, one who will give voice to their silent cries. Through your support of the Psalm 139 Project, you will be a part of such a life-saving endeavor.

ERLC’s Land Sends Letter to Congress Opposing Health Care Reform Bill

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:10:05 CST

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote as soon as Saturday on a sweeping health care bill (H.R. 3962), the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission continues to express multiple concerns to Congress. In a letter to House Republican Leader John Boehner, ERLC President Richard Land outlined three major reasons to oppose the bill: lack of pro-life protections, creation of a government-run plan, and exorbitant costs. The letter is reprinted below. To view the letter in PDF, please click here (136 KB PDF). Similar letters were sent to numerous other House members.

November 6, 2009

The Honorable John Boehner
House Republican Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Republican Leader Boehner:

We are deeply concerned about the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). The vast majority of Southern Baptists cannot possibly support many of the bill’s features. Primary among these concerns are the bill’s lack of pro-life protections, creation of a public health plan to compete with private plans, and overall exorbitant cost.

First, H.R. 3962 authorizes federal funding of abortion in the public plan and federal subsidies for private plans that cover abortion, a violation of the consciences of millions of Southern Baptists and other Americans. At the very least, protections must include explicit language excluding elective abortion services. A proposed amendment by Congressman Ellsworth purported to restrict federal funding of abortion is insufficient. The Ellsworth Amendment would still permit the government to fund abortion by simply contracting with third-party entities to dispense funds for abortions. This deceptive attempt to allay pro-life concerns must be rejected.

Second, the bill’s creation of a public health plan will drive other insurers out of business and cause many people to lose their current health insurance. Drastic cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage benefits would also severely impact millions of seniors, according to the Congressional Budget Office. And without specific language stating otherwise, the government’s attempts to control costs could lead to rationing of care and denial of life-saving treatments.

Finally, the cost of H.R. 3962 is troublesome. The CBO places its cost estimate at $1.055 trillion when factoring coverage expansions, a figure that could reach $1.3 trillion. To help pay for the plan, the bill would raise taxes by more than $700 billion, according to the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation, including taxing individuals who do not purchase health insurance and businesses that do not offer a health care plan following government dicta.

As long as these problems remain, we will oppose H.R. 3962 and any similar health care legislation. Compounding our concerns, Speaker Pelosi and the Rules Committee will allow members to offer only a few, if any, amendments. Given the gravity of health care reform and our aforementioned concerns, we urge members to oppose the rule that will guide floor debate on the bill if it severely restricts members’ rights to offer amendments. We also urge a vote against the bill itself, because it is so deeply flawed.

While we support efforts to improve our current health care system, we believe Congress should work to enact acceptable health care reformation, not objectionable transformation. Please be advised that we will notify our members of the outcome of these votes, so they can stay abreast of developments in this crucial issue.

Sincerely,

Richard D. Land

Land: GOP wins send reminder to D.C.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:39:24 CST

Republicans won the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia Nov. 3, only a year after then-Sen. Barack Obama swept both states on his way to the White House.

The GOP’s Chris Christie and Robert McDonnell won New Jersey and Virginia, respectively, over more liberal candidates for the Democrats. The victories came in a state, New Jersey, that has been solidly Democratic and in another, Virginia, that has been trending Democratic for several years.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney, deposed incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine by 49 to 45 percent, with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, according to Fox News. McDonnell, Virginia’s attorney general, defeated state Sen. Creigh Deeds by a 59-to-41 percent margin, with all precincts in.

The twin losses for Democrats came one year after their nominee, Obama, took New Jersey with 57 percent of the vote and Virginia with 53 percent. The losses also came despite campaign visits by the president to both states.

Independent voters went heavily for Obama in 2008, but this year exit polls in both states indicated they favored the Republican candidates for governor by about a 2-to-1 margin, according to Fox.

In Virginia, Deeds attacked McDonnell’s pro-life position and record without success. The GOP nominee, a pro-life advocate during his 14 years in the state legislature, focused on the economy during the campaign. Republicans not only won the governorship of Virginia by a wide margin but took the lieutenant governor and attorney general races easily.

There was some evidence Corzine’s endorsement of “gay marriage” hurt his chances with New Jersey voters. “Our friends at the New Jersey Family Policy Council pointed to several recent polls that link the governor’s support for same-sex ‘marriage’ to his underperformance among minority voters,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a written release.

Some observers saw the results as a reaction to policies promoted in the last year by the Democratic-controlled White House and Congress.

“I’ve been saying ever since President Obama took office and began to implement his extreme economic and social agenda that he and his advisers, along with Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Majority Leader [Harry] Reid, had fundamentally misread the 2008 election results,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “The Democrats won because the economy was in the tank, and when the economy is in the tank the party in power [in the White House] loses. It’s one of the oldest truisms of American politics.”

Land cited exit polling in 2008 that showed 63 percent of voters said the economy determined how they voted.

“Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate took the election results as a mandate to take the country on a hard left turn in terms of massive growth of government and redistributionist tax policies,” he told Baptist Press. “The massive government spending has not fixed the economy, which isn’t surprising, because massive government spending couldn’t fix the economies in Japan and Europe either.”

“Last night the people of Virginia and New Jersey sent a vivid reminder to politicians in Washington that this is still a center-right country that wants the economy fixed as its No. 1 priority,” Land said.

Gary Bauer, president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, said in a written statement, “It’s clear that voters, especially independent voters, do not like the change they have experienced” since the 2008 election.

“These results show that the voters are rejecting runaway deficit spending, higher taxes and bigger government,” Bauer said. “If the White House and Congressional liberals are listening, they will pull Obamacare off the agenda and stop the march to socialized medicine.”

Pro-life leader Marjorie Dannenfelser said the results in New Jersey and Virginia “should serve as a cautionary tale to Congress and the White House, whose overreach on health care could experience a similar demise.”

Dannenfelser is president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports pro-life women in political races.

The Republican wins in New Jersey and Virginia came the same week House Democrats are seeking to gain approval for health care legislation that will provide federal funds for abortion and cost an estimated $1.2 trillion or more over 10 years.

The White House said Nov. 4 the results in the two states would not scare off moderate Democrats who are needed to pass health care reform.

“I don’t think they will [bolt] and I’m not concerned,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, according to Politico.com.

Gibss said the only Nov. 3 races with national significance were House elections in New York and California, where Democrats prevailed. “Those are people that’ll take part in participating in the president’s agenda,” he said, Politico reported.

Democrat Bill Owens defeated Doug Hoffman, running as an independent, in a right-leaning congressional district in upstate New York after liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed Owens only days before the vote. In a liberal northern California district, state Lt. Gov. John Garamendi won over Republican Doug Harmer.

The election results, Land said, may signal problems next November for one group — incumbents.

He cited the five-point win by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a race some predicted he would win by at least 10 points. Bloomberg “barely won re-election, although he outspent his opponent by more than 20 to 1,” Land said. “This should serve as a warning that 2010 will be a tough year for incumbents of any party.”

This Is It! Urge Representative to Oppose Health Care Takeover

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:09:31 CST

Dear Friends:

On Saturday, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Democratic leadership’s health care bill (H.R. 3962) that would radically change health care as we know it.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill, now more than 2,000 pages of mandates, is no less than a formula for a government takeover of health care. Among its most troubling features is the fact that federal dollars would be used under the bill to fund abortions. There are also no safeguards to prevent the rationing of care.

In addition to its failure to protect human life, H.R. 3962 would drive millions of Americans from private health care plans to a proposed government-run plan and cause millions more seniors to lose health insurance coverage through $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage benefits, according to the Congressional Budget Office. These are only a few of the many problems with this health care overhaul estimated to cost well over $1 trillion.

Just as alarming, Speaker Pelosi has signaled she will not allow any amendments to the bill. This is an outrage—especially since the government is positioning itself to help pay for the abortions of countless innocent unborn babies in the name of health care.

If you agree, I encourage you to contact your representative today and ask him or her to do two things:

1. Vote “no” on the Rule that will guide House action on the bill. As it is currently written, the Rule will not allow members to offer amendments on many of these concerns we have about the bill.
2. Vote “no” on the bill because it is so deeply flawed.

You can call your representative by dialing the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or send an e-mail here.

Thank you for making your voice heard in this critical hour.

In His Service,

Dr. Richard Land
President
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Southern Baptist Convention

This Is It! Urge Representative to Oppose Health Care Takeover

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:09:26 CST

Dear Friends:

On Saturday, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Democratic leadership’s health care bill (H.R. 3962) that would radically change health care as we know it.

If you agree, I encourage you to contact your representative today and ask him or her to do two things:

You can call your representative by dialing the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or send an e-mail here.

Thank you for making your voice heard in this critical hour.

In His Service,

Dr. Richard Land
President
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Southern Baptist Convention

The Silencing of Pro-Lifers on Health Care Reform

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:23:18 CST

The showdown on health care reform is fast approaching. Floor votes in the House of Representatives on the mammoth 1,990-page bill (H.R. 3962), unveiled last week by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are expected to take place as early as tomorrow.

For all its weaknesses, the health care bill is expected to dodge a critical aspect of the lower chamber’s debate: meaningful debate itself. In what is shaping up to be a radical power grab, Speaker Pelosi has signaled that she does not intend to allow amendments to her health care bill, which includes a government-run plan and use of the word “shall” 3,425 times to describe the mandates in the overhaul of one-sixth of the U.S. economy.

A touchstone issue being denied a fair hearing is abortion. As introduced, H.R. 3962 would authorize federal funds to cover abortion in the government-run plan and allow federal subsidies to cover abortion in private plans. The net result: a violation of the consciences of 55 percent of Americans, who “think it would be wrong for the government to pay for abortions,” according to a recent poll, and likely the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. It also would violate President Obama’s pledge in his national address in September that “under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.”

Many members of Congress are outraged. And rightly so. Reps. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA), joined by a chorus of pro-life representatives, have been persistent in asking that a vote be allowed on an amendment to explicitly prohibit the government from funding abortion under the health care plan. The amendment would be modeled on the Hyde Amendment, which strictly limits federal funding of abortion through Medicaid.

Speaker Pelosi appears poised to deny that request. Under the expected proposed rule of debate, which the House must approve, no amendments would be allowed. A vote in favor of such a rule would in effect be a vote for federally-funded abortions.

The speaker is treading the waters of the health care debate carefully, concerned not about the $1 trillion price tag of reform but the magic number 218, a simple majority of representatives needed for House passage. But a pro-life bipartisan bloc in support of the pro-life amendment to prohibit abortion coverage could cause her to fall just shy of that number.

In an attempt to placate pro-life concerns, the House leadership might insert a so-called abortion compromise that only appears to limit abortion. In truth, this effort would short-circuit the meaningful Stupak-Pitts Amendment and still allow federal funds to pay for abortions.

The bottom line: House members are not even being given the opportunity to ensure that federal dollars are not used to fund abortions. Such a heavy-handed approach is thoroughly inappropriate for an issue of such magnitude. If members are not even given the opportunity to participate in determining the language of this bill, it is impossible to see this as democracy in action. This silencing is deafening.

If you agree, please contact your representative and tell him or her to vote against the rule that would bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

LIFE DIGEST: Planned Parenthood director converts

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:38:22 CST

The director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Texas resigned and began praying alongside pro-lifers outside her former clinic after undergoing what she described as a “spiritual conversion.”

Abby Johnson, 29, turned in her resignation Oct. 6 after working for eight years at the Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas.

Also in this edition: 40 Days of Life reports more than 540 babies saved and Nightlight Adoptions begins scholarship fund.

She had a “change of heart” after observing an abortion by means of an ultrasound machine in September, Johnson told Fox News. She saw the unborn child “crumple” as he was vacuumed from the mother’s womb.

“I just thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought, ‘That’s it,’” Johnson told KBTX-TV, the CBS affiliate in Bryan. She told Fox, “I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart . . . a spiritual conversion.”

Johnson already had become disillusioned with her job, saying her regional supervisor had urged her in recent months to find ways to increase profits by producing more abortions, she told Fox.

“Every meeting that we had was, ‘We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough money – we’ve got to keep these abortions coming,’” Johnson said, according to Fox.

For Planned Parenthood, “there’s not a lot of money in education,” she said. “There’s not as much money in family planning as there is abortion.”

Planned Parenthood is the country’s leading abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available..

After leaving her job, Johnson began meeting with Shawn Carney, executive director of Coalition for Life, a pro-life organization with an office near Planned Parenthood’s facility. She has participated with Coalition for Life volunteers in prayer vigils outside Planned Parenthood, including during the recently completed 40 Days for Life campaign.

“Abby’s amazing conversion demonstrates the importance of a constant, persistent, peaceful prayer presence in front of abortion facilities,” said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life.

Beginning with the first 40 Days for Life campaign at the Bryan Planned Parenthood in 2004, “we’ve prayed for Abby — and for all abortion workers — that they would come to see what abortion really is, and that they would leave the deadly business,” Bereit said in his Nov. 3 email report. “In this case, those prayers have been answered.

“We are so proud of Abby’s courage to leave the abortion industry and publicly announce her reasons for leaving.”

40 Days of Life reports more than 540 babies saved

The 40 Days for Life campaign completed Nov. 1 recorded 542 unborn children saved and eight abortion clinic workers who left the business.

The initiative, which began locally in Bryan, Texas, in 2004, surpassed 2,000 unborn babies saved in the waning days of this fall’s effort, national director David Bereit reported.

The 40 Days for Life effort involves peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood offices, as well as fasting for the end of abortion. The latest campaign was expected to involve tens of thousands of people in 212 cities in the United States, Canada and Denmark.

In his Oct. 29 email report, Bereit shared about a mother and baby who were spared from abortion:

“It was a stormy day at the 40 Days for Life vigil in Bakersfield, California. Yet people ignored the wind and rain as they stood and prayed outside the abortion center.

“A young woman from outside the Bakersfield area soon arrived at the clinic for an abortion appointment. She was already stressed out; the drive across the mountains and through the storm left her in no mood to listen to the Christians on the sidewalk.

“She looked at the group, shouted profanities, and told the vigil participants to leave her alone. One of the people on the sidewalk told her that if she thought the sky was dark, it was nothing compared to the darkness abortion could bring into her life.

“She ignored the words and walked in.

“But the ‘simple procedure’ she had come for turned out not to be so simple — and she might not be able to have the abortion that day. She had come for the abortion pill, but the staff said she lived too far away to return to the clinic if any complications developed.

“When she learned that, she became even angrier at the people praying out on the sidewalk — she even went back out to yell at them several times. Finally, after she realized there would be no abortion, she gave up and left the clinic.

“But on her way out, the prayer supporters on the sidewalk offered to pray with her. As they did, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds and the sky instantly became bright.

“It was like a new day.

“The vigil participants explained the situation to Terri, one of the counselors, who helped arrange an appointment for an ultrasound at the pro-life pregnancy help center.

“Terri could tell that the ultrasound had a significant impact on the young woman. ‘I knew that it was a good sign when I heard her talking to her baby,’ she said.

“After the ultrasound, Terri and the woman hurried back to the vigil site. Bursting with joy, the woman showed the prayer supporters the ultrasound picture of the baby she had intended to abort, exclaiming ‘your Jesus heard your prayers!’”

Nightlight Adoptions begins scholarship fund

Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which has become known for its Snowflakes frozen embryo adoption program, now has a scholarship fund for prospective parents.

Nightlight has established a $50,000 scholarship fund for couples who would like to adopt but lack the finances to do so, the agency announced Oct. 28. The fund was started in honor of Nightlight’s 50th anniversary. The agency expects to seek donations to the fund next year.

Couples will be eligible for scholarships of between $2,000 and $5,000 for domestic, international and embryo adoptions, based on their needs and the children they seek to adopt, said Kathryn Deiters, Nightlight’s director of administration, in a written release. “Eligible children will include special needs children, children over 10 years of age and other children for whom there are fewer waiting adopting parents.”

Interested couples may gain more information by emailing Deiters at Kathryn@Nightlight.org or calling her at (714) 693-5437.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.

Land, other religious leaders: Sanctions needed on Iran

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:35:44 CST

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land has joined Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders in New York in calling for immediate sanctions to thwart Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission collaborated with Paul de Vries, president of the New York Divinity School and leader of the New York Evangelicals, and Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, in issuing a statement Nov. 2 urging all governments to apply sanctions in order to produce effective diplomacy and encourage the human rights efforts of Iranians living under a militant Islamic regime.

The evangelical and Jewish groups recommended two actions proposed by some members of Congress:

Sanction banks that work even indirectly with Iranian banks;

Sanction firms or governments that export refined petroleum to Iran.

“Such actions could quickly damage Iran’s economy, shrink the regime’s domestic popularity, provoke real diplomacy, and engender significant steps toward ending the Iran regime’s murderous pursuit of nuclear weapons,” their statement said. “Leading nations should then engage in effectual diplomacy, resulting in enforced guarantees of an Iran without weapons of mass destruction, nuclear or otherwise.”

Iran contends it is developing nuclear power for non-military purposes, but other countries are concerned the effort is to establish a nuclear arms program.

The Iranian government has hesitated in recent days to follow through on a tentative agreement it had made. The regime now desires to make changes in a deal it had reached to send a large portion of its low-enriched uranium to other countries to be processed, according to The Washington Post.

Iran is building its second uranium-enrichment facility, which an official said could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb each year, The Post reported in late September. The Middle East country also completed both long-range and short-range missile tests during the same week.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been especially provocative toward Israel, denying the Holocaust and threatening to destroy the Jewish state.

Upon release of the document Nov. 2, Land said, “We stand in solidarity with all people of goodwill both in the region and around the world in seeking to stop a nuclear Iran from grievously imperiling Israel, the Middle East and the world’s peace.”

“Jesus commanded His followers to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world [Matt. 5:13-16],” he said.

“In seeking meaningful sanctions against the current Iranian regime, we are attempting to be salt in preserving Israel and the entire region from bloody conflict and terrible loss of life,” Land said. “We are seeking to be light by expressing our commitment to the intrinsic value and invaluable worth of all of our fellow human beings, both inside and outside Iran, whose lives and liberties are in peril by the dangerous rogue regime which presently oppresses the Iranian people.”

The endorsers of the Nov. 2 statement gave 10 reasons for sanctions, including: Iran’s status as the top state sponsor of terrorism, its brutalization of the human-rights movement within its borders, its potential control of half of the world’s oil reserves and the threat of a nuclear arms race in response to Iran’s weapons program.

“We need to apply as much pressure as possible on Iran because the status quo is unacceptable,” Potasnik said in a written release. “Iran has a government without a conscience, so we must stand together — evangelicals, Jews and all others.”

Land signed onto a Sept. 22 letter to President Obama and Congress making a similar appeal regarding sanctions seeking to produce change in Iran’s nuclear policy. Other Southern Baptists among the nearly 50 signers of that letter included current SBC President Johnny Hunt and former SBC presidents Jack Graham and James Merritt.

Iran is one of only eight countries to be classified by the U.S. State Department as “countries of particular concern,” a designation reserved for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Fight over abortion funding nears in push for health care

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:27:30 CST

The Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives unveiled its 1,990-page health care bill Oct. 29 with funding for abortion intact, setting the stage for a battle with pro-life members of its own party.

A House floor vote on the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, may occur as soon as Nov. 5.

As expected, the massive legislation includes a “public health insurance option” managed by the federal government that would fund elective abortions and a federal subsidy program for private plans that cover abortion, pro-life organizations reported.

There are indications Democratic pro-lifers may have enough votes to block passage of the health care measure by defeating the rule governing consideration of the legislation. The House leadership is expected to try to bring the bill to the floor under a rule that would prevent a vote on a pro-life amendment that would bar federal funds from paying for abortions in both the public and private plans. If the procedural vote on the rule fails, the legislation will not be able to go to the floor for consideration.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D.-Mich., leading the Democratic pro-life effort to amend the bill, and Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) both have signaled they have enough votes to defeat the rule and block the health care proposal if their allies don’t change their minds. Speaking to CNSNews.com, Stupak has said there are about 40 Democrats who have agreed to vote with him, while DFLA Executive Director Kristen Day said Oct. 29 there are about 43 Democrats committed to joining Stupak.

Pro-lifers have little margin for error. There are 256 Democrats and 177 Republicans in the House, with two vacancies to be filled Nov. 3 in special elections. If the vote takes place before the two vacancies are filled and if all 177 Republicans and 40 Democrats oppose the rule, it would fail 217-216.

“Anyone voting to forbid amendments to this bill is in effect voting to set up a federal government program that will directly fund abortion on demand, with federal funds,” said Douglas Johnson, the National Right to Life Committee’s legislative director, in an Oct. 29 written release.

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life (AUL), said in a written statement Oct. 29 the language in the legislation creates “a dramatic change from the status quo — currently no federal dollars are used to pay for elective abortions or plans that cover abortion…. Explicit language must be added to this health care bill to prevent unprecedented federal funding of abortion.”

Also on Oct. 29, Stupak said in a written statement he is disappointed the abortion-funding language from a previous House bill “has remained intact in H.R. 3962, mandating abortion services for the first time in our nation’s history. I will continue to work with leadership to find satisfactory language on this issue.”

Pro-lifers continued to refute contentions by supporters of the abortion-funding language that only private funds would be used for abortions under the “public option.”

“The public plan will be a federal agency program [under the Department of Health and Human Services], and all funds spent by the agency are federal funds,” Johnson said, citing an Oct. 9 memo from the Congressional Research Service that “confirmed that all funds spent by the bill’s public plan will be federal funds. Prominent Democrats who have claimed that the federal government could pay for abortion with ‘private’ funds have been engaged in a big snow job….”

A different health care reform bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee Sept. 30 also covers abortion. The panel voted 13-10 against an amendment that would have prohibited federal funds from paying for abortions in plans or subsidies established by the legislation. The full Senate has yet to take up the measure.

Same-sex attraction: Just a choice?

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:08:10 CST

“It’s just a choice,” the respected pastor said to me confidently when I told him that God had led me to minister to people struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction.

While I was surprised and saddened to hear this from an experienced pastor, it also reminded me of the great need among our churches to be informed about ways to minister effectively and redemptively to those who struggle with an attraction they neither chose nor understand.

“It’s just a choice.” Few statements are more frustrating and painful for those who live with the reality of unwanted same-sex attraction. Many of them sit in our pews every Sunday. Some long to be able to talk about their struggle, but remarks such as this make them reluctant to open up.

The comments can be damaging to their friends and family members, as well. They may hear this from a trusted leader, assume it is true, and pass it on to the struggler. They also are more inclined to keep their own pain private because they now believe their loved one has simply “chosen” to disregard their advice.

There are also few things that can more negatively affect our credibility with a watching world than these words.

Some readers may be irritated at this point. You may be thinking “Well, it is a choice. No one is forcing them to live that way.” And therein lies the confusion.

While sin is always a choice, our temptations are not.

I’ve never been seriously tempted by alcohol — even as a student in my pre-Christian days — and I’ve always been extremely grateful for that.

On the other hand, I can remember struggling with anger from my early years. I did not choose this particular battle. After becoming a Christian I occasionally talked to people I respected about it. The advice I got often amounted to, “The Bible says you shouldn’t get angry.”

Which made me angry.

Far too often, people who struggle with same-sex attraction have been given that kind of simplistic advice by well-meaning family and friends. As with me and my anger, they were never aware of how or why the attraction started.

Many of the same-sex strugglers I’ve met through the years were sexually abused as children. Early on, their view of sexuality as a precious gift from God was marred. Confusion, guilt or outright threats often kept them from telling anyone.

One man told of being molested as a young boy by leaders in the church where his father was pastor. He said he thought maybe there was a sign on him saying “molest me.” Threats and fear kept him from telling anyone.

I’ve talked to women who were sexually abused by trusted family members. Again, shame and guilt often kept them from going to their parents. Sadly, some did go to adults who either didn’t believe them or chose simply to ignore the situation.

Others have been victims of physical and verbal abuse. Young women who saw their mothers abused came to two conclusions: 1) It isn’t safe to be a woman, so femininity must be rejected, and, 2) men aren’t safe and can’t be trusted in an intimate relationship.

In one support group I led, there was a man who did not fit into any of these categories. He was a slender young man who was much more interested in the arts than he was in sports. Other students began to harass him and call him gay. He didn’t think of himself that way and had never had homosexual temptations. But he began to wonder if his abusers were right. Eventually he decided to seek friendship in a gay bar. At the time I met him, he was a committed follower of Christ who still struggled to overcome the doubts brought on by his childhood antagonists.

Many who go through childhood traumas will at some point be tempted to justify or explain wrong attitudes or actions because of those traumas. But over and over again, I’ve heard men and women say, “I didn’t choose this struggle, but I did choose to act on the temptation.” They are well aware that freedom requires them to honestly face their own guilt. But too often they first have to sort through the confusion brought about by well-meaning people who have told them, “It’s a choice.”

These courageous people deserve more from us than “It’s just a choice.”

They need and deserve understanding, conveyed by both words and body language. They need and deserve to experience the love of Jesus Christ through people who honestly face our own struggles in areas of temptation we did not choose. They need and deserve encouragement to look to and trust in Jesus, just like every Christ-follower.

Think about the thing that tempts you most. Did you make a conscious decision to be tempted by it? If you confided this temptation to someone, I don’t imagine you’d appreciate it if you were confidently dismissed with “It’s just a choice.”

It’s more complicated than that, isn’t it?

Bob Stith is the SBC’s National Strategist for Gender Issues. For more information about the SBC’s outreach to homosexuals or to contact Bob about a speaking engagement or interview, visit www.sbcthewayout.com.