When Does the Right to Suicide Become an Obligation to Die?

Life, , ,

Eric Metaxas with the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview has released a chilling commentary on the expansion of assisted-suicide in Europe and in the U.S.

Metaxas cites multiple examples, including a clinic in the Netherlands that “euthanized 11 people in 2012 whose ‘only complaint was being “tired of living.”‘”

Assisted suicide is no stranger in the U.S., either. Under the auspices of “death with dignity,” assisted suicide and euthanasia movements have made headway in some parts of our country in recent years.

The underlying problem with physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is they both violate human dignity and the sanctity of human life. As Thomas Jefferson wrote many years ago, “the god who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” Moreover, scripture makes it clear time and time again: God gives life, and we do not have a right to take our own lives any more than we have a right to take the life of another person.

What’s more, the “right” to suicide has a sinister habit of turning into an obligation to die.

You can listen to Metaxas’ full commentary below–or click here to read it.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2015/082715_BP.mp3]

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Atheist Group Threatens to Sue Over National Motto on Police Vehicles

Religious Freedom, , ,

“In God We Trust” has been the official motto of the United States of America for almost 60 years. It has appeared on many coins minted by the U.S. government since 1864.

However, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Wisconsin, has threatened to sue law enforcement agencies in Arkansas if they do not remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from their police cruisers.

The Associated Press writes,

The organization sent letters to the Cave City Police Department and the Hempstead County sheriff’s office after both placed the saying on their patrol vehicles. The foundation’s co-president says she intends to sue if the phrase isn’t removed, but didn’t give further details.

The Cave City mayor says he has seen the letter but has yet to make a decision on whether to strip the message from the city’s police cars. The Hempstead County sheriff he says he won’t remove the logo despite the foundation’s letter.

“In God We Trust” was adopted as the official motto of the United States in 1956, but its history dates all the way back to the American Civil War. Then Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase urged the U.S. mint in Philadelphia to begin minting coins with a motto honoring God, saying, (more…)

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One Simple Way the Arkansas Lottery Can Pay More in Scholarships

1 CommentArkansas Lottery

We keep saying it over and over again: There is one simple way the Arkansas Lottery can pay out more in scholarship money. All Lottery officials have to do is increase the percentage of lottery revenue budgeted for scholarships.

As we wrote earlier this week, the Arkansas Lottery only paid 18% of its revenue last month toward college scholarships.

And for Fiscal Year 2015–which ended last June–the Arkansas Lottery paid a paltry 17.7% of its gross revenue toward scholarships.

To put these numbers in perspective, the State of Louisiana has a law on the books requiring its lottery to pay 35% of its gross revenue toward education. That’s why Louisiana’s lottery is able to make less money in lottery ticket sales than the Arkansas Lottery, but still pay out more in education funding.

Lottery officials continue to insist that if they set aside a larger percentage of gross revenue for scholarship funding, then the Lottery will have less money for prizes, marketing, and so forth; this, they say, would cause lottery ticket sales to go down, and fewer ticket sales would mean less money for scholarships.

The argument, essentially, is that by keeping the percentage of gross revenue allocated for scholarships lower than most states, Arkansas is somehow able to sell more lottery tickets and make more money for education as a result.

To show how flawed this argument is, here is a breakdown of the numbers: (more…)

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