World Views

The House Excludes the Hyde and Helms Amendments From Appropriation Bills and Biden Nominates A Lesbian Rabbi to Religious Freedom Commission.

We are reminded once again that elections have consequences. The House Appropriations Committee has succeeded in eliminating both the Hyde and Helms amendments from spending bills, by a partisan vote of 217-208. Not a single Democrat voted to retain either of them. When the bill goes into reconciliation, the Vice President can vote to break the tie. The Minority party can not use the filibuster which would take 60 votes to overturn. What does this mean for us as Christians? Simply stated, we will be funding through our tax dollars abortions here in the U.S. via Medicaid and also for abortions abroad. Hopefully there will be a Democrat or two that will break the tie in the Senate if everyone else votes along party lines. Pray for some Democrats to cross over and vote NO to this outrage. Speaker Pelosi has crowed about this in public stating her kudos of having five children in six years and being a devout Catholic which gives her the bona fides to weigh in. To her this is about equity in women's healthcare and it ensures that all women, regardless of income will have access to abort their children on the taxpayer dime. Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco has a different opinion of what constitutes a devout Catholic. "No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion" and furthermore he said," Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop." Joe Biden who supported the Hyde and Helms amendments for 45 years in the Senate did a flip flop on  the eve before his nomination in order to secure it, also claims to be a devout Catholic. 

President Biden nominated Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum to the International Religious Freedom Commission. The Rabbi is married to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Besides being a lesbian I wonder if the fact that she is married to the president of the AFT who was also in the mix to be nominated by Biden for the Secretary of Education, had anything to do with the rabbi's nomination? Biden also nominated two Muslims for religious freedom posts. Rashad Hussein is his nominee for ambassador-at-large for international freedom and Khizr Khan. Khan spoke at the 2016 Democratic Nomination about his son  an Army Captain who died in Iraq in 2004. You may remember that he accused Trump of never making a sacrifice for his country and for never reading the Constitution. Tony Perkins a Marine, former policeman, Christian Minister and President of the Family Research Council is still serving  on the Commission until 2022. Nominated by Mitch McConnell, he has been smeared by the left as a homophobe, transphobe, a white supremacist and the leader of a hate group. (that would be the Family Research Council) What kind of representation will these new nominees bring to the table for God fearing Americans? Plenty if you are  "devout" like Nancy and Joe. 

Storm Clouds Gathering Over the Supreme Court

Storm clouds have begun gathering over the Supreme Court since May, after the court agreed to hear Mississippi's appeal of the case, Dobbs v. Jackson. The state's initial appeal, filed in June 2020, argued The Gestational Age Act  complied with existing precedent, suggesting that Roe be overturned if the court found no other way to uphold the state law.  The Mississippi act prohibited abortion at 15 weeks and beyond. The state's brief filed on Thursday directly challenges Roe and Casey. The brief stated,"Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history or tradition. Roe broke from prior cases, Casey failed to rehabilitate it, and both recognize a right that has no basis in the Constitution." Mississippi is going straight for the jugular of the Roe and Casey rulings. State Attorney General Lynn Fitch has hired Scott Stewart, a veteran of the Trump Justice Department, a former law clerk to Justice Thomas, and is expected to argue the case.

Since the death of Justice Ginsberg in September 2020 and the subsequent appointment of Judge Barrett,  she is expected to join Justices: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Thomas and Alito to vote against abortion rights. Justice Roberts, the "conservative " loose cannon on the court will not be of any consequence if he sides with the three consistently liberal judges.

The Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state's only abortion clinic, argued in its initial brief filed last August, that 50 years of precedent have established viability as a clear marker where the balance between a woman's right over her own body begin to yield to a states interest in protecting potential life. The clinic argued, "Before viability, the State's interests, whatever they may be, cannot override a pregnant person's interests in their liberty and autonomy over their own body."

Sadly, 50 years of "precedent" have claimed the lives of over 50 million babies and counting since the Roe v. Wade decision. "Precedent" that was based on a non-existent right. Oh, how we've hailed the Emperor's new clothes when we knew he was naked all along. This is not just an embarrassing moment that we can chuckle about afterwards. No, this is a  profound moral outrage that assaults the sacred value of human life and dignity, the likes of which have never before been witnessed in a modern "civilized" society. We await the 50 million would be babies day in court. 

Poland Chooses Life

Last Tuesday February 9th., a majority of European  Parliament lawmakers decried Poland's near total abortion ban as a fundamental violation of women's rights. I always thought that fundamental rights were natural rights bestowed upon us by the Creator and as outlined in the U.S. Constitution and accepted today by most western nations and free peoples around the world. Is it now a word wide fundamental right to kill the unborn? Not in Poland it isn't, the Polish people have spoken. Poland is a staunchly Roman Catholic country and allowed abortion until recently, only in the case of rape or incest; a threat to a woman's health; and fetal abnormalities. The Polish high court ruled that abortion for fetal abnormalities is unconstitutional. 

A German member of the Green party Terry Reintke accused the conservative Polish government of turning the country into "a place where men will have control over women's bodies."  She called on the European Commission to act in defense of women and democracy in Poland. A Danish leader Karen Melchior said women will be forced "to give birth to corpses."  Robert Bierdon a left wing Polish lawmaker denounced the decision saying, "The rights of women in Poland have been curtailed so much that they have fewer rights than women in Iran."  Even though some praised authorities  in Warsaw for what they called a defense of Christian values and human life, the majority denounced it. EU equality Commissioner Helena Dalli acknowledged that the EU has no legal authority over how member states regulate abortion,  but she viewed the decision as evidence of of the deterioration of sexual and reproductive rights of women in the central European nation. 

Abortion in our country is still a very contentious issue and the battle lines are drawn similarly as they are in Europe. There is no greater example of a clash of world view's than abortion and now it is even a global issue. The stakes are high and the issue could not be clearer. Do you choose life or death? Thank God for the people of Poland for embracing life. 

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