Economists of the twentieth century looked upon the depravity surrounding them and pinpointed the source of this sin: material shortages. By promoting the development of financially profitable natural resources, progressive economists believed this sin could be erased. A century later, however, this economic religion is suffering and as Robert Nelson’s The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion vs. Environmental Religion argues, it may well be on its way out. As environmentalist values continue to permeate public policy, economic arguments are forced to reckon with a whole new ethical framework. Nelson’s new book offers a fascinating interpretation of this dilemma. By examining the fundamental tenets of both economics and environmentalism The New Holy Wars provides a fresh perspective on one of the most debated issues of our time.

The New Holy Wars proposes that at their cores, both environmentalism and Western economic theory are informed by Judeo-Christian beliefs. However, the theological underpinnings of these disciplines have been “remapped” to form secular versions of Christianity. Taking this a step further, Nelson argues that the clash of these two competing secular religions represents the “most important religious controversy” in America today. It is a startling proposition for which Nelson presents a convincing case. By framing the environmental debate in spiritual terms he makes sense of the intensity with which both sides promote their worldviews. At the same time The New Holy Wars digs beyond the rhetoric to unearth those presuppositions which are essential to understanding both sides of the debate.

Perhaps most intriguing is Nelson’s treatment of environmentalism. Nelson argues what few practitioners are willing to admit—the environmentalist worldview is very much a religious one.   With clarity and perception he explores the Protestant (specifically Calvinist) underpinnings of the movement. Pointing back to the writings of John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards, The New Holy Wars shows how key components of Calvinism have been transformed under the guise of environmentalism. Nelson illustrates how the movement’s jargon speaks volumes about its philosophical commitments. Steeped in the language of moral urgency, human depravity, individualism, and asceticism that marked much of the early reformed tradition, environmentalism is not unlike its more traditional religious counterparts. But Nelson is careful not to take the association too far. When Jonathan Edwards looked upon the Book of Nature he was awed by God’s glorious and omnipotent hand in creation. In marked contrasted, John Muir responded to the same beauty with transcendentalist adoration that bordered on pantheism. For Muir and the descendents of his preservationist movement, Nature became the ultimate recipient of their worship. And herein lies what Nelson recognizes to be a serious flaw in environmental theology: its failure to offer an adequate substitute for the “loving and redeeming Christian God” who had been lost.

While The New Holy Wars does not offer a solution to the economic-environmental debate, it does provide significant insight into the issue. Nelson’s stimulating case for the role religion plays in the economic and environmental philosophies dominating current public policy is bound to challenge his readers. Those seeking to equip themselves for today’s challenges should pay heed to Robert Nelson’s work.

Tags: Economics, Environment, Religion, Robert H. Nelson, The New Holy Wars

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But how could you, with these titles and lead story lines? In an attempt to grab your attention, some reporters come up with titles that attract you in to read the story, or just make you go “Huh?” Most of these stories are informative and valid news. And then there are some…

Scientists probe nose, find stem cells

Gives “up your nose” a whole new dimension for medical research!

Giant marine virus found

So, we need a vaccine to protect giant marines?

Cows done in by bad spuds

Mr. Potato Head joins the Mafia?

Investors drawn to exploding social media

Like moths to a bug zapper…

Giant snails monitor air pollution in Russia

So maybe some good things did come out of Chernobyl?

107 trillion emails sent last year

Most were from that person who has lots of money they want to transfer to your bank account.

‘Nuclear’ candy turns out to be toxic

Who actually wanted to eat “Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars” anyway?

Putting the dead to work

Jobs bill for Chicago?

Clowning helps IVF patients become pregnant
“Infertility researchers in Israel have found a 15-minute encounter with a clown immediately after fertility treatment dramatically increased the chances of a successful pregnancy.”

Could they achieve the same effect with Three Stooges episodes, and would exposure to mimes be a negative factor?

Researchers print solar cells on toilet paper

Does this make TP’ing a house qualify for a home energy tax credit?

Pregnant, constipated and bloated? Fly poo may tell you why

A modern version of reading entrails.

Japan bio-scientists produce ‘singing mouse’

But can the mouse do karaoke singing?

Gerbils also get the winter blues

Maybe if the Japanese mouse sang to them, it would cheer them up.

Gene therapy helps depressed mice

Maybe they just need to learn how to sing.

A guide to cat cafes in Tokyo

Remember to leave the singing mouse at home.

Cat blamed for starting fire with toaster oven

It just wanted a warm snack!

Quick-thinking cat saves house from fire

First, start toaster oven, then become hero. And blame the dog.

Tired bees make poor dancers

Make sure your bee is rested before the prom.

Scientists discover unknown lizard species at lunch buffet

For real! So, investigate your lunch first before you eat it, there might be scientific paper waiting there.

Brain Zaps Improve Math

Suggestion for the White House.

Researchers study tennis grunting effects

Maybe it was just the chili they ate before the match?

Elephants unfazed by dynamite, but fear humans

Smart elephants.

Radioactive boars on the rise in Germany

Hunting via Geiger counter…

Can you ask a pig if his glass is half full?

Unless he’s radioactive.

Medicare chief’s ties questioned

Apparently he even rations fashion.

Why you should never arm wrestle a saber-toothed tiger

One would think the answer is obvious.

Faecal attraction: Whale poop fights climate change

Memo to self: cancel ocean cruise.

‘Mammoth-Killer’ Nothing More Than Fungus and Bug Poop

Simple formula, but poor marketing.

Scientists detect huge carbon ‘burp’ that helped end last ice age

Did the Earth say “excuse me”?

Curbing Domestic Violence in Chickens

Another stimulus program

Monkeys hate flying squirrels, report monkey-annoyance experts

There are monkey annoyance experts??

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Scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a way to grow new blood vessels for use with lab-grown tissue. They started with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a nontoxic plastic in wide use in medical devices, and modified to mimic the body’s normal extracellular matrix, the framework of proteins and sugars between cells that provides instructions and supports structure in tissues.

Reporting in the journal Acta Biomaterialia, they showed that by creating a gel-like structure that contained blood vessel-forming cells and growth signals, they could stimulate the cells to form blood capillaries. They also implanted the gels into the corneas of mice, where no natural blood vessels exist, and found that capillaries with normal blood flow were formed. This new technique could provide blood vessels in tissue grown in the lab, and potentially could be used to re-vascularize damaged tissues and restore blood supply, such as after heart attack or stroke.

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Scientists with the Scripps Research Institute have directly converted adult mouse skin cells into beating heart cells, without using any stem cell intermediate, and without the laborious process of generating embryonic-like stem cells. Using a reprogramming process similar to that for induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, they were able to directly produce “spontaneously contracting patches” of heart cells in the lab. The research is published online in Nature Cell Biology.

The group used the same four genes (“Yamanaka factors”) often used to make iPS cells, but switched off the gene activity after a few days, before the cells had a chance to become iPS cells. Then they stimulated the cells with factors to direct them into becoming cardiac-type cells.

According to Dr. Sheng Ding, senior author of the study:

“In 11 days, we went from skin cells to beating heart cells in a dish. It was phenomenal to see.
“This work represents a new paradigm in stem cell reprogramming. We hope it helps overcome major safety and other technical hurdles currently associated with some types of stem cell therapies.”

The worrisome type of stem cells is pluripotent stem cells, i.e., embryonic stem cells, which have a propensity to grow out of control and form tumors.

Back in 2009, similar story titles (converting skin to beating heart cells) appeared when a group used skin cells to make human iPS cells (pluripotent, embryonic-like stem cells), then turned those iPS cells into cardiomyoctyes in culture. But because of the embryonic-like nature of iPS cells, their practical application for patient transplant is in doubt. When pluripotent cells are injected in mice, they cause cancer-like growths.

Direct reprogramming, going from one cell type to another without forming a pluripotent stem cell, offers a way around the practical problems of pluripotent stem cells. Several other groups have shown the possibility of direct reprogramming to form various tissue types.

Meanwhile, adult stem cells have already successfully treated patients with chronic heart failure.

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This week’s State of the Union Address brought reminders of those long ago. TIME Magazine compared President Obama’s polished delivery to Ronald Reagan. Reagan had suffered a down economy and mid-term losses in the House of Representatives. Yet, Reagan bounced back and won a smashing victory in 1984. One thinks the wish is father to the thought.

President Reagan in 1982 created a great tradition by introducing American hero Lenny Skutnik in the family section of the House Visitors Gallery. Mr. Skutnik two weeks before had risked his life to dive into the icy Potomac waters to rescue passengers from the Air Florida crash. It was a dramatic, and thrilling moment.

I know, because my young wife and I watched it live. We watched all of President Reagan’s State of the Union Addresses. Like this week, there would often be heavy snow during, or in the week of, the address. Outside, the weather might be frightful, but inside it was warm and intimate.

It was the Reagan equivalent of FDR’s Fireside Chats.

I recall when President Reagan would speak of the abortion crisis. The fate of unborn children has not been mentioned in any State of the Union Address since Reagan’s last one in 1988. My great chief described abortion as “a wound in America’s soul.” He condemned no one but he appealed to Americans to rise above self-interest and embrace the right to life of innocent human beings.

There was no hint of the fate of unborn children last Tuesday night. Fifty-three million Americans have been denied the first of all inalienable rights.

Might we consider what those fifty-three million could have contributed to the State of our Union? We face a crisis of illegal immigration. Obviously, we don’t have enough workers. We face a government spending crisis. We don’t have enough workers paying taxes to support the government we demand.

Government projections tell us the Social Security System will go broke in 2037, just twenty-five years from now. When it began in 1935, there were 17 workers for every American receiving Social Security. Today, there are only three.

And yet our government continues to sluice billions of dollars to organizations like Planned Parenthood. This outfit has given us 53 million abortions, 65 million STDs, and an out-of-wedlock birth rate of 41%. Still, Mr. Obama tells us funding for this group is essential. To do what, further depress America’s population? To further spread anti-family doctrines? To ensnare more young men and women in its web of deceit?

We face an economic crisis that began in the housing market. Wall Streeter David Goldman wrote in “Of Demographics and Depressions” (First Things, January, 2009) that the meltdown was bound to start in the housing market.

Young marrieds with children are the drivers of the housing market, he says.

And we have no more of these young families today than we had in 1969.

David Goldman says we may not come out of this severe economic crisis until we address the problem of family formation.

There was surely no such addressing in the president’s address this week. His administration is far down the path of abolishing marriage altogether.

And, because the vast majority abortions are done on unmarried women, an attack on marriage is always an attack on unborn human life itself.

President Obama has thoroughly committed himself to the Planned Parenthood agenda. He may yet express shock at Kermit Gosnell’s little hell in Philadelphia. Some pro-abortion folks have. They even argue that Gosnell is why we need his health care law–to make sure that these things are done right.

Gosnell has apparently been snip-snipping spinal cords for years in a filthy, vermin-infested abortion mill by night that doubled as an oxycontin den by day. Gosnell doesn’t kill unborn children and, allegedly, newborn children in the trim and tidy fashion of Planned Parenthood, but he, too, is a beneficiary of Roe v. Wade’s unlimited abortion license. And that’s a license President Obama defends–to the deaths.

President Reagan understood that we could not have a more perfect Union without attending to the plight of the unborn. He saw all of society—as the great Irish statesman Edmund Burke saw it: As a compact, a union between the living, the dead, and those yet unborn. He would also have agreed with Burke that in order for us to love our country, our country must be made lovely.

And President Reagan knew that America needed more men like Lenny Skutnik–someone willing to risk his life that others may live. President Obama wants us to rise to a “Sputnik Moment.” President Reagan asked us instead to rise to a Skutnik Moment.

Tags: Ronald Reagan, State of the Union

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Tags: I'm Pro-Life Because..., March for Life

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A collaborative team of researchers has shown that cardiac adult stem cells could be used to treat children with heart problems. The group found that they could isolate cardiac stem cells from children that were one day old up to 13 years old, and that these adult stem cells could be grown extensively in the lab and induced to form various types of cardiac cells. They also showed that when these adult stem cells were injected into damaged rat hearts, the human adult stem cells could repair heart damage, showing “robust regenerative ability”.

Dr. Sunjay Kaushal from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the senior author, said:

“This project has generated important pre-clinical laboratory data showing that we may be able to use their own heart stem cells to rebuild their hearts, allowing these children to live longer and have more productive lives. The potential of cardiac stem cell therapy for children is truly exciting.”

Previous heart stem cell studies have addressed the adult diseased heart; this is the first systematic study to focus on cardiac adult stem cells from children. Dr. Kaushal hopes to begin clinical trials with children in the fall, pending FDA approval.

The new study is published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

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[The following is a speech delivered by Tony Perkins to the Bakersfield Pregnancy Center's "Hope Has a Name" Annual Benefit Banquet on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at the Bakersfield First Assembly of God Church, Bakersfield, CA]

As a nation – and maybe it’s in our nature as Americans – we like to be the first.  Tiny Delaware crows about being the first state to ratify the Constitution.  Today it’s more likely to be the first place you send your credit card payment.

And Bakersfield is no different.  I understand that there’s been a controversial competition going on between this city and the cities of Fresno and Merced about where the first leg of the state’s bullet train will be built.  I don’t know which side of that debate you’re on, but wanting to be first just comes naturally to most of us.  We’re even here at the First Assembly of God.

It’s the same way with mottoes.  When I use the phrase, “Cradle of Liberty,” which city in America do you think of?  For me, Boston comes to mind.  Even a specific place in Boston — Faneuil Hall.  Boston has a pretty good claim to the name, of course, dating to before the Revolution.

Continue reading »

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An announcement recently from Japanese universities that they are establishing an institute to use adult stem cells for breast reconstruction is welcome news, recognizing the current uses as well as future potential of adult stem cells for patients. The most common methods of breast reconstruction are silicon injections and fat implants, which pose risks of infection as well as long-term maintenance. The proposal is to use adult stem cells from fat tissue (sometimes termed adipose-derived stem cells) of the patient to re-grow breast tissue.

There is already an ongoing approved clinical trial in Europe for breast cancer patients to use adipose-derived stem cells for breast reconstruction, and interim results have been very promising.

Doctors in Australia and in the U.K. had also previously announced clinical trials for the adult stem cell technique.

While it might sound humorous, adult stem cells from liposuctioned fat are a very useful source of stem cells for reconstructive surgery. They’ve already been used in other trials as well, but that’s for another story.

Growing new breast tissue from adult stem cells is not so far-fetched. In 2006, two groups showed that they could isolate mouse mammary gland stem cells, and regenerate an entire mammary gland from a single adult stem cell. (In the interests of equal time, another group showed in 2008 in mice the generation of a prostate from a single adult stem cell.)

Of course, there are those who consider cosmetic breast augmentation the more significant application…

Adult stem cells continue to prove their superior capabilities for tissue repair in patients.

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Americans are storming the theaters to see the movie, The King’s Speech. Nominated for a clutch of Oscars, this film is proving highly popular. It’s not like that pudding Winston Churchill complained of: It has no theme.

This one has a most uplifting theme. It’s about King George VI of England and his struggle to overcome a painful childhood stammer. And who would imagine that they’d see a film with a pro-life theme as a major contender for a host of Academy Awards?

Well, it’s an obliquely pro-life theme, I’ll admit. But what it demonstrates is the sense of triumph that comes from overcoming physical or mental adversity. Unborn children today are lost because of such treatable defects as cleft palate and harelip, as well as deafness. These conditions, like stammering, can affect speech.

Continue reading »

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While the successes of adult stem cells for human patients make little news, animal treatments continue to grab headlines. The latest is the story of Sam the border collie, from Georgia. Sam was experiencing increasing pain and loss of movement from spindalosis and arthritis. Dr. Kevin Brantly used the dog’s own adult stem cells from fat to treat Sam, the first time the treatment has been done in a vet’s office in the state of Georgia. Sam is expected to be up and around soon and enjoying a game of Frisbee.

Previous stories have highlighted successful adult stem cell treatments for dogs, for horses, and for a quadriplegic donkey.

Adult stem cells have successfully treated human patients, too.

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FRC President Tony Perkins appeared on the Sean Hannity Radio Show on Friday, January 21st to discuss MTV’s “Skins” show and its possible violation of child porn laws.

Click to listen to Tony Perkins on Sean Hannity’s show on January 21, 2011

Tags: MTV, Sean Hannity, Skins, Tony Perkins

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Liberals have a favorite slam on pro-lifers: “They believe life begins at conception and ends at birth.” It is a base slander of people who give more time and money to Christian charities–and non-Christian charities–than many others in America.

It is indeed a lazy and despicable slander of pro-lifers. Helen Alvare and her co-authors are certainly right in their recent Christianity Today column. Theirs is a powerful defense of the defenders. They demonstrate pro-lifers’ commitment to social justice and to lending helping hands.

But the liberals’ slam raises another pertinent question: What’s wrong with saving human lives? I served in the Coast Guard for nine years. I took part in rescues at sea. The Coast Guard recently claimed to have saved 1 million lives since its founding in 1790.

In 230 years, not one of those million persons whose lives were saved ever complained that the Coast Guard did not teach them to read, or help them obtain a job, or give them a breakfast. (Actually, we did give them breakfasts, but only until we got them safely on shore). In the Coast Guard, we did nothing about illiteracy. Or poverty.

Still, Americans honor the Coast Guard all the same.

The entire charge against pro-lifers is as offensive as it is absurd. When 3,000 unborn children are unjustly killed every day, there is an urgency that life alone can command.

Several years ago, I was writing a paper late on a Friday afternoon. We were then living at the U.S. Naval Academy. I was struggling to convey to the reader the enormity of 3,000 lives a day.

My wife, a Navy captain, pulled me away from my word processor to a ceremony on the Parade Field. With the band leading the parade, the Brigade of Midshipmen marched by the reviewing stands.

There were young men and women, from every state, marching by. They formed up nine abreast. It took eleven minutes for this company to pass the Superintendent and take the salute.  And there were three thousand of them.

Watching these vital young Mids marching by, it struck me with a pang: we lose the equivalent of this wonderful brigade–a hopeful brigade of future Americans–every day.

For anyone to say that stopping the fatal parade of abortion is not urgently needed–or to slander those good Americans who are trying lawfully and lovingly to stop it–is cruel and unjust. It is as morally wrong as those who take innocent lives.  God bless the pro-lifers. I’m still happy to throw them a line.

Tags: Abortion, pro-life

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A team of researchers in California and in Egypt report therapeutic benefit treating end-stage liver disease patients with adult stem cells A total of 48 patients were treated with their own adult stem cells–36 patients with chronic, end-stage hepatitis C-induced liver disease, and 12 patients with end-stage autoimmune liver disease. Researchers used the factor G-CSF, commonly used to mobilize bone marrow adult stem cells into the circulation, to obtain the cells from each patient. The CD34+ stem cells were then isolated, amplified to increase numbers of cells, partially differentiated in culture, then re-injected into each patient via their hepatic artery or portal vein. The results were published in Cell Transplantation

According to co-author Dr. Mark A. Zern of University of California-Davis Medical Center:

“This enabled us to transplant as many as one billion of these cells per patient. For all patients there was a statistically significant decrease in peritoneal cavity fluid, or ‘ascites’. There was also clinical and biochemical improvement in a large percentage of patients who received the transplantation. The finding of improvement in ascites in a significant number of patients is impressive and somewhat surprising, suggesting that cell transplantation might be clinically significant beyond the improvement in laboratory parameters.”

The mechanism by which the infusion of CD34+ adult stem cells improves liver function is still unclear. As to whether any partial differentiation into liver cells was needed for the therapeutic results, Dr. Stephen Strom at the University of Pittsburgh and section editor for Cell Transplantation, noted:

“Other research groups are now showing similar results with cells without any hepatic characteristics, including fractionated and unfractionated bone marrow and mesenchymal stem cells. Taken together, these data suggest that the positive effects these researchers find may be the result of paracrine effects from factors secreted by the donor cells.

Published data in 1999 suggested that some bone marrow adult stem cells could form liver hepatocytes. Others reported similar results in 2000 using mice, by observing liver cells of human bone marrow adult stem cell transplant patients, and in experiments showing regeneration of liver in mice. However, some published evidence also indicates that the regenerative capacity of bone marrow adult stem cells is due to paracrine effects, i.e., secreted factors.

No matter what the mechanism, various clinical trials are investigating use of adult stem cells for liver diseases. Published results from earlier trials show therapeutic benefit of adult stem cells for liver repair and regeneration.

In a published 2010 report, a Korean group found some improvement in liver cirrhosis patients using their own adult stem cells.

In 2006 a U.K. group reported improvement in patients with liver insufficiency treated with their own adult stem cells, and the same group reported in 2008 the long-term improvement of chronic liver disease patients, using the patients’ own adult stem cells in a trial similar to the current Egyptian trial.

Also in 2006, a German group reported increased liver regeneration in liver cancer patients using adult stem cells, and a Japanese team found improved liver function in cirrhosis patients after using the patients’ own bone marrow adult stem cells.

Adult stem cells continue to provide ethical and successful results for patients.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2011
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Darin Miller, (866) FRC-NEWS or (866)-372-6397

Washington, D.C. – Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement in response to President Obama’s second State of the Union Address:

“Tonight President Obama recognized the important role of parents in the educational achievement of their children. President Obama himself has set an example as a father and husband. However, the agenda he has pursued and articulated tonight does not strengthen the kind of family children need: one with a Mom and Dad.

“The intact married family is the core strength of the United States, and public policy should encourage formation of such families. Social science clearly demonstrates that children do best when raised by their own mother and father who are committed to one another in a lifelong marriage, and that adults also thrive when in such a marriage. Sadly, only 45 percent of American children grow up in an intact family.

“Broken homes often result in such social ills as crime, a higher school dropout rate, and drug abuse, themselves leading to enormous costs for state, local and our federal governments. Cutting government spending is imperative, but policies that foster healthy families are even more important – and, interestingly, there is no question that intact families are the most economically productive.

“Unfortunately, many of the Administration’s policies have undermined strong families by affirming sexual behavior that is unhealthy and destructive to individuals, families , the military, and society.

“Tonight President Obama appropriately paid tribute to the victims of the Tucson shooting. However, he did not mention the recent indictment of abortionist Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia for the murder of a mother and seven live-born infants. The Philadelphia tragedy serves as a ghastly reminder of the moral toll abortion has taken on America’s sense of justice. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), in his official Republican response, deserves praise for reminding the President it is the role of the government ‘to protect innocent life,’ not to encourage the taking of it.

“The President’s policies that promote abortion also undermine family formation. Abortion does this by contributing to infant mortality, victimizing women, and encouraging the abdication of responsibility by men. He is even opposed to commonsense parental notification laws. These laws reaffirm the unique role that a mother and father have in the life of a child.

“Regrettably, Mr. Obama’s health care law allows our hard earned dollars to pay for abortion coverage. The American people should not be forced to pay for abortion, which is why it’s necessary for this Congress to pass the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act’ and restore neutrality on government funding of abortion,” concluded Perkins.

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Tags: President Obama, SOTU, State of the Union

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A few days ago, the President who refuses to acknowledge when personhood begins (“that’s above my paygrade”) issued a statement celebrating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  This is not unsurprising for a man who, while a state senator, argued copiously against a law that would protect children who, having survived an attempted abortion, could be left to die.

What is intriguing is the internal inconsistency contained within the statement.  On the one hand, Mr. Obama uses the traditional mordant euphemisms about abortion - Roe “protects women’s health” and ensures “reproductive freedom;” it also guarantees that “our daughters have the same rights … as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”  Ah, those babies – wreckers of so many dreams.  How dare they intrude on personal self-fulfillment …

On the other hand, Mr. Obama says he remains “committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.”

My question: Why?  If abortion is a morally neutral and even beneficial choice (gotta fulfill those dreams, right?), why promote alternatives to it?  The rhetorical landscape of the President’s statement is replete with the presupposition that personal choice is the supreme good, meaning that abortion and adoption are merely achromatic options on the palette of ethical choices.

Additionally, if choice is the summum bonum, why be “committed” to alternatives to one of those choices whose exercise involves an activity — the destruction of a life — fundamentally contrary to all the others?  The self-contradiction is transparent, startlingly so.

James Q. Wilson, in his classic work The Moral Sense, writes that “most people rely on (the conscience) even if intellectuals deny it, but it is not always and in every aspect of life strong enough to withstand a pervasive and sustained attack.”  The President is now leading this attack, and the national soul suffers for it — as do the 3,000 unborn children aborted daily.

Yet in appealing to “alternatives,” does not Mr. Obama tacitly acknowledge the echo of his own conscience? Of the memory of holding a tiny, wriggling infant in his own arms? The champions of abortion “rights” cannot deal logically with the basis or implications of that for which they contend. To do so would be too painful, and involve a choice — to defend the unborn — they find an unpalatable alternative.

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Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban announced the birth of their second child, Faith Margaret, this past Monday, thanking everyone for their support, especially Faith’s “gestational carrier.” While Nicole and Keith were simply using the vernacular of the fertility industry, referring to their child’s birth mother as a “gestational carrier” betrays an underlying cultural attitude fostered by technological developments in this field.

With advances in the field of assisted reproductive technologies [ART], a surrogate mother can carry a baby conceived with her egg and a donor’s sperm. Now there are also gestational carriers: a woman who carries a couple’s fertilized embryo to term, but is not herself the baby’s genetic mother.

Ethics within the field of ART are, admittedly, complex, but the shift from surrogate mothers to gestational carriers, while subtle, is significant. In the past, the words “birth mother” or “surrogate mother” and “adoptive mother” have been used to describe the situation in which a baby born biologically to one mother was given to another family. But as technology evolves, so does its vocabulary.

Regardless of the technical intent behind “gestational carrier,” the term is, at its root, dehumanizing. The phrase reduces a woman to a function, instead of a person in a relationship. No longer does her title represent who she is— a woman, a mother bearing a child in her body— she is her function, a gestational carrier.

Thanks in part to technology, our society makes distinctions between function and identity. Men can be “sperm donors” without being known as the father of the baby. We have children who are biologically one man’s, but socially another’s. This calls into question the very nature of relationships. Not all fathers always act like fathers, and children may look up to another man as a “father figure,” but for most of human history, fatherhood was tied to biology, except in cases of adoption. This is no longer the case.  Technology is changing what it means to be a parent: the creation and raising of a child can involve a sperm donor, an egg donor, a gestational carrier, or surrogate mother, and the couple that the child eventually lives with and calls Mommy and Daddy. And this technology defines people by what they do, instead of who they are.  While calling someone a mother certainly does not describe the totality of who that woman is, at least the title of “mother” is defining her relationally, humanizing her, for the ability to have relationships is uniquely human.

Jennifer Lahl, founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, notes that the use of ART is turning baby-making into a consumerist activity. “Pregnancy has been reduced to a “bits and pieces” brokered industry: sperm from a handsome Scandinavian stud, eggs from a beautiful Ivy League graduate, a womb-for-rent from a poor woman in India trying to provide food and education for her children, and brokers in the middle setting up the legal transactions to build a better baby the 21st-century way.” Individuals are applying their bodies to bringing new life into the world through a segmented, fractured process,turning children into things to be designed and purchased. The Scandinavian man and the Ivy League woman are now means to an end. Lahl argues that children are not products to be made, but with the rise of medical tourism, that is what they are becoming.

Technology brings with it as many questions as answers. In the process of advancing our physical capabilities, it (in this case) blurs the bright line of relationships. I will not make a moral judgment on all blurry lines; not all things unclear must be rejected as wrong. But how we speak about things matters for words frame how we see the world. In this case, it is important to remember that people are fundamentally ends, not means thereto. Before helping ourselves to the vast array of opportunities technology offers, it is imperative that we ask hard questions and consider the ethical implications of each. When people are defined by their functions and not their relationships, are we seeing an age in which technology helps the body while harming the soul?

Tags: Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Conception, Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman

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The Washington Times carried an interesting story by Sam Hananel of the Associated Press (Monday, January 24, 2011, p. A3) describing the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on union membership.

Here were some important facts that will have an impact on politics in the years to come:

• Unions lost 612,000 members in 2010 bringing the unionized percentage of the work force down to 11.9%.  This continues “a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third of American workers belonged to unions.”
• In the private sector, union membership is down to 6.9%.  This level is described as “a low point not seen since the infancy of the labor movement in the 1930s.”
• Even public sector unions saw a 1.2% decline with more possible as government budgets are cut to make up for massive budget deficits in some states.
• An illustrative point that shows the economic vitality of the New South versus the industrial north:  “New York had the highest union membership rate at 24.2 percent and North Carolina had the lowest at 3.2 percent.”

Also, related to political analysis – as union membership decreases, total dues that can be used for political purposes will also decline.  This will help the GOP in the long run.

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I managed to find my hardy group of Lutherans for Life. They were late to our noon rendezvous at 7^th St. and Independence Ave. NW. How un-Lutheran of them not to be punctual for the annual March for Life! There, we assembled under the big blue-and-white banner of LFL.

I spoke with Clark, who had come in from nearby Baltimore. His home congregation, he told me, was Martini Lutheran Church. Martini? I was surprised. I thought Lutherans were supposed to like something else. You know: Bibel, Bach, und Bier. Well, no, Clark said, Martini Lutheran congregation is 143 years old, founded in what was then a largely German-speaking city. It was named after St. Martin of Tours—for whom Martin Luther himself had been named. It was a strong reminder that the roots of these Lutherans go way back and are, in many senses, joined with their Catholic antecedents.

This little flock braved the cold–17° F. this morning, but rising to the balmy 20s by the time of the March. A Lutheran pastor told me he had come with his congregation from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan—by bus. Tens of thousands of the largely Catholic crowd had been on the road since last night for this annual event on the nation’s Mall.

Rev. Jim Lamb, the Executive Director of the national Lutherans for Life organization, hailed me. It was hard to recognize each other, swathed as we were in hats, gloves, and scarves. Pastor Lamb had come in from Iowa for the March for Life. A number of staffers came from the International Center of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, all the way from St. Louis.

Jim Lamb told me that LFL had achieved an important goal under the new president of the LCMS. President Matt Harrison had extended official recognition of the LFL organization. That meant that this 2,400,000-member church body would be increasing its pro-life presence and witness.

Jim Lamb reminded me of the work of Dr. Jean Garton, the late Rev. Richard Neuhaus, and Rev. Jack Eichhorst in the 1970s. These and other Lutherans (yes, the illustrious Richard Neuhaus was a Lutheran back then) together made a strong statement that Lutherans are for Life. And they gave their biblical reasons for it.

Why was that important? After the initial shock of Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, the pro-abortion forces tried to dismiss all opposition to abortion-on-demand as “only a few right wingers.” The adamant refusal of the Catholic Bishops of America to be put in that media box is justly famous. Millions of Catholics continued to bear faithful witness to what Pope John Paul the Great would call “The Gospel of Life.” Well, then, the media insinuated, it’s just a Catholic issue.

Lutherans for Life proved it wasn’t just a Catholic issue. At this point in the struggle for life, the thousands of churches represented in the National Association of Evangelicals had not yet had a chance to weigh in for life. That would take several years and the widespread distribution of the video series called Whatever Became of the Human Race with Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop. Soon, the Evangelicals would become a powerful force defending unborn children in America.

So, too, would the 15-million member Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The fight to reclaim the SBC would extend into the 1980s. But when this great ship’s course was righted, no one gave more eloquent expression to the sanctity of human life than the Southern Baptists.

What that little flock of Lutherans did in the mid-1970s was to help in an important way the efforts of the Roman Catholic community. Catholic pro-lifers could always point to the Lutherans and say: See, we’re not the only ones who understand the need to protect innocent human life.

And the pro-life Lutherans could speak to the mainstream Protestants and say: “We are pro-life on solely biblical grounds. Sola scriptura. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.” It was a most happy and mutually reinforcing alliance.

I was in Washington, D.C., on January 22, 1973. I remember the Washington Post’s reporting on the Roe v. Wade decision. I was miserable about it. But I thought the fight was over. As an unchurched young man, I thought when the U.S. Supreme Court spoke, you had to genuflect and obey.

It was not until I lived in the Midwest that I learned otherwise. Those common sense folk—Catholic, Evangelical, and, yes, Lutheran—lawfully but firmly pushed back. Their effective grassroots efforts taught me that so great a wrong could never be a right.

I didn’t realize on that gray and dreary day of the infamous Roe ruling  that the fight for the lives of unborn children would consume the rest of my life. Two years ago, when we saw the election of a strongly pro-abortion president and Congress, I’ll admit my heart sank. It seemed that all I had worked for the past 25 years had gone up in smoke.

But a month after election day, our daughter and her beloved husband presented us with a grandson. They named him Samuel. It means “God hears.” And from the moment I heard that name, I felt a resurgence of strength. Now, I feel I can fight for another 25 years if I have to. GrandSam deserved that birthday. Doesn’t everyone deserve a birth day?

Tags: Abortion, March for Life, Roe v. Wade

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This past week, Canadian scientist Dr. Ernest McCulloch passed away. The late Dr. McCulloch and his colleague Dr. James Till were pioneers in bone marrow transplant and bone marrow adult stem cells. Their early work with mice in the 1960′s provided the first evidence for the existence of bone marrow adult stem cells and laid the theoretical groundwork for later applications of bone marrow and adult stem cell transplantation. Still, it was not until 1988 that the mouse bone marrow stem cells was isolated, and 1992 for the isolation of the human bone marrow adult stem cell. McCulloch & Till went on to win the 2005 Lasker Award.

Largely unnoticed at the time, another bone marrow transplant pioneer died in October 2010. French scientist Dr. Georges Mathé was an early pioneer and leader in the field of bone marrow transplantation. In 1958, he used donor bone marrow transplants to save several physicists accidentally exposed to high doses of radiation. He published one of the first successful donor bone marrow transplants for a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in 1963. Some felt that Mathé should have shared in the 1990 Nobel Prize for bone marrow transplantation.

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