Priest 'sorry' for gay comments

Gay Pride parades were described in the minister's blog as "obscene"A Church of England priest has issued a "full and complete apology" for remarks he made on gay people in his blog. The Reverend Peter Mullen suggested homosexuals should have their backsides tattooed with the slogan: "Sodomy can seriously damage your health". Mr Mullen, 66, a rector in the City of London, said he had been joking but admitted his words were "injudicious". He said he did not mean to criticise individual people but "the promoters of gay culture". On Monday a Diocese of London spokeswoman said the "highly offensive" remarks did not reflect its views.  I did not intend to cause offence when I made some joking remarks about homosexuals  The Reverend Peter Mullen The comments have since been removed from the clergyman's blog following talks with officials at the diocese. more

Medha Patkar welcomes Tata's Singur Pull out

Saturday,4 October 2008 19:48 hrs IST

Tata has some values: Medha Patkar  - New Delhi: Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), who had joined hands with the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in the struggle against land acquisition for Tata Motors' Nano project in West Bengal, has welcomed the company's decision to shift the project. “We are very happy with (Tata group chairman Ratan) Tata's decision to leave Singur. He has some values. He should have taken this decision long ago,” Patkar told IANS by telephone Saturday. --------------- Patkar said: “There are many things to be kept in mind before you acquire land. There is question of rehabilitation. One has to calculate the cost if it would be a profitable venture compared to the agriculture returns from the place and so on." ------------ Patkar said: “There are many things to be kept in mind before you acquire land. There is question of rehabilitation. One has to calculate the cost if it would be a profitable venture compared to the agriculture returns from the place and so on." ---------------------- Reminded of Ratan Tata's caustic remark on the source of funds for agitators, Patkar shot back, saying: “He refuses to share details about investments even with people who are involved (in the project) and asks us (about funding). He cannot ask this question. Such questions were raised against the Narmada Bachao Andolan too and the Supreme Court replied properly to it.”   read it all

: Smoking would Kill 83m in China in 25 years

Health and Medicine

Right to Die

We all have a right to die with dignity

Fiona Phillips 4/10/2008

At times I really wanted to kill my mum.

She actually died two years ago, but only after suffering the tortures of one of the worst chronic diseases, Alzheimer's.

Which is why I often wanted to kill her. She couldn't walk, talk, swallow. She had no dignity, no life, no point. So what is the point of that? Always glamorous and smiley, my mum would light up a room when she walked in.

If she'd known how she would end up, she'd have wanted a dignified way out.

Often when I was in her room in a nursing home - somewhere she always said she'd "hate to end up" - I could have put a pillow over her face to end her misery.

I could have, but I didn't relish the idea of a murder trial. That's why Debbie Purdy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, is battling in a test case in the High Court.  more 

Let this woman die as she chooses, not in a death plant

Debbie Purdy says the present legislation on assisted suicide is cowardly. She's wrong - it's barbaric

All comments (44)

• 
• • Catherine Bennett
  • The Observer, 
  • Sunday October 5 2008
  • Article history

The last time assisted suicide was debated at Westminster, the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Kenneth Stevenson, explained that death is too important to leave to dying people. 'Dying,' said the bishop, disclosing that he had been diagnosed with leukaemia, 'is not an entirely individual matter. It is corporate.' In the case of Debbie Purdy, it could hardly be more so.

The whole country now knows that Ms Purdy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has thought in detail about when and how she wishes to die. When the pain of her illness becomes intolerable, she would like to have the choice, as the able-bodied do, of taking her own life. For her, physical incapacity may mean that she needs help to do this. Although suicide is legal in Britain, assisting suicide remains a crime which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

The most recent attempt to reform this law as it relates to terminally ill people, in a bill brought by Lord Joffe, was wrecked in the upper house two years ago after a debate in which successive men and women of faith proclaimed the sanctity of life. Lord Ahmed, for instance, could not countenance dying people, of any description, defying a section of the Koran in which it says: 'Do not kill yourselves. For verily God Almighty has been most merciful to you.'

So unless the law is changed before she is in unbearable pain, Ms Purdy will need to arrange her death in conformity with the wishes of God Almighty, as relayed to the House of Lords. 'My dearest wish,' she said last week, 'would be to die with dignity in my own home, with my husband and loved ones around me.' Instead, she will have to travel to Switzerland, to the peripatetic Dignitas facilities, recently located next to a brothel on an industrial estate near Zurich. Here, in exchange for £1,255 (not including services of a doctor, registry, cremation, accompanying visitors etc), she will be handed a lethal dose of barbiturates.

But what if Purdy's husband, Omar Puente, helps organises this suicide in Switzerland? Would not that make him her suicide assistant? On this, British law is stubbornly unclear and Ms Purdy would like it, for her husband's sake, to be clarified. 'For 13 years, I've been in love with this man, he's everything to me,' she said, 'and I'm not about to see him take a risk of prosecution.'  more 

India Bans Smoking from Oct 2, 2008

No Smoking in India

Smoking ban in different countries

Gay Rights: Ramadoss's views disowned by Govt.

Govt to HC: Ignore Ramadoss' views on allowing gay sex 30 Sep 2008, 0337 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Stung by criticism of its casual approach to the sensitive issue of gay rights, the Central government on Monday distanced itself from NACO's affidavit and even went to the extent of asking Delhi high court to "ignore" health minister Anbumani Ramadoss's statement favouring scrapping of Section 377.  "No act of Parliament can be struck down due to an affidavit or a minister's statement," additional solicitor general P P Malhotra told HC, saying since Parliament passed a law criminalizing homosexuality, it represented the "will of the people of this country." "It doesn't matter what the minister says. It is also not important what the affidavit says. It is for the court to decide the issue," Malhotra said before a bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah adding that the Centre is against decriminalization of gay sex.  more

All-community meet to restore peace in Kandhamal On Oct 2

Sister Nirmala’s appeal to Orissa Chief Minister"

Nun gang raped in Public: Police look on

Church in India Under Attack: All-community meet to restore peace in Kandhamal On Oct 2: "

Ente Keralam: Kottayam declared as the first tobacco-free district in the country

Ente Keralam: Kottayam declared as the first tobacco-free district in the country

In India Homosexuality a criminal offence Punishable with life imprisonment

Homosexuality a criminal offence: Govt tells court

Friday, 26 September , 2008, 21:08

New Delhi: The government on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it is not scrapping the present law on homosexuality as it is a "criminal offence" and would "disturb the law and order situation and create unnecessary problems in society." Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra said the government was not in a position to scrap the law at this time. "It (homosexuality) is a criminal offence," he said. “If we scrap section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (that makes homosexuality an offence), then it will disturb the law and order situation and might create unnecessary problems in the society,” Malhotra said before a bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar. The IPC at present holds homosexual acts as an offence and section 377 provides a punishment of up to life imprisonment for indulging in it. ...>more

Pope: Church canno t\recognize "irregular unions"

Church can't recognise divorcees remarrying - pope

Enlarge Photo Pope Benedict XVI speaks at the end of the Marian Procession of Light at the...Slideshow: Day in pictures: September 13 2008

Mon, Sep 15 08:53 AM

By Philip Pullella

LOURDES, France (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Sunday the Church could not recognise "irregular unions" of Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church.

"Initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted," he said in an address to French bishops in the shrine city of Lourdes.

Throughout the developed world, the Church has been struggling with how to administer to Catholics who have divorced and remarried without an annulment -- an ecclesiastical declaration that their first union is null and void -- but want to remain fully active in the Church.

The Church does not recognise divorce. It considers the first marriage still valid and teaches that those who divorce and remarry cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sexual relations with their new partner.

While bishops in several countries have been pushing for some opening on the difficult issue, the pope said the Church could not change its teachings on the indissolubility of marriage because it was instituted by Christ.

In other remarks, the pope ordered bishops to make space for traditionalists who use the Latin Mass.

A papal decision last year to allow a much wider use of the old-style mass -- a move which traditionalists demanded for decades but which was opposed by liberals -- has met with resistance in some countries, particularly France.

But the pope was firm in his position.

"Everyone has a place in the Church. Every person, without exception, should be able to feel at home and never rejected," he said of those who preferred the Latin Mass instead of the new liturgy in modern languages introduced after the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965.

Full story

Is Obeying conscience a Crime? Protests agaiinst the policy of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

Archbishop, Rabbi, Physician Group Condemn Efforts to Curb Ontario Physician Conscience Rights

By Tim Waggoner

OTTAWA, September 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today marked the deadline for public comment on the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeon's draft policy that seeks to prohibit medical professionals from obeying their consciences. In light of this, several prominent parties have made concerted efforts to condemn the proposed policy that, if put into effect, will force medical professionals to "set aside their personal beliefs" and take part in grievous anti-life practices.

"We are deeply disturbed by the draft policy of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario," said Archbishop Terrence Predergast of Ottawa and Rabbi Dr. Reuven P. Bulka in a joint statement on the proposed policy. "Many doctors have expressed a reasonable fear that if this policy is passed, they might be disciplined, and even lose their licenses, for obeying their conscience. They would no longer be free to refuse to perform or refer for certain medical acts that are contrary to their firmly held beliefs."

Referring to the Canadian Charter and the freedoms it promulgates, they said, "To force anyone to violate their conscience would go against not only the text of these documents, but also against their underlying spirit. Such coercion would be fundamentally and shamefully un-Canadian.

They continued, "Freedom of conscience should never be viewed as the enemy of other human rights. Quite the opposite; without freedom of conscience, other human rights would be much more easily abused. Some people believe that doctors need to be forced to provide all medical services that are legal, because otherwise they might impose their values on others... However, forcing doctors to act against their own faith principles would be a radically unjust and dangerous solution. Forced medicine is never good medicine."

Physicians for Life have also sent a statement to the College, protesting the draft policy. They addressed "the ethical bankruptcy" of a society that coerces its medical professionals to partake in abortions and said the statement compromises the human rights of physicians:

"When physician and patient disagree about whether or not a procedure is a good thing, the OHRC's Chief Commissioner herself, Barbara Hall, apparently expects the CPSO to coerce and punish the physician for failing to agree with the patient, on the grounds that the College should endorse and enforce the patient's views at the serious cost of breaching the human rights of the physician."  ...full story

Science and Religion: Stem cells from Skin row

Teams at Kyoto University and at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the United States last year discovered how to use skin to produce stem cells -- which can develop into various organs or nerves.

The finding was hailed by the Vatican and US President George W. Bush because it can circumvent an ethical row over conventional stem cell research using human embryos.  

'End-of-life' debate

LONDON- Forty years after the concept of brain death was established, the Vatican City has reopened the debate over whether the cessation of all brain functions marks the definitive end of life. The Roman Catholic Church had adopted brain death, and not the absence of heart beat, as the "true criterion for death" in 1985 after scientists at the Harvard Medical School published the universally accepted definition in 1968. But, 23 years on, a front-page editorial in official Vatican newspaper, theL'Osservatore Romano , has suggested that life might continue even after the brain dies.  "The assumption of brain death is in contradiction with the concept of the person according to Catholic doctrine, and therefore in contradiction with the Church's directive on persistent comas," British newspaper The Daily Telegraph quoted the editorial as saying.  But the arrival of the Harvard definition enabled the Church to sanction life-support machines being switched off. However, the key beneficiary of the brain-death definition has been organ transplantation, according to the article. Read more

The law of conservation of violence By Edward S. Herman

The law of conservation of the level of violence thus rests on the structure of power and its reflection in politics. If you want to compete in politics in the militarized America of today you can't scrimp on money for "national security" and you need to display a readiness to exercise a "muscular" foreign policy. If you call for reduced forces in one country, you must urge their increase in another. Keep those muscles in shape and bombs dropping.

One of my favorite quotations from the Vietnam War era was: "I think maybe today we create many Vietcong," spoken by a Vietnamese collaborator and helicopter pilot when answering a question by Master Sergeant Donald Duncan while both were on a plane that had just dropped bombs on a Vietnamese target. The Vietnam War was a murderous capital-intensive war, with millions of tons of bombs dropped on villages deemed supportive of the indigenous enemy, along with napalm, phosphorus, and crop-destroying chemicals. (Napalm and rice-killing chemicals were used exclusively in the South, which we were allegedly "saving" from the North's "aggression.") In any case, this murderous behavior killed vast numbers, but also made any Vietnamese previously harboring doubts about the ongoing struggle extremely hostile to the United States and its local puppets. We had mastered the art of creating enemies.


 Read more

Is US VP Candidate Sarah Palin a Religious Nut?

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan." Read more

SuccessStories

SuccessStories

Conventional wisdom is that boys who grow up without fathers are at greater risk of problems, from doing poorly in school to substance abuse. So how does that account for the high-profile successes of standouts such as presidential candidate Barack Obama, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and others who were reared by single mothers?

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Catholic University deprives Rosemary Radford Ruether of teaching post

The Catholic University of San Diego (USD)_Department of Theology and Religious Studies published on USD website its election of Professor Rosemary Radford Ruether, an eco-feminist who refers to God as the feminine "Gaia" and supports abortion and contraception, to the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology for 2009-2010 academic year. Ruether was expected to teach one undergraduate course and deliver the annual Portman Lecture as part of her honorary position.

Later, USD Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs, Pamela Gray Payton, stated that the decision was reversed "upon review of the specific purpose" of the honorary chair, which was established in 2000 as a "sign of the Catholic character of the University."


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USD website introduces the University thus: " The University of San Diego's community of scholars is dedicated to the pursuit of truth, academic excellence, and advancement of knowledge in liberal arts and professional programs. Independent, comprehensive, and Catholic, the University provides a values-based education to all students in its College and Schools....
Students are challenged to develop knowledge, values and skills to enrich their lives, and to prepare them for careers that well serve the global, civic, and faith communities." Now her name is removed from their website.


More about Rosemary Radford Ruether:

Oddly enough, however, Ruether has a rather undisguised rejection of and antipathy toward Christianity, especially the Catholic Faith.
A regular columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, Ruether boasts multiple professorships, twelve honorary doctorates, and an extensive list of books, including The Church Against Itself (1967), Sexism And God-talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983), Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing (1992), Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (2005), Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions (January 2005)and America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence (2007).

California Catholic Daily reports that Prof. Ruether is an advocate of women's ordination and since 1985 has served as a board member for the pro-abortion dissident Catholics for a Free Choice - now Catholics for Choice (CFC). The group has been described by the US Bishops as "not a Catholic organization, does not speak for the Catholic Church, and in fact promotes positions contrary to the teaching of the Church" and is "an arm of the abortion lobby in the United States and throughout the world."

In 2005 Ruether explained to an audience at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles her view that "Christianity is not necessarily worse than other religions, but it is the vehicle of Western Civilization."

Reuther has stated Christianity is riddled by hierarchy and patriarchy that created a social order in which chaste women on their wedding night "were, in effect, raped by young husbands whose previous sexual experience came from exploitative relationships with servant women and prostitutes."

In the CFC article "Sexual Literacy" from its Summer 2003 Conscience magazine, Ruether continued in this vein saying "The young bride went into marriage without knowledge of how to experience pleasure or prevent pregnancy."

Ruether added, "the Christian Right, Catholic and Protestant, is trying to roll back the sexual revolution by returning to a patriarchal puritanism based on a classist separation of females into 'good' girls and 'bad' girls, exploiting the bad girls while denying the good girls personal freedom."

Read it all from LifeSiteNews :

Northern Peaks: Canada's Porn Channel

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has granted Alberta-based Real Productions approval for a digital pornography channel. It's to be called Northern Peaks.

Why does Canada crave homegrown porn? The broadcast regulations require only 15 percent Canadian content, but Real Productions' owner voluntarily promised 50 percent. How will anyone be able to tell? Will the guys keep their tuques on? Will the women say things like, "I don't have any money, but I bet I can think of another way to pay for this Pizza Pizza, eh?"

Apparently, Canadians are weary of nude Americans. Real Productions President Shaun Donnelly said in a Reuters article, "I think as Canadians there is a bit of a tiredness in seeing all American stuff. There is always that thrill for something that is local and you get the sense that these are people you can meet at the supermarket."

Really? I've lived in the land of American porn my whole life, and I've never once imagined I could meet our porn stars at the supermarket. They don't look local. They don't even look terrestrial.

As Real Productions' VP for marketing, Ashley Corsiatto, told the Herald, "I don't know about you, but I'm tired of seeing the Silicon Valley girls constantly." Well, it may be time to develop a more wholesome hobby.

"Different people like different things. You can't keep serving the same thing over and over and expect them to swallow it."

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Obesity in the times of hunger

Sun, Aug 24 03:16 AM

There are about 800 million hungry in the world. Coexisting on a planet that has a billion obese people at a time when record food is being produced. and Raj Patel, writer, activist and academic, someone who has both worked at the World Bank and WTO and been part of protests against them, makes a forceful argument in Stuffed and Starved, a book that has the world sit up and take notice as a global 'food crisis' looms even as the world produces record crops. For he graphically establishes how a comparatively small number of global food companies create a divide between those growing crops and those consuming them. Suman Tarafdar caught up with the currently Berkeley-based author as he explained how the modern industry gives a more sinister meaning to 'food chains'.

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Gay rights in India

While many countries have moved forward to recognise same-sex marriages, India is still groping in the narrow alleys of public morality and social good.

In this notion of public morality — which is enforced by the state — lies the rationale for Section 377, which dates back to 1860. This archaic law from the days of the Raj criminalises homosexuality by prohibiting "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", and goes on to punish such acts with imprisonment for life, or a term that may extend up to 10 years, and fine.

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has raised expectations that the government may repeal the 148-year-old law criminalising sex between men. His declaration, at an international conference on AIDS in Mexico earlier this month, that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code should be scrapped, had its desired impact back home, with gay rights groups welcoming the proactive stand.

Section 377, which does not prohibit lesbian sexuality or conduct in India, has been used by the police to threaten women, too. In 1992, two women police officers of Madhya Pradesh, who were ‘married’, were charged with ‘obscene conduct’ and forced to resign from their jobs. In 1999-2000, a Malayalam newspaper reported seven suicides by lesbians in Kerala. In the same year, a lesbian couple from Orissa was separated forcibly following police intervention, forcing the two to attempt suicide leading to the death of one of them.



On June 29 this year, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Puducherry celebrated their first-ever gay pride parades, with over 2000 persons turning up for the assertion of their rights.

Many prominent men openly admitting their sexual preferences have further strengthened the cause of gay rights. Prince Manavendra Gohil from a conservative principality in Gujarat risked family criticism and public ostracism by openly declaring his gay preference. Famous fashion designer Wendell Rodericks formalised his union with his French partner in Goa. The two got married under the French law to skirt Section 377.

But not all homosexual men have the courage shown by Rodericks. Close to 10 million Indians pay a heavy price for their chosen sexual preferences by subsisting on the margins. As the state denies them the right to interact openly in society, they cruise in public spaces, under the prying eyes of the police. The encounters often turn devastating, thanks to a law that victimises more than it shields.

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Myfavoriteblogs: NT Words : Bible publisher faces lawsuit over homosexuality

Myfavoriteblogs: NT Words : Bible publisher faces lawsuit over homosexuality

Changemakers: Film Maker of Binayak Sen's Life Imprisoned for 90 days

Changemakers: Film Maker of Binayak Sen's Life Imprisoned for 90 days

Doctors Can't Deny Lesbians Care on Religious Grounds

Ruling Was Unamimous, Unlike Legalization of Gay Marriage Case
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
Aug. 18, 2008


The California Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that doctors cannot cite their religious beliefs as grounds to deny gay and lesbian patients medical care.

Guadalupe Benitez sued two doctors for refusing to artificially inseminate her for religious reasons and won.


Justice Joyce Kennard ruled that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian couple cannot claim a free speech or religious exemption from California's anti-discrimination law.

The ruling extends a state law barring sexual orientation-based discrimination to the medical profession.

Guadalupe Benitez, now 36, had maintained that the California medical clinic that was treating her polycystic ovary syndrome had "dumped" her when she asked for artificial insemination.

In 1999, after a year of surgeries and hormone treatments — all covered by insurance — Benitez was finally ready to get pregnant. But at the crucial moment, her doctor refused to do the procedure for "religious" reasons.

Benitez is a lesbian and sued her doctors under California's civil rights laws, charging that they discriminated against her because of her sexual orientation.


"For me this is a case about doing the right thing and being fair," Benitez told ABCNEWS.com. "Not discriminating against people and doctors not playing the role of God, saying because you are gay, you are not worthy of having a child or a family.


The doctors received support from the American Civil Rights Union and anti-abortion groups, according to the Associated Press.

The California Medical Association initially supported the Christian doctors, until they received criticism from gay rights groups and joined the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to oppose them.

The American Civil Liberties Union, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the National Health Law Program and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association backed Benitez.

Benitez sued The North Coast Women's Care Medical Group of San Diego, which had an exclusive contract with her health insurance plan. Also named in the suit were two of the clinic's doctors — Dr. Doug Fenton and Dr. Christine Brody — who lawyers say had a constitutional right to refuse a procedure that violated their religious beliefs.

Read the full story

Limits of Power: A contemporary take on Niebuhr

Andy Lang introduces Andrew Bacevich to Confessing-Christ group:


Andrew Bacevich is a Vietnam veteran, retired U.S. Army colonel and professor of international relations at Boston University. His son died in Iraq last year.
Bacevich uses what he describes as a "Niebuhrian" perspective in his recent book, "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism." Bacevich begins his book, with an epigraph taken from the Bible: "Put thine house in order." In his interview given to Bill Moyers' "Journal" he explained his choice to Bill Moyers:

Read it all here



Read the full introduction to the Limits of Power

Also read from Moyers' Journal Bacevich's lecture on "Illusions of Managing History: The Enduring Relevance of Reinhold Niebuhr."

Barack Obama and John McCain differ on abortion

Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain differed sharply on abortion Saturday, with McCain saying a baby's human rights begin "at conception," while Obama restated his support for legalized abortion.McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, also called for making adoption easier.Obama said America's greatest moral failure is its insufficient help to the disadvantaged. He noted that the Bible quotes Jesus as saying "whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me." He said the maxim should apply to victims of poverty, sexism and racism.

McCain said the nation's greatest moral shortcoming is its failure to "devote ourselves to causes greater than our self-interests."

Read it all here

The deafening silence of dissent: Humanae Vitae after Forty years

The deafening silence of dissent
Humanae Vitae insists that the Church’s writ runs as far as the marital bedroom, but many married couples have disagreed. The ensuing breakdown in communication between Church and society has cost both dear


What kind of Church has the Catholic Church become in the last 40 years since Humane Vitae was published? To focus only on its rejection of artificial birth control would be to do the encyclical a disservice. For it is not without its understanding of love and acknowledges the unitive purpose of sexual intercourse.

The encyclical was published at a time when Victorian prudery had been undermined by dramatic social changes in postwar Britain – and in Europe – and literature and film offered radically different ideas about the nature of sexual love from the conventions of Christianity. Humanae Vitae acknowledged how changes in society affect marriage and family life. It refreshingly recognises the “new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in society”.

The encyclical insisted that there must be no division between the unitive and procreative aspect of sexual intercourse. The alternatives were abstinence or natural family planning, restricting sex to the infertile periods of a woman’s cycle. Its critics argue, of course, that the very fact that women have this infertile period suggests that for a woman at least nature makes a division between the unitive and procreative aspects of sex.

One of the greatest ironies of the last 40 years is that the pressures on couples now seem to have reversed. For many of them, the difficulty is not avoiding pregnancy but getting pregnant at all. Research suggests that professional couples are often too exhausted for lovemaking during their most fertile years so that procreative sex is the problem today. The interest in the natural cycle of a woman is to often track her fertility in order to conceive. Pharmacy shelves are filled with kits to analyse ovulation. Even natural family planning practitioners are often asked to help people conceive, rather than help avoid pregnancy. They do so by encouraging a more holistic approach to life, helping people find ways of dealing with stress, the most insidious cause of damage to the contemporary relationship.

Does this therefore make Humanae Vitae prophetic, given the sexual dysfunctioning of society? The theologian Tina Beattie has argued the opposite – that in fact “Humanae Vitae has had a disastrous effect on the Church’s capacity to influence the public sphere with respect to sexual morality”. It damaged the authority of the Church for many loyal and faithful Catholics, she says, and also gave those outside the Church reason for ignoring it. While it is not the role of the Church to bend to the will of society, it clearly has a role to play in dialogue with the world. Both are losing from this breakdown in communication.


Read here the full article by Catharine Pepinster, editor of The Tablet

Eugenic abortion for disabled infants

The leader of Britain's Tory opposition party has stated that he supports eugenic abortion for disabled infants up to the time of birth. In the build-up to party conference season in the autumn, David Cameron was asked if he would be willing to change the law, amended in 1990, that allows disabled children to be aborted at any time of gestation up to the point of birth.

Read it all here

Obama Promises "Change" for America One Homosexual Adoption at a Time

Obama Promises "Change" for America One Homosexual Adoption at a Time




Obama Promises "Change" for America One Homosexual Adoption at a Time

By Peter J. Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Barack Obama has once again reaffirmed his support for homosexual adoptions and his intentions to repeal federal regulations protecting the traditional family built on marriage.

The Illinois Senator sent a letter outlining his position to Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of the Family Equality Council, after the homosexual lobby group demanded his response to Republican presidential contender John McCain's statement to the New York Times three weeks ago: "I don't believe in gay adoption." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071408.html)

The letter gave Obama an opportunity to curry favor with the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) lobby.

"We also have to do more to support and strengthen LGBT families," wrote Obama. "Because equality in relationship, family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it's about whether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignity and freedom."

He continued, "That's why we have to repeal laws like the Defense of Marriage Act. That's why we have to eliminate discrimination against LGBT families. And that's why we have to extend equal treatment in our family and adoption laws."

Obama had prefaced his letter by emphasizing the "vast array of diverse traditions, cultures and histories" of the United States and said that the "desire to build a life with a loved one, to provide for a family and to have children who will grow and thrive ... are desires that all people share, regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity."

"We know," he said, "that the cost of the American dream must never come at the expense of the American family. For decades we've had politicians in Washington who talk about family values, but we haven't had policies that value families. Instead, it's harder for working parents to make a living while raising their kids. It's even harder to get a break."

See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:

Most unsafe abortions in India - The Hindustan Times

The Hindustan Times - Indian Newspapers in English Language from three editions

Most unsafe abortions in India

Namita Kohli, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, August 09, 2008
First Published: 23:36 IST(9/8/2008)
Last Updated: 23:45 IST(9/8/2008)







The Mumbai High Court judgment disallowing the abortion of a 26-week-old foetus has sparked off a nationwide debate on abortion and a woman’s right of choice. But for a majority of Indian women, ‘medical termination of pregnancy’ (MTP, the medical term for abortions) remains largely unsafe.

Unsafe abortions are those performed illegally, by untrained practitioners with faulty equipment, leading to injuries, infections and even death.

India has the highest number of unsafe abortions in the world. According to government estimates, 8.9 per cent of maternal deaths in India every year — around 15,000 — are caused by unsafe abortions. The irony is apparent when doctors say MTP, if done right, is among the safest medical procedures.

Of the 6.4 million abortions performed in India in 2002 and 2003, 56 per cent or 3.6 million were unsafe, says the Abortion Assessment Project I, 2004. The study — one of the largest in recent times — was managed by the Mumbai-based Centre for Equity into Health and Allied Themes and Healthwatch Trust. It included qualitative and quantitative studies across various states by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers and healthcare professionals.

It also pointed out problems of reach and access with public investment in abortion facilities being woefully inadequate. Only 25 per cent of abortion facilities in the organised sector are government-owned; the rest are private clinics. These are so expensive that they completely exclude the poor sections.

“There’s inadequate, inequitable distribution of facilities for safe abortions. Contraceptive usage is low in India, hence the great demand for safe abortion services,” said Dr Jaydeep Tank, chairperson of the MTP Committee at the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI). Besides, only six per cent of India’s 23,000 primary health centres (PHCs) provide abortion services.

“Besides risk to life, unsafe abortions have serious long-term repercussions like life-long disabilities and reproductive tract infections,” said Sushanta Banerjee, senior advisor at Ipas, an NGO.

For a country with a ‘liberal’ law on abortion, Banerjee said awareness about it is extremely low even three decades after it was enacted. “In Jharkhand, for instance, we found that 82 per cent of women didn’t even know abortion was legal,” he said. In a related study by the Population Council in Rajasthan in 2002, the figure was 84 per cent and in Maharashtra at least 37 per cent of those who had had abortions thought they were illegal. This misconception leads many women to unqualified professionals. Other barriers to safe abortion are “social stigma and myths attached to MTP”, said Tank. “Awareness about abortion through drugs like Mifepristone and Misoprostol is also low, despite they being legal and easily available.”

Social barriers like spousal consent and judgmental doctors are also deterrents, though the law requires no such consent. Under the government’s Reproductive and Child Health Project, safe abortions are a key concern and some progress is being made — maternal mortality due to abortion was 11 per cent in 2001. “We need to generate awareness at the community level about contraception and safe abortion, in both rural areas and urban slums,” said Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save The Children in India. Ipas also advocates training of mid-level service providers like nurses and non-allopathic doctors in remote areas where access to trained doctors is a problem.
(non-text potions removed)

India too will embrace gays: Pamela Roy

Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela

Monday,28 July 2008 12:53 hrs IST
India too will embrace gays: Pamela Roy
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Toronto: Indian American researcher Pamela Roy raised quite a few eyebrows at a seminar during a North American Bengali Convention here by openly debating homosexuality among Canadian-born Indian youth.

The first second-generation Indian woman in North America to declare her lesbian orientation a few years ago, Michigan University researcher Roy wanted to fathom changes in sexual outlook among second-generation Bengalis here.

To her surprise, Roy found a few boys and girls talking openly about their sexual orientation.

"I was happy that a couple of them revealed their gay and lesbian orientation in front of everybody. There is definitely some change in attitude among second-generation Indians," the Kolkota-born Roy, who came to Canada when she was just one, told IANS.

She felt that in time all cultures, including India, would embrace gay and lesbian people.

"To come out is a painful experience in any society," said Roy, who kept her lesbianism a secret from her family and friends for years.

"I knew I was attracted to them. At the age of 14, I had my first lesbian experience in school," she recalled.

Immediately after her first lesbian encounter, Roy said she told her brother and her friends about it. "But I told my parents when the timing was right, which occurred after I had gone away to college, I was 20 years old at this point," she said.

"But my brother, mother and father have always loved me and are supportive. I have been able to bring home girlfriends and partners ever since I started dating women. Ultimately, my family wants me to be happy," she said.

And to be really happy, she added, "I do plan on getting married/being in a committed relationship and having a family and children."

Roy moved to the US in 1994 and is currently conducting a nationwide study on South Asian Americans who are LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning).

Excerpts of her interview:

Q: How difficult was it to come out and reveal your sexual orientation?

A: Coming out is a continuous process - coming out to oneself, family, friends, colleagues and co-workers at school and work. I have had good experiences and also traumatic ones. Coming out is a daily occurrence.

Q: When did you realize that you were different and how long did you keep it a secret from your family?

A: I do not consider myself different. I knew that I had feelings for women when I was 7 or 8 years old. My first lesbian experience occurred in high school at the age of 14. I came out to my brother immediately and told him about the relationship. I also told many friends, some of whom I lost.

I told my parents when the timing was right, which occurred after I had gone away to college, I was 20 years old at this point.

Q: What was their (family's) first reaction?

A: My brother, mother and father have always loved me and are supportive. I have been able to bring home girlfriends and partners ever since I started dating women. Ultimately, my family wants me to be happy and have educated themselves throughout the years about queer topics. I have also been intentional about educating them and have bought books and watched queer movies with my family. With my recent research in this topic, I have been very open and shared findings from my study.

Q: You said about 10 to 15 percent people have this sexual orientation. How prevalent is it among South Asians?

A: It is commonly believed that 10-15 percent of the population has had thoughts, feelings or interactions (emotional and physical) with members of the same sex; however there is no current research about the prevalence among South Asians.

Q: Do you think Indian culture will one day embrace gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people?

A: I strongly believe that in time, cultures around the world, including India, will embrace it. People need to be educated on this topic and have an open mind before cultural perceptions and attitudes are changed.

My co-researcher Raja Bhattar, University of Redlands, and I have conducted a study on South Asian LGBTQQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning) in the US to understand the issue and future trends.

Q: Finally, have you any partner now? Will you marry her?

A: I am currently not in a relationship. But like most people, I do plan on getting married/being in a committed relationship and having a family and children.

Orissa to provide 25 kg. rice to BPL families at Rs. 2 a kg

The Hindu - Indian Newspapers in English Language from eight editions.
Orissa to provide 25 kg. rice to BPL families at Rs. 2 a kg

Bhubaneswar (PTI): In a major relief to the poor hit by soaring prices, the Orissa government on Monday announced that it would provide 25 kg of rice every month to each family living Below the Poverty Line (BPL) at Rupees two per kg from August 1.

"Every BPL family will get 25 kg of rice per month at Rs two per kg from August 1," chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the public distribution system (pds) at a meeting, told reporters.

"We hope it will give considerable relief to the poor who are severely affected by price rise," Patnaik said.

Official sources said the decision to provide rice at Rs two per kg instead of the existing rate of Rs 6.30 is expected to put an additional financial burden of about Rs 800 crore on the state government every year.

Besides benefiting about 44 lakh BPL families in the state, the announcement would also cover another 5.5 lakh urban poor families and over five lakh families living Above the Poverty Line (apl) in the backward Kalakandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) region, they said.

Beneficiaries of Antyodaya scheme, who get 35 kg rice every month at rupees three per kg, would also be provided 25 kg of rice out of their quota at rupees two per kg, they said.

Describing the announcement as historic, state finance minister Prafulla Ghadei said "The government would shoulder the financial burden to provide succour to the poor people to mitigate their plight."

ABC News: Elderly Woman Frees Child Slaves

ABC News: Elderly Woman Frees Child Slaves

Baby declared still-born, alive several hours later

Baby declared still-born, alive several hours later

Writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi has condemned the sheer callousness in private medical care and called for strong action.

Kolkata: A baby boy wrongly declared still-born at a premier nursing home here and on the verge of being taken for burial was alive several hours later but his life was not out of danger. The infant born prematurely was battling for life at a hospital where he was shifted after the apparent mistake was discovered at the nursing home.

The CEO of the nursing home, Belle Vue Clinic, P Tandon, who first refused to describe the baby's case as medical negligence, later said an internal inquiry had been ordered.

"This is not a case of medical negligence. It happens sometimes that a baby doesn't respond. This is what exactly happened. After we came to know we immediately sent the baby, which was premature and underweight to AMRI hospital for better treatment," Tandon said.

An hour later, Tandon changed his statement saying, "We have started an internal inquiry and if we find any lapse on the part of nurses or doctor, we will take action." AMRI spokesman Kanak Ghosh, however, said: "We cannot say the baby is out of danger. He has been kept in an incubator for observation." Sangita Das, a resident of Belilious Road, Howrah, was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic on Sunday and taken after midnight to the labour room where she delivered a baby boy.

"There was no doctor present during the delivery and on Monday morning the nurses informed me that I had delivered a still-born baby and it was dead," Sangita said.

The hospital authorities reportedly informed Sangita's family more than 10 hours after delivery that the baby was still-born. Husband Manas Das along with his relatives went to the nursing home to collect the 'body' after making arrangements for burial but were told the infant was alive.

Manas' cousin Jayanta Majhi said, "We found the baby's body warm and felt a faint heartbeat.

When we informed the nursing home authorities about the incident, they literally snatched the baby from us for medical attention." Manas said that a complaint was lodged against the nursing home authorities at the Shakespeare Sarani police station.


The police have also started an inquiry, DCP (South) R Subarno said. Health minister Suryakanta Mishra was not available for comment.

Director of Health Services Sanchita Bakshi, said she had not received a complaint. "If we get a complaint from anybody, we will definitely initiate action against the Clinic." Writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi said ''We so far had an idea that the government's health services were poor, but now it is apparent that there is sheer callousness in private medical care. It calls for strong action.

© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved.

U.S. transgender 'man' gives birth

U.S. transgender 'man' gives birth - report says

Fri, Jul 4 03:54 AM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thomas Beatie, who was born a woman but after surgery and hormone treatment lives as a man, has given birth to a girl at an Oregon hospital, People magazine reported on Thursday.

Beatie, 34, who kept female reproductive organs when he legally became a man 10 years ago, confirmed the birth to the magazine.

The baby, conceived through artificial insemination using donor sperm and Beatie's own eggs, was born on June 29 and Beatie and the baby are "healthy and doing well," People reported.

"The only thing different about me is that I can't breast-feed my baby. But a lot of mothers don't," People quoted Beatie as saying. He has had his breasts surgically removed.

He told the magazine that contrary to published reports, the baby was not delivered by Caesarean section, but no other details about the birth were given.

The thinly bearded Beatie told "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in April he began his sexual transformation about 10 years ago when he began taking testosterone treatment and had surgery to remove mammary glands and flatten his chest.

Upon deciding to have a child about two years ago, he halted his bimonthly hormone injections and resumed menstruating.

Beatie's wife, Nancy, 46, whom he married five years ago, was unable to conceive because of a prior hysterectomy. Otherwise, he has said, "I wouldn't be doing this." His spouse has two grown daughters by a previous marriage.

She said on Oprah's show their parental roles would be fairly traditional despite his transgender status. "He's going to be the father, and I'm going to be the mother," she said.

The couple, who operate a T-shirt printing business in Bend, Oregon, are legally married and he is recognized under Oregon state law as a man.

Obama to Expand Faith Based Programs

Obama to Expand Bush's Faith Based Programs
Obama announces support and expansion for Bush's faith based programs
By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO July 1, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press


Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support their ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio. The arm of Central Presbyterian Church operates a food bank, provides clothes, has a youth ministry and provides other services in its impoverished community.

"The challenges we face today, from putting people back to work to improving our schools, from saving our planet to combating HIV/AIDS to ending genocide, are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."


But Obama's support for letting religious charities that receive federal funding consider religion in employment decisions was likely to invite a storm of protest from those who view such faith requirements as discrimination.

David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003 and later became a critic of Bush's commitment to the cause, said Obama's position has the potential to be a major "Sister Souljah moment" for his campaign.

This is a reference to Bill Clinton's accusation in his 1992 presidential campaign that the hip hop artist incited violence against whites. Because Clinton said this before a black audience, it fed into an image of him as a bold politician who was willing to take risks and refused to pander.

"It would be a very, very, very interesting thing," said Kuo, who is not an Obama adviser or supporter but was contacted by the campaign to review the new plan.