The U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene during this session in a dispute over whether the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires doctors in the anti-abortion state of Texas to perform abortions to stabilize patients seeking emergency room care.
Read MoreIn 2020, Swagata Majumdar faced the unimaginable grief of losing her twins. The grief of losing her children became overwhelming. She also realized that child loss is a significant taboo in India, leading to the isolation of bereaved mothers. Determined to challenge this stigma and support others, she started a support group for mothers who have lost a child.
Read More(ANALYSIS) ”Women are much more supportive of the LGBT population than men.” That came up in a Q&A session that I did after a talk. The person asked if women were leaving conservative churches more quickly because of their views of same-sex marriage and gender identity. OK, so let me just figure out if that’s true or not.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Shroud of Turin, the world’s most famous and most-examined artifact, is revered by devotees as the actual burial cloth that covered Jesus Christ’s body after his crucifixion. Many will consider that inconceivable, but is there reason to accept the claim? Or is this celebrated cloth merely a pious artwork, or a clever fraud, that originated in medieval times?
Read MoreOver the last five years, a growing number of single Muslim women in their mid-30s in Islamic countries — including the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, among others — have been choosing to freeze their eggs to ensure motherhood later in life. It was previously not seen as an option in these countries — owing primarily to cultural beliefs and religious restrictions.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Religion and biohacking, at first glance, may seem worlds apart — one rooted in ancient traditions and spiritual beliefs; the other in cutting-edge science and technology. Look again and you'll recognize the fact that both grapple with fundamental questions about the nature of life, death and the human quest for transcendence.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I am going to pull out some questions that piqued my interest when I was scrolling through the codebook. The first is a set of two questions about mental health. Folks were asked, “How often do you get the social and emotional support you need?”
Read MoreA majority of U.S. adults believe humans came about because of divine intervention, but there’s disagreement over what that involvement looked like. A Gallup survey finds 37% of Americans believe God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.
Read MoreU.S. adults support in vitro fertilization in general but are more divided about destroying embryos created in the process. The assisted reproductive technology procedure involves fertilizing an egg with sperm in a lab dish and then implanting the egg in a woman seeking to get pregnant. Around 2 percent of births each year in the U.S., or almost 100,000, involve IVF.
Read MoreAs the number of U.S. frozen embryos has grown to estimates beyond a million, their moral status has become the crux of discussion among bioethicists. Vic McCracken, professor of ethics and theology at Abilene Christian University, co-teaches the medical bioethics course with Cynthia Powell, who directs ACU’s Center for Pre-Health Professions. Every year the class includes students who were born through IVF.
Read MoreIVF was invented in 1978 by British physiologist Sir Robert Edwards. Since then, some eight million IVF babies have been born. People of faith have sometimes felt conflicted regarding the process or its consequences for unused embryos. Yet, IVF has found widespread support for what many call a pro-life practice. IVF allows babies to be born who would not have life without it.
Read More(OPINION) There is a new challenge for pro-life voters as we approach the 2024 elections. On the one hand, it’s impossible for a truly pro-life voter to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate given the radical, pro-abortion stance of that party. That holds true as well for the positions of President Biden, which continue to lurch farther to the left. But now that the RNC has embraced the watered down platform crafted by the Trump team, do we acquiesce and vote GOP?
Read More(ANALYSIS) If anything can shift abortion opinion in the general public, it has to be Dobbs, right? It is, without a doubt, the biggest change in policy regarding abortion in the last 50 years. In fact, the last example I can think of a time when the government has taken away rights that were already granted was Prohibition. And we all know how that turned out.
Read MoreIt appears that Emily Harrison — creator of the “Dear Christian Parent” website — is some kind of religious countercultural radical. By the way, for me “radical” is a compliment when discussing matters of digital-screen culture. The question is what brand of faith-based radical she is, since her Substack’s “about” page offers classic nondenominational-era language: “Believer in Jesus. Wife. Mother. Writer & Speaker on kids and screen time. ScreenStrong Ambassador.”
Read MoreThe soaring spires and towers of cathedrals across the U.K. have become homes to countless pairs of breeding falcons. Each spring, the patter of tiny claws is eagerly awaited by millions of people watching the activities of parent birds and their offspring via webcams set up for such situations.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously reversed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals and told opponents of the Food and Drug Administration their argument over the safety of mifepristone, commonly known as the abortion pill, should be taken up with the Biden Administration rather than the courts.
Read More(OPINION) Working with the AI bot Claude is, in no particular order, amazing, frustrating, and hilarious. On the one hand, when “he” gets things right, the knowledge base is beyond staggering. (Yes, I know I’m dealing with an “it,” but Claude has so much personality that I’ll stay with “he”). I asked Claude some questions from my wife Nancy about types of soil, and Claude responded in massive accurate detail, as confirmed by Nancy, who is quite expert in landscaping related issues.
Read MoreClaudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won a landslide victory on Sunday to become Mexico's first female president. Sheinbaum, won the presidency with nearly 60% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez. She is also Jewish in a country that is majority Catholic.
Read MoreThe speakers that took to the stage at MIT this past week addressed a series of issues surrounding AI, including how it impacts a number of areas such as communications, entertainment, healthcare, politics, climate change and the military. In fact, speakers talked about the numerous potential pitfalls in a world where AI is becoming more ubiquitous.
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