Politics

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 >>

Nearly one in four children in the United States lived in a home that suffered from food insecurity in 2008, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In total, 16.7 million children, or 22.5 percent, were from families that had difficulty putting enough food on the table last year. That’s 4.3 million more children than in 2007.

“Child hunger is not just a casualty of the recession,” commented the Rev. David Beckmann, president of the Christian anti-poverty group Bread for the World, in response to the data. “It was a problem before the recession, and unless we take the necessary steps, kids will continue to suffer after the economy recovers.” more >>

Celebration over the Stupak amendment in the House health care bill was cut short this week as pro-life supporters fear the language could be removed.

Abortion rights supporters, including House lawmakers, have threatened to pull their support from the health care bill if language such as the Stupak amendment remains in the final version.

The Stupak amendment, introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), bars the use of federal funding for “any health plan [public or private] that includes coverage of abortion,” except in the cases of rape, incest or to save the woman’s life. more >>

WASHINGTON - Former Baptist pastor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said his latest book is neither “churchy” nor political, but simply about relationships as told through Christmas memories.

Huckabee’s seventh book, A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit, was released this month and contain 12 chapters – each of which recall one of Huckabee’s Christmas memories and the life lesson the experience taught, such as patience, sacrifice, hope, and faith.

Despite having been written by an ordained pastor and about Christmas, the book is rather sparse on Christian references. The introduction explains why Christmas is significant to Christians and many of the chapters end with some reference to Christian teachings. The main focus, however, is on Huckabee’s childhood and adult memories of Christmas. more >>

The nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians strongly criticized the new 2,000-page House health care bill as an “overdose” in reform that injects massive government intervention in the system.

“With this massive legislation, we are getting much more than is actually needed to fix our health care system,” stated Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 16,000-member Christian Medical Association.

He said the House bill would “totally transform” the health care system into a government-run system that “dictates” what treatment patients would receive when a better solution is to target reform in areas that need to be fixed. more >>