I have signed this…have you?
What is the Spiral of Silence?
“A social phenomenon where, out of a desire to avoid reprisal or rejection, people go along with what they think is the popular opinion — even if they object to that opinion personally. Instead of voicing their opinions, they remain silent.”
Don’t be silent. Be respectful. Be courageous. Share this video with others.
Jay Richards and James Robison argue yes, they do.
“We’re told that the 2012 election is all about jobs and the economy. So-called social issues such as marriage, abortion, and religious freedom have been moved to the back burner.
Don’t count on it. Social issues will also figure prominently in the coming months. President Obama has made sure of that.
The most obvious example involves the recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule mandating that religious organizations provide health insurance that covers sterilization, contraception and drugs that induce abortion. Only the most zealous pro-choicers think people should be forced to fund abortions, even when they have moral objections to them. Not surprisingly, the mandate has sparked uproar.
In response, the president has now offered a “compromise.” Instead of employers paying directly for services to which they are morally opposed, HHS will mandate that their insurance carriers provide them “free of charge.”
Birth control pills, IUDS, and abortion-inducing drugs aren’t free, however, so the insurance companies will offset these costs with higher premiums (even though the mandate will supposedly prohibit this). This accounting gimmick does nothing to resolve the moral problem. The New York Times admitted as much in its headline, “Rule Shift is Concession to Obama Allies,” not, in other words, to opponents.
The President may have provided cover for a few allies on the religious left, such as Sister Carol Keehan,
but the US Bishops aren’t buying it. In fact, rather than divide Christians over contraception, Mr. Obama has helped unify orthodox Catholics, evangelicals, and even many civil libertarians. They rightly see the HHS mandate as an attack on religious freedom. ObamaCare was already an affront to freedom itself. Now it has a sharp anti-religious edge to boot.
Forced coverage for abortion drugs? Check. Attack on religious freedom? Check. For the culture war trifecta, all we need is an attack on marriage.
In 1996, President Clinton signed the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It protects states from being forced to recognize same sex “marriages” performed in other states. President Obama claimed before he was elected that, as a Christian, he believed marriage was between a man and a woman. As soon as he took office, though, we learned that his view is “constantly evolving.” It evolved fast, since the Justice Department…” (read the rest of this article)
Recent headlines include words / phrases like: Occupy wall street. Redistribution of wealth. Capitalism. Socialism. And now…Jesus. But what does Jesus have to do with economics? Well, everyone loves to get Jesus on their side of the argument. Here is one of the passages often cited to argue that Jesus would have been in favor of socialism (Acts 4:32-35):
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
“No serious biblical scholar, or economist, would mistake the practice of the early Jerusalem church for Marxism. First of all, Marx viewed private property as oppressive, and had a theory of class warfare, in which the workers would revolt against the capitalists-the owners of the means of production-and forcibly take control of private property. After that, Marx thought, private property would be abolished, and the state would own the means of production on behalf of the people. There’s none of this business in the books of Acts. These Christians are selling their possessions and sharing freely.
Second, the state is nowhere in sight. No Roman centurions are breaking down doors and sending Christians to the lions (that was later). No government is confiscating property and collectivizing industry. No one is being coerced. The church in Jerusalem was just that-the church, not the state. The church doesn’t act like the modern communist state.” (read the rest of the article)
90% of babies who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted (or the more clinical phrase is “terminated pregnancy”). This is barbaric and unthinkable and needs to stop.
This little guy is one of the brave ones who is telling a different story. He is one of the 10%.
This is an excellent booklet – Understanding a Down Syndrome Diagnosis
Train to make the case for the pro life position.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”-Ps. 139:14
These are ALL the kinds of things we do as we engage culture as everyday ambassadors. For more ideas, see my new book Think Christianly.
In a recent article in the Washington Post, Professor of Philosophy John Mark Reynolds offers some balanced and thoughtful reasons why Christians favor small government.
“….We reject the utopian delusions of no state and of an omni-competent state. American Christians reject any king, but King Jesus. We reject any theocracy before King Jesus returns, because humans would have to run it. We long for justice tempered with mercy and we will vote for the man or woman who will give us a government small enough to allow liberty, but big enough to preserve it.”
