Every now and then I peruse the religion blog of the Dallas Morning News. I don't do this to keep updated on religious events, there are plenty of web sites that do that very well.

No, I look at it in order to see where the secular culture is on the topic of religion. The DMN is a great place to get a feel for what should be called "secular religion."

For example, in today's selection of blog postings we have the following:

'Harry Potter' news: Connie Neal (finally) offers a Christian defense of Dumbledore and the 'fact' that he's gay

and

Discoverer of LSD dies at 102

How these two stories relate to actual religion is any ones guess.

Labels: dallas morning news

Mary Elizabeth Sedeño of Dallas: The sanctity of every life

The Dallas Morning News
11:30 AM CDT on Sunday, April 20, 2008

Over the past year, young people have received much attention for their involvement in the presidential campaigns, showing that youth can be a powerful force. On another front, tens of thousands of youths across the country have become involved in an issue just as important to them as a presidential campaign – the pro-life movement – and are showing that their voices and actions are just as passionate as those on the campaign trail. And, we believe, we're also changing the hearts of many people.

Still, it seems the media refuse to pay any attention to this particular form of activism among young people.

Along with dozens of others from Dallas, I experienced the vibrancy of the pro-life movement in mid-January during the 35th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. More than 200,000 people gathered around the Washington Mall to pray for life, but what stood out for me was the large number of high school and college-age students who were there, huddled in the cold, holding hands, praying and marching.

It re-emphasized to me that these are young people with conviction, not "weirdos," as many times we're stereotyped because of our stance.

A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute says that the number of abortions has dropped to 1.2 million a year. That's down 25 percent from a peak in 1990, according to the organization that supports abortions, but whose statistics are accepted as reliable even by many pro-life groups.

Some would say that the decline can be traced back to the morning-after pill that induces miscarriage. But maybe it's because more and more women who become pregnant and are thinking of an abortion are being changed because of prayer and counseling. They realize, like pregnant teenage actress Jaime Lynn Spears, that adoption is an answer.

Earlier this month, I joined more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of youths, at Bishop Farrell's Pro-Life dinner. We heard from the bishop, from an unwed high school student who chose to have her child and from Father Frank Pavone, one of the country's leading voices on pro-life. His message was that the youth, as influencers in our generation, are key to spreading the pro-life message across the country and that we have been successful in that effort. The sanctity of life is surely one of the issues that drew thousands of young Americans to celebrate Mass and even meet in small groups this weekend with Pope Benedict XVI.

For me, pro-life also is a personal mission, driven by my sister Rachel.

In the first few weeks that my mother was pregnant with her, doctors told my parents that the baby had a major heart defect and that she had Down Syndrome. They were told that surgery could correct the heart defect, but that Down Syndrome would require constant care. Abortion, they were told, was an option.

Although they were shocked to hear the news, I remember my parents telling us that abortion was never an option and that they would welcome Rachel as happily into the world as my "normal" brothers and me. Complications forced Rachel to be delivered early on May 8, 1997. She weighed only 2 pounds and spent nearly the next four months in the hospital, gaining weight so she could have heart surgery.

She came home for a month, but on the morning of Oct. 22, just as my parents were taking Rachel to the hospital for surgery, I remember waking up and begging them not to take her because, I said, I would never see her again.

Later that night, my parents told us that Rachel had died in their arms after surgery. I cried all night long. We were all devastated.

After her death, my parents, their friends and other organizations created a garden at St. Thomas Aquinas to remember the "little angels."

I'll always remember Rachel. Many like her, either "not normal" or unwanted because their parents were young, unmarried or poor, I'm sure, have not been given a chance at life. Whenever I visit the garden, I pray for them and always read the inscription on the plaque to inspire me.

It says of Rachel, in part, "...her courageous battle for life inspired community prayer and reaffirmed that every life, despite the hardships, is precious and should be protected."

Mary Elizabeth Sedeño is a junior at the Cambridge School of Dallas and a Student Voices volunteer columnist. To respond to this column, send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.

Labels: dallas morning news

One of the more insane articles to make its way to the surface is this one from the London Daily Mail about a woman who aborted her child and sterilized herself to save the environment.

She thinks having children is "selfish" and that "it's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet."

In today's Dallas Morning News Kathleen Parker responds to this notion with appropriate humor and sarcasm and notes that "raising children is quantifiably the most persistently unselfish act known to mankind, as millions of veterans of sleepless nights will attest. "

As a new father myself, I have to say that I agree with Ms. Parker and find the reasoning of those who would rather raise a tree than a child scary. It's one thing to be pro-abortion and support the killing of innocent children. It's quite another to think that the human race is only good for wrecking the planet and therefore should not exist.

But this is the natural evolution of the arguments supporting abortion.

Labels: dallas morning news

A review of the Apostolic Exhortation 'Sacramentum Caritatis' issued by the Vatican is described by the Dallas Morning News in this way (highlighted red scare words done by me):

Labels: dallas morning news, media bias

In todays Dallas Morning News, there is a shocking development. The state of Texas will actually be paying crisis pregnancy centers to counsel women who come in for assistance to not have an abortion. You can tell this is a shock to whoever put this article together by the use of scare words in the article: (scare words in red)

Texas is part of trend that has alarmed some rights activists

12:00 AM CST on Monday, February 12, 2007

From Wire Reports Los Angeles Times

AUSTIN – In an experiment that's opening a new front in the culture wars, a growing number of states are paying anti-abortion activists to counsel women with unplanned pregnancies. At least eight states – including Texas, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania – use public funds to subsidize crisis pregnancy centers, Christian homes for unwed mothers or other programs explicitly designed to steer women from abortion.

As a condition of the grants, counselors are often barred from referring women to any clinic that provides abortions; in some cases, they may not discuss contraception either.

Most states still spend far more money subsidizing comprehensive family planning, but the flow of tax dollars to anti-abortion groups has surged in recent months, as grants took effect in Texas and Minnesota.

(cut)

The trend alarms abortion-rights supporters, who say that the funds would be better spent – and would prevent more abortions – if used to expand access to birth control. But to anti-abortion advocates such as Nancy McDonald, the funding is both practical and symbolic, a way of putting the state's stamp of approval on their work.

States will spend at least $13 million this year to direct women away from abortion.

I have been trying to get the Dallas Morning News to realize that no one in the pro-life movement calls themselves an "anti-abortion advocate," yet they insist on labelling us this way. That coupled with scare words used in reference to funding a paltry amount of money ($13 million dollars through 8 states) that is going to these centers tells me that the real shock is that this is happening at all.

I am always amazed when people think that not having an abortion is harmful, but how could you come away with any other conclusion from this article?

Labels: dallas morning news, media bias

Last Sunday's Dallas Morning News (print edition) has two articles about two people who recently announced their candidacy for the Presidency in 2008. One was Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and the other was Senator Sam Brownback(R-KS).

Brownback is described as a "favorite of the religious right" who is "a fierce foe of abortion . . and opposes embryonic-stem cell research and gay marriage."

There is no indication in either article of how Mrs. Clinton feels or votes about the above listed issues. That is interesting because she has voted in favor of partial-birth abortion, has a 100% voting record from NARAL and has been endorsed by Emily's List, a pro-abortion PAC.

I wonder why the Dallas Morning News felt it was important to mention Senator Brownback's opposition to abortion but was strangely unable to mention Senator Clinton's stands on the very same issues? She even had an article twice as long as Senator Brownback's!

Update: Apparently, this is not a problem with the Dallas Morning News only.

Labels: dallas morning news, media bias, sam brownback