Day: February 3, 2009

Gallup poll: Most disagree with president on Mexico City policy

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A new Gallup poll shows that 58 percent of Americans disagree and only 35 percent agree with the president about his decision to reverse the Mexico City policy:

Obama’s decision to reverse the prohibition on funding for overseas family-planning providers may be the least popular thing he has done so far. This was an executive order that forbade federal government money from going to overseas family-planning groups that provide abortions or offer abortion counseling. Fifty-eight percent of Americans disapprove of Obama’s decision to lift this ban, while only 35% approve of it. The ban on federal funds to these groups was put in place by Ronald Reagan, but lifted by Bill Clinton. George W. Bush re-instituted the ban after taking office in 2001, but Obama has once again lifted it.

Not surprisingly, this was the one early decision he made that didn’t get wall-to-wall media coverage. Likewise, there was scant coverage when 250,000 marched in Washington to mark the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and call for change.

Memo to worship bands

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Hey, worship bands, were not here to see you perform.
Hey, worship bands, we're not here to see you perform.

John Stackhouse, in an article in Christianity Today, gives five reasons why worship bands should turn down the volume. Stackhouse isn’t some cranky old person, but he’s tired of worship bands who may have lost their focus:

No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn’t a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation’s praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.