February 6, 2009 - Washington, DC

Pro-abortion Barack Obama calls for protection of "innocent life?" / Most disagree with Obama's pro-abortion Executive Order / Obama to expand Bush's Faith Based Initiative, but how? / Obama may actually be right about something - Wall Street excess / Stimulus bill money is off limits to religious groups / Stimulating birth control / Christian groups fighting wrong battle with Obama / Babies in a frozen Hell on Earth / Live baby tossed in trash bag / Governor Beasley in Washington to help Iraqi Christians / Christian group kicked out of Sudan

THE PRESIDENCY

THE ABORTION PRESIDENT - Fifty-eight percent of Americans disagreed with President Obama's order to give overseas funding to organizations that provide abortions, according to a new survey. Only thirty-five percent supported him on it. Obama signed the order on Jan. 23, reversing the "Mexico City policy" -- a prohibition first implemented by Ronald Reagan. This policy does not allow government funding to overseas family-planning organizations that perform abortions or offer abortion counseling. Read more

THE FAITH BASED PRESIDENT - is this a joke? President Obama is going to expand the Faith Based outreach started by President Bush - with a few changes - because he is for "separation of church and state." His new Faith Based effort will give funds to religious groups only if they promise to hire people from outside their faith. This means that any Jewish groups accepting the funds will be required to hire Muslims who call for the destruction of Israel. Baptist groups will be forced to hire Mormons, and the Mormons will be forced to hire people who refer to them as a cult. Wow ... Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

The "PROTECT INNOCENT LIFE" PRESIDENT - Confused? So am I. At the annual National Prayer Breakfast President Obama stunned pro-life religious leaders by saying, "There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know." How can he hold this view and also sign an Executive Order giving funds to pro-abortion groups? The logic is simple: Barack Obama does not believe that an unborn baby is a human being. He follows the pro-abortion line that until a baby breathes in air, it has no mother or father; it is just a lump of cells. Read more

OBAMA IS RIGHT ABOUT PAY EXCESSES The Washington Times is the most conservative and pro-business newspaper in the United States and perhaps even the world. Imagine my surprise to see a Washington Times editorial that said President Barack Obama was right to criticize business executives for excessive bonuses. The Times pointed out that while racking up $35 billion in losses for their stockholders, Wall Street executives paid themselves $18.4 billion in bonuses. About half the loss to investors was actually bonus pay. Now that is disgusting, and the Washington Times was right to agree with Barack Obama on this one. Read editorial

THE CONGRESS

STIMULUS EXCLUDES RELIGIOUS GROUPS- There is plenty of "green spending" in the Stimulus bill, including funds for schools and colleges to renovate older buildings or to build new energy efficient buildings. There is a big catch: If the funds are accepted, the buildings cannot be used for any religious purpose. During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama and the Democrats courted religious voters, but now that they are in power they are showing their true secularist colors. Read more

BIRTH CONTROL AS STIMULUS - Apparently the Democrat controlled Congress under radical San Francisco leftist Nancy Pelosi believes that having fewer babies will stimulate the economy. Not only are millions of dollars given to pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, the rules of the funding undermine families. Under the bill, clinics must give birth control pills and devices to underage girls without consulting their parents. The bill also gives funds to the CDC to fight sexually transmitted diseases, since STD's will increase when birth control pills are handed out like candy at schools. The Democrats call these program "economic stimulus."

CHRISTIAN GROUPS DON'T GET IT - Most social conservative groups are being led around by the nose by the GOP, and so are fuming about the pork in the Stimulus bill and ignoring the anti-family rules that are in it. The Stimulus will pass, and social conservative and pro-life groups are wasting their time trying to stop passage. Instead they should be working hard to change language that is damaging to the traditional family and faith based schools such as in the examples noted above.

CULTURE AND RELIGION

HALF A MILLION BABIES SUSPENDED IN A FROZEN HELL - News of a single mother giving birth to eight babies at once in California stunned the nation, but it should also make us aware of an American practice that is very wrong. In Germany and Italy no more than three embryos may be produced in fertility clinics and all three must be implanted in the mother. In the United States, sometimes dozens are produced, yet few are implanted. There are 500,000 babies frozen in the United States, and no one knows what to do with them. These are the "extra" embryos our fertility doctors have produced. Read more

LIVE BABY TOSSED IN BIO HAZARD BAG - The abortionist was running late to work, and the woman seeking an abortion gave birth to a live baby girl. An employee cut the umbilical cord and tossed the live baby in a trash bag and tied the top. "The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, the law firm that is also representing the mother who sought the abortion. "People all over the country are just aghast,." he said. Florida authorities are looking into possible criminal charges against the doctor, who was trained in Haiti. Read more

NEW CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - The all new January 23, 2009 Chairman's Report is now available to read in PDF format. This issue contains more information about our new social networking sites - one site for "under God" in the Pledge, and another site to help persecuted Iraqi Christians. Print out and distribute to your Sunday School class. Click here to view PDF

INTERNATIONAL

ACTION TO ASSIST IRAQI CHRISTIANS - This week former Governor David Beasley of South Carolina visited Washington to talk with congressional leaders about the plight of Iraqi Christians. Traveling with Governor Beasley was a representative of the Religious Freedom Coalition's ministry partner in Amman, Jordan. Together the two men made the case that the United States must have an official policy toward the religious minorities in Iraq, something that was not done under Secretary of State Rice during the Bush Administration. In addition to one-on-one meetings, Governor Beasley spoke at several meetings to leaders of social conservative organizations who may be able to assist Iraqi Christian refugees. Our ministry partner returned to Jordan with about $48,000 in contributed medical supplies. Please help!

"THIRST NO MORE" KICKED OUT OF SUDAN - A group providing new water wells has been thrown out of Sudan's Darfur region after officials found Arabic-language Bibles in their office. Officials said they had decided to expel the Texas-based group "for its violation to the Voluntary Work Act. A government spokesman said Thirst No More was supposed to be in the war-torn region supplying drinking water and "failed to provide justification" for its ownership of about 3,400 Bibles. Apparently the Sudanese dictatorship has the same view of separation of church and state as President Barack Obama. Read more

FACEBOOK FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS - The Religious Freedom Coalition also has a Facebook page to expose the crisis faced by Iraqi Christians. If you have a Facebook account, please become our friend at this link.

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Contributions to the work of the Religious Freedom Coalition can be made at www.rfcnet.org.