When Push Comes to Pulpit…

Congress has its hands full keeping the Obama administration in check, and in most Americans’ opinion, leaders could use some help – from the church. The key to confronting the President’s agenda may be as simple as encouraging more pastors to speak out. So said 61% of Americans surveyed in FRC’s latest poll – the results of which we announced Tuesday at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention (NRB) in Nashville. With Christianity under attack as never before, the country is looking to its spiritual leaders to engage in the fight. As our First Freedom, religious liberty serves as the foundation for all other freedoms – which will all be at risk if it crumbles. If pastors would just speak to the issues from a redemptive heart, most people agree that we would see this country turn around.

Rafael Cruz, director of Purifying Ministries and father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks that more boldness from the pulpit could have a profound effect on the state of our nation. At yesterday’s news conference, he the press, “Too many pastors have been intimidated by a concept of separation of church and state not found in the Constitution.” His comments were echoed by Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, who insisted, “No president in history has launched an attack on religious liberty like President Obama. If pastors remain AWOL on this issue like they have on others, we will lose the war for religious freedom that our forefathers gave their life’s blood to provide.”

Designer Genes that Don’t Fit the Ethical Model

If two’s company, then three parents are a crowd! Not according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), apparently, where the agency is considering giving its stamp of approval on experiments to make three-parent embryos – babies who would have two moms and one dad. Scientists in the U.S. are eager to try their hand at constructing these genetically engineered “designer” babies in the laboratory and gestating them to birth. After a lot of debate, the FDA is finally weighing in with two days of public debate. The goal is to “build” children that lack the disease-causing mutations in their mitochondria, the little energy factories in all of our cells. But the techniques some scientists are proposing foster human cloning skills, and a couple of procedures actually are embryo cloning. In fact, one of the labs lobbying to do these human experiments is the same Oregon lab that announced “successful” cloning of human embryos in 2013.

Although the FDA is trying to ignore the ethical questions and only talk about science, both the science and the ethics are troubling. Manufacturing young humans in a Petri dish with genetic modifications is an abuse of science – but more than that, the FDA is completely ignoring actual treatments for those afflicted with these diseases and instead focusing on trying to create perfect children. Dr. David Prentice, FRC’s Senior Fellow for Life Studies, reminded the FDA committee of the ethics and the science yesterday, pointing out the ethical and scientific flaws in the proposal, as well as alternatives that actually deal with the disease. He not only submitted written testimony but also gave oral comment to the committee. Hopefully, they’ll understand – as we do – that just because we have the power to experiment with life doesn’t mean we should.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.