The saga of Chen Guangcheng is not over. For those who haven’t been following this story, let me summarize. Chen is a blind Chinese human rights activist. China’s policy of limiting the number of children a family can have has led to many forced abortions. Chen’s “crime” was to expose this unbridled government genocide against innocent children. China’s history of disrespect for human rights is well documented.

For this activity, he was sentenced in 2006 to four years in jail. When that sentence expired in 2010, the government kept him under house arrest, turning his home into a fortress of walls, security cameras, and armed guards. Somehow, Chen escaped this house prison and made his way to the American embassy seeking protection and asylum.

This became an embarrassment to the Obama administration in the person of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who didn’t want to offend the Chinese government. Chen’s fate hung in the balance for a few days until he was supposedly allowed to emigrate to the United States as a student. He’s still in China, in a Beijing hospital, and until he actually arrives in the US, his friends and supporters don’t know whether to believe it will happen.

The Obama administration kept Chen twisting in the proverbial political winds for quite some time as it tried to figure out what to do.

Good relations with China almost trumped the life of a brave individual pointing out the abuses of Chinese policy. But then why would Obama care much that China forces abortions? Given his own stand on the issue, I doubt that concerns him. He doesn’t mind turning a “blind” eye to what China is doing. It’s more than a little ironic that the blind man has clearer vision than those who say they can see:

This is only one of a multitude of reasons why this president must be turned out of office this November.

Christians don’t need to be embarrassed anymore by the quality of films depicting a Biblical worldview. The Narnia movies have made that clear, and there have been others lately with explicit Biblical themes such as Robert Duvall’s Seven Days in Utopia. The most recent entry into this genre is October Baby. I saw it last night; it was superb

How would you feel and what would you do if you discovered at age nineteen that you were adopted and that the only reason you are alive is that you were the result of a botched abortion? Further, you realize that all the health issues you’ve experienced throughout your life are due to being born prematurely? The protagonist in the movie, played very well and poignantly by Rachel Hendrix, is tortured by the thought that her life has little value. She begins a search for her birth mother, but is devastated by the rejection she finds at the end of the quest.

Yet, in the midst of her despair, redemption comes. It doesn’t come in a preachy manner, but as a natural development in her understanding of true love, starting with God’s and, by extension, to the parents who sacrificed everything to give her a new life.

There is little forced or artificial here. Character is central to the story. If you watch and listen with an open mind and heart, you can’t help but be affected and drawn to the forgiveness offered by the One who loves better than anyone else.

When the closing credits roll, don’t leave just yet. The actress who portrays the birth mother, the one who tried to have the abortion, begins to offer her personal testimony. Shari Rigby knows the part only too well; she didn’t have to act because it was her own story. She tells it with emotional power. Don’t miss that.

Solid plot; well-developed characters; a message of God’s redemption and the value of life—October Baby delivers on all three. I urge you to support this effort to show our decadent culture the essence of genuine spirituality. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

We’ve been treated to a media blitz about the presumed Republican war on women. All it took to set it off was for Rush Limbaugh to use derogatory terms to describe a Georgetown law student who was pushing for government-provided contraception, supposedly because it was too expensive for her and her ideological soulmates who apparently believe they should be free to have taxpayer-sponsored sex anytime, anywhere. As noted in a previous post, Limbaugh apologized for using those terms, but it does him no good on the Left to have done so.

Meanwhile, we have countless examples of Leftists using far more insulting and obscene words to describe conservative women. One of the most blatant is Bill Maher, whose word choice I refuse to print in this blog, particularly the vitriol he has used to describe Sarah Palin. He, and others like him on that side of the spectrum, show no remorse whatsoever for their verbal abuse.

There’s a Scriptural axiom that comes to mind when contemplating this episode:

But as I’ve said countless times before—what can we expect? Those who disparage Christian beliefs have little or no conscience anyway, and surely have no desire to change their stripes. We have to get used to the double standard. What makes it particularly disreputable in this case is that Maher has donated $1,000,000 to the Obama SuperPac. Calls for the Pac to return the money go unheeded.

Lost in this dispute is the real war on women that is being waged in this country. A couple of cartoonists were able to pierce the verbal fog and point to the real outrage:

The slaughter of innocent lives trumps any sleight the Left may perceive. This is the real war on women.

In yesterday’s post, I explained what I believe to be a self-evident truth: all legislation deals with right and wrong; therefore, we always legislate morality. The only question is whose morality will we legislate.

Today, I’d like to offer some examples that may not be as clear-cut as murder, theft, and fraud. For instance, there was a short time in American history when prohibition went into effect—the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages was banned by constitutional amendment. It didn’t work. That amendment was overturned by another amendment later. While it may have been well-intentioned, hoping to diminish the damage done to individuals and families by drunkenness, it wasn’t really enforceable. Neither is all alcohol condemned in Scripture; the key is to not give oneself over to the sin of drunkenness. I believe the law should instead, in a case like this, penalize public drunkenness due to the specific dangers it creates to the community.

What about drugs? Many draw a parallel between alcohol and drugs, and say they are the same and should be handled identically. However, in my view, there is rarely any reason for a person to take a drug, outside of a doctor’s prescription, if that drug’s primary effect is to impair one’s connection to reality. A person normally has to imbibe a certain amount of alcohol to reach the same state that one drug dose will create. The drug itself has no nutritional value; there’s rarely any reason for taking it other than the desire to get high, thereby endangering others. I have no objection to the drug war, so-called, as long as it is effectively enforced.

Abortion, to me, is not an ambivalent issue. This is the taking of innocent life. I would like to see the law come down hard on those who perform this “service,” in order to restore the concept of each person as inherently valuable, made in the image of God. It would also stop the downward slide of our society into hardheartedness and the development of what the Bible calls a “seared conscience.”

Homosexuality is probably the most controversial moral issue at present, particularly now that there is movement toward homosexual marriage. Our society has shifted significantly on this in the past thirty years. As someone who takes Scripture seriously, I cannot condone personally the practice of homosexuality. I believe it is a sin. But then comes the question as to when a sin becomes a matter for the civil government to punish. All criminal acts [at least those in accord with the Biblical understanding of crime] are sinful as well; not all sins are criminal acts. Pride is one of the most deadly of all sins, but we don’t pass laws putting people in prison for demonstrating pride and arrogance [Congress would be nearly emptied]. That’s something God deals with directly, and it’s the church’s responsibility to confront such an attitude.

Some will disagree with me, but I don’t think it would work very well to criminalize homosexuality. I would prefer that to be a moral issue that the church confronts, and that we work to salvage the lives of those who have trapped themselves in the sin via genuine repentance and God’s redemption.

However, there are some points at which government should play a role with this moral issue. First, it should never allow homosexuality to be accorded some type of special status in the law, and neither should it punish those who disapprove of the practice. Unfortunately, the first has occurred, and the second may be on the way. Already one courts ostracism if one speaks openly of homosexuality being a sin. Frankly, another four years of an Obama administration may see an attack on blogs like mine that refuse to bow to political correctness. We could expect as well an attack on churches that continue to be faithful to what Scripture says about this sin.

I have no problem at all with setting a standard in society by legislating against homosexual marriage. It not only makes a mockery of the original intent of marriage, but it marks the beginnings of the destruction of the family, which is the cornerstone of society. Although some try to deny it, the next step will be to legalize anything that anyone considers a marriage. Last week, I saw a news report about a women who fell in love with a building that might be demolished, so she “married” the building—in a wedding dress, no less. Absurd? Unthinkable? Not anymore.

Christians still have a voice in this nation, not only within the church, but also in civil governance. We have just as much right as anyone to argue for the kind of moral standard we believe is essential for the spiritual health of the society. Yes, morality will be legislated, one way or the other. For the sake of our future as a nation, it had better be Biblical morality that wins in the end.

I’ve got a cold and don’t want to try to think too much. Is it okay if I just inundate you with cartoons today? I have a lot of new ones. Here’s one dealing with one of my “favorite” organizations:

And of course there’s the continuing healthcare controversy over forcing religious organizations to offer all methods of birth control, even those that could be considered abortifacients:

Then there’s the Republican race, where Rick Santorum is finally making a splash. How do we know? He’s showing up in the political cartoons:

He’s going to have to watch out, though; he’s now a target:

I sincerely hope he’s ready for what he will have to face from those who don’t bother with moral scruples.

The war on religion is not a zany, right-wing paranoia trip. In fact, to be more precise, it’s not a war on religion per se, but a war specifically targeting evangelical and Catholic Christianity. The Obama administration’s rules that hospitals connected with religious institutions must offer birth control pills and abortifacients such as the “morning-after” pill is a direct assault on religious liberty. These rule also apply to denominational colleges and universities who have healthcare plans. Cartoonist Michael Ramirez captures the spirit of these mandates:

Last week, we also saw pressure applied in the private sector. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, which ostensibly works to fight breast cancer, has been giving donations to Planned Parenthood for years. The foundation finally seemed to come to its senses and decided not to continue that funding. The facts are clear: Planned Parenthood doesn’t do a thing to prevent breast cancer—no screening, nothing. Rather, 91% of its activities are centered on providing or promoting abortions. For a while, Komen was the toast of the pro-life movement for its supposed recovery of conscience. Then, in just a few short days, it caved to the Left and apologized for its decision. It now appears Komen will again include Planned Parenthood in its panoply of recipients. Not exactly a model for moral backbone.

The war is real, and it needs to be fought on many fronts.

Time to summarize the week, starting with the Obama administration’s directive to force Catholic hospitals to provide birth control [and by extension possible abortions]. Where does he think he gets that authority?

This is a slap in the face, of course, to all those Catholics who voted for him, thinking he was some kind of paragon of virtue. But they should have known; his record was quite clear before running for the presidency. He was the only state senator in Illinois who fought to disallow babies born alive “accidentally” during an abortion to receive medical care. He has been consistent.

Hopefully, they’ll make a more informed choice this November.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder testified [sort of] to a House committee again over his accountability in the Fast and Furious scandal. Congress has been requesting the pertinent records for quite some time. There seems to be a speed bump somewhere in the process of receiving them. Perhaps a better name can be given to this scandal:

Let’s just say Mr. Holder has been less than forthcoming:

The Occupy Movement has also been trying to get back into the news. One wonders if they need a public relations firm, considering their outrageous actions. Their mantra of the 1% vs. the 99% could easily be turned back on them:

Then there’s always the budget/national debt issue. Remarkably, the unemployment rate fell temporarily to 8.3% [don't expect that to last too long], but the overall financial mess we find ourselves in as a nation only gets worse:

Don’t be fooled by superficial good news; the overall picture is still pretty bleak.