By some estimates, 21,000 children die of preventable illnesses every day, worldwide. Twenty-one thousand every single day. That’s a staggering number! But what if I told you that over 2,700 children will die in America today? And what if I told you that the government has passed legislation responsible for those deaths?
NIH Director Francis Collins has approved four more human embryonic stem cell lines as eligible for federal taxpayer funding. Embryonic stem cell research is controversial because human embryos (which many of us consider unborn children) are used. Their stem cells are harvested, causing the embryo to die, and those cells are then used for medical research.
The theory is that embryonic stem cells can be used to replicate other cells in the human body, and could lead to cures for diseases and disabilities. However, the actual results produced by embryonic stem cell research have been sketchy at best–especially compared to adult stem cell research, which does not involve killing any embryos.
Last December, school administrators in Greene County faced controversy over a Nativity Scene one employee put on a bulletin board. We wrote about that story rather extensively here.
It seems the bulletin board is still stirring controversy. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written letters to the school, and is threatening further legal action if the school does not bar the bulletin board display in the future.
Here’s the bottom line: We stand with the school’s decision to keep the Nativity Scene bulletin board display. In our opinion, those bulletin boards constitute a limited public forum on which school officials can place approved material. School administrators approved the Nativity display. It would be an infringement of their freedom of speech for the courts to say the school doesn’t have the right to let teachers put up Christmas decorations like the Nativity–especially given the fact that Christmas is a federal holiday observed at every level of our government.
Read the latest news on the Nativity bulletin board display here.