Church holds ambiguous stand on abortion, speakers say: "The United Methodist Church, in its official position in the Social Principles, recognizes and respects the sanctity of unborn human life and the sacredness of the life of the mother. In limited situations, it supports the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures. The denomination opposes late-term or partial-birth abortions"
As a Methodist, I find this to be a real concern. I did a little checking around and sure enough, our church's position is on both sides of the fence. I am not sure it is even ambiguous. I found this quote: "In continuity with past Christian teaching, we recognize tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures." on the About UMC Policy page. Just searching one of the official UMC sites via Google seems to turn up some disturbing phrases like: "pro-choice-with-stipulations stance on abortion." I do not think this is something to leave the church over - not because I do not feel strongly that it is wrong, but rather that I think it is something we need to raise our collective voices over to change.
7:49:02 PM
Notorious Cambodian prison chief becomes evangelist: "Only seven people are believed to have survived incarceration in the prison, including an artist who was commandeered to paint some of the methods of torture that took place. Those pictures are on display. The man in charge of the prison was known as "Duch," the head of national security."
This is kind of reminiscent of the Karla Faye Tucker case from a few years ago. I think that whether Duch is really a born-again evangelist or not, however, is missing the real issue. Christian or no, he is responsible for his crimes.
7:33:54 PM
