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The Christianity Today women's blog provides news and analysis from the perspective of evangelical women. We cover news stories and books related to international justice and evangelism, pregnancy and sexual ethics, marriage, parenting, and celibacy, pop culture, health and body image, raising girls, and women in the church and parachurch.

Her.meneutics is edited by associate editor Katelyn Beaty and online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey.

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October 29, 2009

In the Loop: Down syndrome abortions on the rise

What the women's blog editors are reading today.

Laura Leonard

In Britain, Down syndrome abortions are on the rise

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According to a recent study, around nine in ten British women who are told they are going to have a baby with Down syndrome decide to terminate the pregnancy, resulting in 1,100 abortions each year. Diagnoses of Down’s have also increased significantly, from 1075 in 1989-90 to 1843 in 2007-08, due largely to the rising number of women who wait until their 30s and 40s to have children, the study reports.

Abstinence-only sex education at risk
Newsweek reports on “The Future of Abstinence” as President Obama’s 2010 budget cuts funding for the Title V grant program and all abstinence-only programs. The Senate Finance Committee voted to restore funding to the budget, but the measure is unlikely to pass in the House. "The open question is whether these organizations will continue to thrive when federal funding is no longer available," says Alesha Doan, author of The Politics of Virginity: Abstinence in Sex Education (Greenwood Publishing, 2008). "What is the underlying support in society for this?" Many programs may now have to turn to private donations and funding in order to continue.

German Protestants choose first woman leader

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Margot Kaessmann became the first female leader of the roughly 25 million German Protestants, and only the third female to head a major Christian church. She is a particularly controversial choice for the EKD, an umbrella group for 22 Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches, because she is divorced, but she received 132 of 142 possible votes, and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomed the choice.

"The election sends a signal to the church worldwide that God calls us to leadership without consideration of gender, color or descent," LWF general-secretary Ishmael Noko told the Ecumenical News International news agency at the synod in Ulm. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church in the United States and National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are the only other female heads of large churches.

Georgia football fans bring Bible to the stands
A month after the Catoosa County Public School District barred cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School (LFO) in Georgia from displaying banners decorated with Bible verses, the team’s fans have taken up the eight-year-old tradition.

Calling themselves "Warriors for Christ" (a twist on the school’s Warrior mascot), a group of LFO fans have held rallies, sold T-shirts, and now bring their own Bible banners to the games. The New York Times reports that the religious presence at games is even stronger than before. One cheerleader’s mother called it a win for the school’s Christians, noting that students “who may never have even heard these Scriptures are thinking about them and maybe going home and looking them up in their Bibles.”

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Posted by Laura Leonard on October 29, 2009 10:20 AM

Comments

Do people really think that holding up a reference to a bible verse is a form of evangelism? Do we really think that this follows the idea of submitting to authority or turning the other cheek?

Posted By: Adam S | October 29, 2009 1:49 PM

The Down Syndrome story makes me sad. How many lovely children lost.

Posted By: R. | October 29, 2009 6:50 PM

I'm actually glad that Obama is reducing funding for abstinence-only. Those programs don't work. Yes, abstinence is the right choice, but people don't always make the right choices. They need to know how to protect themselves if they do decide to do the wrong thing and have sex. I believe we should teach abstinence as the ideal but realize that people are sinners and plan accordingly.

Posted By: Anna | October 29, 2009 9:14 PM

I remember sitting in a classroom at Fuller Seminary where we were discussing examples of bad or bogus evangelism efforts, and of course someone raised their hand and said: "Holding up a John 3:16 sign at a football game", and we all laughed like, "yeah, how ridiculous". A student in the back raised his hand and said: "That was the thing God used to call me back into a relationship with him."

We were silent and realized that even our worst efforts (and this is NOT to say that we should seek after or perpetuate bad or bogus methods of communicating our faith) can be used by a merciful, relationship-driven God.

Posted By: Erika Haub | October 30, 2009 1:38 PM

For those who question the evangelical value of holding up Bible banners at sports events, if Anna's post doesn't convince you remember that the Scripture tells us that God's word will not return to Him void. Isaiah 55:11

To Adam S. The cheerleaders were forbidden to hold up banners not the spectators. Peter told the temple authorities "We must obey God rather than any human authority" Acts 5:29

If it is true that abstinence education doesn't work, maybe it is because the people who teach it don't believe it is possible. Teacher's have more power in their true convictions than in their words. I would be curious to see a study of abstinence programs taught by people who live it compared to programs taught by people who don't and don't believe it is a practical discipline.

Posted By: mary | October 31, 2009 10:19 AM

Mary, I understand God's word will not return to him void, but how do holding up a reference to a bible verse really convey the love of God and the understanding of his word. Instead it seems to show that a group of people can take over a situation that doesn't have anything to do with evangelism. What is going on at a school football game is to celebrate kids playing a game. It seems like the community has a good portion of the church and what is going on here is not "listening to God instead of men" but trying to maintain cultural superiority in the community. If we are to love others as our primary commandment (second only to love God) then we should think about how those that do not share our belief in God understand our fights to force them to participate in our prayers. This seems exactly like what Christ was complaining about when he complained of our prayers before men. The Pharisees were trying to gain credit for their public pronouncements (prayers). They were after the recognition, not the actual work. I view they types of fights (and the signs) primarily as a way to get a public message out, not the actual work of explaining the gospel to a real person and walking with them to discover the truth of the gospel. I am sure there are many people that are doing this out of good motives, but we should look deeper than the motives to whether this is actually a good way to share the gospel or not. Yes, God can use this, but there are many things that God uses, that are not the best plans that God has for us.

Posted By: Adam S | October 31, 2009 7:56 PM

It's very sad, they could tell them they had a down's baby, and it not be true, how can you be 100% sure? God is the only sure thing in life. When I had my last baby, they wanted to perform a check for this (only because I was 35 years old) and told me there was a chance that I could abort just by having this test. I said no test, God will decide the fate of this baby, not science! She is a very beautiful 15 year old daughter. How awful would it have been if I would have taken that chance, or what if they were wrong and told me it would be better to abort?

Posted By: Nora | November 6, 2009 10:57 AM

The research pointed to maternal age playing a large part in the increased number of Down syndrome pregnancies. The trend toward later motherhood has resulted in a higher risk of having a child with Down syndrome, with the research estimating that the risk for a 40-year-old mother is 16 times that for a 25-year-old mother. The incidence of Down's syndrome has fallen by almost half, owing to prenatal tests and selective abortions. It is a bit sad that they choose to abort just because they have Downs. Sometimes they are a lot nicer kids.

Posted By: casque bluetooth | November 12, 2009 9:03 PM

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