Kamala Harris rejects religious exemptions for abortion: ‘I don’t think we should be making concessions’

 

Joel Kontinen

You should be afraid of Kamala Harris. She  is  a strong advocate for abortion and LGBT rights.

“Harris’s doubling down on holding abortion-on-demand as inviolable comes just days after the aat a recent campaign rally as she denigrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.   

Harris, a former U.S. senator from California who was ranked the most liberal member of the Senate and had a 100 percent pro-abortion voting record, supports the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” a Democratic bill that would declare abortion throughout pregnancy a federal “right” and invalidate hundreds of state and local pro-life laws.

She is also a strong supporter of all aspects of the LGBT movement, including “gender transitions” for minors and LGBT indoctrination of childraen in schools.

Harris, furthermore, has a record of targeting Catholics. As attorney general of California, she prosecuted Catholic pro-life journalist David Daleiden after he released videos that showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts.”,,

So Kamala rejects all things that the followers of Christ hold dear.

Source: 

Doug Mainwaring 2024. Kamala Harris rejects religious exemptions for abortion: ‘I don't think we should be making concessions’ - LifeSite 23 October

Human genes are become active after fertilization

 

Image courtesy of Walter De Maria, public domain.

Joel Kontinen

    

A new study has found out that genes are active from after fertilization challenges the textbook view that genes don't become active in human embryos until they are made up of four-to-eight cells, two or three days after fertilisation.

This is the way Christians have been saying all the time. This is a signal for abortion, as kids that old are fully human.

The newly discovered activity begins at the one-cellstage -- far sooner than previously thought -- promising to change the way we think about our developmental origins.

The research, published on the 21 December in Cell Stem Cell, was co-led by Professor Tony Perry at the University of Bath, Dr Giles Yeo at the University of Cambridge and Dr Matthew VerMilyea at Ovation Fertility, US.

”Using a method called RNA-sequencing, the team applied precision analysis to individual human eggs and one-cell embryos to make a detailed inventory of tell-tale products of gene activity, called RNA transcripts. It revealed that hundreds of genes awaken in human one-cell embryos. Because the gene activity starts small, previous techniques had not been sensitive enough to detect it.”

The researcher say that looking at biological process as the kinds are only at the one-cell embryo stage is a is a fundamental step.

Source:

University of Bath. 2021. Genes are switched on in the human embryo from the get-go. Science Daily.,  21 December..

 

USA Does Not Permit Abortion

Official White House Photo, Joyce N. Boghosian.



Joel Kontinen


Health ministers from around the world adopted a resolution on health policies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic early this week at the World Health Assembly that includes “sexual and reproductive health.”

The United States objected to the inclusion of the term and rejected the notion of an international right to abortion. It rejected the WHO’s assertion that aborting is included in the term “sexual and reproductive health.”

American will remember President Donald Trump, who said in 2019, “Americans will never tire of defending innocent life” and chided UN bodies for promoting abortion as a human right and pressuring countries to remove legal restrictions on abortion.”


Source:

Gennarini, Stefano. 2020. ”US pushes back against pro-abortion language in UN health resolution. Life Site News 22 May.

All men and women created…by the…co…you know…you know the thing,” Biden said

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.


Joel Kontinen

Joe Biden is known to have forgotten some things. He had forgotten the name of the previous president, for instance.

Then he also forgot the name of the God from the Declaration of independence.” Biden may not know the Declaration because he doesn’t truly believe that all people are created equal, at least not unborn children. Biden is totally out of step on abortion with most Americans with his unflinching support for abortions up to birth.”

This time, it may not be a mistake. The Democrats have avoided all mention of God in the public square.

This is not the kind of mistake Donald Trump Donald Trump would make.

Source:

Joe Biden Forgets “the Creator” in the Declaration of Independence. Calls God “the Thing”. Life News Com 2 March.

Harvesting Organs From Aborted Babies à la Planned Parenthood

Big business? Image courtesy of Hourick, public domain.





Joel Kontinen

When society turns its back on Christian values, it usually opens the door to morally questionable issues, such as a disregard for human dignity and even human life.

It will ultimately lead to a culture of death.

This lesson was brought home by a video in which Dr. Deborah Nucatola, a senior executive at Planned Parenthood, discussed the prices of baby parts over lunch with two actors who were pretending to be buyers.

Unaware of being filmed, Dr. Nucatola explained how one could get body parts from aborted babies without wrecking them.

The video has caused outrage and rightly so. However, some newspapers have tried to play down the issue. What they have failed to see is that too many unborn humans have no human rights at all.

Fortunately, even among a culture that celebrates death, there are voices, such as abortion survivor Gianna Jessen, who would rather celebrate life as a gift from God than to succumb to the culture of death.

Source:

Smietana, Bob. 2015. Abortion Video Leads to Claims of Modern Day Grave Robbing. Christianity Today. (15 July).

Richard Dawkins: Not Aborting Foetus with Down’s Syndrome Is Immoral

Richard Dawkins. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

There should be no moral judgements in atheism. Obviously, Richard Dawkins does not entirely practice what he preaches. His recent tweet on aborting an unborn baby with Down’s syndrome made headlines:

“Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice,” he wrote.

This is not the first time Dawkins is involved in a Twitter controversy. Last year he claimed that unborn human babies are less human than adult pigs.

This might well be in keeping with his evolutionary faith, but seen from a Christian perspective, it sounds outrageous.

It is interesting that Dawkins used the word immoral, as in an atheistic worldview there is no lawgiver and hence no ultimate sense of right and wrong. In order to make moral pronouncements, he has to borrow Christian terminology.

Dawkins’ tweet is an example of the moral darkness in which many people live. I would suggest that the only antidote for this dilemma is to let the true light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to shine.

That light will overcome all darkness.

Source:

Richard Dawkins: 'immoral' not to abort if foetus has Down's syndrome. The Guardian (21 August 2014).

Saving Lives Is Torture, According to Abortion Lobby

An abortion group is lobbying the UN to ban pro-life views as torture. Image courtesy of Spiff, Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen


Nobelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that the misery prevalent in the communist Soviet Union was a result of ignoring God: “A great disaster had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”

When one exchanges the image of God for descent from apes, the consequences are almost always bad – especially for the weakest in society.

It seems that the pro-abortion group The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) has not learnt anything from history.

CRR sent a bizarre letter to the UN, claiming that religious leaders promoting life “contributed to torture and ill-treatment perpetuated by other states by negatively interfering with the development of state policy on abortion, in violation of its obligations under Articles 1, 2, and 16.”

This, of course, is ridiculous. Adopting an Orwellian strategy, CRR seeks to re-define words, making them mean exactly the opposite of what one would expect.

Pro-abortion groups have even previously used extremely questionable methods.

In real life, humans do not become humans through magic but they are human beings months before their birth. Created in the image of God, unborn babies deserve full human rights.

Source:

Clark, Matthew. 2014. Will the UN Criminilize the Pro-Life Movement as “Torture”? ACLJ.org (May 12).

Thank God for Abortion? Culture of Death in the USA, Featuring Pro-Abortion Prayer

Jean Fouquet (1460) depicted death as the Grim Reaper. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen


When a speaker refers to God as “Lord of the Dance” and uses the personal pronoun she for God, ostensibly in a prayer, we might suspect that something might be amiss.

Especially when she calls abortion “the blessing of choice” and prays that women in developing nations could have better access to abortion.

According to the Washington Examiner,

“Midge Slater, an organizer for the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, part of the Iowa Federation of Labor and the AFL-CIO, spoke to about 80 people who came to the capitol to protest a proposal that the State Board of Medicine end a program that allows doctors to prescribe an abortion pill for a woman after a video chat, rather than an in-person consultation.”

She asks “God” to “protect the goodness that we are capable of”, i.e., providing easy abortions for women.

Ms. Slater basically turns biblical morality and the respect for life on its head. However, twisting the meaning of words in an Orwellian manner will not turn killing into a blessing.

The “prayer” reminds one of what PZ Myers, a well-known atheist, has said of abortion.

The “Lord of the Dance” is certainly not the God of the Bible, who regards death as an intruder and an enemy.



Source:

York, Byron. 2013. Iowa Democrat prays: Dear God, thank you for abortion. Washington Examiner (31 August).

Kermit Gosnell and Abortion’s Darwinian Connection

Charles Darwin’s ideas have had bad consequences. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen


Bad ideas tend to have bad consequences. Darwinian evolution with its struggle for existence has a sordid track record. Evolution inspired the harsh totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, led to the Second World War, causing great destruction and loss of life.

It inspired racism, eugenics and the holocaust.

But that is not all. A trial in the United States emphasises another rotten fruit of Darwinism: the idea that man is just an animal has led to millions of abortions. Recently, the Washington Post reported:

“A Philadelphia doctor accused of performing illegal late-term abortions in a filthy clinic has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive but was acquitted in the death of a fourth baby.”

Dr. Gosnell killed the babies after they were born. Although this does not differ substantially from killing babies before they are born, it shows that in an evolution-based worldview humans do not have any intrinsic value.

As the Lord Jesus said, a bad tree cannot bring good fruit.

Source

Dennis, Brady. 2013. Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell convicted of murder in deaths of three infants. The Washington Post (13 May).

Richard Dawkins on Twitter: Human Babies Are Less Human Than Adult Pigs

Richard Dawkins. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Richard Dawkins seems to believe that unborn human babies are of less value than adult pigs. Writing on Twitter, he says: “With respect to those meanings of "human" that are relevant to the morality of abortion, any fetus is less human than an adult pig.”

Dawkins’ statement indicates what belief in atheism and evolution can lead do.

Source:

Twitter

The Worst Holocaust Ever – It’s Still Occurring

Joel Kontinen


The worst holocaust of all time is occurring in our days. A new documentary produced by Shadowline Films opens our eyes to see what is happening in many countries.

The name of the documentary is It’s a Girl.

According to the Film’s website,

“In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today because of this so-called ‘gendercide’.”

Praying for Abortions? Pro-Abortion Organisation Gets Religion, Sort of

With the anti-abortion film October Baby in movie theatres in the U.S., Planned Parenthood launches a campaign to increase abortions.




Joel Kontinen

The U.S. pro-abortion organisation Planned Parenthood seems to have got religion. However, it is certainly not the Christian religion but something that smacks of ancient Baalism that the Old Testament prophet Elijah fought against.

The Six Rivers Planned Parenthood of Eureka, California, launched a campaign called “40 Days of Prayer: Supporting Women Everywhere”.

While they are planning to pray for practically everyone else, they do not have a single prayer for the unborn.

Planned Parenthood is getting support for the campaign from “the Clergy for Choice”. Using Orwellian newspeak, they characterise themselves as “religious leaders who value all human life.”

However, their “all” does not mean “all”. The unborn remain outlaws.


Source:

LeClaire, Jennifer. 2012. Planned Parenthood Launches Pro-Abortion Prayer Campaign. Charisma News (11 April).

The Inspiring Story of an Abortion Survivor

Joel Kontinen


Some babies survive an abortion. Gianna Jessen is one of the few who did. A Christian and a pro-life activist, she is a living testimony of how wrong killing a baby is.

According to her website,

“After being burned alive for approximately 18 hours in the womb from the saline solution, Gianna was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic. Her medical records state, ‘born during saline abortion’ ... this is what caused her Cerebral Palsy.”

She was not expected to be able to even hold up her head, let alone walk. However, while she still walks with a limp, she has run two full marathons (42 km or 26.2 miles).

An internationally known singer and speaker, Gianna Jessen is a voice for the unborn. She points out that an abortion violates the rights of a baby - who is a human being.



October Baby, a soon to be released film, is based on her real-life story.





Source:

Gianna Jessen’s website.

Medical Study: It’s OK to Kill Newborn Babies

Joel Kontinen


In late February, the Journal of Medical Ethics published an online article entitled "After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?" It is perhaps no surprise that it has made headlines all over the world.

“Slaughter newborn kids, say academics,” the british tabloid The Sun interpreted the gist of the paper. It was not a misinterpretation, as the paper’s abstract says:

“Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

In other words, authors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that killing babies (regardless of what one chooses to call them) before birth is no different from killing them after birth. They are at least consistent.

What is troubling is their low view of human life. It seems to be inspired by Darwinian evolution and it reminds me of the opinions of Peter Singer and PZ Myers.

In contrast, here’s what Gianna Jessen, who survived an abortion, says about her life:




Sources:

Giubilini, Alberto and Francesca Minerva. 2012. After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? Journal of Medical Ethics. (23 February) doi: 10.1136/medethics-2011-100411.

Wilson, Graeme. 2012 Slaughter newborn kids, say academics. The Sun (1 March).

Research: Reading the Bible frequently increases one’s will to resist abortions and defend the traditional view of marriage

Reading this book can be an effective means of reducing the number of abortions.




Joel Kontinen

Politicians should encourage people to read the Bible. It could have very beneficial results – especially for unborn babies.

According to an American study conducted in 2007, frequent Bible reading is an effective way to get one to resist abortions and defend the traditional view of marriage.

In a questionnaire survey conducted by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 1648 over 18-year-old Americans responded to questions about religion.

The results should not surprise us. The Bible is not an ordinary book. The text, inspired by the Holy Spirit, will change those who read it, provided they are willing to change.

”All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”, the apostle Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy. (2 Tim. 3:16, NIV).


Sources:

Baylor Religion Survey, Wave II (2007). ARDA: The Association of Religion Data Archives.

The Values and Beliefs of the American Public: A National Study.

When does a human being become fully human?

Joel Kontinen

PZ Myers, who is known as a militant atheist, said recently that in the early stages of pregnancy an unborn baby is not a human being.

However, Darwinian evolution does not occur in the womb. In contrast to what Ernst Haeckel, the father of the misleading embryo drawings, believed, a human being does not repeat the assumed stages of evolution before his or her birth but is fully human from conception.

The baby’s genetic information does not increase with the passing of time.

These 4-dimensional ultrasound images reveal that a human being looks like a human being at a very early stage.




According to the Bible, a human being is fully human from the beginning.

- In Psalm 139, David describes how God formed him in the womb.
- Isaiah says: ”Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.”(Isa. 49:1, NIV)
- The Gospel of Luke includes an interesting detail: ”When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”(1:41, NIV) This suggests that we should not underestimate babies’ cognitive skills.

Well-known atheist: "I would like to encourage more people to abort”

PZ Myers. Image courtesy of Larry Moran, Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen


PZ Myers, an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris, is probably better known for his bizarre exploits in the blogosphere than for his scientific achievements. Recently he wrote a blog post in which he said he was “pro-abortion” and wanted “to encourage more people to abort.

Myers was responding to a web poll in which a couple are asking readers to help them decide whether they should have an abortion. The poll is probably a scam but Myers’ views are genuine.

Why would Myers be so enthralled with death? He says that getting rid of a foetus is no big deal since it does not have to do with a human being.

Like fellow unbeliever Peter Singer, Myers seems to be an intellectually honest atheist who admits that according to his worldview, human life has no innate worth.

Christianity emphasises man’s innate worth. In contrast to atheists, who might draw inspiration from Haeckel’s forged embryo drawings, the Bible says that a human being is fully human from conception. Created in God’s image, he or she is extremely valuable.

Source:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/11/an_online_abortion_poll_for_re.php

Ethics professor: Dolphins should be treated as ”non-human persons”

A bottlenose dolphin. Image courtesy of NASA.



Joel Kontinen

Thomas White, a professor of ethics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, has caused a stir by suggesting that dolphins should be treated as ”non-human persons".

While dolphins certainly are intelligent animals capable of learning new tricks, regarding them as persons reveals more about the worldview of the one making the suggestion than about bottlenose dolphins.

This is not the first time that animal rights activists have tried to treat animals as persons. In January 2008 a chimpanzee named Matthew Hiasl Pan made headlines throughout the world as activists attempted to get the Austrian High Court to grant it the status of a person. The court refused to do so, however.

In June 2008 the environmental committee of the Spanish parliament approved a resolution that called for the right to life and freedom for great apes.

Unfortunately, animal rights activists often belittle human rights. Their ideology stems from Darwinian evolution. In their view, a human being has no more value than a field mouse. Bioethics professor Peter Singer, who is an intellectually honest atheist, for instance thinks that it is more ethical to kill human infants – even up to 28 days after their birth – than to eat animal meat.

We should view the current dolphin discussion from this perspective.

Occasionally, the plight of captive dolphins gives rise to more discussion than the killing of unborn babies for financial excuses.

It is deplorable that people have at times mistreated dolphins. However, we cannot solve the problem by pretending that they are human beings while we keep on trampling on the rights of unborn humans. We can let dolphins be animals and still take an ethical approach to them.

Source:

Edwards, Lin- 2010. Scientists say dolphins should be treated as non-human persons. Physorg.com. (6 January)
http://www.physorg.com/news181981904.html

Atheists Attack Straw-Man Christianity

David Bentley Hart, a professor of theology, discusses the religious views of Richard Dawkins and other militant atheists in his new book.




Joel Kontinen

What do militant atheists remember of Christian history? They will mention the Inquisition, witch hunts, religious wars and the crusades, but will probably forget the rest. They seldom speak about the good that the followers of Jesus Christ have introduced to society, such as leper hospitals, orphanages and schools.

They haven’t even heard about equality and freedom that are the fruit of Christianity. In addition, they have created their own myth of the Galileo affair that has next to nothing to do with reality.

In his book Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale University Press, 2009) David Bentley Hart, a professor of theology, takes on militant atheists. Hart, an American Orthodox theologian and philosopher, shows that militant atheists have created their own version of Christianity that is easy to criticise.

In other words, it has little to do with biblical Christianity.

If we were to compare the fruits of Christianity with the products of the Enlightenment, we might soon notice which of them has brought more benefits for mankind. After all, atheists have Stalin and Pol Pot, so they cannot afford to throw the first stone.

According to professor Hart, the post-Christian world values freedom of choice to the extent that it has become more important than that what we choose. Individuals demand the right to decide on abortion, euthanasia and gene technology, for instance.

Their consequences are not always very encouraging.

Hart says that Christianity ”has been the single most creative cultural, ethical, aesthetic, social, political, or spiritual force in the history of the West.” Unlike atheism, Christianity offers us real hope.

As God says in the Book of Jeremiah, He promises to give ”a future and a hope” to those who trust in Him.

Another excellent book discussing the views of militant atheists is being re-issued. Basic Books is publishing Dr. David Berlinski’s The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions in paperback.

Source:

Kirkpatrick, Kate. 2009. Reframing Human History. Christianity Today (23 September) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/september/33.81.html

Not All Are Singing

Peter Singer: bioethics with an anti-human bias. Image courtesy of Wikipedia



Joel Kontinen

Some atheists have recently expressed the desire that people should stop worrying and enjoy the life they are living. Others, however, take a more dire approach to life.

Bioethics professor Peter Singer is a leading spokesman for animal rights. He believes that grown-up animals should have more rights than unborn humans:

Rats are indisputably more aware of their surroundings, and more able to respond in purposeful and complex ways to things they like or dislike, than a fetus at 10- or even 32-weeks gestation. … The calf, the pig, and the much-derided chicken come out well ahead of the fetus at any stage of pregnancy.

Dinesh D’Souza recently debated Singer. Writing in Christianity Today, he says that Singer “cheerfully advocates infanticide and euthanasia and, in almost the same breath, favors animal rights.” D’Souza suspects that atheists have not overtly advocated Singer’s views since it might discredit their cause.

After all, Singer is “an intellectually honest atheist.”

According to Singer’s ideology, it is more ethical to kill human infants – even up to 28 days after their birth – than to eat animal meat.

This is a corollary of accepting Darwinian evolution. Evolutionists all over the world are celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday this year.

The film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed clearly shows that ideas have consequences.

As G. K. Chesterton put it, if men were “not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal”. In Singer’s dire world human birth is no source of equality.


Source:

D’Souza, Dinesh. 2009. Staring into the Abyss. Why Peter Singer makes the New Atheists nervous. Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/march/22.60.html