Veritas Rex

Truth Project Simulcast Sept. 27th

I had the opportunity to travel to Lousiville, KY a couple of years ago to attend a Truth Project seminar and it was fantastic.  Dr. Del Tackett and his crew at the Truth Project provide world class, life changing instruction on how to live and especially think biblically.  It is a must for anyone who wishes to apply their faith in all aspects of life, not just when they attend a church service on Sunday. 

The beauty of this simulcast is that you don't have to travel far away to get the training.  There are several places across the state that are currently hosting one.  If one isn't close enough for you, perhaps you can get your church to host one as well.  Sign up today, the Truth Project simulcast is only a few weeks away.

Did Pastor Warren politicize the pulpit?

Generally I find myself agreeing with Star Parker, but I'm soundly disagreeing with her recent column about Rick Warren's forum with John McCain and Barack Obama.  In it, she says that Warren should never have held the forum at all.

Our kids can't pray in public school. Or read the bible or learn to apply traditional values in managing their lives. The Ten Commandments cannot appear in our courthouses. A creche cannot be displayed in a public space during Christmas season.

Yet somehow we think a church is an appropriate forum for hosting candidates for president?

Our world is turning upside down. Rather than raising our public and private lives to a higher moral standard, we're politicizing religion. It's actually worse, I think.

The pretense of neutrality is really a left-wing illusion. It's a sleight of hand to buy into relativism and somehow Warren seems to have fallen into the trap.

When a pastor hosts a political candidate that has a 100 percent rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America and a zero percent rating by the National Right to Life Committee, he gives legitimacy to that candidate. When legitimacy is given to a line reasoning that says that poverty and AIDS are symptoms of anything other than moral breakdown, the relativist views of the left are justified.

To a disproportionate measure, when we are talking about poverty and AIDS in America, we are talking about black communities. These communities are in disarray because of moral ambiguity. They not only need moral clarity and leadership, they crave it.

Partisanship is not our problem today. Healthy partisanship is vital to freedom.

Our problem is moral ambiguity. Anyone that thinks this ambiguity is helpful in addressing poverty, crime, and disease is misinformed.

We need political leaders that are more moral, not church leaders that are more political.

US Health Care: Broken? (#3)

Admin Note:  Amanda Schaffer, friend of IFI, recently completed a study on health care in the United States.  We are going to have a few posts from her in the next week or so.  Enjoy.

Why does WHO rank the US' health care system as #37?

The World Health Organization’s 2000 ranking of the United States health care system as 37th isn’t what it first appears to be.  First, it is important to understand that one of the measures used for such ranking is subjective in nature.  Tanner (2008) questioned how the idea of “fairness” translates to a quantifiable measure?  For example, the United States is penalized for adopting Health Savings Accounts because according to WHO, patients pay too much out of pocket and this is not fair (World Health Organization, 2000). This one measure, Fairness of Financial, resulted in an U.S. ranking of 54th to 55th in the category and played greatly into the 37th overall ranking (WHO Press Release, 2000). 

The Cato Institute (2008) brings to light other questionable aspects of national ranking systems.  For example, most national ranking systems measure life expectancy.  They argue, however, that life expectancy is a poor measure of a health care system because it does not account for exogenous factors such as violent crime, poverty, obesity, tobacco and drug use, and other issues tied to, but not directly related to health care (Cato Institute, 2008). This argument was supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2007); “It is difficult to estimate the relative contribution of the numerous non-medical and medical factors that might affect variations in life expectancy across countries and over time.” It is also noted by the American Enterprise Institute (2006), that if you correct for homicides and accidents, the United States rises to the top of the list for life expectancy.

Another relevant point of contention is infant mortality rates, which is evaluated in the WHO report.  A 2006 study reports that Americans have the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world (Green, 2006). This, however, could be due to the fact that the United States has the ability to bring to term and deliver infants with low birth-weight and/or physical limitations (Tanner, 2008). This often results in their death shortly after birth.  The abortion rate of a country should also be considered.  Countries with high abortion rates potentially eliminate problematic pregnancies, thus lowering infant mortality rates (Tanner, 2008).

The above paradox reveals not the lack of a problem, but the question, “what is the problem?”  Is it that we have 47 million uninsured?  Or, that 13.9 million people are not taking advantage of provided resources?   Are these provided resources efficient, effective, desirable, or accessible? Or, are costs simply too high for some?  To question, however, the quality or success of American medicine does not appear supportable.   It is essential that the right question is asked and framed in such a way that the best answer results.

Hypocrisy on the Environment

The end of this video is classic and it illustrates a key reason why I am so cynical about all this global warming and environmentalist hysteria.  The voices who are the loudest in telling Americans to drive Prius's and car-pool and to take public transportation are the ones who drive big SUV's and live in massive energy-sucking houses.

That includes our friends John Edwards and John McCain.  That also includes Al Gore and his house that uses 20 times more energy than the average American's home- not to mention McCain's seven homes.

The reason I believe that the global warming hysteria will eventually die down is because Americans will never be willing to take the dramatic measures that not even the alarmists will take.   

After suggesting that a group of protestors fighting for a vote on domestic drilling are the "handmaidens of big oil", Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats opposing drilling do their best to assist big oil by driving off not in public transportation, but in giant SUV's.

US Health Care: Broken? (Numero Dos)

Admin Note:  Amanda Schaffer, friend of IFI, recently completed a study on health care in the United States.  We are going to have a few posts from her in the next week or so.  Enjoy.

Who are the uninsured?

Of the 47 million that are uninsured, 10.2 million are not citizens, 8.5 million earn $50-$75 thousand per year, 9.3 million earn greater than $75,000 per year, and 13.9 million are eligible for government programs (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).  The almost 47 million uninsured and the problem at hand looks a bit different from this perspective.  Questions arise such as, “is the U.S. responsible for non-citizens?”  Since nine-point-three plus million appear to be financially capable of purchasing health care, is it the government’s roll to mandate the purchasing of an insurance plan?  What do these individuals choose to purchase in the place of health care, or are these individuals being denied individual coverage? Why are 13.9 million eligible individuals not partaking in government programs?   These numbers are not stated to reduce the potential need of these individuals or to deny the problems for which the uninsured passes on to the American society.  The costs incurred by individuals without insurance are distributed to paying customers, through high premiums and inflated physician charges (Grover, M. Personal Communication, April 17, 2008).  Yet, the U.S. health care strain looks drastically different when a large percent of the 47 million make a choice to pass on health care?  To find a solution, one must know the problem.

The Achievements and Ailments of the Modern Era

by Dinesh D'Souza

Christian Citizenship: Developing a Fuller Theology of Government

Indiana Family Institute President Curt Smith, in his new publication On Christian Citizenship, challenges Christians and the church to consider more deeply the Christian's role in civil society.  Should we be salt and light not only in evangelism but also in the civil society that we call government?  What is our duty to participate in civil matters? 

Curt explores these questions through brief, thought provoking messages and Scriptural references that allow us to consider the Word of God and discuss relevant issues to guide our understanding and actions.

From the Introduction:

Simply understanding our roles and responsibilities as citizens and taxpayers is challenging enough, but faithfully discharging them is all the more difficult.  This challenge is greater still for Christians, as we have dual citizenships—to the civil society we call government as well as to God’s Kingdom (both present and eternal). This is underscored by the Bible’s clear teaching that Christians are subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1).

The Apostle Paul wrote that passage long before the revolution in government, birthed in America in 1776, that makes the citizenry ourselves the sovereign of civil society.  This experiment in self-government has worked well. As the Christian consensus in culture erodes in the West, however, how do we preserve liberty and order by government of increasingly independent, affluent and Biblically-ignorant individuals? 

Given such complexity, it is no wonder many Christians opt out of public life. Instead they watch the coarsening of culture with greater and greater alarm, while seeking to lead a pious life in this realm as they prepare for the life of perfection in the realm to come.  But is that what the Bible teaches?  Is the command to be salt and light applicable only to evangelism and life in the Body of Christ—or does it apply to civil society as well?

US Health Care: Broken?

Admin Note:  Amanda Schaffer, friend of IFI, recently completed a study on health care in the United States.  We are going to have a few posts from her in the next week or so.  Enjoy.

In his movie, SiCKO, Michael Moore (2007) shares the story of Rick.  As a self-employed carpenter, Rick experienced a painful and potentially career threatening accident.  A slight error in using his table saw resulted in him cutting off the tip of his ring finger and middle finger. Even more devastating was the fact that Rick had no health insurance.  Left with the choice of repairing his middle finger for $60,000 or his ring finger for $12,000 dollars, Rick made the affordable choice – the ring finger.    

The reason Rick did not have insurance remains a mystery to viewers. Research shows that the chronically uninsured are heterogeneous in nature (Lamphere, Sheils, & Kinzel, 2002). They vary in demographics and economic characteristics.  Primary reasons for being uninsured include income, employment type , perceived stigma of public sponsored programs, and personal choice (Lamphere, Sheils, & Kinzel, 2002).  The United States of America’s uninsured population has grown to just under 47 million in 2006 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).  The economic and social impact of the uninsured adds to the escalation of health care insurance costs, overall government health care spending, and questionable health outcomes.  Currently, the United States not only spends $2.2 trillion dollars on health care (16% of the GDP); but, it spends more on health care than any other industrialized country (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007).  In fact, the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not provide universal coverage (Wolf, 2006).  This standing may have played into the United States ranking of 37th on the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2000 – an embarrassing placement considering the United States is one of the top industrialized nations.

The Governor discusses faith

Here is a very thoughtful speech given by Governor Daniels to nearly 630 faith leaders from across the state.  It is much longer than I prefer for a youtube clip, but it is worth the effort.  The point I found most interesting was the Governor's position that (I'm paraphrasing...he says it much more eloquently in the video) he should not use his public office to promote his personal faith, yet government should embrace people of faith because those motivated by faith can do what government cannot...address matters of the heart (which leads to true solutions).  Do you agree? 

No Medals for the Media

by Zach Bahorik:

Sports fans are in luck.  With the Summer Olympics kicking off in Beijing this past weekend, each of us now has the opportunity to gorge ourselves at the international buffet of athletic competition.  And as can be expected, with such a grand stage comes grand controversy.

This past Wednesday, or whenever it really happened due to prime time rebroadcasting, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team captured gold for the host country with brilliant performances by its young women…possibly very, very young women.  The International Olympic Committee investigated the Chinese team in July to ensure that every competitor had reached the Olympic age requirement of sixteen years old.  The IOC reported the girls had been cleared to participate, and no further issue was made.

Until a former U.S. coach, Bela Karolyi resurrected the allegations after his team finished with a disappointing silver, if such a term is possible, after a handful of miscues.  Karolyi’s rant included thoughtful insights such as, “Well I have no proof, but one of the little girls has a missing tooth.”  As a result of this hullabaloo, all of us sports fans have gotten our fill of national media attention from ESPN to MSNBC calling a foul on China…and frankly, it’s making me sick to my stomach.