Tag: Feminism

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Repost from the National Post with an Erroneous Headline

‘Your God is wrong’: Anti-abortion Prolife activist to appeal conviction, saying judge attacked religion

  Jun 7, 2012 – 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Jun 7, 2012 10:23 AM ET

Steve Jalsevac/LifeSiteNews.com

Steve Jalsevac/LifeSiteNews.com

Mary Wagner (R) with fellow anti-abortion protester Linda Gibbons. Both have lengthy criminal records and jail time due to abortion clinic protests.

The lawyer for an anti-abortion activist jailed for entering a Toronto abortion clinic last fall is appealing her conviction, saying he thinks the judge may have left the impression of bias during a verbal skirmish in which the judge told his client: “Your God’s wrong.”

Justice S. F. Clements launched a “conditional attack on the Christian God” during the March 21 hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice, in which Mary Wagner was convicted of mischief and breach of probation, apellate lawyer Peter Boushy plans to argue during the forthcoming appeal hearing.

“I think it could be certainly argued on appeal that the justice’s conditional attack on the Christian God, along with the tenor and content of his other comments that day, gives rise to a reasonable apprehension — and I stress the word ‘apprehension’— of bias by [the judge],” Mr. Boushy said in a statement to the Post.

Court transcripts reveal a tense exchange, first between Judge Clements and one of Ms. Wagner’s supporters in court and then between the judge and Ms. Wagner.

After the man was ordered out of the court by Judge Clements, the judge turned to Ms. Wagner and said “Ms. Wagner is smiling. You don’t get it, do you Ms. Wagner?” before saying she does not know what the law means.

She asked him to explain it.

“If you think that you have some higher moral authority that allows you to break [the] rule of law, that allows you to go to that clinic, to allow you to disregard the rights of other people to use that clinic, to disrespect those people, then you are wrong, and your God is wrong, because no God would tolerate that,” Judge Clements said.

Later in their exchange she said she would not stay away from abortion clinics in the future.

“You are going to go to jail,” the judge said.

He found Ms. Wagner guilty of entering Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic the morning of Nov. 8, 2011, approaching patients in the waiting room, refusing to leave and pushing on a door being closed on her by staff to prevent her entry into a secure area of the clinic. Ms. Wagner was already on probation for a previous mischief charge and was barred from contacting clinic staff or being at least 500 metres from its doors when she appeared that day.

In her victim impact statement, clinic co-owner Patricia Hasen said Ms. Wagner returns to the clinic despite her legal restrictions, adding that it puts employees in an “emotional tailspin when a staff member says ‘Mary is here.’”

A devout Catholic, Ms. Wagner’s pro-life activism has earned her a lengthy criminal record made up of mischief charges and jail time connected to her abortion clinic protests in Toronto and Vancouver. She is friends with Linda Gibbons, a well-known anti-abortion activist who will hear from the Supreme Court this week if she had been appropriately dealt with in the courts. In fact, Ms. Wagner and Ms. Gibbons encountered one another in prison shortly after the November incident, friend Leeda Crawford said.

‘If you think that you have some higher moral authority that allows you to break [the] rule of law … then you are wrong, and your God is wrong, because no God would tolerate that’

In his sentencing, Judge Clements dismissed a joint submission from Crown counsel Derek Ishak and defence lawyer Russell Browne that took time served into account, saying it was “not substantial enough if she is not going to abide by court orders.”

“You know, get a grip. She sure wouldn’t like it if somebody was standing on her doorstep everyday pushing her around. If I had the power to do that, that is what I would do. I would have somebody in her face every day, go and rattle her door. How would she like that?” Judge Clements went on to say.

Mr. Boushy said he will raise concerns about that comment as well as the judge’s exchange with Ms. Wagner over what is meant by the rule of law.

“There is simply no authority under the criminal code for a judge to so engage an accused during the sentencing process since all accused have the time honoured right to remain silent,” Mr. Boushy’s statement went on to say. “And this is for good reason. Because soon after this engagement, a fairly extensive debate ensued between Mary Wagner and the judge, the fruits of which the judge then used as an aggravating factor on sentence.”

Judge Clements sentenced Ms. Wagner to an extra three months in jail. She was released May 21st, and is now in Illinois taking a religious course, Ms. Crawford said.

Mr. Boushy will get the date for the appeal hearing later this month and doesn’t expect it to take place until fall.

Judge Clements did not respond to requests for comment.

National Post

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On Same-Sex Marriage: An Overlooked Consideration, Especially for Younger Christians.

By “younger Christian,” I don’t necessarily mean those who only recently came to faith; rather, I intend this for those under 40. I do hope, however, that others can benefit from this little note.

I also must state that I am writing to those who are trying to take the Bible seriously, as God’s infallible Word, Special Revelation. Those who are not Christians, or those who claim to be but understand the Bible as deeply flawed will not care to read further.

There are many motives and reasons given for accepting same-sex marriage as normal, good, and holy. Some do so because they see loving relationships formed between men, or between women, and see as much love between them as between heterosexual couples, so who should deny them the right to marry? Some younger people have a deep-seated fear of being labelled a bigot, and with good reason. There are very few today advocating a curb on same-sex marriage, and to do so definitely places oneself on the outside of most modern culture. Older Christians (again, chronological age), nearing the end of life, make foolish stances seemingly out of fear of being found on the wrong side of history.

It is fair to say that there is a vast difference between same-sex couples in committed relationships and the X-rated variety of in-your-face sexfests that are on display at events such as the Toronto Gay Pride parade. I am pretty sure that quite a few same-sex couples are appalled at the depravity on display there.

What pulls at the heartstrings, however, is that for some Christians, the same-sex marriage is an attractive alternative to those tormented by same-sex attraction. Taking the Bible seriously, there has been great effort expended to show that the prohibitions against homosexuality (in the Law and in Paul), and the judgments against it (Sodom and Gomorrah), are against not the kind of behaviour advocated today, but against perversions of it. At this point, those who don’t care what the Bible says will simply choose to ignore it, rather than to seek alternate explanations.

But if you are a reader who does happen to think the Bible is important, and are still convinced that same-sex marriage has God’s stamp of approval, please read on.

Christians who argue for the acceptance, by the church and society, of same-sex marriage, must affirm that God smiles on these relationships, that His judgment is not against such relationships, that it is not a sin to marry a person of the same sex.

With the language of Scripture so set against same-sex marriage (and I’ll deal with specific passages in a later post), the argument cannot be for a “gray” area, somewhere between right and wrong. To argue for same-sex marriage is to affirm its basic goodness, in the same affirmative manner as all marriages.

And this is the problem. If same-sex marriage is normal and good, and if it should be expected that God blesses these unions as He does marriage, why is there not one example of such a union in Scripture? If we are to equate same-sex marriage with marriage as defined up to now, why are there no parallel examples or laws regulating it? Why did Jesus (who, it is falsely claimed, never mentioned homosexuality), not teach on the sanctity of same-sex marriage? Paul mentions and teaches on heterosexual marriage, but never on same-sex marriage.

I think this problem is insurmountable for those who think same-sex marriage must be blessed by God, and therefore by His church.

I do know one argument that will surface right about now, which is,

“Same-sex marriage was rejected by the ancient Israelites and the early church because they had not yet advanced to the place we are now. The Bible is a record of how they understood the world, and how God worked in the world, and they could not have accepted same-sex marriage because of their limited worldview.”

These words may or not reflect your exact thoughts, but I imagine they’re pretty close. The problem with this line of reasoning is that the unique value of Scripture is lost once it is accepted that the worldview, laws, regulations, principles, examples and teachings are merely human inventions. Remember, I am writing this to you who do believe that the Bible is the Word of God, not the musings of men.

Every Christian, if they are serious about Scripture at all, has to make choices; this has been true in all generations, and ours is no exception. We find in Scripture examples of every kind of human relationship, good and evil, and we learn God’s principles about how we must understand each of them. The absence of a relationship (same-sex marriage) can only be explained (to the satisfaction of a Bible believing Christian), by its exclusion from the plan of God for men and women. Marriage can never be same-sex, because it was heterosexual from the beginning.

If the current interpreters (who argue in favour of same-sex marriage) are wrong about it being a sin, then their error is serious. Sin separates us from God, and to accept, bless, and normalise sin is the worst stance a Christian can take. Obeying God’s Word will never make you a happy camper in the world you live in; it will, however, keep you from further offending His holiness.

©Scott Jacobsen, 2012

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"Not Everyone Who Says, Evangelical, Evangelical Will Enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Repost from the Gospel Coalition

JOE CARTER|2:28 AM CT

South Korea Finds Smuggled Capsules Contain Human Baby Flesh

The Story: South Korean customs officials seized thousands of smuggled drug capsulesfilled with powdered human flesh.

The Background: According to the Associated Press report, the capsules were made in northeastern China from dead babies whose bodies were chopped into small pieces and dried on stoves before being turned into powder, a statement from the Korea Customs Service said.

Customs officials refused to disclose where the babies came from or who made the capsules, citing possible diplomatic friction with Beijing. Chinese officials have been cracking down on the production of such capsules since last year.

The grim trade is being run from China, notes the Daily Mail, where corrupt medical staff are said to be tipping off medical companies when babies are aborted or delivered stillborn.

The tiny corpses are then bought, stored in household refrigerators in homes of those involved in the trade before they are removed and taken to clinics where they are placed in medical drying microwaves.

Once the skin is tinder dry, it is pummeled into powder and then processed into capsules along with herbs to disguise the true ingredients from health investigators and customs officers.

According to customs agents, 35 smuggling attempts have been made since August last year involving more than 17,000 capsules disguised as ‘stamina boosters’.

The San Francisco Times reported that tests carried out on the pills confirmed they were made up of 99.7 per cent human remains.

What It Means: Why exactly should anyone have a problem with eating powdered fetus?

While the question is macabre, the answer is not as obvious as it might appear. Sadly, for too many people—including some Christians—their revulsion is aesthetic rather than moral: they are more disturbed by the consumption than they are in how the human being died. In fact, the Chinese using powered remains of babies for health benefits is considerably more moral than some similar practices supported by Christians in America.

In the case mentioned above, the human beings were already dead when their remains were used to make pharmaceuticals of questionable valuable. We rightly find that disturbing, yet almost a third of evangelicals support a procedure in which a human being is actively killed in order to use their remains for medical research of questionable utility.

Polls taken in the mid-2000s found that almost 40% of evangelicals supported harvesting the cells of embryos for medical research—even though the procedure ended a human life. Fortunately, the debate about embryonic stem cell research has largely subsided since the lies, exaggerations, and wishful thinking proffered by the research’s supporters has been proven to be—as the critics always claimed—nothing more than lies, exaggerations, and wishful thinking.

Similarly, some of the same Christians who recoil in horror at the idea of a dead fetus being microwaved in a clinic in China show no concern for the “spare” embryos they created being left to thaw in an IVF clinic in America.

Our moral intuitions are justified—we should be disgusted by the cannibalistic customs of our pagan neighbors in the East. But we should wonder why our discernment fails us when, in the name of advancing science, curing disease, or alleviating infertility, we turn a blind eye to the Satanic practices supported by our Christian neighbors in the West.

We’re like vegetarian butchers at Moloch’s feast. We think we are somehow morally superior because we draw the line at eating the children we kill. But whether the blood is on our mouths or only on our hands, the stain of the slaughter seeps into our souls.

Joe Carter is an editor for The Gospel Coalition and the co-author of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator.