When you can't support your position with facts....

...change the debate to one of religion - a "holy war."

Such is the latest in the report of the Post Dispatch's article "Churches joining stem cell showdown."

There are several interesting nuggets in the article:

The biggest Baptist church in Jefferson City will host a rally Monday night that is the first shot in what some portray as a three-month holy war over Missouri's November ballot proposal to protect all forms of stem-cell research allowed under federal law.

Holy war??? From the first paragraph of the article, the tone has been set.

St. Louis Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke is slated to join them [Missouri Baptist Convention?] at a rally on Aug. 28 at the Life Christian Church, 13001 Gravois Road.

This is good news...Archbishop Burke can speak of the natural moral law implications quite well.

The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the group promoting the ballot measure, cites wording that bans human cloning.

This group knows full well that the wording is intentionally dishonest yet it maintains its deceitful position that human cloning will be banned - an outright lie, a self-made redefination of cloning - all in a mendacious attempt to mislead the voters.

[Former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth, an Episcopal priest and honorary co-chairman of the coalition's campaign said that] he'd prefer to keep religion out of what he sees as a scientific matter.

What he really means is that this is a pseudo-scientific matter with ethical implications that should not be discussed or exposed to the light of day. His position, which is disgraceful and dishonest, is undermined by the fact that biological science is clear that the embryonic life he advocates killing is "human"...

"It's very important that this issue not be addressed as one religious view against another," Danforth said. "It's important that it be resolved on the basis of other considerations."

This matter can be argued successfully absent any religious view. However, Danforth and his group of modern day Dr. Frankensteins reject ethics and the natural moral law. They also reject the humanity of the proposed "cloned" embryos, and in so doing. This rejection also displays a contempt for basic biological science. The "other considerations" to which Danforth refers must be something else, then - money.

"It's a mistake to look at this as a purely religious issue," said the Rev. Charles E. Bouchard, president of Aquinas Institute of Theology and an opponent of the ballot proposal. "At the moment of fertilization it becomes a life issue, and any reasonable person can ask when life begins. You don't have to be a believer."

An excellent summation from Fr. Bouchard.

Fight 'may get too ugly'

Still, others say that religion is the foundation of much of the debate over embryonic stem-cell research.

Merely because others which to formulate this as a religious issue does not diminish the fact that this is an ethics and life issue first and foremost. By equating this as an issue with fundamentally religious overtones, some hope to deflect a reasonsed and rational inquiry into the facts. They wish to make this an emotional issue (as is obvious by studying their ad blitz). This is a well designed campaign to discourage voters from looking at the facts.

Supporters [of killing human life] say the research can lead to cures of debilitating diseases, such as Parkinson's. Opponents say it is immoral and unproven.

Supporters refuse to address the ethical implications of destroying life in such a wanton and macabre manner.

"They have dubbed it a 'holy war,'" said the Rev. James T. Morris, pastor of Lane Tabernacle CME Church in St. Louis and a supporter of the ballot proposal. He is among a group of African-American pastors who have been traveling around the state promoting it.

We are not told who the "they" is...Perhaps it's the cloned human beings who would be sacrificed to the altar of money and patents? Or maybe is the Coalition who would prefer the issue to be couched in the religious arena?

The Rev. Suzanne Meyer, pastor of First Unitarian Church of St. Louis and a supporter of the measure, compared the opponents of embryonic stem cell research to scientific naysayers of past generations...Decades from now, she contended, "We'll look back at the theological arguments against embryonic stem cell research and regard them as ludicrous and as reprehensible."

Of course, Ms. Meyers, in convenient fashion, completely ignores the ethical ramifications of her support of killing innocent human life. It would seem that some have completely abandoned any desire to submit to the natural moral law.

Danforth poses a rhetorical question: "If a building was burning and there was a Petri dish in one room and a 3-year-old in another, which would you save? ... There is no moral equivalence between cells in a dish, never implanted in a uterus and a child."

Said [commentator and politician Alan] Keyes in reply: "What is in that dish is humanity, and that is not in dispute. What is in dispute is its development."

Danforth attempts to obfuscate the real issues. Thankfully, Keyes and others present the truth.

Coalition chairman Rubin said he was concerned that the religious groups' donations and spending had yet to show up on any campaign-finance reports. Missouri law requires that such money-raising and spending be reported.

The Knights of Columbus and the Missouri Baptist Convention have contributed money to educate the public. Apparently this doesn't sit well with the coalition which would rather not have its deceptions exposed. I imagine we may see efforts in the future to quell the truth.

Let us not forget that prayer is one of our best means to promote an authentic culture of life and defeat the proposed amendment permitting human cloning and the killing of innocent human life. To this end, Archbishop Burke announced a "Rosary Crusade", seeking the intercession of our Lady of Guadalupe, to help us in our efforts.

The crusade was developed as a response to a current ballot initiative that seeks to constitutionally protect embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning in Missouri. (Source)

Please pray daily for this intention....More information is available at www.morosarycrusade.org