Albert Mohler via Crosswalk: "A small incident that began with a single complaint has mushroomed into a major controversy for the Kroger Company. The com-pany's decision to prevent the distribution of a local newspaper in its stores has emerged as a public rela-tions fiasco. All the same, the incident points to the culture of political correctness and the limitations on freedom of expression in postmodern America.... John Yarmuth [editor of another paper that has been banned, said]: 'For every customer they'll please with this decision, they'll upset a thousand or more. It's a horrible business decision.'"

Daily Mail (UK) via Drudge Report: Babies "with conditions that can usually be corrected medically— such as deformed feet and cleft lips and palates—are instead being terminated. And the number of abor-tions of Down's syndrome babies now outstrips live births, despite the fact that those with the condition can live a long and fulfilling life. As screening tech-niques improve, the trend is likely to grow—horrifying pro-life campaigners. 'These figures are symptomatic of a eugenic trend of the consumerist society hell-bent on obliterating deformity—and at what cost to its own humanity?' said ethicist Jacqueline Laing, of London Metropolitan University."

Daily Press, Virginia: "The Rev. Todd Pyle thought it was the perfect spot to baptize 12 new members of his church—the river was calm and shallow and there was a shaded area offshore for people to stand. 'It was a very serene place,' he said. 'It was special.' But offi-cials at the Falmouth Waterfront Park just outside Fredericksburg, Va., weren't pleased. Officials tried to break up the religious ceremony, claiming it might be offensive to swimmers frolicking nearby or other people using the park. After Pyle finished the baptism, he was asked to leave. Now free-speech advocates are outrag-ed and are threatening to file a lawsuit if the park re-fuses to allow future gatherings by religious groups...."

AP: "Million sellers such as Rick Warren's The Pur-pose Driven Life and the Left Behind novels...have transformed a specialized part of the book business into a billion dollar, highly competitive market. But wider recognition for Christian books has actually hurt Christian booksellers. Books like The Purpose Drive Life, which once would have been sold exclusively in Christian stores, are now available at superstore chains, department stores and price clubs...often at much lower cost.... 'When you have some books getting so much attention, and available in so many places, the consumer's thinking shifts to, "I don't have to go the specialty store to get this book."'"

Crosswalk: Christian Action Network "has been work-ing for...years to raise awareness about Gay Days and to advocate for an end to the antifamily event. Members of the Christian group operate an additional activism site called StopGayDays.com, which...links to shock-ing photographic evidence of the public indecency [at] these events and listing similar Gay Days at theme parks and resorts all over North America.... [T]he group released an original video, 'Gay Days at Disney Gone Wild!'...document[ing] the first six [Disney] Gay Days celebration[s with] footage of public nudity, drug use, homosexual kissing, fondling, and sex acts—even Disney cast members in homoerotic performances."

Ireland Online: "The leader of Catholics in England and Wales issued a call today for human life to be protected from 'womb to tomb' as he launched a new set of moral guidelines for the faithful. Irish-born Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O‘Connor said Catholic moral teaching was about 'life, love and human flourishing' as he unveiled Cherishing Life, a new 100-page booklet produced by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales. The document deals with issues ranging from abortion to sex education, contraception, embryo research, cloning and euthanasia, as well as war and the use of force."  

Reuters: "MTV executives said they expect to launch the network in about 10 to 14 million homes [next] February, and has already received distribution com-mitments from Time Warner Cable in the New York area and Adelphia Communications Corp in Los An-geles..... The launch could complicate matters for par-ent company Viacom as it defends against indecency charges by the Federal Communications Commission related to radio broadcasts of...Howard Stern....'We don't think it's indecent,' said Tom Freston, MTV Net-works Chairman and CEO.... 'This will be mainstream programming...targeting lesbian[s] and gay[s].... We think it's a legitimate and growing community.'"

Ben Shapiro/Townhall: "Imagine a world in which organized religion didn't force a decision between the godly and the popular. That's the dream world of the liberals. In truth, it's religion and religion only that keeps the American public in favor of traditional values for the long haul. The Pew Research Center for People and Press highlighted this in a...2003 poll: While 51 percent of Americans disapproved of gay marriage, 80 percent of those with a high religious commitment op-posed gay marriage. [A] poll on abortion found that of those who oppose abortion, 50 percent cite religious beliefs as justification; those in favor of abortion cite religion less than 10 percent of the time." 

William Folger commentary in the Washington Dispatch: "The obvious public part of the 'Kerry / Holy Communion' problem begins quietly enough with his personal belief he is right to detach his political life from his faith beliefs. But then his public position on abortion so blatantly disrespects God’s Property Rights over fetal Creation, that Kerry scandalizes all Catholics by taking Communion. Simultaneously with Kerry’s problem re disrespect, the episcopal story is about why the bishops failed to effectively apply the concept of Respect to 'Pro-Life' for three decades following Roe."  

Doug Giles in TownHall.com: "The Xtreme sport of the Xtreme left is Christian-suppression, and man, are they getting good at it. Check it out: · Liberal, hypocrit-ical, social deconstructors have effectively removed Christianity from our public schools and universities. They have completely deleted the truth concerning the massive role the Christian faith played in our Founding Fathers’ formulating this great land. And God help you if you, Christian teacher or student, attempt to reintro-duce it. · Liberal, hypocritical Hollywood-en heads rou-tinely [depict] Christiansas cross-eyed morons who are repressed and offensive, buckle-shoed, GED killjoys sporting a 70-plus-pound Bible with a minus-70 IQ..."

SignOnSanDiego: "County supervisors have decided to remove a tiny cross from the county's official seal rather than face a potential lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The supervisors held an emo-tional debate Tuesday before deciding to replace the cross with another image—possibly a representa-tion of a Spanish mission or California's indigenous tribes. The cross has been on the county seal since 1957 in a panel with two stars above a depiction of the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl was intended as a symbol of culture while one star represents film and the other television."

Editor & Publisher: "At national organizations (which includes print, TV and radio), the numbers break down like this: 34% liberal, 7% conservative. At local out-lets: 23% liberal, 12% conservative. At Web sites: 27% call themselves liberals, 13% conservatives. This contrasts with the self-assessment of the general public: 20% liberal, 33% conservative. The survey of 547 media professionals, completed this spring, is part of an important study released today by The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee of Concerned Journalists, which mainly concerns more general issues related to newsrooms (an E & P summary will appear Monday)."  

AP via Newsday: "In a May column in The New York Observer ridiculing President George W. Bush's state-ment that freedom is God-given, Nicholas von Hoffman said, 'Remember St. Paul's injunction that slaves should obey their masters.' Paul's condemnations of lesbian and gay activity have received endless attention during recent church debates. But what are we to make of his words to slaves, which fell short of modern stan-dards, or his politically incorrect views about wives sub-mitting to husbands? Take a deep breath and give Paul a break, say two scholarly conservatives. Tom Wright, No. 4 bishop in the Church of England, explores these
...matters in Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters...."

Tri-Valley Herald, Pleasanton, CA: Tyler Chase "Harper, 16, of Poway, is a sophomore at Poway High School. According to the suit, he is a Christian who believes that 'homosexual behavior is immoral, damaging to the practitioners and to human society in general, and is demonstrably contrary to the teachings of the Bible.' According to the suit, on April 21 he wore a T-shirt hand-lettered with the words 'I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned' on the front and on the back it read 'Homosexuality is Shameful' and 'Romans 1:27,' a reference to a Bible passage."

AP: "'Rights are at times reduced to self-centered demands: the growth of prostitution and pornography in the name of adult choice, the acceptance of abortion in the name of women's rights, the approval of same sex unions in the name of homosexual rights,' he said. The Catholic Church forbids abortion and considers homo-sexual activity a sin." His remarks to bishops came on the same day he held a private audience with President Bush..."'Ambiguous moral positions ... are just some examples of a perspective of life which fails to seek truth itself and then abandons the search for the ultimate goal and meaning of human existence,' John Paul said."

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