Ragbag Headliners

Oklahoma Supreme Court: Personhood Amendment is Not OK

The Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected earlier this week an initiative that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, unanimously agreeing that the personhood initiative was “clearly unconstitutional.”

The court's decision comes on the heels of the defeat of a personhood bill in the state legislature, where Republican leaders kept the bill from coming up for a vote before it adjourned last week.

The decision is not binding on any other state, but it could be a bellwether for future court challenges. Compared to other state courts, the Oklahoma Supreme Court is a moderate court, far from the more liberal courts of Hawaii and the northeastern states but also more moderate than the conservative courts in the South.

The unanimous verdict, however, is important. Even the most conservative members of the court agreed that the personhood initiative violated U.S. Supreme Court precedent and was therefore unconstitutional.

The decision likely means that other state courts will also decide that other personhood legislation and initiatives are unconstitutional.

Oklahoma’s court examined the potential initiative after The Center for Reproductive Rights asked the Court to rule on its constitutionality. Oklahoma law allows the courts to review initiatives even before petitioners start gathering the 155,000 signatures needed to put an initiative on the ballot. The court can block a potential initiative that is, on its face, unconstitutional and would result in a “costly and futile election.”

Initiative Petition 395, State Question 761 would have defined a “person” in the state constitution as “any human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being to natural death.”

The decision puts an end to the initiative process before it could start. The preemptive decision by the Court left proponents of the personhood amendment without a clear strategy for how to proceed.

Dan Skerbitz of Personhood Oklahoma told the Tulsa World that his organization is “disappointed.”

"We are looking over our legal options at this moment, and we will follow up with those if there are any,” Skerbitz said.

The court decision is part of a larger debate over personhood in Oklahoma. Last week, the Republican leaders in the Oklahoma House kept a personhood act from being considered before the legislature adjourned.

Before the court’s decision, 22 legislators had tried to extend the session by voting against adjournment. Oklahomans for Life and Personhood Oklahoma took aim at 57 legislators who voted to adjourn, labeling them “pro-abortion representatives.” After protests from pro-life legislators and a strong rebuke from House Speaker Kris Steele, the groups apologized and rescinded their decision to use the adjournment vote as a litmus test on abortion.

By Tobin Grant/Christianity Today Politics Blog/May 3, 2012

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Good Riddance: Liberal Staff Leaves Christian Univ. In Droves Over “Lifestyle Statement”

A historic Christian university in Rome, Georgia has received record resignation letters from staffers after mandating that its employees sign a “personal lifestyle statement.”

Reports indicate that nearly sixty out of the two hundred employees at Shorter University have decided to leave the educational institution rather than sign the statement (http://www.shorter.edu/about/personal_lifestyle_statement.pdf), which outlines a moral code that staff are required to live by.

The statement reads, “I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality.” It also prohibits the promotion of alcohol and states that employees “are expected to be active members of a local church.” . . .

“We have a right to hire only Christians,” President Don Dowless stated. “I think that anybody who adheres to a lifestyle that is outside of what the biblical mandate is and of what the board has passed, including the president, would not be allowed to continue here.”

“While we hate to lose members of our community, we wish them well,” he added.

Protests have taken place at the university against Dowless for his stand since the policy went into effect. Students and faculty have held signs such as “Dowless is a born again bigot,” and “Jesus loves me; why can’t you?” One student stated at one of the protests, “I don’t think they should care about what you do in your personal life as long as it doesn’t affect your work.”

However, Dowless believes differently. “It’s really unreasonable not to expect a Christian university to promote Christian values,” he said.

By Joel McDurmon/American Vision News/May 19, 2012

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Home Cooking Makes You Live Longer

If you’re the type of person whose idea of cooking dinner is hitting speed dial for your favorite take-out, take note: changing your habits could lengthen your lifespan. A new study published in the Cambridge University Press has shown that people who cook at home at least five days a week have a 47 percent higher chance of being alive 10 years later.

The study, which focused on a group of 1,888 men and women 65 years and older living in Taiwan quizzed participants about lifestyle factors. Participants answered questions about their cooking habits, household circumstances, diets, education, shopping habits, transportation and smoking.

The survey took place ten years ago; at the time, 43 percent of participants never cooked, 17 percent cooked 1-2 times per week, 9 percent cooked 3-5 times a week, and 31 percent cooked five or more times each week. Recently, researchers caught up with the participants to see how many were still living. Examining the answers of participants who hadn’t passed away with those who had, they found that frequent cooking factored into survival.

Women — particularly unmarried women — were more likely to be frequent cooks, and fared better in survival. That’s not to say that home cooking is a silver bullet; women already tend to live longer than men, and culturally, are more practiced at cooking. And general good health also made cooking possible, since cooking requires trips to the store, shopping and walking.

Still, after controlling for those factors, researchers still found reason to believe that home cooking can lead to longevity.

All other factors taken into account, “the relationship between frequent cooking and mortality is strong,”says the study’s lead author, Professor Mark Wahlquist of the National Health Research Institute in Taiwan. “It is part of physical, mental, and indeed social activity,” leading those who do it to maintain good health in more ways than one.

By Take Part/Care2/May 21, 2012