World Lutheran News Digest from KFUO Radio

In times of crisis pregnancy, what about the child’s life? Imagine an 18-year-old woman with an unwanted pregnancy, and she decides to end it. But what of the life she’s ending? What might that child become? Guest Kim Glassman can answer that question. Her birth mother chose life for her and put her up for adoption with a caring family. Hear her story on today’s WLND. Today's program is a rebroadcast from March 1, 2017.

Pro-life Christians in Missouri have reason to celebrate. The legislature passed, and the governor signed, SB5, a new law placing common sense regulations in place for abortion clinics. Some of the new provisions are that doctors must explain potential medical risks to women 72 hours before an abortion. Other provisions include unannounced annual inspection, whistle-blower protection, and requirements that facilities meet certain health and safety standards. It also prevents local governments from forcing alternative-to-abortion agencies from promoting or referring patients to abortion clinics. Further, it repeals the City of St. Louis’s abortion sanctuary city ordinance. It also empowers the State Attorney General to prosecute wrongdoing, should the local prosecutor decline to get involved. SB5 marks a clear victory for pro-lifers, but the battle is far from over. Guest Diane Albers, President of Lutherans for Life of Missouri, speaks about the implications of Missouri SB5 for women in Missouri.

Words have power. How we speak and how we’re spoken to impacts our lives. This is especially true of mass media, which is our window on the world around us. Most news media, newspapers, magazines, broadcast new media, use what’s called the Associated Press Stylebook in Writing. It’s been around since 1953, and it’s designed to provide a uniformity of writing style. It’s mostly concerned with grammar and other language conventions. Every year, the Stylebook is updated to reflect changes in language uses. But this year’s changes are problematic. Instead of listing when to use numerals instead of spelling out numbers, or proper use of commas, or when to use abbreviations, the latest changes seem to reflect an agenda. As examples, the phrase "pro-life" is no longer used. Instead, it’s "anti-abortion." And the word "abortionist" is also discouraged, with the phrase "abortion provider" being recommended instead. Rachel Alexander, senior editor of The Stream, talks about why this is happening and what it means for journalists and media providers.

If you have the feeling that hostility to religion is on the rise, the facts back you up. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2017 report states, "The state of affairs in international religious freedom is worsening in both depth and breadth of violations." Now certainly we’ve seen this, particularly in the Middle East. But what about here in the U.S., where freedom of religion is enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights? In 2014, the Family Research Council (FRC) issued a report titled, "Hostility to Religion: The Growing Threat to Religious Liberty in the United States." The FRC recently published a 2017 update, and that update states that since the original report 3 years ago, the number of domestic religious freedom violations increased by 76%. Guest Travis Weber, Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council, discusses these findings. Learn more about the FRC at frc.org.

Guest Michael P. Farris, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, discusses the implications of the Supreme Court case Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Trinity Lutheran in what is being called a landmark religious freedom case. In 2012, Trinity Lutheran applied for a grant with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources that would allow reimbursement for resurfacing their playground, which was open to the public, with recycled tires. Despite being ranked 5th out of 44 applicants for 14 available grants, Trinity was disqualified for the grant solely because the playground is owned by a religious organization. Alliance Defending Freedom sued on behalf of Trinity, and after losing the case in district court and appeal, the Supreme Court was asked to hear the case. Learn more about this case at playgroundcase.org.

The board of directors for the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod’s new Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty has received a letter from the Rev. Dr. Gregory P. Seltz, who has been the speaker of the Lutheran Hour since 2011, and he’s officially accepting his call to be the LCRL’s first Executive Director. The LCRL provides input, education, advice, and resources to the areas of marriage, life issues, and religious liberties. It also seeks to actively engage in discussions and establish partnerships as appropriate with individuals and groups in Washington, D.C. After a transition period at Lutheran Hour Ministries and orientation for his new position with the Synod, Dr. Seltz will relocate from St. Louis to head the LCRL office. It’s been 17 years since the Synod last had an office and staff in the nation’s capital. Rev. Dr. Gregory P. Seltz and Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison join us to talk about this new venture!

The nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, released its 2015-2016 Annual Report 6 months late. The report lists its activities, income, and other information. One of the most interesting aspects of the report is that Planned Parenthood has reduced all non-abortion related health services to women. What did increase was the number abortions performed. It’s now at 328,348 per year. It’s total revenue also increased to $1.354 billion dollars. That’s the highest in its history. And it also recorded profits of $77 million, an increase of $19 million from the prior year. The report also renounced the Center for Medial Progress’s undercover video reports as being heavily edited and "widely discredited," this despite the fact that the videos were authenticated by two separate forensic investigations, including one by Planned Parenthood itself. Guest Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, takes a closer look at Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report on today’s WLN Digest.

Sadly, there are children in every state in need of a new home, or a foster family. State agencies often work with outside faith-based agencies to place children in loving homes. Unfortunately, this process is becoming politicized in some states. This is particularly true in the state of Illinois. In 2011, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services announced it would no longer contract with agencies that refused to place children with same-sex couples, effectively banning Lutheran and Catholic agencies. Just this month Illinois went even further. A new directive states that the department, in their words, "Will not tolerate exposing LGBTQ children and youth to staff providers who are not supportive of children and youth's right to self-determination of sexual gender identity." It further warns staff members that their personal and professional opinions don't matter. Guest Mary Hasson, Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of "Illinois Purges Social Workers and Foster Families Who Don't 'Facilitate' Transgenderism" in The Federalist, talks about this issue.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Issued its Annual Report on the status of religious freedom worldwide. According to the report, "The state of affairs for International religious freedom is worsening in both the depth and breadth of violations." Commission Chairman Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J., is today's guest on World Lutheran New Digest. Learn more about the USCIRF at uscirf.gov.

Religious nonprofit organization in Missouri have their tax status protected. However, a regulation from the Missouri Human Rights Commission and a Supreme Court ruling put that in jeopardy. It may well have been an oversight rather than intentional effort to strip the tax exempt status, but it was on the books. Some state legislators saw the danger, and they worked quietly behind the scenes to correct the situation. Senate Bill 43 passed the legislature and is awaiting the Governor's signature. State Senator Bob Dickson was one of the legislators that saw the danger to religious nonprofits, and took action. Senator Dickson is today's guest on WLND.