by Kathleen Gilbert

WASILLA, Alaska, (LifeSiteNews.com) - A blaze swallowed Gov. Sarah Palin's evangelical Christian church on Dec. 12th and caused severe damage that fire officials say was likely the work of arsonists.

The damage to the 2 1/2-year-old Wasilla Bible Church building is estimated at $1 million.  Five women, and possibly a couple of children, were inside the church when the flames erupted, but escaped with no injuries.

Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, said that Palin stopped by the church the following day to apologize in case the fire was connected to the "undeserved negative attention" the church has received since her unsuccessful run for the vice presidency.  Palin was not present when the fire started, and did not attend Sunday services temporarily held at a local middle school, as she was on state business in Juneau.

Fire Chief James Steele told the Associated Press that the blaze is being investigated as a case of arson.  He said investigators had no leads to discern whether the arsonist had a political motivation.

"Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," McAllister said.

John Doak, associate pastor at Wasilla Bible Church, expressed the communion of faith that united churchgoers after the devastating blaze.  "The definition of the church is the body of Christ, made up of God's people," said Doak after the Sunday service at Wasilla Middle School, attended by about 1,200 people. "The church is still there. We are the church."

During Sarah Palin's VP run on the Republican presidential ticket with John McCain, her home church came under harsh scrutiny from media analysts who found fault with the church's teachings.  In particular, homosexualists were outraged when it was discovered that the church advertised a Focus on the Family conference inviting homosexuals to overcome their same-sex attraction.

The Bible Church also made headlines for having hosted Jews for Jesus leader David Brickner.  Political commentators warned Palin that the church's decision to host Brickner would alienate her from the Jewish community, as Brickner's organization has been criticized for “targeting Jews for conversion with subterfuge and deception.”

Further reading and pics of the damaged church --> http://pharmphun.blogspot.com/2008/12/palins-church-burned-by-arsonist.html

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. {Christian Newswire} -- New footage released today from an undercover camera inside an abortion clinic in Bloomington shows Planned Parenthood staff deliberately violating the state's mandatory reporting laws for sexual abuse.

The footage shows Lila Rose, a UCLA student journalist and president of right-to-life advocacy group Live Action, posing as a 13-year-old girl. In an appointment with a Planned Parenthood nurse, Rose says she has been impregnated by a 31-year-old man, a clear case of child molestation under Indiana state law.

On tape, the nurse acknowledges her responsibility to report the abuse, but assures Rose she will not.  The nurse says, "I am supposed to report to Child Protective Services," but tells Rose, "Okay, I didn't hear the age [of the 31-year-old].  I don't want to know the age."

She then instructs Rose how to obtain a secret abortion by crossing state lines in order to avoid Indiana's parental consent law.  The nurse also coaches Rose to cover for the 31-year-old man by saying he is only 14.  She says, "You've seen him around, you know he's 14, he's in your grade and whatever.  You know what I mean."

Rose said she and other students in Live Action recorded the video over the summer in a multi-state investigation of the abortion industry.  Rose described the undercover audit, called The Mona Lisa Project, as "demonstrating the routine lawlessness of abortion providers at Planned Parenthood." Rose noted, "Today's video release is only a sample from many hours of similarly disturbing footage."

Planned Parenthood, a tax-exempt nonprofit, made over $100 million in profits last year and has a billion- dollar budget, nearly a third of which comes from taxpayers through government funding. Jackie Stollar, student president of a Live Action chapter in Oregon, accompanied Rose on the investigation. "In a repeated pattern, Planned Parenthood has violated the public trust.  It should have its government funding revoked," she said.

"The Mona Lisa Project demonstrates how quickly the abortion industry's disrespect for unborn children becomes disregard for all humans," Rose explained. "Planned Parenthood offers no solutions for the victim of statutory rape--they give her an abortion and a bag of condoms and send her straight back into the arms of the abuser."

The video is available online at http://www.metacafe.com/channels/LiveActionFilms/.  For more information, visit www.LiveActionFilms.org.  For interview or special media requests for copies of footage and documentation, please contact lilarose@liveactionfilms.org.

by Kathleen Gilbert 

HARRIS CO., Texas, November 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Texas appellate court has upheld its ruling that affirms the personhood of an unborn child who was murdered along with its mother.

Jacob Eguia, who was convicted of the capital murders of a woman and her nearly eight months gestation unborn child, challenged the court's ruling on several points.  He argued that finding him guilty of the unborn child's death violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Art. I, Sec. 6 of the Texas Constitution, which bars giving preference by law to a religion.

In the Texas Penal Code, as the court noted, “‘Person’ means an individual," and "individual" may refer to “an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until  birth”; and “‘death’ includes, for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive.”

According to the court's published opinion, Eguia complained that "the State’s definition of 'individual' 'has the effect of endorsing religion as it is based solely upon a religious belief that life begins at conception.'"

Justice Elsa Alcala concluded that, because a statute does not violate the Establishment Clause when serving a secular purpose, "the definition of 'individual' serves the State’s legitimate secular interest in protecting unborn children from the criminal acts of others."

The court also cited precedent to affirm that, "a statute is not automatically rendered unconstitutional simply because it advances ideals that harmonize with religious ideals."

In addition, Eguia argued that under such a statute abortion practitioners would also be guilty of murder, but the court noted that earlier legislation had already "narrowed the class of murderers who may be charged by specifically excluding 'conduct committed by the mother of an unborn child' and 'a lawful medical procedure performed by a physician ... with the requisite consent, if the death of the unborn child was the intended result of the procedure.'"

To view the court document in full, go to: http://www.1stcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/PDFOpinion.asp...

See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

Top Texas Court Upholds Double Murder Conviction in Deaths of Unborn Twins
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021302.html

Texas Court to Prosecute Woman for Delivery of Cocaine to her Unborn Child
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/sep/04090907.html

 The Rutherford Institute 
    “In that land the great experiment of the attempt to construct society upon a new basis was to be made by civilized man; and it was there, for the first time, that theories hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit a spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the history of the past.” — Alexis de Tocqueville

They called it the Great Experiment: a republic—planted in a new world, forged through revolution and sorely tested by the quest for self-government. Over the course of the past 232 years, the great experiment that is America has found itself buffeted by the storms of civil war, economic turmoil and terrorist attacks.

The flames that once burned so brightly in the hearts of Americans have been dampened by apathy, ignorance and political correctness.  Yet as this issue of Faith and Freedom shows, the spark has thankfully not died out. As long as there are Americans who will stand and fight for the ideals that once made this nation great—justice, equality and an adherence to the rule of law—hope remains.

Even so, there are times when our nation’s commitment to freedom and our understanding of what it means to truly mete out justice are sorely tested.  For example, consider our struggle to determine who is entitled to the protections afforded by the Constitution and whether torture—by any name—is ever sanctioned, even in the midst of this ongoing war on terrorism.  How we choose to respond to these difficult questions will largely determine whether this great experiment in self-government continues to stand. These are extraordinary times. Yet even in extraordinary times, the rule of law must prevail.

As Justice Anthony Kennedy reminded us in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law.” The Rutherford Institute is committed to ensuring that our nation holds true to the ideals voiced in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in our U.S. Constitution.

Daily, we are being called on to weigh in on a variety of issues, ranging from habeas corpus rights for detainees to free speech rights for valedictorians. Whether we’re in the courts in defense of religious and civil liberties or educating the public on important issues affecting their constitutional freedoms, The Rutherford Institute will always be there to speak up, stand up, and fight for your rights. We hope you are equally committed to standing strong for freedom.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?”