Submitted by philip on
By Staff, World News Magazine
WASHINGTON – The movie “42” tells the story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color line. It recently opened to great reviews. It was also a home run at the box office, bringing $27 million in ticket sales during its weekend.
Even though “42” is being well received, Eric Metaxas wrote in USA Today that the movie failed to approach what he cleverly called the “God line,” by avoiding any discussion of the strong Christian faith of both Robinson and Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey.
Metaxas wrote, “To put it in baseball terms, they decided to pitch around it.” Hollywood is apparently either uncomfortable with faith, or it wants us to believe that humans can be good, moral creatures without faith.
Metaxas concluded with an exhortation to filmmakers: “Isn’t it time Hollywood integrated faith into stories where it rightfully belongs? Why should such stories be excluded from the mainstream in a nation that’s filled with people of faith? If filmmakers do the right thing – and break the “God line” – they’ll find there are countless millions who’d cheer stories like that. And who’d pay to see them too.”
New Disease Plagues
Homosexual Community
HOLLYWOOD – When Brett Shaad, of West Hollywood, Calif., got bacterial meningitis recently and died, it was a tragedy.
But when officials said the disease could be transmitted sexually and that Shaad was openly homosexual, the news sent shudders through the homosexual community.
On April 12, Los Angeles County officials warned sexually active homosexual men to be aware of the disease. Health officials are doing tests to see if the strain of illness is similar to the meningococcal infections that have circulated among homosexuals in New York City since 2010. That disease has infected 22 people and has resulted in seven deaths.
“We don’t want to panic people,” said West Hollywood Councilman John Duran. “But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS.”
Evangelical Leaders Urge
Congress to Overhaul
Immigration System
WASHINGTON, D.C. – About 300 evangelical leaders from more than 20 states converged on April 17 at the United States Capitol to lobby Congress for comprehensive immigration reform.
The Evangelical Day of Prayer and Action on Immigration Reform drew participants, including many pastors, from around the country for a morning press conference, worship service, and more than 60 meetings with lawmakers.
The long-planned event occurred hours after the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” released its 844-page plan for comprehensive immigration reform.
While the evangelical leaders stopped short of endorsing the Senate plan, which they hadn’t had time to read in full, they were optimistic that early parameters of the bill appear to be in line with what they support: keeping families together, helping the U.S. economy, strong border security, and putting the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants on a path toward citizenship.
“From what we’ve heard, it’s a good start,” said Richard Land, outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).
Delaware Planned Parenthood Facility Accused of Gosnell-like Horrors
WILMINGTON, DEL – Two former workers from Planned Parenthood of Delaware say the Wilmington abortion center’s unsanitary and unsafe conditions put women at risk.
In an interview with a local ABC affiliate, Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis described soiled operating tables not cleaned between patients and abortionists who refused to wear gloves.
The women, who are registered nurses, said they quit their jobs to protect their medical licenses in the event a patient came to any harm.
“It was just unsafe,” Mitchell-Werbrich said. “I couldn’t tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was.” Vasikonis said she feared women could be exposed to AIDS or Hepatitis because fluids were not cleaned from the rooms between patients. The Planned Parenthood facility, the women said, should be closed.
Obama Budget Cuts
Abstinence Education Funds
WASHINGTON D.C. – In the budget he delivered in early April to Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama axed funds for sexual risk avoidance (SRA) education, even though research shows these programs can help curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
The president also redirected funds away from avoidance education and towards sex-ed programs that emphasize contraception. In a statement, the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) said moving the money violates a 2010 congressional mandate to give states $50 million in Title V grants for SRA education.
“Using Title V funds for programs that are not compliant with the Congressional definition for abstinence education is a violation of congressional intent and therefore, outside the authority of this budgetary directive,” a spokesman for NAEA said.
Court Questions Compelling
Interest for Gay Therapy Ban
SACRAMENTO – A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wed., Apr. 17, about California’s ban on sexual orientation change therapy targeting minors.
The appeals court is considering two challenges to the law which resulted in conflicting rulings last December: A California federal judge granted one lawsuit a preliminary injunction, ruling the law violates First Amendment rights, while another judge denied an injunction in the second lawsuit, saying the government had enough grounds to discredit the therapy.
The ban, which was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, has been put on hold pending the court’s decision. The main issue revolved around whether therapy encouraging minors to resist their same-sex attraction was considered a type of speech, which would be protected by the First Amendment, or a conduct, which the government can more easily regulate.
The panel, which includes two judges appointed by Democrats and one by a Republican, has not taken any action yet and will issue a written ruling later.