Indiana

Indiana is the first state in the nation to bar federal tax dollars, in the form of Medicaid payments, from going to clinics that provide abortions.

Governor Mitch Daniels on Tuesday signed into law House Bill 1210, passed in the state House and Senate in April. The bill prohibits federal money given to the state for family planning services to be distributed to abortion providers, the largest of which is Planned Parenthood. It also bans abortions for women over 20 weeks pregnant.

“This law is a tremendous victory for the pro-life movement and for taxpayers who will no longer be forced to pad the profit line of Indiana Planned Parenthood abortion clinics,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, in a statement. more >>

An Indiana House committee passed an amendment Monday to the state’s constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions.

The members of the state’s House Judiciary Committee approved the resolution by an 8-4 margin. The vote was split along party lines, but House Republicans expect the ban to receive bipartisan support once it reaches the floor.

The proposed constitutional amendment on marriage is co-sponsored by a Democrat, Rep. David Cheatham from the 69th district in southeast Indiana. more >>

Indiana University South Bend has reinstated Chick-fil-A in its two dining halls after two weeks of suspension, university officials said.

After reviewing of the company following uproar over its marriage stance, the university is allowing Chick-fil-A to resume serving students and faculty chicken sandwiches. The nearby franchise had been prevented from delivering and selling their products on campus since Jan. 10.

IUSB suspended service of Chick-fil-A sandwiches in two of its dining halls after staff members expressed concern with the company’s stance on gay marriage. more >>

An Indiana commissioner remains resolute about a nativity display remaining in front of a Franklin County Courthouse despite complaints by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Franklin County Commissioner Tom Wilson said he will not take down the 50-year-old manger scene on the courthouse lawn until a court orders him to do so.

The life-size nativity scene is owned by the town of Brookville and was arranged around the flagpole by local firefighters. Last month, the FFRF, a Wisconsin-based free-thinking group, demanded that the scene be removed from government property. more >>

Outreach in the electronic world is needed as people become increasingly dependent on technology to communicate, said Christian thinkers at a conference focused on the subject this week.

While the good news should never change, methodologies used to communicate the message must change with the times, agreed attendees of the Great Commission Research Network’s annual conference, which concluded Thursday. The conference, titled “Outreach in an eWorld,” focused on how the average, local church can use the electronic medium to share the Good News.

“The electronic medium is becoming a more powerful tool for good or for bad,” said Bob Whitesel, president of the Great Commission Research Network, to The Christian Post Thursday. “And the Church needs to know how to wield it for good and it needs to know how to take a stand against the bad.” more >>

The contemporary church growth model can only reach a maximum of 40 percent of the American population, said a leading thinker in the missional movement on Thursday.

This is a problem because 95 percent of American churches are using a model that even if successful will reach less than half the population, said Alan Hirsch, an internationally recognized missiologist and founding director of Forge Mission Training Network. He spoke at “The Genius of And” conference, hosted by Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind.

Most churches target the 40 percent of the population that’s within the cultural distance of the church, he explained. Meanwhile, attractional churches that have more of an external focus and cultural relevance will, again, only work for 40 percent of the American population. And after a few years of coming to Christ, most people are socialized out of their context and into the context of the church, which removes them from their sphere of influence. more >>