Moral issues

Darrell Issa, Orthodox Congressman, On Religious Freedom

March 7, 2012March 18, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Darrell Issa (Republican) - Orthodox Christian — Darrell Issa (Republican)

Congressman Darrell Issa is an Orthodox Christian politician (Republican) from California. As a member of the House of Representatives he spoke out against Obama’s HHS healthcare mandate that infringes on the religious liberty of all Americans. He is not afraid to stand up and speak up for what is right and just. Here is Rep. Darrell Issa’s statement from a hearing on “Separation of Church and State” held on February 16, 2012:

Date: Feb. 16, 2012
Location: Washington, DC

Americans of all faiths have a right to practice their religion free from the fear of persecution or harassment from their government. Our nation’s founders believed this and enshrined religious freedom into the First Amendment to the Constitution.

While some Americans may not feel that government mandates forcing them to pay for contraception are an infringement on their religious beliefs, others consider it to be an assault against their freedom of conscience. A government policy that encroaches on the conscientious objections of religious groups concerns all Americans who value the protections of the First Amendment. [Read more…]

Something deadly this way comes: the insatiable appetite of the Culture of Death

March 7, 2012March 7, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Albert Mohler –
The debate over abortion comes down to one essential issue — the moral status of the unborn child. Those making the case for the legalization of abortion argue that the developing fetus lacks a moral status that would trump a woman’s desire to abort the child. Those arguing against abortion do so by making the opposite claim; that the unborn child, precisely because it is a developing human being, possesses a moral status by the very fact of its human existence that would clearly trump any rationale offered for its willful destruction.

This central issue is often obscured in both public argument and private conversations about abortion, but it remains the essential question. We have laws against homicide, and if the unborn child is recognized legally and morally as a human being, abortion would be rightly seen as murder.

In the main, abortion rights advocates have drawn the moral line at the moment of birth. That is why, even with our contemporary knowledge of the developing fetus, abortion rights activists have persistently argued in favor of abortions right up to the moment of birth. Anyone doubting this claim needs only to consider the unified opposition of leading abortion rights advocates to restrictions on late-term abortions. [Read more…]

The New Scar on My Soul

March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

human life is precious abortion is murder by anonymous –
Abortion is not an excision of a featureless bunch of cells; it is infanticide. It is not painless for the child, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. We have revived the practice of child sacrifice to the new deities of casual sex and convenience. We rationalize the reality of murder by altering our perspective of the nascent life through euphemisms like “fetus” or descriptions of “a clump of cells”…just like the Nazis convinced themselves that the people screaming as they were shot or gassed were “Untermenchen,” subhuman, and therefore guiltlessly exterminated. …

My soul carries a new scar. The pain is fresh and keen, and I know that while time might see the pain fade, I will never fully recover from what I’ve seen, and done. For I have failed, intentionally and knowingly, in the first duty of a parent: protecting the lives of two of my children.

My wife and I wanted children; alas, we needed IVF treatment to realize this dream. Several cycles and multiple embryo implantations later, we welcomed our blessing from G-d, who is the light of our lives. [Read more…]

Pro-Abortion Snowe Retires, Will Pro-Lifers Win the Senate?

March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Olympia Snowe Pro-Abortion Abortion Advocate — Olympia Snowe Pro-Abortion Advocate (voted pro-abortion 46 times)

by Andrew Bair –

Late Monday afternoon, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) sent shockwaves through Washington when she announced she would not seek reelection to the US Senate in November.

Snowe, long known as a centrist, cited the “partisanship” of Washington as the reason for her decision. While pro-life advocates may not hold Snowe in the highest regard, her Senate seat was viewed as a safe Republican seat heading into the November elections. Keeping Maine in Republican hands becomes a much more difficult task with Snowe out of the picture.

In 59 scored pro-life votes by the National Right to Life Committee, Snowe voted pro-abortion 46 times. Some of her worst offenses include voting against the ban on partial-birth abortion, against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, against the Mexico City Policy, in favor of federal funding of Planned Parenthood and in favor of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. [Read more…]

Olympia Snowe’s Pro-Abortion Voting Record

March 4, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

The consistent pro-abortion voting record of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe (US Senator from Maine, 17 years in office) with respect to the rights of the unborn, represents a radical departure from the Orthodox Christian Church moral teaching on the Sanctity of Life in the womb. Her sustained abandonment of these critical Christian principles and her wholesale disregard for the safety and well-being of the unborn is shameful. Listed below is a brief overview of Senator Olympia Snowe’s votes on supporting multiple pro-abortion and pro partial-birth abortion Bills while in office.

2008 – Voted NO on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP.
Congressional Summary: To require that legislation to reauthorize SCHIP include provisions codifying the unborn child regulation. Amends the definition of the term “targeted low-income child” to provide that such term includes the period from conception to birth, for eligibility for child health assistance. [ Reference: Bill S.Amdt.4233 to S.Con.Res.70 ; vote number 08-S081 on Mar 14, 2008 ]

2008 – Voted NO on prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion.
Congressional Summary: To increase funding for the vigorous enforcement of a prohibition against taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions consistent with the Child Custody Protection Act. [Read more…]

What Kids Now Learn in College

March 2, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Dennis Prager –
Save your money. Here’s a list of the lessons they’ll be taught.

As high school seniors throughout America will be receiving acceptance letters to colleges within the next month, it would be nice for parents to meditate on what they are getting for the $20–$50,000 they will pay each year.

The United States is no better than any other country, and in many areas worse than many. On the world stage, America is an imperialist country, and domestically it mistreats its minorities and neglects its poor, while discriminating against non-whites.

There is no better and no worse in literature and the arts. The reason universities in the past taught Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Bach rather than, let us say, Guatemalan poets, Sri Lankan musicians, and Native American storytellers was “Eurocentrism.”

God is at best a non-issue, and at worst, a foolish and dangerous belief.

Christianity is largely a history of inquisitions, crusades, oppression, and anti-intellectualism. Islam, on the other hand, is “a religion of peace.” [Read more…]

IOCC Should Reconsider Senator Sarbanes as Honorary Chairman

February 29, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Ronda Wintheiser –

Dear Mr. Triantafilou, board of directors, and the staff at IOCC:

I did finally receive a response to the email and the letter I wrote recently asking you to reconsider your selection of Senator Sarbanes as an honorary chairman for the upcoming gala planned for May 8th. Thank you for it.

The letter read, in part, that: “Senator Sarbanes was selected as an honorary co-chairman for the event for his steadfast commitment and support for IOCC’s ongoing humanitarian mission. While we recognize that you do have concerns about his participation, we hope you will not allow it to overshadow a 20-year legacy of positively impacting the lives of so many people.” [Read more…]

Paul Sarbanes’ Pro-Abortion Voting Record

February 29, 2012March 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

The consistent pro-abortion voting record of Democrat Senator Paul Sarbanes (US Senator from Maryland, 1977-2007) while in office, with respect to the rights of the unborn, represents a radical departure from the Orthodox Christian Church moral teaching on the Sanctity of Life in the womb. His sustained disregard of the Christian and humane instinct to protect the unborn is appalling. Listed below is a brief overview of Senator Paul Sarbanes’ votes on supporting multiple pro-abortion Bills while in office.

2006 – Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.
This bill prohibits taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions. Makes an exception for an abortion necessary to save the life of the minor. Authorizes any parent to sue unless such parent committed an act of incest with the minor. Imposes a fine and/or prison term of up to one year on a physician who performs an abortion on an out-of-state minor in violation of parental notification requirements in their home state. [Read more…]

The Simple Life

February 27, 2012July 11, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Bishop Tikhon –
When we look around the world we live in, we are often overwhelmed by its complexity and its activity. The world seems never to take a break: businesses, stores and restaurants are open seven days a week, school activities take place at all times, entertainment can be accessed at any hour via the internet and wireless streaming devices and we are often slavishly controlled by all manner of communications: cell phones, emails, text messages and social networking.

All of this worldly activity is supposed to allow us more free time and make our life “easier” and “simpler.” But in reality, it only seems to complicate it by forcing us to devote more money and energy to acquiring those “time-saving” and “lifeenhancing” devices and products. Beyond this, all that worldly activity cuts down on the time we spend together as a family, restricts our ability to go to church services and events and chips away at the time that we devote to the care of our soul through prayer, spiritual reading and repentance. [Read more…]

Canada’s New Tyranny: The State’s Takeover of the Family

February 27, 2012February 29, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Canada Tyranny Christian Family Persecution by LifeSiteNews Editors –
The great English writer G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.”

But if what Chesterton says is true, then Canada fails the test, because the Canadian family is no longer free.

In the past week we have witnessed the Supreme Court of Canada dismiss the appeal of a Quebec family for permission to exempt their child from that province’s controversial ethics and religious culture course, which critics say is “relativistic,” and teaches that all religious are equally valid. And we have heard a spokesperson for the Alberta education minister state that under the province’s new Education Act even homeschooling parents will no longer be allowed to teach their children traditional Christian sexual ethics. [Read more…]