Conservatives blast Obama over international family planning rule

Well nothing surprising about this!

Conservatives blast Obama over international family planning rule

by Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) Anti-abortion religious leaders are criticizing President Obama's decision late Friday (Jan. 23) to restore federal funding of international groups that provide abortions or information about the procedure.

"An administration that wants to reduce abortions should not divert U.S. funds to groups that promote abortions," said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The so-called Mexico City policy, which bans U.S. government aid to groups involved with abortions, was first enacted by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Former President Bill Clinton rescinded the ban in 1993; former President George W. Bush reinstated it in 2001.

Obama said in a statement Friday that the policy had "undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries." Obama announced the end of the ban one day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the United States.

Read the rest of it here.

day in pictures

It is mind boggling to realize that almost one million people have been effected.

from the BBC.

Day in pictures

YOUR PICTURE GALLERY IS NOW LOADING...

It is the 32nd anniversary of Mao Zedong's death, and the bust-makers of Chengdu are hawking their wares to mark the occasion.

A gallery-goer is contemplative amid the splats and squiggles of a modern-art installation in Berlin.

Marooned Indian villagers stand on a partially-submerged road in the Sapual district of Bihar state, where nearly one million people have been evacuated because of flooding.

Church obsessed with gays - Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused the Anglican church of allowing its "obsession" with homosexuality to come before real action on world poverty.

"God is weeping" to see such a focus on sexuality and the Church is "quite rightly" seen by many as irrelevant on the issue of poverty, he said.

It may be good to "accept that we agree to differ" on the gay issue, he said.

Archbishop Tutu was addressing a conference of church leaders organised by the Christian charity Tearfund.

The Church says its work on poverty tends to be overlooked.

Read the rest of the article here.

Church Shooting

Keep the folks in Knoxville, TN in your prayers after the terrible church shooting this evening.

Read it all here.

Love one another

Fight erupts in Jerusalem church

Different denominations often vie over access to parts of the site

Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites.

The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday.

You can read the entire article here.

It is a sad commentary on the state of Christianity when fellow believers cannot get along. But then again, it is probably very easy to point our fingers and "those" people "over there" and forget all about our local inabilities to get along.

God calls us to the hard work of loving one another (and that includes those we find most unlovable in our own community).