From http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52742
John Danforth's attack on Christians
Posted: November 2, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
By Rick Scarborough
Just when I thought I'd heard it all, I came across former U.S. Sen. John Danforth's attack on Christian activists.
While promoting his new book, "Faith and Politics, How the 'Moral Values' Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together," Sen. Danforth urged his Republican Party to "disengage" from the Christian voters – who have enabled it to win the last three national elections – saying religion has become too divisive a force in American politics.
Danforth, 70, an Episcopal priest, said politics today is too polarized and that the GOP spends too much time trying to appeal to the Christian right – which, in reality, is the party's base. "I think it is bad for the country and ultimately the Republican Party," Danforth declared.
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Danforth says he remains a loyal Republican but believes GOP leaders should speak out against the religious right and move toward the center – a location from which it lost election after election in the past. "On a whole host of issues I would be with the Republicans," the senator maintained. "I just want them to disengage themselves from the Christian right."
Danforth cited same-sex marriage as an example of Republican pandering to Christians. The issue lacks substance and is used to "make people angry and win political support," the senator said. As a member of the Senate for 18 years, Danforth said he "spent every day worrying about the budget and never worried a minute about gay marriage. Now it's the other way around."
Perhaps the senator has forgotten that this is a war Christians didn't chose. Before activist judges began forcing their immorality on the American people, deconstructing marriage and imposing a radical homosexual agenda upon an unsuspecting public, I didn't get up worrying about gay marriage, either. Now I get up every day thinking about the millions of school-age children in this country who are being brainwashed to believe that what God calls an abomination is natural and acceptable.
Danforth likes to remind us that he is an ordained minister, but he long since abandoned the faith.
He opposed both the federal and state Marriage Amendments, which Missourians favored by overwhelming majorities.
Now he is supporting the clone-to-kill amendment to the Missouri Constitution. Shame on you, Rev. Danforth. If you insist on ignoring God's Word, at least honor our nation's founding document: The Declaration of Independence reads, "We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are CREATED equal, and endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights. ..." God is the Creator and every living person, regardless of age or stage of development, is granted the right to life that can only be violated, never abolished.
As for his assertion that the religious right is bad for his party, I remind him that without the base of the religious voters, there would be no Republican majority in Congress.
Clearly, Danforth's theological liberalism has led him to embrace political liberalism as well. Over the past six months, he has been the leading voice in the Missouri debate to legalize the making of cloned human beings for the purpose of extracting embryonic stem cell lines, then destroying the embryos.
The senator has repeatedly asserted, in a $30 million propaganda campaign, that he is pro-life and that the proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution would ban human cloning. But every medical journal in the world acknowledges that the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which the amendment advances, is cloning.
Sen. Danforth has either ignorantly or purposefully misrepresented the truth and attempted to convince Missouri voters who trust him that this amendment is good for the state. Now, a coalition of diverse religious communities are calling his hand on this fraudulent sales pitch, and he stands to lose credibility and stature. Missourians do not respond well to being misled. While slick ads are being aired hourly across Missouri, saying that the religious community has a divided view on this amendment, the truth is the leaders of virtually every major denomination in the state have come out against this wicked proposal.
I take no joy in speaking out against a man who devoted most of his adult life to public service, but this frontal attack on values voters cannot go unchallenged.
My recommendation to the leaders of the Republican Party is to separate from so-called moderate Republicans, who, like their Democratic counterparts, embrace secular humanism and reject absolute truth. When the Republican Party leadership embraces its own national platforms and begins to stand courageously for Judeo-Christian values, they will find that many more values voters will rally to their banner. And perhaps then, politicians like John Danforth will have a conversion and see the way home to the faith of their fathers. Christians from both parties, as well as the millions who don't participate at all, are waiting and praying for a party to arise that will unashamedly stand for traditional values.
Related special offer:
"Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion"
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From http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52734
Stem cells: Where the real hope lies
Posted: November 2, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
In the two weeks since I first wrote about the human-cloning amendment on the ballot in Missouri, the debate has really heated up.
Actor Michael J. Fox grabbed headlines by taping a TV ad asking voters there to approve Amendment 2. The amendment is designed "to ensure that Missouri patients have access to [embryonic] stem cell therapies." These therapies, we're led to believe, will bring cures for terrible diseases such as the Parkinson's that, sadly, has stricken Fox and many others.
Then the ever-brave and straight-talking Rush Limbaugh spoke out against this ad, surmising that Fox had deliberately gone off the medication that helps control his tremors (something that Fox himself, in his autobiography, admitted doing before testifying to Congress in 1999). And all this, Rush noted, in the service of an illusory "cure" (as I'll explain in more detail below). Rush courageously endured a hailstorm of criticism for – yet again – giving voice to an uncomfortable truth.
(Column continues below)
Meanwhile, Missourians Against Human Cloning, a group of state-based scientists, doctors, medical professionals and researchers, has run ads exposing the insidious science of embryonic cloning and research. The ads feature actors James Caviezel ("The Passion of the Christ"), Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan.
Why all the high-profile attention for a single ballot question in one state? Because we're debating a bedrock issue, my friends, one that means the difference between life and death for some very tiny (but fully human) members of our human family.
First, though, since we're dealing with an arena of science that's extraordinarily complex, let's get a little Stem Cell 101. Dr. Kelly Hollowell, a molecular and cellular pharmacologist, is a bio-technology patent attorney at the firm of Williams Mullen. She spoke to an audience at the Heritage Foundation last year and summarized the science this way:
Embryonic stem cells … are the unspecialized cells that form the basic building blocks for all of the 220 specialized cell types in your body. By harvesting and manipulating these master cells, researchers hope to treat diseases. Currently, the primary sources for embryonic stem cells are aborted fetuses and donated and unused embryos housed in IVF (in vitro fertilization) facilities.
To obtain embryonic stem cells, an embryo is formed and allowed to mature for five to seven days. The inner mass of the stem cells is then removed, plated and treated with chemicals to become specialized cell types. The problem is that in this process the embryo itself is destroyed.
Considering that the embryos are, in fact, human beings, their destruction is, indeed, a monumental problem. But in an age of legalized abortion, many people are unwilling to stand up for them. Even if the embryos are human, they say, look at the cures we'll be getting. How can we turn our backs on scientific progress?
To which we must respond: What "progress"?
As a trip to the website of the National Institutes of Health confirms, there is none. Oh, advocates have lots of "hope," all right. But they have nothing – that's right, nothing – to show for it. Ask Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, the South Korean scientist who resigned last December from his post at the Seoul National University when it was revealed that he had faked his alleged breakthroughs.
Follow the money, folks, because believe me, if embryonic stem cells offered any real hope, private companies would be lining up around the block to fund it. Sure, some would avoid it because of the ethical problems, but not all. That's why the proponents of embryonic stem cell research are beating the drums for taxpayer money. It's their only chance.
Fortunately, we don't have to turn our backs on stem cell cures entirely. Other types of stem cells are helping us make substantial progress against disease – and without any of the ethical quandaries associated with embryonic stem cells. Just this week, it was announced that British scientists have grown the world's first artificial human liver. And what did they use? Tissue created from umbilical cord blood, taken just minutes after birth.
Adult stem cells are another alternative – one that preserves life and, well, actually works. According to NIH:
Adult stem cells, such as blood-forming stem cells in bone marrow (called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs), are currently the only type of stem cell commonly used to treat human diseases. Doctors have been transferring HSCs in bone marrow transplants for over 40 years. More advanced techniques of collecting, or "harvesting," HSCs are now used in order to treat leukemia, lymphoma and several inherited blood disorders.
Dr. Hollowell points out: "For more than two decades, we have been treating more than 58 different types of diseases using adult stem cell research. Some of the most startling advancements using adult stem cells have come in treating Parkinson's disease, juvenile diabetes and spinal cord injuries."
So, with such promising cures available without the taking of human life, why would Missourians – or anyone, for that matter – want to pour millions into embryonic stem cell research?
Missourians deserve to enter the voting booth armed with the truth. And the bottom line is this: Embryonic stem cell research is an abomination and a fraud.
Get Kelly Hollowell's book, "Struggling for Life: How our Tax Dollars and Twisted Science Target the Unborn"
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