"Breeders"- film on surrogate pregnancy; IRS continues to target conservatives; Mohler on missions...more

Rethinking the Contraceptive Mandate
...The moral of the story should be clear. It is not possible to deviate in part from the classical liberal principles of freedom of association and hope that the resulting confusion will be ironed out down the road. The key defect in the central premise leads to indefensible distinctions and to second-best solutions, all of which should be rejected out of hand. In this context, religious liberty is lost by the imposition of an employer mandate. The entire mandate should be struck down root and branch.

The Plight of Christians in Pakistan
...Over the past years, persons of smaller religious minorities have been targeted by killing them through improvised bombs, setting their localities/villages on fire, target killing, framing in blasphemy cases, intimidation, forced marriages, forced conversions etc. the list can go on expanding. Even the lawyers, persons and NGO's who proceed on behalf of the victims are targeted, manhandled and persecuted...

Central VA congregation worships nude
Pastor Allen Parker says it's not about the clothes, or lack thereof. He says it's about baring his soul to Christ and leading his flock down that path of righteousness, no matter what they're wearing.

Breeders: Surrogacy and the Commodification of Human Life  ...Some women who want children but can’t have any are today embracing new medical technologies to fill the void in their lives. But increasingly, as an important new film tells us, many couples are going too far.

The film is entitled “Breeders,” and it was produced by the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. In it, Jennifer Lahl, who wrote and directed the film, gives viewers an unsentimental, behind-the-scenes view of surrogate pregnancy.

In a surrogate pregnancy, a couple that cannot have children on their own pays a woman to carry their child to term.

Promoters of surrogacy tout the practice as a “win-win”: infertile couples get the child they’ve always wanted and the surrogate gets money she needs.

But as Lahl’s film shows us, surrogacy has it losers as well... Metaxas

Aging America heading for disaster
To really understand what’s going on with the American economy, don’t look at the headlines. Don’t look at the unemployment rate or the trade balance or the deficit. Don’t even look at what’s happening today at all: Look at what happened 46 years ago.

And what happened then? Fewer Americas were being born, points out Harry S. Dent Jr. in “The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019” (Portfolio)...

IRS Targets Conservative Groups, Again
The Internal Revenue Service caused an uproar last year when they targeted Tea Party groups. Now it seems they're doing it again.

Quietly over Thanksgiving, the IRS announced new rules that critics say would allow the agency to continue its tough targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups.

 

The rules appear aimed at silencing conservative organizations before the next crucial elections...

Poof: A Scandal Disappears: The press has decided that the IRS’s targeting of conservatives is not newsworthy

Albert Mohler: Christian Missions in the Third Millennium
...Today, the Christian church faces new challenges. Without exaggeration, we can point to the twenty-first century as a new era in Christian missions, and recognize it as a vast new opportunity.

Looking at Christian missions today, we may be seeing the birth of a new missiological movement. This new era in missions will build upon the accomplishments of the last 200 years, but it must also be adapted to the new realities of our world context.

The most important dimension of any vision for world missions is a passion to glorify God. From beginning to end, the Bible declares that God is glorifying Himself in the salvation of sinners, and that He desires to be worshipped among all the peoples of the earth. The impulse of the missionary conviction is drawn from the assurance that God saves sinners, and that He is glorifying Himself by creating a new people through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have the glad opportunity to glorify God by declaring the Gospel to all the peoples of the earth...

Hobby Lobby to Supreme Court: Protect Us From $1.3M in Fines a Day Over Obamacare
Hobby Lobby, the family-owned arts and crafts business that has been the most high-profile plaintiff against Obamacare, asked the U.S. Supreme Court today to protect it from being forced to violate their deeply held religious beliefs or be forced to pay severe fines.

The brief filed today at the Supreme Court is in preparation for oral arguments on March 25, 2014 before the nation’s highest court.

The written brief filed today at the Supreme Court, calls a federal mandate to provide objectionable drugs and devices “one of the most straightforward violations … this Court is likely to see” of a 1993 law preserving the free exercise of faith...

Obama’s Uncle: My Father Was Muslim, My Mother Was Muslim, My WHOLE FAMILY Is Muslim
  
Obama: 'I Can Do Whatever I Want'
The comment came around the time the White House announced it would be delaying the Obamacare mandate for some businesses unilaterally.