U.S. Congressman Mike Pence deliver a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday evening in support of his amendment that eliminates federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The following is the text of his speech.

“I believe that ending an innocent human life is morally wrong.

“I also believe it is morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to fund organizations that provide and promote abortion-like Planned Parenthood of America.

“The headlines and years of investigations speak for themselves.

“In 2002, Planned Parenthood was found civilly liable in Arizona for failure to report statutory rape.

“In 2008 it violated reporting laws in Indiana and California.

“In 2009 it instructed a girl in Tennessee to lie about her age so she could get an abortion without her parents’ knowledge.

“Recently in California, Washington, New Jersey, and New York, Planned Parenthood clinics have been accused of fraudulent accounting or overbilling practices.

“And last week, undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood employees apparently willing to aid human sex traffickers by coaching them on how to falsify documents and secure secret abortions for their underage prostitutes.

“As the father of two teenage daughters, there are not words strong enough to portray my contempt of this pattern of apparent fraud and abuse by Planned Parenthood.

“And the American people deserve to know, Planned Parenthood is not only the largest abortion provider in America. It is also the largest recipient of taxpayer funding under Title X.

“According to their latest annual report, Planned Parenthood received more than $363 million in taxpayer dollars, while also boasting of performing an unprecedented 324,008 abortions.

“The Pence Amendment would deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates for the rest of this fiscal year.

“Let me be clear, my amendment would not cut funding for health services. It would simply block those funds already in the bill from subsidizing America’s largest abortion provider.

“Now, I am aware that Title X family planning funds are eliminated in this bill, but eliminating Title X funding has never been my goal. I support the important work of Title X clinics across the country that provide breast cancer screenings, HIV testing, counseling, and other valuable family planning services.

“The reality is that Planned Parenthood receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from federal funding sources other than Title X. Of the $363 million they received last year, according to the GAO, only $53 million of that was from Title X.

“My focus has and will remain on denying taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood or any organization that provides or promotes abortion as a means of birth control.

“Some consider the Pence Amendment a ‘war on Planned Parenthood,’ but this is not about Planned Parenthood’s right to be in the abortion business. Sadly, abortion on demand is legal in America. This debate is about who pays for it.

“Only in Washington, D.C. are you declaring war on an organization by simply refusing to pay for it with taxpayer dollars.

“Nobody is saying that Planned Parenthood can’t be the leading advocate of abortion on demand in why do I have to pay for it?

“Nobody is saying that Planned Parenthood cannot continue to be the largest abortion provider in America, but why do millions of pro-life taxpayers have to pay for it?

“I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history, when we move past the broken hearts and broken lives of the past 38 years, but as this debate rages us at least respect the overwhelming consensus of the American people and end taxpayer support for abortion providers once and for all.

“This is the moment. Now is the time. Support the Pence Amendment. I urge my colleagues to take a stand for taxpayers, take a stand against a pattern of corruption, and take a stand for young women in crisis pregnancies who deserve access to unbiased and compassionate health services. Let’s end taxpayer support of Planned Parenthood.”

Libya’s anti-government movement is stirring now.

Protesters dubbed Thursday as a “day of rage” and called for nationwide protests. They wanted it to coincide with the anniversary of two bloody episodes that marked the regime’s 40+ years in power. At the same time, supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gathered in the capital.

The tensions spilled over into unrest in at least four different cities. Having seen the wave of uprisings that ousted leaders in both Egypt and Tunisia, the government wasted no time in responding, offering raises for government employees and the release of 110 political prisoners.

Paul Estabrooks is a minister-at-large for Open Doors. He says, “It seems that a lot of people in that area want change. The issue is: what kind of change do they want, and what kind of change will come?”

Libya ranks Number 25 on the Open Doors World Watch List. The list is a compilation of the top 50 countries known for their persecution of believers around the world.

There is no constitution regulating religious freedom, but the Great Green Charter on Human rights does somewhat regulate it. However, if a Christian converts from Islam and is harassed or arrested by the police, there’s no legal recourse. Estabrooks says in spite of what happened in Egypt, the scenario in Libya looks very different. “The chances are even slimmer there for change. The only thing might be in a more democratic type of government, an opportunity for minorities to be better protected.”

That’s a slim hope, however. Even if there were sweeping political change, he says that “the basic attitudes don’t change. There’s simply a desire for political change that will make a difference for them economically, but we’re not optimistic at the moment, especially in Libya, that there would be any change for our brothers and sisters. But there is always hope in democratic situations.”

Libyan Christians are mostly underground. There is fear and distrust in the country because of the scrutiny of security forces and intelligent services. When posed with the question of whether or not believers are part of the push for change, as they were in Egypt, Estabrooks notes, “In Libya, we haven’t heard from our contacts there about their direct involvement as we did in Egypt.”

In terms of how believers are responding to the upheaval going on around them, he adds, “We honestly don’t know. Because their communities are small, it’s perhaps less likely for them to become public about their attitude and desire for change.”

What can be done? Two things, says Estabrooks. “The way to pray is to ask God to give them the opportunity to use this situation in order to share His love with others and to be able to be more open about their faith.”

Evangelist Bill Keller has issued a $100,000 challenge to MSNBC host Chris Matthews to produce the official Hawaiian long-form birth certificate of President Barack Obama.

“Matthews parades around like he is a journalist, when in fact, all he does each night is act as a press agent for the president and his administration,” says Keller, president of Bill Keller Ministries, which owns , a place people can go 24/7 for prayer.

“If he was a real journalist, go use the cast resources of Comcast/NBC/General Electric and produce a copy of the official Hawaiian long form birth certificate of President Barak Obama. A woman born the day before the president in Hawaii has produced hers, so the document has to exist if he was really born in Hawaii as he claims. If he can do that, I will be happy to give him $100,000.”

Earlier this year, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie stated that he was going to produce the official long form birth certificate to put an end to the controversy. After several weeks, Abercrombie now says he can’t find the document and it may not exist.

Keller contends that if Abercrombie, a staunch supporter of the president and the man who runs Hawaii, can’t pick up the phone and call his records department and get a copy of the president’s birth certificate, it only adds fuel to the fire if the document ever existed in the first place.

“I am not interested in the Certificate of Live Birth the President has produced, since anyone can get that with a phone call. Also, the newspaper birth announcements came from the ordering of the Certificate of Live Birth,” Keller says. “All I, or anyone interested has ever asked, is for the president to produce the same document anyone can produce if they are born in the United States in a day if they needed to. That is an official long form birth certificate showing the name of the hospital he was born in, the attending physician, and all other pertinent information a real birth certificate contains.”

Matthews could not immediately be reached for comment. Charisma News will offer a follow up story if Matthews responds.

A majority of Americans believe that planned congressional hearings next month into the alleged extremism in the American Muslim community is a good thing, but more than 70 percent believe Congress should not single out Muslims.

Those are among the findings of the PRRI/RNS Religion News Survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with Religion News Service.

“These findings reveal an American public that is wrestling with both fears and fairness in the post-9/11 context,” says Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of PRRI. “Americans believe it is appropriate for Congress to investigate religious extremism, but they do not want to single out the American Muslim community.”

Approval of the hearings varies considerably by political and religious affiliation. Seventy-one percent of Republicans say the hearings are a good idea, compared to only 45% of Democrats and 56% of Independents. Among religious groups, support for the hearings is highest among white evangelical Protestants (70%) and lowest among white Mainline Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, among whom about half say they are a good idea (50% and 49%, respectively). However, support for broadening the approach beyond the Muslim community is strong across political and religious affiliation groups.

The survey also reveals that the general public holds mixed views of the American Muslim community. On the one hand, a plurality (46%) of the public believe that the American Muslim community has not done enough to oppose extremism in their own communities, compared to one-third who say they have; and nearly half (49%) do not believe Muslims have been unfairly targeted by law enforcement since 2001. On the other hand, more than 6-in-10 (62%) believe Muslims are an important part of the American religious community, and few (22%) believe assertions that American Muslims want to establish Shari’a or Muslim law as the law of the land in the U.S.

“The survey findings also show a significant correlation between trust in Fox News and negative attitudes about Muslims,” says Daniel Cox, PRRI Research Director. “Americans who trust Fox News are more likely to believe that Muslims want to establish Shari’a law, have not done enough to oppose extremism, and believe investigating extremism is a good idea in the American Muslim community. We even see differences among Republicans and white evangelicals who trust Fox news most and those who trust other media.”

What do you think? Sound off in the comment box below.

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director who spent eight years with the organization, has joined Live Action, a youth-led movement dedicated to building a culture of life and ending abortion. Johnson will serve as Chief Research Strategist.

Author of the new book “Unplanned,” Johnson worked and volunteered for Planned Parenthood until October of 2009 when she witnessed a 13-week old baby in an ultrasound-guided abortion lose the fight for its life in the womb. She is now a pro-life advocate. Since her conversion of heart, Johnson has also confirmed that the alarming incidents revealed by Live Action’s undercover investigations are not isolated incidents.

“I can tell you from experience that Planned Parenthood often turns a blind eye to sexual abuse and trafficking—what you see in Live Action’s videos is not a rare occurrence. But ignorance is no defense, especially when it has turned their clinics into a safe haven for those who sexually exploit women and girls,” Johnson says. “This is not a training problem so much as it is an ideology problem. I am humbled and eager to begin this partnership with Live Action so that together we can expose the serious harm Planned Parenthood poses to the most vulnerable among us.”

Live Action has previously released more than a dozen hidden camera videos from 10 states. This body of visual evidence shows several alarming patterns of illegal Planned Parenthood activities including the willingness to aid and abet the sex trafficking of young girls, the cover-up of sexual abuse of minors, the skirting of parental consent laws, citing unscientific and fabricated medical information to manipulate women to have abortions, and Planned Parenthood’s willingness to accept donations earmarked to abort African-American babies.

“Abby Johnson has seen the abuses inside Planned Parenthood with her own eyes and confirms the danger its clinics pose to women and young girls,” stated Live Action President Lila Rose. “She is a courageous trailblazer despite Planned Parenthood’s desperate attempts to attack her and silence the truth. We are thrilled and very thankful to have Abby join our team and are confident that her first-hand experience, conviction and guidance will provide invaluable counsel to Live Action as we advance our common goal of protecting women and children from the abuses of Planned Parenthood.”

Twenty-five students at the University of California at Davis (UC-Davis) are objecting to a policy that defines religious discrimination as Christians oppressing non-Christians.

The UC-Davis policy defines “Religious/Spiritual Discrimination” as “the loss of power and privilege to those who do not practice the dominant culture’s religion. In the United States, this is institutionalized oppressions toward those who are not Christian.”

“Christians deserve the same protections against religious discrimination as any other students on a public university campus,” says Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Counsel David French. “It’s ridiculously absurd to single out Christians as oppressors and non-Christians as the only oppressed people on campus when the facts show that public universities are more hostile to Christians than anyone else.”

A from ADF-allied attorney Tim Swickard to UC-Davis explains, “It is patently clear that UC Davis’s definition of religious discrimination is blatantly unconstitutional under both the Federal and California State Constitutions. The policy singles out some faiths for official school protection while denying the same protection to others solely on the basis of their particular religious views…Moreover, the UC-Davis policy is simply nonsensical given the environment on most University campuses where Christian students, if anything, are among the most likely to be subjected to discrimination because of their faith.”

The letter cites a recent study of more than 1,200 faculty at public universities that showed that professors admitted to having a significant bias against Christian students, particularly evangelicals. Fifty-three percent admitted to having negative feelings about evangelical students solely because of their religious beliefs.

Mormon and Catholic students did not fare much better in the study. A 2004 Harvard Institute of Politics poll indicated that only 35 percent of college students call themselves “born again,” and only 22 percent identify as evangelical Christians. A 2000 study of teens by the Barna Research Group found that only 26 percent claim to be “committed to the Christian faith.”

“It is in contradiction to established fact to suggest, as this definition does, that Christianity is ‘the dominant culture’s religion’ at any public university or here at UC Davis,” the letter continues. “These are not statistics of dominance.”

On behalf of the students objecting to the policy, the letter asks UC-Davis officials to revise the “Religious/Spiritual Discrimination” definition and “examine other appropriate means to increase the inclusion of the Christian community…to help ensure that other UC Davis policies and practices now and in the future are sensitive to the concerns of its Christian community as well.”

Pat Williams, senior vice president of the Orlando Magic, has been diagnosed with a blood and bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. The 70-year-old Orlando Magic legend, who has written more than 70 books, run dozens of marathons and raised 19 children, is undergoing chemotherapy.

“We have launched the treatment as fast and directly as possible,’’ Williams told Orlando Magic reporter John Denton. “The mission is remission. That’s the goal. Dr. Reynolds indicated to me that by June he’d have a pretty good picture of where we stand. He thinks the percentages are good, we can get (remission) accomplished and I’m living with that hope right now.’’

Williams has more than 48 years of professional sports experience to his credit and spearheaded Orlando’s effort to get an NBA franchise in 1986. The 70-year-old protégé of the late Bill Veeck is probably most known for his promotional and marketing wizardry. Williams is also considered one of the country’s top motivational and inspirational public speakers. His wife, Ruth, teaches time management seminars for the FranklinCovey Company.

“The only pain that I have is in my lower back area and some days are better than others,’’ Williams said. “I’m finding that there’s a pattern of pain in my lower back and it’s intense at times.’’

Williams’ baseball career began when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1962 and spent two seasons catching for the Miami Marlins, a Class A club in the Florida State League. He quickly moved from the playing field to the front office, when he was appointed business manager of Miami in 1964. He took the general manager job with the Spartanburg (S.C.) Phillies in 1965 and was later elevated to the position of president of the organization in 1967.

“What this whole thing has proven to me is that we can make all the plans that we want in life and then just sit back and listen to God laugh,’’ said Williams. “As the new year approached I certainly did not have this as part of my 2011 agenda. Now, me and Mr. Myeloma are partners and we’ll be linked together for the rest of life. I’m just asking friends and associates to pour a little prayer support into old Pat and ask the great physician for His healing touch. That’s my prayers right now.”

You probably heard about the church pastor that mandated his church leaders stop using Facebook. Well, that was even before new default settings for family that demote
children, spouses and parents to the bottom of the page while elevating friends to the top.

Some parents find the latest Facebook change disconcerting, including Marnie Swedberg, author of “SANE: Social Networking Success in 15 Minutes a Day.”

“Facebook has had a wonderful family first policy until now, a policy that has helped families stay foremost in each others’ minds when on the website by posting family members in the most prominent position,” Swedberg says. “This policy has been reversed.”

Families on Facebook make up much of its 500 million users, half of whom log in every day.  As Swedberg sees it, Facebook is impacting our culture—and what happens on Facebook has the potential to change things in the world of face-to-face. By demoting the visibility of family, and promoting the position of friends, she feels Facebook is communicating a subtle change in values.

“Facebook family connections happen every second of every day,” says Swedberg. “I have three young adult kids myself and I like to see them every chance I get, even on Facebook. More importantly, I want to communicate that they rank number one in my world both on- and off-line.”

The good news is that it is easy to re-position your family first on your personal Facebook profile page. Simply follow these steps:

1. Login to your Profile Page.
2. On the left bar, identify the word “Friends” or “Family” under your photo.
3. Click on the editor’s pencil icon that appears when you mouse over one of those words.
4. Find “Featured Friends.”
5. Left click on the word “Family” and drag it above “Friends.”
6. Save.

Are you hooked up with your church family—and your real family—on Facebook? Is Facebook a valuable tool for evangelizing? What are your thoughts?

A letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius signed by 46 members of the U.S. House of Representatives Friday asks her to explain why her department is seeking to repeal conscience protections for health care workers in light of known attacks on such workers. The two situations cited in the letter involve clients represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

“Medical professionals should not be punished for holding to their beliefs, and they should not be forced to perform abortions against their conscience,” says ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Members of the House are justified in asking why the Obama administration would be seeking to repeal such protections, especially in light of the recent examples of abuse involving ADF clients.”

One of the situations cited involves a nurse forced against her conscience by New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital to participate in an abortion. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld the dismissal of her federal lawsuit filed by ADF attorneys, leaving only an ongoing investigation by HHS as the means to defend her federally protected rights while her New York state lawsuit continues.

According to the ADF, Planned Parenthood and other plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit State of Connecticut v. United States of America are seeking to tear down the regulation that enables HHS to conduct investigations. ADF attorneys filed a motion to intervene in that case on behalf of Cenzon-DeCarlo in December.

Because the defendants, Sebelius and the Obama administration, want to dismantle the regulation as the plaintiffs desire, the ADF says little adequate defense exists for the regulation and for health care workers protected by a federal law known as the Church Amendment. The Church Amendment prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating against pro-life health care workers but its enforcement may be limited without the implementing regulation that directs HHS to conduct investigations.

Another situation cited by the House letter to Sebelius involves Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. In January, ADF attorneys filed complaints with HHS over problematic language on the applications for Vanderbilt’s nurse residency program which included a pledge to participate in abortions. The university changed the language, but only after ADF filed the complaints.

“Both of these situations are precisely the type of discrimination against health care providers that federal conscience statutes were meant to redress,” the letter from House members explains. “We strongly oppose any action that would undermine or eliminate the responsibility of HHS to enforce conscience laws that have been enacted by Congress for nearly four decades. The Implementing Regulations did not add to the substance of existing law, but required fund recipients to certify compliance with the law and more specifically committed HHS to enforce those laws as written.”

Third Day has teamed up with Arizona’s Grand Canyon University (GCU) to offer fans a chance to win $1 million worth of scholarships.

At each stop on Third Day’s upcoming Make Your Move tour, one qualified fan will be selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship to GCU, a non-denominational, Christian university with both online programming and a physical campus in Phoenix.

GCU’s overall partnership with the Third Day tour includes up to $1 million in scholarships specifically allocated to Third Day fans during the duration of the band’s spring and fall tours.

Currently, Third Day band members Mark Lee, Tai Anderson and David Carr are finishing their degrees through GCU, immersing themselves in continuing their educations through online classes even during road trips.

“Third Day never wants to encourage our fans to do something that we’re not willing to do ourselves,” Anderson says. “We wanted to experience what GCU is all about firsthand, so we enrolled in classes at the start of this year. Like so many of our fellow ‘Lopes,’ we left college to pursue our careers before we finished our degrees. At the time, we had to choose between Third Day and going to school. With GCU, we no longer have to choose. We’re working toward our degrees on the tour bus!”

Fans interested in winning a scholarship can be considered by completing an electronic application form via computers at the GCU booth at every concert location. Scholarship recipients will be notified by GCU soon after the concert.