OUR COLUMNISTS The Underground Railroad of Our Times Guest Commentary by Danielle Parker For too long the evils of abortion have struck society with intolerable blows. People of every race have felt its effects. But as an African American young woman, I am one of the last people many folks expect to hear speaking from a pro-life perspective. Biblical Champions Commentary by Brad Locke While sad to see my Lakers lose to the Pistons in the NBA Finals, I was at the same time encouraged to see reaffirmed the importance of cohesiveness in winning. Detroit embodied the basic principles of teamwork: humility, unselfishness, sacrifice, patience and an understanding of roles, to name a few. Evidence of Prodigal Love Commentary by David Sisler When the grace of Jesus comes to us there is enough for all. No need on earth can exhaust the grace of our Lord. There is a superabundance of it. God's grace is more than sufficient for every need. Simply Rearing Pagans Commentary by Mark Creech Between 12 and 15 million evangelical Christian children attend public schools. If the mass majority of these students were to leave public education, it would cripple the one system that is doing more harm to our nation than any single thing except perhaps the popular media.

...Conservatives upset over an openly homosexual bishop and same-sex blessings in the Episcopal Church have told an emergency commission that global Anglicanism should shun both New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson and the denomination unless things change. Those proposals were presented this month to the Lambeth Commission -- a group of church leaders charged with finding a way to preserve the World Anglican Communion despite a deep rift over homosexuality. The panel holds one more meeting in September, then must report to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the other 37 Anglican primates. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold led a separate delegation that testified before the commission and called for tolerance. But conservatives say the Episcopal Church has removed itself from Anglicanism by abandoning biblical morality. [AP]

...The head of an abstinence advocacy group says that the abstinence program is reaching around the world. Leslee Unruh is the founder and president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse. She says there are three parts to what is known as the ABC program: Abstinence, Be faithful, and Character. Unruh notes that the program is not meant just for children and youth in the United States, but has been employed successfully in several countries. "We're talking about healthy kids all over this world, and giving them one message: abstinence and be faithful," she says. She observes that in Uganda, where the program has been particularly successful, abstinence educators went on to add a "D" component to the message, letting people know that if they failed at A, B, and C, then they would likely face D. "And D was 'Die,'" Unruh says, "and these people in Uganda and all across Africa have seen what devastation has come from people who are not faithful or who do not practice abstinence." The National Abstinence Clearinghouse founder says the best and most effective part of the program is "A" because abstinence is the only thing that works to prevent disease and pregnancy 100 percent of the time. [Mary Rettig]

...Pro-family and pro-life critics are outraged by a U.S. Senate bill that they say will use over a billion taxpayer dollars to subsidize promiscuity, perpetuate immorality, and promote abortion. Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and seven other senators are sponsoring the Putting Prevention First Act (S.2336), a bill that was introduced on Planned Parenthood's 2004 Congressional Day of Action. But according to Ed Szymkowiak, national director of American Life League's STOPP International project, a more accurate name for the legislation would be the "Promoting Promiscuity Funding Act." He says, "When one adds up all the taxpayer dollars involved, this bill seeks a whopping $1.2 billion in federal funding." The spokesman for STOPP, which stands for "Stop Planned Parenthood," adds that the bill would more than double current yearly appropriations for the Public Health Services Act's Title X population control program; and from 2005 through 2009, it would pump $50 million into promoting emergency contraception, a drug regimen that can cause abortion by preventing the implantation of a living human embryo. Szymkowiak also points out that during that same period, the bill would appropriate $500 million for "Planned Parenthood style" comprehensive sex education. "This is a prescription for promiscuity, sexually transmitted disease, and abortion," he says. The STOPP International spokesman calls the Putting Prevention First Act a "sex-drenched omnibus bill" that steamrolls several bad ideas from pro-abortion entities like Planned Parenthood into "one big promiscuity-promoting nightmare." The companion House bill (H.R. 4192) has 112 sponsors. [Jenni Parker]

...Researchers working on a cure for Alzheimer's say human embryonic stem cells are unlikely to yield a cure for the disease. So far, they say they have not seen any promise in using them, and the only guaranteed result is the destruction of the tiniest of humans. Carrie Gordon Earll is a bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family. She calls this unproven practice "junk science" and says there is no research being done with human embryonic stem cells anywhere in the world. Scientists have, however, been working with embryonic stem cells from mice for about 20 years, she says, but "really, about all they have to show for that is mice with malignant tumors that have been created because those stem cells are so unpredictable." On the other hand, Earll says, adult stem-cell research has yielded virtually miraculous success, and this includes promising developments in fighting Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. The bioethics expert says people like Nancy Reagan who promote stem-cell research would make much better use of their time pushing for scientific study that has actually produced tangible results. [Rusty Pugh]

...In Minnesota, the city of Duluth has started accepting bids on a seven-foot granite slab inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The monument once stood outside Duluth's City Hall, and was the focus of a dispute that has raged for most of the year. The city agreed to remove the monument to settle a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. Some Duluth residents launched a grassroots effort to save the monument, but it failed. City officials plan to open the bids in July and sell the monument to the highest bidder. The minimum acceptable bid is $900. The group behind the campaign to save the monument plans to be among the bidders. It hopes to erect the monument on donated private property at a local park. [AP]

...An immigration reform activist is blasting Senator John McCain for recent remarks he made to a radical Hispanic group, calling for fast-track amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. McCain made his speech at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza. Rick Oltman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says that group's objectives are quite clear. "This is a race-based group that makes racist comments about white Americans. They have their own agenda, and it isn't about law and order or about the citizenship of all races. It's to thwart enforcement and to push their racial agenda." Also, Oltman feels strongly that amnesty is not the appropriate response to illegal aliens dying in the desert. The immigration reform advocate says "there's ways to see that it doesn't happen besides throwing down the borders and inviting the entire Third World to move into your neighborhood." He says one such way is to put such a deterrent patrol force on the border that illegal immigration will not be considered worth the risk. Oltman acknowledges that illegal immigration results in higher profits for some business owners, but he says another result is that the American taxpayers get stuck with higher costs in the areas of health-care, education, and law enforcement. [Chad Groening]

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