KFUO Radio News Break

In today's News:

Louisiana voters support pro-life amendment 

Louisiana voters passed an amendment to the state constitution yesterday evening establishing that there is no constitutional right to an abortion. The New York Timesreported that 62 percent of Louisiana voters supported Amendment 1, “Love Life Amendment,” an amendment stating that nothing in the Louisiana state constitution protects the right to abortion or abortion funding. Louisiana also has a trigger law automatically banning all abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to NBC News. Abortion advocates argued that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the amendment unfairly impacts access to abortion. Michelle Erenberg, executive director of the abortion-rights group Lift Louisiana, said the amendment is part of a long strategy to strip the right to an abortion.

Colorado voters reject pro-life legislation 

Voters in Colorado have rejected a pro-life ballot measure that would have banned abortion after 22 weeks, according to the Associated Press. The measure was defeated, with approximately 60 percent of the vote opposing the measure. Proposition 115 would have prohibited abortion once a preborn child reached 22 weeks gestation. Any doctor who committed or attempted to commit an abortion after 22 weeks would have been charged with a misdemeanor and faced fines. There was an exception for when the mother’s physical health was in danger. Babies born as young as 21 weeks have survived with medical assistance.

Facebook censors a pregnancy crisis center 

An Illinois pro-life organization trying to raise money to help pregnant women and babies is being censored on Facebook. The Federalist reports the social media giant rejected the fundraising ad From Illinois Right to Life this fall, claiming it violates its advertising policy. The ad highlights Project Love, an initiative of Illinois Right yo Life to “Support pregnant women and new mothers in a financial crisis by providing grants for rent, utility bills or other necessities.” The pro-life organization hoped to raise money through the ad to help mothers and babies in need, but Facebook refused to run it. Meanwhile, the abortion Giant Planned Parenthood is still running ads on Facebook.

School bans ‘Jesus Loves Me’ mask 

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of an elementary school pupil and her parents against the Simpson County School District in Mississippi after school officials prohibited her from wearing a face mask with the message “Jesus Loves Me” on it. The third-grade pupil, Lydia Booth, wished to peacefully share her Christian views with her schoolmates but, even though she wore the mask without disruption or incident on Oct. 13, the principal at her school in Pinola required her to remove and replace it. Two days later, administrators announced a policy that prohibits messages on masks that are “political, religious, sexual or inappropriate symbols, gestures or statements that may be offensive, disruptive or deemed distractive to the school environment.”

In today's News:

Vote your faith 

Today is Election Day in the United States. The sanctity of life, family and religious liberty are major concerns for Lutherans and other Christians. The two main parties hold vastly differing views on those three topics among others. Citizens should educate themselves on where the candidates stand and then vote accordingly. 

California’s restrictions challenged in court 

A California church on Monday went to court over $350,000 in fines it received for violating the state's coronavirus worship restrictions. The church, Calvary Chapel in San Jose, argued that Gov. Gavin Newsom's orders, as well as local restrictions, place an undue burden on the free exercise of faith. The church has been meeting in-person since May and received a fine every time it violated orders limiting congregations to 100 people. The church's pastor, Mike McClure, said that no members of the church have tested positive for the coronavirus. Santa Clara County, where the church is located, was granted a temporary restraining order against Calvary Chapel while the lawsuit is underway. The order requires the church to follow coronavirus restrictions until its case is decided. The case arose last week when the county claimed that the church, which typically attracts 600 people, poses an "imminent risk of a super-spreader" event. California has faced some of the fiercest battles between churches and governments over how worship should be conducted during the pandemic. The state has both weathered and prosecuted multiple lawsuits related to restrictions on services and gathering size. 

Supreme Court will hear religious liberty arguments 

The U.S. Supreme Court with newly appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett is set to hear a case tomorrow regarding Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services (CSS) and whether the city of Philadelphia has a right to block the organization’s status as a state-approved foster care provider because of the organization’s Catholic beliefs. The city cut off CSS foster parents from having children placed in their homes in 2018 and refused to renew their contract with CSS due to the catholic organization’s practice of not placing children in same-sex homes. The district courts and appellate courts both ruled in favor of Philadelphia, claiming that CSS was discriminating against homosexuals and therefore in violation of the nondiscrimination clause of its contract. CSS argues that the government has it backwards — that it is Philadelphia that is discriminating against CSS for being Catholic and violating the organization’s Constitutional rights. In fact, there were no same-sex couples who had brought the complaint against CSS. It was the city who canceled them without provocation.

In today's News:

Colorado votes on abortion 

The Colorado Sun reports pro-abortion groups and activists across the country have poured $8.7 million into defeating Proposition 115, a state ballot measure that would prohibit abortions on viable unborn babies. Colorado is one of the few states with no limits on abortions, and abortionists there openly advertise abortions in the third trimester. The ballot measure would protect viable, pain-capable unborn babies by banning late-term abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions would be allowed if the mother’s life is at risk.

Father loses case for unborn child 

An Alabama father lost a lawsuit on behalf of his unborn baby Friday at the Alabama Supreme Court. WAAY 31 reports the state high court upheld a ruling dismissing Ryan Magers’ case against the Alabama Women’s Center, an abortion facility in Huntsville that aborted his unborn baby in 2017. Magers sued the abortion facility after his girlfriend aborted their unborn baby there against his will. Initially, a Madison County judge granted his petition to represent the estate of his child, “Baby Roe,” and sue the abortion facility in a wrongful death lawsuit. However, in 2019, Madison County Circuit Judge Chris Comer dismissed the lawsuit, saying the abortion facility did not do anything unlawful. On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court agreed with comer’s ruling. Right now, in the U.S. fathers do not have any legal rights to protect their unborn children from abortions. Laws requiring that a father be notified or given a say in an abortion have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Magers’ case was unique because a court recognized his aborted baby as the plaintiff and him as the representative of his baby’s estate. Magers said his girlfriend was six weeks pregnant when she had the abortion in 2017. By six weeks, an unborn baby’s heart is already beating. At conception, an unborn baby also has his/her own unique DNA that determines hair and eye color, gender and other traits. 

U.S takes U.N. to account 

The acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, John Barsa, has sent a scathing letter to the U.N. secretary general for allowing U.N. experts to promote abortion. He also told him to make “A course-correction for the greater good of the U.N.” this is the second letter Barsa has sent to the Secretary General Antonio Guterres of Portugal complaining of un abortion activism during the covid-19 pandemic. The first was sent in May. But even as Guterres was responding to Barsa, on May 22 a group of U.N. human rights officials and experts issued a letter to the United States government criticizing U.S. states that had not designated abortion as essential during the covid-19 pandemic, among them Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

In today's News:

Planned Parenthood lied 

The Center for Medical Progress released a fourth video yesterday featuring unsealed video clips from Planned Parenthood leaders’ sworn deposition testimony about the abortion provider’s fetal tissue research programs — Including details about the programs that directly contradict What Planned Parenthood told multiple Congressional investigations in 2015 and 2016. While under investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee and House Select Investigative Panel, Planned Parenthood told congress that its Houston affiliate, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, never had a “fetal” tissue research program — only a “placental” tissue program — with researchers at University of Texas Medical Branch. Based on this representation, Planned Parenthood produced less documentation of Planned Parenthood’s practices than other regional offices in California. But when questioned under oath about the transactions with University of Texas, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Vice President for Research, Melissa Farrell, testifies that her Planned Parenthood office in fact transferred the entire aborted fetus to the university, not just the placenta. Farrell testifies that in previous fetal tissue transactions, Planned Parenthood transferred the “products of conception” from the abortion — the fetus, placenta, and everything removed in the abortion — “in its entirety.” 

Fundraising effort halted 

GoFundMe has shut down the efforts of parents attempting to raise money to display billboards that say, "Puberty is not a medical condition" for violating its user rules. The fundraising effort, which was inspired by A Los Angeles-area father of a gender-confused teenaged daughter who put up one such billboard near West Hollywood, was taken down Wednesday on the widely used crowdfunding site. The father has received no specific response from GoFundMe as to why his page was removed. The billboard that was erected last week in California and will be there for one month states: "Your child is learning about gender identity in school. Puberty is not a medical condition. Get the facts. Read this book." the message was positioned next to the cover of the recent book “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” by Wall Street Journal contributor Abigail Shrier. 

California restricts family Thanksgiving gatherings 

California Department of Public Health officials are cracking down on family Thanksgiving celebrations with a host of restrictions. All gatherings must include no more than three households, including hosts and guests, and must be held outdoors, lasting for two hours of less. The department further states that gatherings that occur outdoors are significantly safer than indoor gatherings. All gatherings must be held outside. Attendees may go inside to use restrooms as long as the restrooms are frequently sanitized,” the statement added. The department adds that citizens can remove their masks while they’re eating or drinking, or for health reasons, such as if the individual is feeling light-headed or needs to use their asthma inhaler.

In today's News:

Lutherans prepare for the March For Life

As they have for decades, members of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) will march for life in 2021. One such event is the Chicago March For Life, which recently announced plans to take this year’s March On The Road. The “moving the movement tour” is designed to “build unity, community and the pro-life future” by connecting participants in 10 states in a series of car parades, outdoor rallies and supportive events across the Midwest, culminating in Chicago on Jan. 23. In doing so, march for life Chicago — planned by the organization WEDIGNIFY — says they hope to encourage their tour partners, whom they are calling the “Midwest overs,” to “witness, inspire and serve” the cause of life in their respective communities. One such “Midwest Mover” event will be in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Jan. 16, 2021. Details are still being finalized, but LCMS President The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison will be a featured speaker at the event. As in previous years, the Synod will have a presence at the National March For Life in Washington, D.C., set for Friday, Jan. 29. Also, as in previous years, there will be a divine service for lcms participants held before the march at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Va., at 9 a.m.

Senator calls for unrestricted abortion

Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined Massachusetts abortion activists Tuesday in urging the state to pass a radical bill that would legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. The pro-abortion Democrat senator stoked up fear during the online pro-abortion rally, warning that the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett could lead to more abortion restrictions, The Boston Globe reports. She urged the state legislature to pass the Roe Act, which would eliminate basically all restrictions on abortion in Massachusetts. It would allow abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, even if there is no physical threat to the mother and eliminate the state parental consent requirement for underage girls. It also would allow “passive infanticide” by eliminating a requirement to provide medical care to a baby who is born alive after an abortion.

Planned Parenthood confronted on its racism

A group of black pro-life activists have filed a racial discrimination claim against Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States. The National Black Pro-Life Coalition, an organization that hopes to “end abortion by restoring a culture of life and the foundation of family in the black community,” announced that it filed a claim against Planned Parenthood with The Office Of Civil Rights in The U.S. Department of Health And Human Services. The suit comes nearly two months after more than 120 African Americans signed a letter to Planned Parenthood, urging the organization to “confront its racist founding, mission and practices.” Planned Parenthood was founded more than a century ago by Margaret Sanger, a eugenicist who wanted to control the black population. Sanger was among the women honored in The Smithsonian Museum of American History’s temporary “girlhood” exhibit created in honor of the 100th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote. Sanger’s presence in the exhibit reflects her reputation as a feminist icon seen as a pioneer of women’s rights and liberation.

In today's News:

Fire rages near Concordia University — Irvine 

The Silverado Fire in Southern California is burning near Concordia University — Irvine, which houses the headquarters of the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. However, District President the Rev. Dr. Michael Gibson says so far, the campus is safe. Although the fire is some distance away, heavy smoke blankets the area. There are about 600 students still in residence. Gibson asks Lutherans to continue praying, especially for the winds to calm, which are fanning the flames. So far, no structures have been lost, but two firefighters were critically burned. 

Interference in Christian worship worsens in China 

Pastors in China report that they've been forced to integrate President Xi Jinping’s words into the Biblical account of Jesus feeding the five thousand as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) increasingly pressures church leaders to infuse their sermons with political ideology. According to the Italian-based magazine Bitter Winter, the CCP has continued to use the novel coronavirus pandemic to further control and politicize religions. In September, the two Chinese Christian Councils of Quanzhou, a prefecture-level city in Fujian's southeastern province, demanded all three-self churches integrate Xi’s ideas on curbing food waste into their sermons, so that “the policy reaches everyone in society.” To implement the order, some pastors integrated the leader's words into the Biblical story about Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. In the spring, officials also ordered the pastor of a church in Zhengzhou, a county-level city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, to preach to the congregation that Americans brought covid-19 to China. 

An abortion case goes before the Supreme Court 

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to consider a major abortion case out of Mississippi on Friday, just days after the Senate confirmed pro-life Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, challenges a state law that prohibits abortions on unborn babies after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A federal judge struck down the Mississippi law in 2018, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in 2019; but the state appealed to the Supreme Court. On Friday, the justices’ schedule includes time to debate whether they will hear the state’s appeal, CNN reports. The case is significant, not only because of Barrett, but also because “it is widely considered to be a direct challenge to the precedent outlined in the supreme Court’s landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade.”

In today's News:

Today is International Religious Freedom Day 

The U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today commemorates International Religious Freedom Day today, marking the 22nd anniversary of the signing of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). IRFA sought to make religious freedom a priority in U.S. foreign policy in a variety of ways, including by creating governmental institutions including USCIRF and the State Department’s IRF office, requiring monitoring and reporting on religious freedom violations, and establishing consequences for the worst violators. 

Religious freedom wins on campus 

Florida State University’s student supreme court has reinstated Jack Denton as president of the student senate. Denton was removed from his post in June over comments in a private chat group for Catholic students that were subsequently circulated to a member of the senate. In the group chat, Denton had expressed concerns that policy positions of certain groups, such as the ACLU and blacklivesmatter.com, contradicted church teaching on abortion, marriage, sexuality, and policing and cautioned students to be aware of those positions before they donated to the groups. He was subsequently accused of transphobia and racism by fellow students and, after a first vote of no-confidence in him failed, he was removed in another vote of the student senate June 5. Denton filed suit against the student senate’s decision in both the university court and in federal court. 

Pro-life group recognized on Iowa campus 

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is reversing the student government's controversial decision to bar recognition of an anti-abortion group that student senators said was hateful. UNI's President Mark A. Nook said the ban would violate the First Amendment if it was allowed to proceed. Students for Life of America (SFLA) sent its appeal to Nook last week after the student supreme court upheld the ban and argued that the group's UNI chapter would "violate a university policy guaranteeing the "right to be treated with dignity and respect by all persons involved in the student conduct process." The issue emerged after Young America's Foundation, a conservative nonprofit, posted footage from a Zoom meeting in which student senators likened SFLA to white supremacists and argued they were a hate group whose rhetoric was "infringing on basic human rights." 

Judge Amy Coney Barrett is sworn in 

The United States Senate voted 52 to 48 yesterday to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, marking a conservative shift in the federal judiciary’s balance of power. 

Huge Christian rally in Washington, D.C. 

Tens of thousands of mostly young Christians gathered at the national mall on Sunday to proclaim “Let Us Worship,” amid the draconian restrictions still being enforced in many jurisdictions across the land against church assemblies. They came from all across the country to pray for the nation at a critical moment in history. Sunday’s event in Washington, D.C. brought an estimated 30,000 believers together to join their voices in prayer.

In today's News:

Wedding business wins 

Faced with a federal lawsuit, Cuyahoga County has agreed to a proposed court judgment filed Friday that allows a Cleveland-area minister and wedding business owner to operate consistent with her belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. In July, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit on behalf of Kristi Stokes and her business, Covenant Weddings, to challenge a law that the county now agrees cannot be used to force her to use her ministry and business to officiate and compose homilies, vows and prayers for same-sex weddings even as she continues to officiate and promote weddings between one man and one woman. As part of the agreed-upon proposed judgment, the county will not enforce its law — which threatens fines of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, depending on their frequency — against Stokes or other ministers because Stokes’ business is not a place of public accommodation and because she and other ministers should not be forced to act contrary to her religious beliefs. 

Mississippi asks Supreme Court to rule on abortion 

The first female attorney general of Mississippi urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to allow her state to protect unborn babies from abortions, at the very minimum, after the first trimester. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the high court to consider the 15-week abortion ban earlier this summer. On Thursday, she filed a supplemental brief with arguments based on another abortion case that the Supreme Court ruled on in June, CBS News reports. The 2018 Mississippi law prohibits abortions after 15 weeks except when there are risks to the life or physical health of the mother, or fatal fetal anomalies. Based on state health records, about 200 unborn babies between 15 and 20 weeks are aborted every year in Mississippi. However, the state has not been allowed to enforce the pro-life law because of a pro-abortion legal challenge. 

State officials shut down a Christian school 

A Michigan county shut down a Christian school Thursday night, accusing it of violating a state and local health department mask mandate and other protocols. Libertas Christian School, a private, nondenominational Bible-based school with more than 265 students in Hudsonville, was officially closed down by the Ottawa County Health Department before classes could be held on Friday. Last Sunday, the school filed a lawsuit against the state and local health department, challenging the state’s mask mandate. That led the health department to issue additional cease-and-desist orders, later culminating in the school's closure. While two teachers who work at the school had tested positive for covid-19, both recovered and were cleared by their doctors to return to work. Similarly, two students had tested positive for the virus, having contracted it off the school's premises, and were cleared by their doctors to return to school. As of Friday, there have been zero covid-19 positive cases among faculty and students, according to updated records on the school's website. The school's attorney, Ian Northon said that since last Sunday the county has been calling a teacher to demand that she hand over the names of pupils in her second-grade class, and even threatened her with "imprisonment.” Douglas van Essen, a lawyer for the Ottawa County Health Department, said the health department never threatened the teacher.

In today's News:

Planned Parenthood injures another woman 

Another woman has been injured at Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan Health Center, formerly known as the Margaret Sanger Health Center, and was taken away in an ambulance on Oct. 13. According to Operation Rescue, pro-lifers praying outside the abortion business watched as the ambulance arrived. Emergency medical personnel went inside the facility for approximately 15 minutes, and then left with the woman in the ambulance. They were followed behind by a man who had accompanied her to the facility. This is believed to be the 36th woman injured at this particular Planned Parenthood facility, and the third emergency so far this year. 

36 nations tell U.N. there is no right to abortion 

The United States, in a coalition of 32 countries representing more than 1.6 billion people, yesterday issued a declaration at the United Nations that there is “no international right to abortion.” Yesterday Secretary Of State Michael R. Pompeo and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar participated in the virtual signing of the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a historic document that further strengthens an ongoing coalition to achieve better health for women, the preservation of human life, support for the family as foundational to a healthy society and the protection of national sovereignty in global politics, according to a HHS news release. 

Officials harass a county church 

A Los Angeles County church is being repeatedly harassed by the Public Health Department. Thomas More Society attorneys are preparing to challenge the actions of two county “environmental health specialists” who surveilled Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church In Arcadia, Calif. and slapped the parish with citations on Oct. 15, after observing women in prayer veils leaving the building. Five days later on Oct. 20, the same two workers returned to threaten church personnel with more citations – compelling staff to eject the two masked worshipers who prayed inside the 500-capacity sanctuary. The harassment comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by Farther Trevor Burfitt, prior at Our Lady of Angels, charging Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom and 19 other state, county, and municipal officials for violating his religious rights. 

Churches report giving is down 

Churches across all denominations are now increasingly turning to online giving as a majority of them report reduced giving in the pews amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to ministry brands. The trend was highlighted in results from an online survey of 1,400 church leaders conducted by Ministry Brands, a provider of software, services and information platforms for churches and ministries, from July to September and published Wednesday in the report Coping With Covid-19: Insights From Church Leaders. “Overall, almost 60 percent of respondents indicated that a reduction in giving income is one of the top challenges facing their church. This was particularly noticeable among Catholic churches, a full 67 percent of which expressed concern about reduced giving,” said the report which attributed the reduced giving to fewer in-person services.

In today's News:

Pro-life display is vandalized

Vandals destroyed a pro-life cross display this week at an Arkansas church, the latest in a growing string of vandalism and other violence against pro-lifers. According to the Magnolia Reporter, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Magnolia set up 150 white crosses on its lawn earlier this month to raise awareness about the victims of abortion. The crosses represent the number of unborn babies who are aborted every hour in the U.S. On Monday night or early Tuesday morning, however, someone vandalized the display, knocking over many of the crosses and a banner, the report states. Volunteers with the Knights of Columbus fixed the display Tuesday afternoon, according to the report.

China cracks down on Christian literature

China has been tightening restrictions on the distribution of religious materials in recent months by threatening fines, the closure of printing shops or even imprisonment for selling Christian books or allowing customers to photocopy hymns. Bitter Winter, a publication that monitors religious liberty violations in China, reports that this month, Chinese Communist Party officials in Luoyang, a prefecture-level city in the central province of Henan, searched a local printing house for banned religious materials. A worker at a second photocopying business in Luoyang revealed that the ban on illegal religious materials applies to the photocopying of hymns. Those who print religious materials face harsh repercussions, including fines, and in some cases, imprisonment. In April, 2018, the Chinese government banned online retailers from selling the Bible. Legally, the Bible can only be distributed by government-approved agencies that supervise the Christian churches in China.

‘Right to Die’ laws raise questions

The expansion of medical aid in dying across the United States has not only created a professional and moral dilemma for practicing physicians, but it has also raised concerns within the disability community, among others, about the negative consequences these laws could have on the country. John B Kelly, the New England regional director for Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group focused on opposing medical aid in dying and euthanasia legislation, has become a vocal opponent to the passing of these laws. Laws relating to medical aid in dying add to this “better off” messaging, Kelly said, because they create the perception that personal autonomy should be regarded above anything else. Once that autonomy is taken by a terminal illness, people sometimes think that their life is no longer worth living. Oregon’s annual data showed that 87 per cent of patients who used the end-of-life option in 2019 reported a loss of autonomy as one of their main reasons. About 90 per cent said decreased ability in participating in activities that made life enjoyable was another key reason, and 72 per cent said a loss of dignity impacted their decision. Oregon became the first state to pass its death with dignity act, which allows a person 18 years or older with a terminal prognosis of six months or less to receive a prescription drug that would end their life.