Maintaining A Christian Perspective on the CO Springs Shooting

Abortion

As you have probably heard by now, last Friday a horrific shooting unfolded at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, taking the lives of three individuals and wounding others.

While many have taken to ridicule and name-calling on social media in the wake of the shooting, John Stonestreet at the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview released an excellent commentary today on condemning evil while keeping a proper, Christian perspective.

Stonestreet writes,

“First, as my friend Kelly Rosati of Focus on the Family so eloquently wrote at Christianity Today, every person involved is made in the image of God. The victims and the shooter, the pro-lifers and abortion advocates, those for and against us on social media, the unborn and Planned Parenthood workers. As Kelly wrote, ‘Recognizing the image of God in everyone is much easier in theory than in reality.’

“Second, habits of violence, when they go unchecked, breed further violence. We are, as Aristotle taught, shaped by those things we habitually choose. Our choices escalate, and if they go unchecked, take us down a slippery slope to their logical ends. This is true of the gunman, and it’s also true of us. . . . .

“Finally, we know that Dear’s evil neither justifies nor alters the fact that on a daily basis, Planned Parenthood and abortion providers across the country and around the world facilitate the evil of taking unborn lives. Robert Dear robbed children of their parents. Abortion robs parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and our community of children.”

You can read Stonestreet’s full commentary here or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2015/120115_BP.mp3|titles=The Colorado Springs Shooting]

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U.S. Supreme Court Seriously Considering AR Pro-Life Law

Abortion, , ,

Last October Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a request to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Law.

Portions of the law were struck by lower federal courts, but A.G. Rutledge is asking the Supreme Court for a hearing to determine the law’s constitutionality. Progress is being made on that hearing; earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court asked opponents of the law to respond to the A.G.’s request by December 10.

As the A.G.’s office notes, this shows the U.S. Supreme Court is giving the issue “serious consideration.”

The Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act was sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert in 2013; it originally prevented most abortions after the twelfth week of pregnancy. Portions of the law pertaining to informed-consent prior to an abortion are still in place, but the provisions preventing a doctor from performing an abortion after the twelfth week of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected were struck down.

The A.G.’s  office asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and uphold the entire law as constitutional last October; a review would set the stage for the court to revise or overturn key elements of past abortion decisions, such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

 

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Poll: Arkansans Favor Pro-Life Laws, Overwhelmingly Oppose Same-Sex Marriage

Abortion, Homosexuality,

The 2015 Arkansas Poll released by the University of Arkansas today shows Arkansans overwhelmingly oppose recognition of same-sex marriage.

According to the poll, 64% of likely voters said same-sex marriage “should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.”

The poll comes as little surprise. Arkansans made it abundantly clear in 2004 they favor defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; virtually every poll conducted since then has shown continued support for that definition among Arkansans.

The poll also shows 47% of likely voters favor laws making it “more difficult for a woman to get an abortion”–the highest percentage since 2003. Only 12% said it ought to be “easier” to get an abortion.

This number coincides with declining abortion levels in Arkansas–which have fallen drastically since the 1990’s–and new pro-life laws.

You can see the entire poll summary here.

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