Evangelicals

Despite the intensity of recent debates over abortion coverage in health care legislation, relatively few Americans say they oppose the bills before Congress because of the issue.

Only three percent of Americans raised the issue of government-funded abortions as the main reason why they oppose the health proposals currently before Congress, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that allowed for open-ended responses. At the top of the list were complaints that the bills are too expensive/will increase deficit and taxes (27 percent) and allow too much government involvement in health care (27 percent).

Moreover, when respondents were given a list of five possible reasons why they oppose the health care bills, only eight percent picked “government money might pay for abortions” as the main reason. Most of the respondents expressed concern about big government (38 percent), high cost (27 percent), and the impact of reform on their own coverage (14 percent). more >>

WASHINGTON – Unlike in the United States, there is little controversy among evangelicals around the world on whether climate change is real, said an evangelical representative at a press briefing on Capitol Hill.

“They know it is real,” said Deborah Fikes, executive advisor of the World Evangelical Alliance – a global alliance of churches in 128 nations and over 100 international organizations. But in the United States, many evangelicals deny climate change is real because they are “self-absorbed” and “lack [the] spiritual will” to change their lifestyle to help solve a problem that is life threatening, she said.

Fikes was a member of the delegation of evangelical leaders and leading climate scientists that briefed top White House advisors and U.S. Senate offices Tuesday about climate change. The self-described odd partners urged lawmakers to put aside their differences, as they had, and quickly act to address the climate change problem. more >>

Recent polls reveal that the majority of Americans oppose federal funding for health care plans that pay for abortions.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Wednesday, found that 61 percent of the public is against the use of federal money for abortions for women who can not afford the procedure. Also, 51 percent say women who get abortions should pay the full costs out of their own pocket, even if they have private health insurance and no federal funds are involved.

On Tuesday, a CBS News poll showed 56 percent of Americans think federal subsidies for health care plans should not be allowed to pay for abortions. more >>

A delegation of 24 leaders from the World Evangelical Alliance met with leaders of China’s official church bodies Monday, building upon the relationships formed during the first visit by the alliance’s head, Geoff Tunnicliffe, in 2008.

The delegation, which arrived in Shanghai on Sunday, includes Tunnicliffe, European Evangelical Alliance General Secretary Gordon Showell-Rogers from the United Kingdom, National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson from the United States, and members of the WEA’s governing body – the International Council – among others.

On the first official day of their visit, the WEA delegation was welcomed by local Chinese officials and leaders of the state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council, the umbrella organization for all registered Protestant churches. Among those present were CCC President Gao Feng, CCC General Secretary Kan Baoping, and Amity Foundation Board Member Bao Jiayuan. more >>

Thousands of students at the world’s largest evangelical university on Wednesday kicked off a week filled with high-profile speakers, including “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, to celebrate pro-life week.

The Pro-Life Conference, sponsored by Liberty University Student Government Association, began Wednesday morning with an address by Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law, to more than 10,000 people in Lynchburg, Va.

Staver will also hold a lecture with a question and answer session on abortion and the courts later in the afternoon in the Supreme Courtroom at the School of Law. The school has the nation’s only replica of the U.S. Supreme Court’s nine-member bench. more >>