Christianity Won't Back Down!

Evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders signed a declaration in New York saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions or to bless same-sex marriages. In the document it says, “We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.” This group of religious leaders is standing by their beliefs no matter what laws the United States government may put into affect the future. They want to show the Obama administration that they will not back down on their beliefs, no matter what law President Obama may put in place. This group of religious leaders will not compromise their views on same-sex marriage, abortion or stem cell research. The 4,700 word document that they all signed is called the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience. These 147 religious leaders want to be inspiration to the younger generation and show them that these are the most important issues to religious institutions. They say younger Christians are more concerned with issues such as climate change, global poverty and they are more accepting of homosexuals than their elders.
These religious leaders are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. They are standing up for what they believe in and letting everyone know including the government that they will not back down from their religious beliefs no matter what the circumstances are. Also, they are trying to inspire the younger Christian generation to be as passionate about abortion and stem cell research as they are. Lets hope that the future leaders of our nation can have the same type of "no backing down" menatlity when it comes to standing up for what the believe in!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/politics/20alliance.html?scp=16&sq=same-sex%20marriage&st=cse

The New York times describes the tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas. Nidal Malik Hasan is the suspect who shot and killed thirteen soldiers at the Fort Hood Military Base. All of the soldiers that Hasan killed were about to be deployed to Afghanistan. Hasan was a military psychiatrist that had a Muslim upbringing and background. Before the shootings he reached out and sent twenty messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, who use to be a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia. Anwar al-Awlaki has extreme Muslim views where he believes in killing all infidels which are people who are not Muslim. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had knowledge of Hasan reaching out Muslim extremists before the shootings occurred. The Federal Bureau of Investigation dropped its case against Hasan because he had a good excuse on why he was reaching out to Awlaki. Hasan said that he was conducting a research project at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On Monday following the attack Mr. Awlaki praised Nidal Malik Hasan on his website by saying, “Hasan did the right thing in attacking soldiers preparing to deploy for Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The Authors David Johnston and Scott Shane are portraying this article as a terrible thing that happened. In the article they focus a lot on how the Federal Bureau of Investigation handled everything before and after the shootings. The authors seem confused on how the FBI knew Hasan had contact with a radical Muslim overseas, but they did not do anything about it. Hopefully the FBI will learn from this mistake and do more investigation in the future to prevent future radical Muslims from attacking innocent Americans.

http://cnn.mv/2009/US/11/05/fort.hood.suspect/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10inquire.html?scp=5&sq=muslim%20violence&st=cse

Obama @ Notre Dame?

President Obama was invited to the University of Notre Dame on May 17, to give a commencement speech and receive an honorary doctor of law degree. When this news reached Notre Dame Students and the rest of the nation, it caused great controversy. The University of Notre Dame has been a Catholic institution since it was founded by Father Edward Sorin in 1842. President Obama does not agree with the Catholic Church on some of the main principles that the Catholic Church teaches. President Obama supports abortion rights and he supports embryonic stem cell research. He just recently lifted a ban on federal financing for both of these issues. There has been a debate in the United States on whether or not Catholic Universities should honor someone who does not follow everything the Catholic Church believes in. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said, “That Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.” More then 210,000 people signed a petition online supporting for the invitation for President Obama to speak at graduation to be revoked. Professors on campus hope President Obama uses the visit to Notre Dame as a way to open up more dialogue about these life issues.
I do not think President Obama should have been invited to speak at the University of Notre Dame. I would be upset if I was a student at Notre Dame because President Obama believes in abortion and embryonic cell research, which are both opposed by the Catholic Church. Students who go to Notre Dame pay lots of money to get an education that is also affiliated with their Catholic religious views. I believe Notre Dame could have picked someone to speak at graduation that openly supports the fundamental morals of the Catholic Church.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/obama-visit-to-notre-dame-provokes-debate/

Sonia Sotomayor's Views

When President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, everyone assumed she is in favor of pro choice in regards to abortion. President Obama believes women should have abortion rights, so it was just assumed Sonia Sotomayor had the same views when she was appointed. After people started looking into her history and outcomes of past cases, they are starting to worry they do not know exactly where she stands on the issue. In eleven years as a federal appeals court judge she never directly ruled whether or not the constitution protects women’s rights to an abortion. If Sotomayor does not believe in abortion rights, this would not be the first time a President has elected a Supreme Court Justice with different views. The first President Bush elected David H. Souter to the Supreme Court in 1990. Bush assumed he was against abortion, but when it came time to vote on the topic, Souter voted to uphold abortion rights. The same thing could happen with Sonia Sotomayor and President Obama. Abortion rights activists are concerned because they don’t know exactly where Sotomayor stands on the issue.

Abortion is an extremely big politically divisive in the United States. I would think President Obama would make sure Sotomayor is in favor of Abortion rights before he nominated her because it is such a divisive, religious and moral issue. Days after Obama was elected, he choose to give millions of dollars to other others countries in support of abortions when the United States was deeply in debt. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is killing and is against the Catholic Religion to do so. Sonia Sotomayor was raised as a Roman Catholic (then again...so w was Nancy Pelosi), so it will be interesting to see what she votes for on the issue of abortion when the time comes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28abortion.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=abortion&st=Search

Republicans Unite

Same-sex marriage has been a highly debated issue in the United States for a long time and it will remain this way in the future. Same-sex marriage is politically divisive in the United States. Conservative and religious people believe marriage is a legal union between a man and a woman. The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages, but there are currently five states that allow and recognize same-sex marriage. On November 10th, the New York State Senate delayed a vote on a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in New York. Although the Senate did not vote for the bill on this day, they agreed to vote on the bill before the end of the year. The delay on this vote will give proponents and opponents time to lobby for their cause. New York Senators believe it is going to be an extremely close vote and they are not sure what the outcome of the bill is going to be. In the New York Senate, there are five democratic Senators who have not committed to voting for the bill. This means for the bill to pass around five Republican Senators would have to vote in favor of same-sex marriage. Democrats do not think they can persuade that many Republicans to vote yes for same-sex marriage. Supporters of the bill would like to have 29 votes from Democrats, so they would only need three votes from Republicans in order for the bill to pass. When the New York Senate finally tackles this bill it will be interesting to see the outcome and how everybody reacts to it.

The Republicans must unite in order to put a stop to the destruction of marraige. The traditions and values that marriage stands for must be upheld with the Republicans joining together voting to keep this tradition sacred.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/nyregion/11albany.html?_r=1&hp

Hitchens Is Not Great

Chris Hitchens, a atheist activist, famous for his hatred towards all types of religion appears on Sean Hannity TV show to discuss his new book, “God is Great.” Hitchens has for a long time criticized many religious public figures and religious views. He is known for his harsh and hateful attitude on life that has helped to become quite the controversial figure in the public. Hitchen begins to explain his view on religions is that he is not an atheist because some atheist will say they “wish there is a God.” The interview continues with Hitchens constantly interrupting Hannity and not allowing him to rebuttal while making the same point over and over again that God is not real. Hitchens is interviews again about his book on a much more liberal TV show, “The Hour.” Hitchen explains that his book is about how religion is going to bring the end civilization. He goes on to say civilization does not need religion to make the grounds of what is right or wrong. He proclaims that Christians do what is right because they are being “blackmailed” to do so.

Hitchen continues to pollute the minds of Americans with his anti-religious views. He uses his snobbish attitude and different facts to put down others and give Americans a false belief that religion is corrupting our nation. Our nation was founded upon the right to pursue any religion and people like Hitchens should not be given any credibility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sq-aMXHeCg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YPmt8TUoX4&feature=fvw

On Fox News, Glen Beck discusses the topic of same sex marriage and how it can lead to polygamy. He says that changing “traditional marriage” can cause a snowball effect which will eventually allow men and women to have multiple partners at a time. Beck proclaims that once you tear down the rules of traditional marriage and allow a man and a man to marry or a woman and a woman to marry, which results in ultimately no rule for marriage.
During the show, Beck interviews Jenny Block, the author of the book, “Open.” Block gives her views on how marriage should not be constrained to only a man and a woman. She is currently in a relationship where she is married to her husband but has a girlfriend on the side. Beck explains how that should not be allowed. He insists that if we do not make a law on what is acceptable and unacceptable in marriage, there will be no constraints.
I was raised that marriage is between a man and a woman. Because, I have no way of ever knowing if a gay man or woman chooses their sexual orientation, I cannot take away their rights. That is why I believe we should give everyone the rights to become civil partners. The concept of marriage however, is sacred and should be left for a man and a woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq2kLf1NXt8